Hill's Oyster Bar & Brasserie, Hawthorn

This is another one of those coupon nights where I desperately tried to fit in a night out after discovering the coupon was dangerously nearing its expiration date. Yes, this new addiction of purchasing coupons on a whim is dangerous! It also got me a parking fine, but that's a different story (my very first fine ever! Boo…).

The place was clean, elegant and favourably lit. For some reason I expected oysters bars to be white, I know it's a totally baseless stereotype but Hill's lived up to that stereotype. What was to my surprise were some of the Asian themed decorations such as the pot below. It conjured up images of home, although I haven't seen many Chinese pots in my lifetime that had lids like that one. I wonder what it was used to hold…

The front of the restaurant was small but it had a back room as well. As we arrived reasonably early, there weren't many patrons yet. I was thinking to myself, why is this place so empty? Surely it can't be that bad. As the night went on, it quickly filled up. Most of the patrons looked like regulars who were really enjoying themselves.

The bar was not big, one of the smaller ones I've seen. However I'm not sure if they have bottles hidden under that counter which was not visible.

For entree, Yuye and I ordered half a dozen oysters each. We're at an oyster bar so oysters were the obvious choice. The waitress explained where each type of oyster was sourced from (there were 3), however, due to her accent, I wasn't able to catch their names. They were very fresh and absolutely delicious though, few of the freshest oysters I've tasted. I only started liking oysters in recent years. Previously I disliked anything that grew in shells (apart from scallops, I loveeee scallops) and always thought they tasted too much like the sea. I've come to embrace that taste now and sometimes crave for it too. How people change eh.

Samurai, Hawthorn

Samurai is your local family Japanese restaurant where you can enjoy a quick and delicious meal for a fraction of the usual Japanese restaurant prices. It has a very big following so seats are usually quite limited. However, because the food is served and consumed quickly, waiting is usually not over 10 minutes (and trust me, it is worth waiting for).

What made this place especially intriguing for me was the fact that my male companions were nonstop going on about the good looking half-Japanese waiter working at the joint. Interested girls (or guys)? Check him out for yourselves! :P

As for the food, somehow (with 4 people), we ended up all ordering the same dinner box for $14, so not as many interesting photos this time. This is because this set is such good value! You get soup (your choice), entree (up to $4 value), a main (up to $7.80 value which is most of the food really) as well as a drink or dessert. The serving sizes are exactly the same as if you ordered them separately.

Three of us ordered the same soup, entree and main (good minds think alike it seems) - miso soup with Croquette and Chicken Katsu Curry on rice. The miso soup was a bit too salty, perhaps they added salt twice hmm…but the croquette was great. I usually dip them in Japanese mayo with tonkatsu sauce but Samurai served them with tomato sauce which was just as good. The centre was so soft and creamy, a great contrast to the crunchy outer layer. I'm craving for some now!