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Ju Ju, Kings Cross

It was a cold, dark rainy night when we congregated at Ju Ju in Kings Cross; some people were more wet than others, as they were caught in the fits and starts of the fickle torrential rain.

Tramping down the narrow staircase, we found ourselves bidded by the wait staff to take our shoes off and into the plastic bags offered.

Ju Ju is exactly how I remembered: the warm, wooden decor and the pits! I love how the tables are basically sunken and you have to sit on square black cushions.

We poured over the various laminated menus provided, taking quite a while to decide on what to get. We were so spoilt for choice – it was so hard to choose!

Ever since having had tried yukke at Suminoya, I adore this dish. Raw beef might be a bit much for some (the thought of it initially freaked me out), but it’s definitely something that should be tried. The yukke here is fresh and just as delicious as I remembered when I first tasted it. There’s an added ginger flavour that brings a warmness to the dish, which surprisingly I wasn’t adverse to as I’m not usually particularly fond of it. Perhaps it was because the strength of the ginger was balanced out by the sesame oil – its flavour was quite prevalent throughout the dish.

It was the first time F and I had yukke with roasted seaweed, but it added a nice texture and taste to the dish.

F wasn’t going to order this dish as he thought the tofu was a bit of a waste of space, but boy did he eat his words when it turned out to be one of the favourites of the night! (We loved it so much that we ordered another one!)

It was the perfect age dashi tofu: crispy on the outside and silky soft on the inside. The stock soup was scrumptiously rich, salty-sweet and mushroom-flavoured and the shitaki mushrooms used were soft with a slight chewiness (just how they should be hehe).

The kara age chicken was wonderfully crunchy on the outside and deliciously soft and juicy on the inside. I don’t know about you but all that kara age chicken and only that much mayonnaise?? Sigh – there’s never enough mayo.

I don’t normally have soba (or udon for that matter, ramen all the way!), so when I tasted this dish I thought it was pretty decent. Not outstanding, but decent and flavoursome. F quite enjoyed it as well, but Rob thought otherwise as he said he’s had better.

The sashimi wasn’t bad either, quite fresh and it was snapped up quite quickly.

If the sashimi was gone quickly, the wagyu was gone in a flash. While F didn’t think it had the fatty goodness he was expecting from a Grade 8/9 Pure Blood Wagyu, I loved how succulent it was. It was well-seasoned and perfectly cooked.

Surprisingly it came with a bit of cheesy mash (heart) and interestingly enough, wasabi. Upon ordering, you have a choice between the sweet-sour shabu shabu sauce and barbeque sauce.

Our friends on the other table thought it was weird that we ordered this dish (perhaps the friends at our table thought the same, but didn’t say anything hehe), but F and I didn’t quite care: it’s potato! And bacon! And cheese!!! It was a hit at our table and we just couldn’t get enough of it.

The creamy mash potatoes were slightly lumpy (a texture which I enjoy in hand with really smooth mash), super cheesy and dotted with roughly diced bacon. Absolute bliss.

Christian was very keen on this dish and Rob’s eyes lit up when he saw it, “It’s been ages since I’ve had mackerel!” I don’t think I’ve ever had mackerel and it was interesting to see that it was quite lean though packed full of flavour.

Our waitress cautioned us that it would take about 40 minutes to make (why, I have no idea) and it took us about 40 seconds to demolish this dish. Another plate of the carpaccio was wanted by all, but the time it took to make it was a bit of a deterrent (especially considering that we were coming close to the end of dinner).

The salmon carpaccio comes with two sauce choices: soy or wasabi mayonnaise, though I think either one is a winner. It’s hard to go wrong with fresh, amazingly thin salmon sashimi and delicately fried onions.

I should know the extent of F’s love for scallops, but he always seems to surprise me by the breadth of just how much he loves them. In this case, he ordered 12 hotate nigiri… Yes, twelve. I can’t complain because I love them too (but now I know just not as much as someone haha). These nigiris were scrumptious being lightly grilled and with the perfect amount of rice and dab of wasabi underneath.

Here’s another dish that we couldn’t get enough of. Sadly, it was also one of those dishes that takes roughly 40 minutes to make (gah), so we couldn’t order another plate. It was so very simple, with fresh salmon cuts inside the roll, lightly grilled salmon on the inside and all topped with delightful pop of salty salmon roe.

Tempura green tea ice cream is very much like deep-fried ice cream, but the batter is lighter and not so thick. The sweet strawberry sauce and light whipped cream were lovely accompaniments to the fried ice cream.

Everyone loved this dessert and dug in with gusto, leaving not much left.

Kaye was really excited to see that they had added subtly sweet red beans to the smooth and creamy green tea ice cream, though we both slightly missed the crunch from the cornflakes some restaurants would add to the dessert.

I was really interested to see how this dessert would turn out; a couple thought it was a little weird, but I loved it. It was delicately sweet (boosted by the strawberry sauce), really smooth, not as creamy as a panna cotta and had a slightly firm texture. You get to choose which ice cream on top too: black sesame (gorgeous flavour) or green tea.

Ju Ju is a cosy restaurant with very friendly and helpful attentive wait staff. The food is pretty fresh and there are some fantastic dishes – I know F and I would be coming back for more than a few of them.

Also! I hear that one of the nights, perhaps Friday, is communal karaoke night! Exciting stuff.

Ju Ju
Kingsgate Shopping Centre
Shop 320, Bayswater Rd
Kings Cross, NSW, 2011
Ph: (02) 9357 7100