DENGON NET

日本国内のみならず、カナダやインドなど海外5ヶ国に進出している炭火串焼厨房くふ楽。オーストラリア初進出となるIzakaya KuurakuがBourke St.にあるホテル内にオープンした。天井が高く広々とした店内は、居酒屋と言うよりレストランのよう。迎えてくれたマネージャーの加藤さんによると、朝はホテルの宿泊客向けに洋食を提供しており、日本食が食べられるのはお昼から。ランチは弁当や定食などが中心、ディナーは串焼きや寿司などの食事に加え、酒とつまみも楽しめる居酒屋スタイルになっている。今回は、加藤さんお勧めのメニューをいただいた。

「インスタ映えすると思いますよ」と、運ばれて来たのはAssorted Sashimi。平たい皿でなく、階段状になった器に刺身が盛られ、先程の言葉通り絵になる一品。刺身の内容は、その日の良いネタを出すので日替わりになる。訪れた日は、鰹のたたき、ホタテ、マグロ、キングフィッシュ、サーモン、中落ちとイクラの5種類。どれも新鮮な上、大きめかつ分厚く切ってあって「あぁ、お刺身食べている」と満足感のある食べごたえ。

Assorted Sashimi(Large) $25

続いては、彩り豊かなPressed Sushi Bara Chirashi。女性が喜びそうな華やかな雰囲気で、これもフォトジェニックなひと皿だ。箸を付けるのを躊躇してしまう美しさだが、崩しながらいただく。さまざまな海鮮がのっていて贅沢だし、酢飯をギュッと押しているので、見た目よりもボリュームがある。海鮮の食感と、酢飯に入っている漬け物のポリポリとした食感の違いも楽しい。

Pressed Sushi Bara Chirashi $18

香ばしい香りと共に登場したのは、看板メニューKushi Moriawase。炭火で焼かれた本格的な串焼きは、牛肉、ねぎま、トマト、しいたけ、鶏モモ肉の5種類。牛肉はシンプルに塩で食べてみる。表面だけに火が通ったレアに近い状態で、やわらかく肉の味がストレートに味わえる。ねぎまは、ほんのり甘いタレで味がついていて、まさに日本の味。肉とネギの相性の良さを再確認した。トマトにはベーコンが巻いてあり、甘酸っぱいトマトとベーコンの旨味が見事にマッチ。しいたけは、持ち味をグッと引き出す火の入り具合に脱帽。鶏モモ肉は、ムチッとした食感とジューシーさがたまらない。この串焼きと是非合わせて欲しいのが、メルボルンではこの店でしか味わえない「94」。串焼きと合わせるために作られた日本酒だ。串焼きと日本酒で、思わず日本に居るような錯覚に落ちること間違いなし。

Kushi Moriawase (10 skewers) $36

「ご飯物ならこんなメニューも」と出て来たのはRoast Beef Don。厚めのローストビーフに温泉卵がのり、特製ソースをかけていただく。黒こしょうと柚子胡椒がピリッと効いた和洋折衷な味わいのこの丼には、肉と相性抜群の焼酎「29」を合わせてみて。

Roast Beef Don $20

どの料理も気前の良い盛りで、ビックリ。オープンから数ヶ月ということもあり「新メニューも追加していく予定ですよ」と加藤さん。これからどんな展開をして行くのか楽しみな店。ごちそうさまでした。

Enjoying a feast in luxurious surrounds

Kuuraku is a Japanese chain of restaurants that doesn’t just have establishments in its home country, but also Canada, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. You can now add Australia to that list, too, thanks to Izakaya Kuuraku on Bourke Street. Located inside Hotel Citadines on Bourke, the setting is spacious, with tall ceilings, and it definitely feels more like a high-end restaurant than a down-to-earth izakaya. As manager Kato-san explained, this might be as Kuuraku is the breakfast venue for the hotel’s guests in the morning, serving Western food, and only switches to Japanese cuisine from lunch onwards. The menu focuses on bento and set meals for lunchtime, while dinners are more about kushiyaki (charcoal-grilled skewers), sushi and other traditional dishes, plus smaller plates for snacking on while drinking – true izakaya-style. At Kato-san’s recommendation, we went with a selection of dishes to see what was on offer. 

First we ate the Assorted Sashimi – an Instagram-able meal if ever there was one. Instead of being served on regular plates, the sashimi comes served on a staircase of wooden blocks, creating a true work of art. The actual fish served will vary on the day, depending on what’s good from the local market, but when we went, there was katsuo tataki, scallop, tuna, kingfish, salmon, nakaochi and ikura. Every piece was fresh, and cut thick, so it had a great texture and left you satisfied.  

Next came the colourful Pressed Sushi Bara Chirashi. This gorgeous dish is likely to go down a treat with the girls and is another photogenic wonder. It’s so beautiful you actually hesitate in touching it with your chopsticks, but break it apart you must. Loaded with a variety of seafood, it’s a luxurious meal, and thanks to the vinegared rice being compressed hard to make the shape, actually has a lot more volume to it than you might think. The difference in textures between the seafood and the slightly crunchy pickles mixed into the rice was delightful, too. 

The signature Kushi Moriawase then arrived in a cloud of delicious aromas. Grilled over charcoal, these were the real deal, with beef, negima (chicken and leek), tomato, shiitake and chicken thigh all on the plate. We tried the beef first, seasoning it just with salt. Lightly seared, the almost rare beef was soft and full of flavour. Next, the negima, with its traditional, lightly sweetened sauce – truly one of the tastes of Japan, and a reminder of just how well chicken and leek go together. The tomato skewers have each fruit wrapped in bacon, and the combination of sweet and sour tomato, and the bacon’s umami, was a brilliant match. We have to doff our hats to the grilling technique on the shiitake, too – it brought out the mushrooms’ inherent flavours perfectly.  The chicken thigh meat was plump, juicy and just too good. One thing we’d highly recommend is matching the dish with ‘94’ – a sake made especially to enjoy with kushiyaki. Kuuraku is the only place in Melbourne that sells it, and the combination of the two is enough to make you feel you’re really in Japan.  

For those after something with rice, try the Roast Beef Don. The thickly-sliced beef is served with an onsen tamago – a slow-boiled egg where the white is firm but the yolk soft – and a special sauce to pour on top. The black pepper and yuzu koshou seasonings both add a hint of spice and create a unique fusion of Eastern and Western tastes. Try it with ‘29’ – a shochu designed to go perfectly with meat.  

Every dish we tried at Kuuraku was generous in its portion size, which came as a bit of a shock, as it’s not something you find at every izakaya. And having only been open a few months, Kato-san says they’re still adding to the menu, so we really look forward to seeing how things go from here. Gotchisousamadeshita. 

Izakaya Kuuraku
131 - 135 Bourke St. Melbourne
T: 03 9939 1516
Mon-Thu: 6:30am-2:30pm, 5-10pm
Fri: 6:30am-2:30pm, 4-10:30pm
Sat: 7am-2:30pm, 4-10:30pm
Sun: 7-10:30am, 5-10pm
W: kuuraku.com.au