Japanese is one of my all time favourite cuisines – I crave the thought of picked octopus, chilled sashimi and especially love a gyoza or anything torodito. So when one of my girlfriends, Emma, suggested a double date with our hubbies at Sushia on a Saturday night, I jumped at the chance. Funnily enough, Emma and her hubby Brigg first introduced Dave and I to ‘non-sushi’ Japanese about seven years ago with a visit to Halu on Oxford Street so we were looking forward to a comparably delicious meal.
Sushia is located in the Perth CBD in the Brookfield Plaza complex on the underground level, and opened to quite a lot of fanfare about a year ago. The 220 seat venue prides itself on a top class bar and an open kitchen which includes a sushi bar, robata grill and a teppanyaki grill designed to bring the theatre of Japanese Izakaya to life. We had an 8pm reservation and after a couple of pre dinner drinks at Bobeche just around the corner, we made our way to the restaurant in time for our booking. The restaurant was not full, probably only about one third full, but considering that it seats over 200 people, and Friday nights after work are probably their hot night, this was fine. There was a lovely ambiance and the fiery red ornamental tree in the centre of the room set a lovely mood against the darker tones of the decor.
Whilst we perused the menu we ordered some beverages – the lads ordered pints of Asahi ($10.50), Emma ordered a bottle of 2011 Joseph Chromy Estate Pinot Noir ($65) from Tasmania (with the intention we would all share the bottle when we finished our first drinks!), and I ordered my usual – a glass of champagne (Veuve Cliquot, $19) to start the meal off. Japanese food is best shared, especially when the menu looks as extensive and tasty as Sushia’s and with all four of us having similar taste, it wasn’t long before we had identified a few ‘must-haves’ and a couple more that we debated about between ourselves …
Spiced Edamame
Spiced edamame beans ($12) were our first menu choice, and they were as salty and moreish as I had come to expect. The soy beans were tossed with dry spices, and were a great thing to nibble on while we reviewed the rest of the menu.
Oyster Fry
And next up were another of my all time fave – fried oysters! Emma had actually sampled these previously and highly recommended them, so we lashed out and ordered four oysters ($18). The serving is usually three oysters but the chef was kind enough to increase it to four so we could enjoy one each.
Now… let’s talk oyster! The oyster was melt in your mouth-worthy, crispy fried in nori, ponzu and came served with a relish. The crunchiness of the nori gave a nice contrast to the creaminess of the oyster. My only complaint was that the accompanying nori made the oyster slightly larger than is easily (and politely!) comfortable to fit into your mouth! But besides, that, a top start to our Jap extravaganza!
Our next dish came to us partly through fate, and possibly through the inside knowledge of the chef. We all agreed we wanted to try a salmon dish from the Raw Bar, but we were tossing us between the two options – Emma and Dave was strongly advocating for the Kunsei no trout (smoked trout on a plate with ikura, scallion spiced salt and ponzu sauce for $26), while Brigg and I were keen to try the Trout Zuke which was cured ocean trout served with pickles, melon and Japanese relish ($18). I am not a big fan of smoked salmon (one of the only things I cannot seem to enjoy, despite how many times I try it), so we ended up ordering the Trout Zuke.
Kunsei no trout
But lo and behold – when our waitress bought out a covered dish with a clear tagine shaped lid, and then she removed the lid with a flourish – we all quickly realised we had been delivered the Kunsei! But it looked amazing, and we assured the waitress we would be happy with the trout we were given. And it completely changed my perspective of smoked fish – it was delicious and silky smooth with a lovely tang from the spiced salt and ponzu sauce. Yum, yum, yum!
Next up was the Gyu Tataki, a slightly seared beef with garlic chips, chives, momiji orashi, scallions and some more ponzu sauce ($21).
Gyu Tataki
Considering the generous serving of beef, we all managed a couple of pieces of this dish and I particularly enjoyed mopping up the excess ponzu sauce with my last piece of tataki. This was lovely, although by now I was getting ready for a new taste other than scallions and ponzu…
And the Hamachi Carpaccio, or thin slices of kingfish (probably my favourite sashimi grade fish) served with yuzu gelled and Sushia’s special pesto was the perfect, light, refreshing contrast to the previous dishes. One of my favourite Japanese dishes is the Yellowtail Sashimi Jalapeño at Nobu, and for me, this dish did come very close to rivalling it.
Vegetable Tempura
This dish was another surprise for me – I was not expecting to enjoy the vegetable tempura served with spicy aioli ($16) as much as I did – but it was delicious, and I will certainly be adding this to my list of must try’s at Japanese restaurants! Oh and excuse the shot of Brigg’s watch – he was showing off his birthday present 
EBI Jamon (Prawn and Jamon) Skewers
Unfortunately, I missed out on getting a photo of one of the highlight dishes of the night – we ordered two Signature Kushiyaki, EBI Jamon (Prawn and Jamon) skewers which came with a creamy jalapeño sauce ($8 per skewer). Each skewer came with two prawns, so we got one each and they sure were juicy prawns, and the sauce was scrumptious. This was something I wish I did not have to share! Delicious!!
Pork Gyoza
Our final savoury dish of the night was the Pork Gyozas ($15). Gyozas are one of those standard Japanese dishes that absolutely everyone loves – after all, how could you not love the crispy wonton casing enclosing the juicy pork mince, rounded off with chinese chives and cabbage, served with a sticky sauce?! And these were, as anticipated, exactly how you hope gyoza’s are served when you order them – piping hot, slightly crispy wanton skin and a burst of flavour as you bite them in half. Highly recommend these, although the Wagyu version served with scallions and mushroom duxelles ($25) also looked great.
Tofu Cheesecake
By the time 11pm rolled round, we were ready to order dessert. Or actually, we were all stuffed to the brim but the idea of Tofu Cheesecake was intriguing and we decided it would be criminal not to order dessert, you know, just to round off the degustation we had enjoyed. So we ordered just one serving and four spoons. I hate to admit that by the time we did get to dessert, we had polished off a couple more bottles of wine, and I was slightly tippled, so I can not remember exactly the flavours of the cheesecake, except that is was freaking amazing and I would highly recommend. The ice cream that accompanied the cheesecake was creamy and a great partner to the cheesecake.
We had a great night at Sushia and I would love to go back and try some of the other many dishes that caught my eye. The service was unobtrusive and they did not rush us along at all. Prices were as expected for the level of quality and produce of the dishes we ordered. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed our night at Sushia and would strongly recommend it.