teresa 3 November 2008 Japanese 2 Comments  Print This Post  Email This Post

Welcome to the first of possibly many reviews from places to eat in our nation’s capital, Canberra, ACT. There are only a few places that I like to dine at (due to my lack of a car) and Iori is one of a few japanese restaurants in Canberra City. Due to the inland location of this city, you don’t get much seafood so freshness is an issue. However, Iori always hits the spot when craving for japanese food.

So on a night that most would say is “special” (i.e. my birthday), Iori was a top choice for Veronica and I to go and celebrate. Plus, I could eat japanese food all day, every day! There aren’t a HUGE range of dishes, but enough for us to be indecisive about what we wanted to order. Iori have monthly specials too, but I’m not sure how often they change it because I swear I’ve seen those dishes on the menu before!

We thought we’d “splash” out for the night and order LOTS of dishes for the 3 of us.
So my celebration meal included…

Sashimi (Large) – $30
Assortment of fresh raw fish served with Japanese horse radish
The fish was very fresh and was quite a large serving. We could hardly finish this!

It came with salmon roe too!

Spider Roll (5 pcs) – $18
Inside Out Sushi Rolls filled with seafood stick, avocado, Deep-fried Crab
and topped with Caviar
This was our friend’s favourite sushi roll so we HAD to get it. This was really tasty and the roll was quite THICK! The crab was nice and crunchy as well. mmmm!

Saba Agebitashi – $16
Deliciously cooked fillet of Mackerel in soy based sauce, topped with Nori and Shallots
This dish was quite average. It was just fish cooked in a soy based sauce. I liked the nori and shallots with it though! Gave it a nice light flavour.

Buri Misoyaki – $30
Grilled King fish, marinated in Mild Miso sauce, served in Delightful Sauce
This was a late addition to our meal as we thought were thinking we didn’t order enough. But by this time, we were quite full. Luckily, this dish was way more tastier than the mackeral. The sauce was really quite “delightful” with a nice lemony flavour and the fish was cooked just right.

Dessert was a hard choice. I wasn’t sure if my tummy could fit this in, but I have a HUGE liking for mochi. I love that chinese mochi with peanut butter inside and this dessert just caught my eye. I just HAD to try it! FRIED mochi?!!

Sesame a la mode – $10
Tempura Daifuku Mochi with Black sesame creme renversee
The mochi was nice and crunchy. Inside there was some red bean paste and it added a nice sweetness to the mochi. The black sesame creme was similar to a mousse but black sesame flavour. I LOVE black sesame so I found this quite yummy. It was not too sweet so it accompanied the mochi very well. What was surprisingly nice was the lychee sorbet like ice thing. This went SO well with the mochi as it balanced out the sweetness of the red bean and added a cool temperature to each mouthful.

The prices have gone up since the last time I was here (a year ago). I use to takeaway from here quite often because of the large amount of roe they would give you with your sushi roll order. Apprently, they don’t give you ANY roe anymore. How sad. (I have a BIG love for roe). The service was rather average and we had to ask for our bill a few times. However, one waiter was very very polite and said “Thank you” to our every request.

So if you’re in Canberra and craving for some yummy japanese food, Iori is the place to go! They have some japanese style tables where you have to take your shoes off. I find these seats quite fun! Can’t wait to try the bento boxes @ lunch. I hear they are a great price and very delicious!
And birthdays are overrated! I don’t feel any older and nor do I want to either… tehehe.

Address: 41 East Row, Sydney Building, Canberra City, ACT
Website: http://www.iori.com.au
Opens… Mon-Fri (Lunch), Mon-Sat (Dinner)