Jugemu & Shimbashi, Neutral Bay
Hand-made soba? no way!
What's under the lids?
When one of my first foodie-dining friends returned to Sydney for a visit, eating and food was the obvious choice. V informed me of a great Japanese place in Neutral Bay. Yes, there are loads of Japanese restaurants in Neutral Bay, however this one was slightly different and more impressive. I should inform you all that I am a HUGE fan of NOODLES. I LOVEEE noodles, any type, any style, any dish. I’d pick noodles over any other carbohydrate. So when V informed me Jugemu & Shimbashi hand made their soba, I was sold!
Watching cooking of scallops
Jugemu & Shimbashi is a two-sided restaurant: teppenyaki one side and japanese noodle store on the other. On arrival, I was hoping to catch the soba being made, but alas, no luck, the soba-making was finished for the night. As we had no bookings for a rather busy Sunday night, the 3 of us were stuck sitting next to the teppenyaki stove (?). I have a slight “preference” where I hate my clothes smelling like food, so this was possibly the worst place for me to sit. Plus white coat + oil stains really don’t go well together. However, the upside to sitting in this location was that I did get some great cooking photo shots!
As we slowly flipped through the menu, There were more choices of soba and okonomiyaki than we could imagine. It ranged from different ingredients to different temperatures to different cooking styles. Our mouths watered as we watched the chefs cook all sorts of teppenyaki dishes and okonomiyaki on the hot plate.
One thing that caught my eye was the way they cooked the okonomiyaki. I made sure we ordered one!
I also LOVE mushrooms, so when I saw THIS sizzling, that was another tick on the order list.
Mixture of mushrooms sizzling in butter on the hot plate including shiitake, enoki, oyster.
The cooked version - served with japanese mayo
This dish was DEVINE. Possibly anything cooked in butter would be very tasty, but mushrooms soak up sauces/juices very well
Soba chips
As an entree, we ordered the soba chips. We ordered this as a stomach filler. Sadly it arrived with the rest of the food, but it was still munched away fairly quickly. The “chips” were nice and crunchy. A hint of salt could be tasted on each bite, so it’s not as simple as it seems. It was rather fun eating these noodle chips actually!
Soba sushi
Another dish that caught my eye on the menu was “Soba sushi”. EHH!!?? Sushi made of soba. FANTASTIC! (as a warning on the menu, this dish would take up to 20 minutes to prepare. I was more than happy to wait.)
Who would have thought… sushi made of soba! It was very interesting. Although the sushi fell apart easily and flavours were lacking a little, it was still a very interesting concept and would still recommend you try it, just for the novelty!
Okonomiyaki
Now the next dish is what a call a “masterpiece”. It literally looked like a food artwork.
I forget what ingredients we had in this now, but it didn’t matter. We marvelled over how pretty the sauce was “painted” on. It was heartbreaking to actually have to eat it, but *shrugs* we were hungry! The okonomiyaki itself needed a little more flavour, if only they gave us more sauce!
Fish flakes and dried shallots to sprinkle on top
Last but not least, the long awaited hand made soba. Although we only ordered one serving, they kindly split it into 3 smaller bowls. How generous, I thought (until I looked at the bill at the end and there was some strange additional cost for this. hmm! oh well!)
Hot soba with mixed tempura
The noodles had a nice grainy texture to it. I’ve had hand made soba in Japan before and the texture was very similar. The soup was very clear and went well with the simplicity of the soba.
The soba set: Soba with tempura
The tempura was freshly cooked as each bite was nice and crunchy. Simplicity at its best.
We also finished off this meal with 2 scoops of green tea and sesame ice cream. Perfect finish to a simple, clean, artistic meal. Even now, I am still intrigued by how stunning the okonomiyaki looked.
The restaurant showed the simplicity of the food. Nicely decorated with cute ornaments like:
Don’t forget to make a reservation if you want a table as this place fills up on the weekends.
There have been a fair few reviews on this place already. Some listed here:
From SMH
From Time Out Sydney
From Here Comes The Food
Jugemu & Shimbashi
246-248 Military Rd,
Neutral Bay, NSW
Ph: (02) 9904 3011
Hello friends! Sorry, I’ve been M.I.A. lately! Busy work schedule, snow weekends have all held me back! Now i’m back!
Author
By teresa
Teresa lives in New York City. She's originally from Sydney, like the rest of the EST crew, but crossed the Pacific to explore the culinary delights of the United States. In a country known for artery-clogging, cholesterol-filled, join in on Teresa's culinary adventure!
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This article was written on 23 Jul 2009, and is filed under Japanese, Sydney, North.
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Man, I haven’t visited this place for ages!
I must say, they serve the best soba for sure – I loved their soba with great “Koshi” (resistance in noodle)
Ohh Soba sushi is actually pretty common in Japan, just not usually at Sushi restaurants. Many Soba restaurants got soba sushi on their menu.
Hmmm now I want to come back and have some soba…
.-= Yas´s last blog ..Late night self-indulgence. =-.
Hand-made soba! Woohoo you’ve sold me too. I love soba.
And that Okonomiyaki looks like it was made to be admired, photographed, hung in a gallery, anything but eaten. Amazing
.-= Mr. Taste @ tastedbytwo´s last blog ..Recipe: Fried Rice – Battle for Kitchen Supremacy =-.
wish I am bit closer to this place….meant to try it but still havent get the chance to go to. that okonomiyaki looks amazingly good… i am a big fan!!! Oishii!!!
.-= billy@ATFT´s last blog ..Aroma Festival 09 – The Rocks, Sydney =-.
[...] This post was Twitted by squishies [...]
That okonomiyaki looks like the biggest sin of all …
i now remember reading that SMH review. looks like a great place to eat. i must try!
.-= Simon Food Favourites´s last blog ..Bavarian Bier Cafe, Moore Park (21 July 2009) =-.
That okonomiyaki looks amazing! So pretty, I wouldn’t want to eat it either.
.-= Karen´s last blog ..It’s all in the details =-.
Yummmmmmmm! I just got back from lunch and I’m hungry all over again!!!
.-= Kruppy´s last blog ..Just who’s blogging in Australia? =-.
That okonomiyaki looks amazing! I need to get my ass over that bridge lol.
.-= Miss Honey´s last blog ..Vue De Monde, Melbourne =-.
Yum. That okonomiyaki does look like a work of art! I’ve never tried their version though – always too busy ordering noodles and other dishes instead. Maybe next time!
.-= Y´s last blog ..French Toast Macaron (Happy Birthday Caitlin!) =-.
The okonomayaki looks beautiful! I can see why you couldn’t resist the mushrooms too.
.-= Arwen from Hoglet K´s last blog ..A Physician’s Feast =-.
Love the shot of the mushrooms. From a distance they look like a parade of swans on a lake
tasty tasty swans… lol
.-= Helen´s last blog ..The pressure test: Beef and Guinness Stew =-.
Just landed on your website and before I knew it, it was 20 minutes later. Kind of addicting, like soba.
.-= Irina@PastryPal´s last blog ..Lemon Mousse in 60 Seconds =-.
Yas: The soba sushi was indeed a first for me… but I didn’t actually see *THAT* many sushi rolls in Japan…! I loved each slurp of noodle!
Mr. Taste @ tastedbytwo: If only I took a better photo of it! It was too dark
billy@ATFT: it’s worth the travel!
Anubis: dude, no sin at all… it was fantastic! We should try making it sometime for dinner next week?
Simon Food Favourites: I read the SMH article a while ago too and forgot about it until one of my friends went and came back with raving reviews…! Must try! I like the 2 restaurant concept.
Karen: It was a hard decision, but I was too hungry! So I marvelled at it for a few minutes and in my tummy it went!
Kruppy: I just had breakfast and am very full, but wouldn’t mind some okonomiyaki for lunch!
Miss Honey: It’s worth the $3 to cross the bridge for this!
Y: All you need is the noodles and okonomiyaki. Screw everything else! Oh maybe not the mushrooms… they were pretty good…
Arwen from Hoglet K: We didn’t see the mushrooms on the menu until we watch them being cooked on the hot plate. We had already ordered but added this to the order afterwards! Must try!
Helen: The way they cooked the mushrooms was very skilled and artistic too. The chef made a circular ring with each mushroom grouped together. It was fun watching him cook!
Irina@PastryPal: welcome! Hope you keep reading our site as we’re trying to do more cooking = need some great great recipes from sites like yours! *bookmarked*!
Ahh great post ^^! I haven’t been in a while either but this is making me want to go! OOhh you got floor seating ahha I’ve never been lucky enough to get those yet hee hee (that’s where Bill likes to sit!)
Which okonomiyaki did u guys order?
.-= FFichiban´s last blog ..Nom nom nom on your boat gently down the river… – Hawkesbury River =-.
Your right, the okonomiyaki looks like a piece of art, i think its there to be admired and maybe not eaten haha
[...] it’s handmade soba at Jugemu & Shimbashi in Neutral Bay in Sydney from Teresa at eatshow&tell. I have a thing [...]
that looks so delicious right about now…
you should definitely submit some of your photos to http://www.donteatthatyet.com. their goal is to create a visual restaurant review site similar to tastespotting
Hi the number you have there for Jugemu is the fax number in their office apparently.
The correct number for the restaurant is 9904 3011.
Oh thanks for informing us!