It's been over a year since I've been back to Japan and I've been getting pangs of second-homesickness. Tsunami was full, Peko Peko closing early, and Yahachi too swish. Couldn't be bothered with going into town so this left a small Japanese restaurant called Shige that I'd seen and wanted to try despite it being in Devil Devil country.
I wouldn't be so exclusive as to call this a "real" Japanese restaurant but if your idea of a Japanese restaurant is some bloke standing behind a BBQ plate juggling, this would be an education. It's very simple, a bar and a few tables but the cues are everywhere. The white-board with specials written on it, a counter-top sashimi case, the middle-aged owner-chef, and a clientele of friendly regulars. The menu made me all weepy with nostalgia.
Miso soup is a kind of bread test for my wife and passed. From there we had fried oysters kaki furai ; dhufish tempura ; fried tofu in broth agedashi doufu ; the sashimi moriawase – with salmon, tuna, octopus, dhu-fish, and snapper; and finished with pickled cucumber and daikon (sob).
It was all very enjoyable – lacking only in a few of the more interesting Japanese garnishes. I tried the dhufish as it's a local fish but good as it was, it's too sweet for tempura. There were more things I wanted to try but you can only eat so much, so I'll head back with a few more people before too long. Not too pricey and BYO with bottle-shop next door – go a dry white.
Very recommended, park under the Oyster Bar and you can enjoy a romantic after dinner stroll looking across the river.
Shige – 21 Mends Street, South Perth
Post dinner we stopped in at a party held by a bloke with a house with seemingly the same decor as when he was a student but with a 1000hp luxury speedboat he'd built in a shed out the back. Good to have priorities. Friends got their band together after 10 years. I'd assumed a jam but they'd decked themselves out with everything bar a rotating drum kit. Lights under bushels – they'd kept us from great 80's style hard alt rock all this time – selfish bastards. Where's Colonel Parker when you need him?