Makoto, for those of you who don't know, is a sushi train restaurant under the Masuya Group family where there are 5 Japanese restaurants in total, all in Sydney. I will also be posting about Masuya shortly as we also visited this restaurant twice. :) Makoto doesn't take bookings as space is quite limited and really rarely needs to fill their space (there will constantly be a line outside). So, in order to get a seat, going early to beat the peak hour lines is essential.
Unlike the first time we visited Makoto when we had to wait outside for 45 minutes and everyone were served hot green tea to warm up, this time on both occasions, we were able to get seats fairly quickly. All the staff here are Japanese and work very diligently when they prepare and serve their famous sushi. There is also a great variety of sushi to choose from, including the ones I ordered below.
Out of the sushi I tasted, I especially liked the grilled salmon (below). It just melted in my mouth every time and has a beautifully charred aroma. Coupled with the slightly salty sea flavour of the salmon roe and the subtle sweetness of the mayonnaise, the mixture of flavours and textures are just superb.
The grilled tuna is also quite nice, although for some reason, the fattiness of the salmon makes it taste better when grilled.
The scallops were fantastic, but I generally like all raw or slightly raw scallops anyway. It has such a fresh and sweet taste, makes me want to eat more. Both the raw and grilled scallops were great, although I think I prefer the completely raw one better.
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Their soft-shelled crab was very tasty as well with plenty of ingredients packed into well prepared rice and nori (seaweed).
We ordered many 'white' fish dishes, this included mackerel, bonito (katsuo), snapper, cod and something else, but unfortunately, I can't remember which is which - I believe the first one is mackerel and the rest I'm not too sure. Can someone please tell me what the remaining ones are? I'm obviously not Masterchef enough to guess which fish is what. :P They were all very fresh and some were not on the menu as Makoto serves some freshly sourced fish as they become available.
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I won't go into detail for the rest of the dishes, but I can assure you, all of them were very delicious. :) I'm hoping to go back there again soon! Which means I need to fly to Sydney… The dishes in order are squid, crab stick, salmon belly, yellow fin tuna, seared tuna and salmon roe roll.
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After the sushi, we decided to order a dessert. We picked the green tea brulee with black sesame ice cream and fruit, it was just divine! Wish I was able to make such a good ice cream and brulee. :D I don't think this was on the menu so I'm not sure if they make different desserts every now and then as well.
Overall, Makoto had given me unforgettable and beautiful meals every time I went. The secret in their sushi is surely fresh produce, great variety and of course love put into making them. I can't wait to go again. :)
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Let me throw in a picture from my trip to Sydney in 2009 when we got Makoto take-away - if you get take-away, the total bill is about 15% cheaper than if you dine in. That's one of their smart tactics to get more business and save space. All you do is stand near one end of the train (where it enters the kitchen) and take anything you like from the conveyor belt and place it into the take-away boxes. :)
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Now I had no idea that Melbourne didn't have good sushi train. I must make it a point to take Melbourne friends to some here! :D
ReplyDelete@Not Quite Nigella, Melbourne is really behind in terms of sushi trains, in fact I don't think it even has middle ranged good Japanese food like Masuya. It's either not that good quality for cheaper, or more expensive for the same quality. :(
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