Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi, Neutral Bay

My brother & I have a lot of trouble deciding on where to go out for dinner. Especially for special occasions. When he finally decided on visiting Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi for his birthday dinner, I was surprised and very excited. I'd been wanting to go here for so long, after hearing so many good things about it on Here Comes the Food. The main thing keeping me away was the price, it's a little bit on the expensive side of Japanese restaurants in Sydney, and I had been saving most of my splurges for Ju-Rin. But you know what, I think this might be even better than Ju-Rin.

I was a little confused when we walked past the door that looked like the entrance to the restaurant, until my brother explained to me that it's is actually split into two sections - Ju Ge Mu is the okonomiyaki & teppanyaki restaurant and Shimbashi is the buckwheat noodle house. We were going to Shimbashi tonight, which has a more traditional decor, including regular tables and also the low tables where you remove your shoes. They were nearly full so we were only able to book a low table, but it was impressive watching the waitresses throughout the night, their balancing skills while pouring tea and serving dishes was awesome!

Soba Dips [Special] ($6.00) - Soba chips served with sashimi dip

We get some of the soba chips to start off with, and are surprised when they aren't actually noodle shaped like we expected. They taste SO GOOD though. Like an extremely fancy Dorito but with a much more interesting flavour. The sashimi dip that it comes with is absolutely delicious, a mash of salmon sashimi with mayo and lots of other tasty things. We seriously contemplate getting another serve of this, but hold off since we ordered quite a lot of food.

Oh my god, I want more!

As another starter, we order the fish tartare salad from the starter menu and are gleeful to realise that the tartare is very similar to the sashimi dip above, and comes with more soba chips! The tartare is slightly chunkier, less creamy than the dip, but just as moreish.

Fish Tartare Salad - Fish tartare & seaweed salad with Yuzu miso dressing ($18.00)

The seaweed salad is nice, tons of different types of seaweed, way better than the deceiving seaweed salad at Ju-Rin (which is basically just a green leaf salad with nori). It comes with a refreshing yuzu miso dressing and a teeny tiny smear of Japanese mustard on the lip of the plate.

Aburi Sushi ($28.00) - Today's selection of lightly seared 9pcs sushi

We couldn't pass up the aburi sushi, I love my sushi when it is lightly seared. This is one expensive, sparse plate of sushi though. Like I mentioned before, Shimbashi isn't cheap. But it was worth it I think, each piece of was lovingly crafted, with it's own matching condiment on top, some were wasabi, mustard or mayo, or daikon radish. Everything was beautiful quality and a delicious morsel that fit in your mouth in one bite. It was hard to share this plate between 4 people though, we couldn't decide who should have what, especially when there was only 1 piece of a certain fish. My brother got the cuttlefish to himself but he said it was one of the best he had ever had.

Bonito flakes & seaweed

There is an entirely separate menu just for the okonomiyaki, so we know that we have to order one. They warn us that it takes a bit longer for them to make this, I think it was something like half an hour, but trust me it is TOTALLY worth the wait. It is so freakin' good. And make sure you get the extra cheese for $2.00. We waited with anticipation, playing with the tin of bonito flakes and seaweed that they give you to add on top of your okonomiyaki.

Country Mix Special ($18.00) - Okonomiyaki with calimari, sliced potatoes, Mochi & crispy potatoes (with added Cheese $2.00)

It was really hard to pick which one to get, but we decided to go with the Country Mix Special, enticed by the sound of the potatoes and calimari. The mochi is the only thing I'm not too certain about, and truthfully it probably didn't need it. As expected it was quite sticky and very heavy when you got a big glob of mochi, but otherwise it was heavenly. The layers of potatoes, with gooey bits of cheese oozing between it...it was sexy. And of course all that sauce and mayo on top in it's pretty patterns, it was utter food porn on a plate.

As you can imagine, this is a very filling dish. And it's a hard dish to follow, so we are all rather disappointed by the grilled beef tongue skewers that come out next. I think I prefer my tongue sliced a little thinner, since this one is quite thick and tough, so you can really feel that tongue texture as you chew into it. However, there is some nice charring on the outside and the marinade is tasty.

Grilled beef tongue ($10.00) - 2 skewes of grilled beef tongue marinated in white miso

As well as having a huge selection of okonomiyaki, they also have a large range of soba/udon selections. They are a buckwheat noodle house after all. We were hoping to get the one on the specials menu which cake with half plain buckwheat and half lemon flavoured soba, but unfortunately they were all sold out. Instead our whole table decided to try the cold soba noodles with the warm duck & Japanese mushroom broth. I would recommend sharing a large serve of the soba between two people, since they conveniently split the serving into two separate trays, avoiding the hassle of two people bending over the same bowl. Below shows you how big a half of a large serving is.

Komo & Kinoki Seiro Soba ($23.00) - Cold noodles served with warm duck & Japanese mushrooms dipping broth

The soba is nothing like the packet soba I've had in the past. It has such an amazing, rough texture, which is perfect for picking up the deliciously rich dipping broth. I don't think I can ever go back to eating regular packet soba again. I am quite happy to slurp this up very loudly.

Dipping broth

The broth is intense, concentrated with the flavour from the duck meat and all the different types of mushrooms. I absolutely adore mushrooms, especially all the Japanese varieties, and have gobbled them up straight away. When we have finished all our noodles and chunky bits from the broth, they bring us a little jug of soba water, which you add to the leftover broth until it is light enough that you can sip at it, as a cleansing hot soup. It's the perfect way to finish of the meal.

Soba-ya (Soba water)

All of us are supremely satisfied with our meal, and I am quite happy to fork over the $50 or so a head that we ended up spending. In the end we spent about the same as what I would spend at Ju-Rin, and had quite a lot of food. Of course the bill would have blown out to a lot more if we had gotten more of the sushi and sashimi, they seem to be a bit over-priced here. But the okonomiyaki, soba chips and the soba were so worth it, I am already dying to go back.