sake master

Whenever dr malc & I have dinner out, he would often ask, nonchalantly, if I would be blogging about the food. However, last night, it was the first time he insisted that I blog about the restaurant we went to.

We were in Melbourne for the weekend and while reading the Saturday paper, I came upon a writeup of a new Japanese izakaya, Sake & Grill Maedaya in Richmond. The restaurant is being run by Mr Toshi Maeda, and his job title is "sake master." The article looked interesting so I asked malc if we can try it out.

Stepping inside the restaurant, we were not disappointed with the atmosphere, it was definitely an izakaya with a long bar and several small tables. We were greeted with a loud "irasshaimase" and promptly handed the menu full of izakaya favourites: yakitori, edamame, gyoza, karaage, agedashi tofu, etc. Malc, however was focused on the drinks menu consisting of almost 60 kinds of sake.

It took us a few minutes to decide on what to order, and if it was up to me, I'll order the entire menu! In the end we settled on: aoi yasai with gorgonzola, which was steamed broccoli smothered with creamy gorgonzola. I thought this was a weird dish at first, but when I tasted it, it was surprisingly tasty, with the bitterness of the vegetable countered by the mild bite of gorgonzola.

Next we had a variety of grilled dishes with edamame.