Katsu Yachiyo

Katsu Yachiyo is one of the newbies on the scene. From the owners of Sushi Yachiyo in Darlinghurst (near the coke sign), Katsu Yachiyo is as the name suggests i.e. a katsu specialist!

It is tucked away on Devonshire St, Surry Hills and if you walk any faster you will miss it as they dont have a big flashy sign outfront. Instead they humbly wrote the restaurant name on the glass panel:



They only opened in December 2011 and its a shame its not packed on a friday night. They do not waste effort on the decor but ajourn the walls with blackboards that lists the specials and the array of imported sake on offer.



My sister being the japanese foodie that she is, ordered the Umeshu Shouchu without hesitation and of course i happily followed suit =) They only had 2 remaining so we shared it amongst 3 people. It is a very sweet plum shochu (japanese distilled spirit) which does not kill you on impact like sake does. Also ordered a fuji sparkling apple juice for my dearest.


Umeshu $9.50, apple sparking

There were some interesting dishes on the menu which i really wanted to try out. One of them was the prawn avocado with walnut and miso reduction. The walnut pieces were piled in the middle of the dish surrounded by sushi pieces so i had to scoop some every time I ate a sushi. As the avocado and prawn are quite textureless by themselves, the walnut brought the dish alive. Similarly with the miso reduction and mayo, omg i love the miso reduction! It was rich and sweet and oh so yummy. If only there was more sauce!



Prawn miso walnut roll $14.60

On a side note, they somehow have this amazing dipping soy sauce. I cannot describe it, but the soy sauce is thick and very tasty. So tasty i dipped everything that night in soy =)

I have a loving relationship with eggplant. The spongy eggplant soaked up the generous amounts of red and white miso reduction sauce and was divine, but definitely not enough to share around if you are an eggplant lover like me.


Nasudengaku $13.30

We also ordered two tuna shiso cigars where creamy tuna is wrapped in shiso herb served with miso and chipotle sauce. One bite wonders, the herb was crisp and the tuna chunky.


Tuna shiso cigars $3.50 each

The wagyu beef cheek which had been soy braised for 24hrs before being deep fried in fresh bread crumbs came out in balls that resembled deep fried takoyaki balls. A light super crunchy outershell encassed the delicate beef cheeks which melted in the mouth.


Wagyu cheek $16.50

Another interesting find was the edamame risotto croquette which also looked like deep friend takoyaki! haha. These were fried risotto rice balls with edamame beans and corn pieces. To compensate for the blandness it was unfortunately over peppered.


Edamame risotto croquette $14.50



Grilled salmon with soy caramelised vegetables with yuzu sauce was quite a refreshing dish. After all that katsu it was good to eat some chunky vegetables and also little cubed pieces of carrots and potatoes soaked in yuzu sauce. The salmon was lovely and the yuzu sauce simply irresistable. Can't go wrong with yuzu!


Salmon yuzu gomoku $20.50

What was funny was the table next to us. The guy ordered a plate of karaage chicken to eat by himself and when it arrived, there was a shocked expression on his face...what the? the dish is HUMUNGOUS!! Hence we ordered one ourselves hahhaha

The batter was light and the pieces were not oil at all. AND they used only chicken thigh fillet!! yummmm, no rough breast meat =) There were 8 very big pieces of chicken marinated in homemade soy miso sauce, so if you love your chicken karaage this is the ultimate indulgence.



Yachiyo chicken karaage $17.80

This place seriously knows their Katsu!


Katsu Yachiyo
208 Devonshire St
Surry Hills
Tel- 02 9690 2424
http://www.yachiyo.com.au/katsu/