A few week ago this curious little restaurant opened on the corner of Abercrombie street in Redfern. It wasn’t curious in a cuisine sense,with a name like Jap’s Place it doesn’t take a detective to figure out what they are cooking, but it never seemed to be open for dinner. I stared and waited and stared at the poor man outside manning the coal BBQ until this week it was finally opened for dinner! I was pretty excited due to the wait –obviously I have that Sydney restaurant line fetish – so my hopes were quite high.
It’s a darling little restaurant with a hefty amount of wooded interior. As the weather is getting warmer the whole shop can open to the street with tables on one half of the restaurant and traditional tables on the other.. or so it would appear, in a genius move the “cushion room” actually has leg room under the table so you don’t have to squat or struggle to get comfy whilst eating – win!
In what appears to be a hand written menu there is a variety of choice for such a small little restaurant, including rice dishes, noodle dishes, a large selection of yakitori and sushi. As the man out the front cooks the yakitori to order on the coal BBQ, it was hard to look past that!
We ordered a lot two yakitori, gyozas, a chicken stock and a pork stock ramen. And super bonus points are awarded for having a half size ramen, which is perfect for those of us whose eyes are always bigger then their stomach!
The yakitori was definitely the winning dish, super fresh of the grill. Essentially it is a chicken skewer but they use the WHOLE chicken,you can get breast, thigh, liver, heart, and giblet. We went with the safe bet of thigh. They were simple, well cooked and had the perfect amount of sauce. I think we both regretted not ordering more!
The gyozas were also delicious with a delicate dough they were generously filled and were served so fresh we had to wait for them to cool, which is great considering the gyozas these days tends to be plump, doughy and cold.
I’m usually an udon girl but thought I’d branch out and grab some ramen. I ordered the pork stock one with egg (which was considered an extra). The stock tasted home made (probably was but can’t confirm) and was excellent, but overall I just couldn’t finish it (even the half serve) as it was super rich. Harry got the chicken stock one which also had fresh stock – that tasted like grilled chicken! The dish itself was delicious, I just don’t think I’m down with ramen. Also as the stock was quite fresh if you are averse to oil I’d give it a miss.
The whole thing set us back a whopping $36.10 including twocans of coke (because we are WILD!).
I really enjoyed Jap’s Place and I’m glad it’s now open for dinner. I think next time I’ll go with a six pack of cider and nom away at the delicious yakitori and gyozoas which they do so brilliantly!
Happy eating xx
UPDATE: I have since revisited Jap's Table and tasted some more tasty dishes which you can read about here.
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