Jun

People often walk into dark side alleyways to either do their business or, do some dodgy business. Feeling like a thug, venturing into these hidden locations away from the busy side of town and into an underground hideout unknown to many, I made my way cautiously down a steep staircase, hoping whatever was to come better be worth it.

Relaxxx, I'm no killer, I'm only here for my dinner! Ho ho hooooo :D

And after a few thorough rounds of menu scanning, we realised there was less than 30 minutes til closing time, and we should probably hurry the hell up.

Salmon Sashimi (Small) - $9

I think it's incomplete to visit a Japanese restaurant without trying out their sashimi. Jun's raw salmon tasted fresh and even though $9 would be the expected price for 5 pieces, I can't help but feel I deserved more, MUCH MOREEE of this for a small.
This ain't a Small, this is a TINY! :(


Garnish wasn't very appealing however, and I say that because I am usually a garnish eater but even I wasn't attracted nor tempted to eat this. The salmon pieces were sliced to a good thickness though, and salmon, I really really love you and can't ever get enough of you <3

Chopstick Covers

Between the first dish and the next dish, a considerable amount of time passed and pretty much all the other tables had left with dirty dishes all around. I hate being the last table because you feel like a nuisance to the staff.

So I did something productive with my time, like admiring their very pretty cardboard paper chopstick covers. I have always been fascinated with the art and details of origami and I went through my own paper crane folding phase, although I am about 750 frickin' cranes away from making my wish :(

Shio (Salt) Torime - $4

Judging from its menu, Jun does its grilling the best and specialises in this area. The large range of an assortment of meat, offals, skin and other body parts/sections coming from an assortment of animals on the menu gives you a whole choice of tantalising (or sickening to some people) skewered foods. From the normal chicken tenderloins to chicken liver to chicken soft bone to chicken tail, nothing goes to waste in this kitchen. Yep, by chicken tail, probably means you have the choice to eat ass. Even a chicken's ass can earn some money for them!


Since nothing really excited us besides meat, we played it simple and got the chicken thigh with garlic sprout skewer with salt marinade, rather than Teriyaki. The chickens' thighs were very tanned, to the point of being blackened by the flame in some areas. But still tasted juicy thanks to the marinade, coating all over the meat and garlic sprouts. And these must taste pretty darn good or were cooked well, cause -


M (an avid garlic hater): Hey these taste goooood *om nom nom*
Me: Uhh...you're eating garlic sprouts you know
M: PUHHH WHAT?...oh well *om nom nom*

Sooooo I wanted to be different and wanted to try something new from the menu that looked distinctly different to the usual dishes you see on a Japanese menu. I came across something called the Tori Zousui and well, different it was! The presentation alone had me intrigued already. I half assed regretted my decision cause I thought I had just ordered...rice in soup. Aka congee.


When this came out, I thought, oh well. At least it looks interesting? A little black stool which maintained the warmth of the metal bowl that sat on top with a wooden lid on top of that.
Very snug.

Tori Zousui - $10

When I lifted the lid and a non-congee sight greeted me, I was happy. It was warm and toasty, a very nice matching dish that complemented the restaurant's surroundings of wooden and yellow tones and dark colours. Not that it matters.

I was a bit sad at seeing how shallow the bowl was and thinking no way would this ever fill me up...or even 2 of these. But when I put my spoon in, it sorta just...fell inside the bowl. The depth of the metal bowl is very deceiving! I plunged my spoon down and got frightened at how deep it was. It felt like a neverending drop bowl for about...one second or so.

Risotto - Closer (not really)

Oh hello, Japanese style Chicken Risotto. To me this really looked like wantons. Or like tofu skin. Or even like floating scrambled eggs. But no, it was the look of Chicken risotto. I had expected a dry cheesy dish even after being told it was rice in soup. Brain's just bloody stubborn and only had Italians on its mind.


Stirred everything through and it became a little pot of warm, toasty goodness. Calling it a risotto is a little misleading though! The stock though, was tasty and can make you consume 3 bowls of rice without even realising it, when you're eating the two together. You momentarily forget your carbohydrate overdosage and really, I don't really care.

Contents of Risotto

Best not to eat straight out from that heat-conducting-metal-bowl which I stupidly did, and only used a bowl when it was too late. So here you can see (not really), the ingredients of this risotto, namely sliced mushrooms, eggs, rice, and chicken. YES believe it or not, there WAS indeed chicken, just the invisible kind.


But yes there was chicken in this chicken risotto, just very very very very very very very very very very little of it though. A more generous inclusion would have been greatly appreciated and devoured.

Coffee Jelly - $4.50

Seeing as the portions were a bit, well, TINY, we decided on this dessert. M sang much praises for it before it came and well, yeah, it was okay I guess :P I am a party pooper like that.
I only wish it came as a bigger serving ... ok ... I notice the pattern here ... as this was just nowhere near enough to satisfy :(


Coffee flavoured anything usually tastes awesome, and jelly is no exception. It seems relatively simple to make (although I don't dare say that too loudly!) and had a pretty strong flavour to it, topped with a little condensed milk and cream on the side. A nice and refreshing way to tell your stomach to calm down there's no more food coming in!


...


Seriously this place is initially impossible to find, even when it's right in front of you (well, me) and I don't really have a habit of walking into dark alleyways to find my dinner. Truthfully, slowly but surely, the streets of Perth are becoming increasingly tainted with violence and crime, and one might find coming to the city after sunset to be insecure and dangerous. I for one, am a chicken, and didn't feel particularly comfortable being alone there.


Being underground and everything, I suspect this place gets by via alot of word-of-mouth referrals. I had heard many good things about this place and if going on a busy night, it may be best to make a booking beforehand. I have a tendency NOT to do this, but I have a tendency to dine out on quieter days and as close as possible to closing time ... the sort of customer I tended to hate when I was a staff and not a customer :P


Offering something different to your usual Japanese fare, some dishes are unique and prices are reasonable. Staff do their job as per their roles and were very patient with indecisiveness. That's bound to happen when you get a menu that has so much choice and you get overwhelmed by what to try. It's probably best to visit Jun with a heap of other people so you can try a lot of their little sized dishes...or you can just do so yourself. But it's probably better for you and your waistline to be greedy in a group, rather than be a pig alone.

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^ Poor and embarrassing attempt of a self portrait :(