Bon Sushi, Royal Oak, Victoria

It's been a long week, made longer by a Saturday morning in the office testing some code because this is not my full time job.  I say that with the conceit that most people reading this don't know me in real life, when I realize that my regular readers are friends and family (hi Mum!), with a scattering of people linked in from Urbanspoon and Google searches.

So for those people, on with the review.  I pulled off into the Royal Oak plaza for something to eat, and recalled there was a Sushi place there.  Perfect to keep me going for the day.  I duck in through the rear entrance, and am guided from the pick up area to a small table next to the cashier desk, handed a menu and left alone to decide.

My normal sushi choices at a place I haven't been before is BC Roll and Katsu Don.  No BC roll here, and no close equivalent that doesn't involve cream cheese.  Instead I order two pieces of Salmon Nigiri and two pieces of Tuna Nigiri, with their Katsu Don.

The nigiri is a large slice of fish, draped over a small block of rice arranged so it almost hides the white grains.  It's a long thin diamond shape, not too thick and the cut runs across the muscle, which makes sushi feel interesting in the mouth, as well as given more taste.   The cuts were fresh, and worked well with the light soy sauce provided.  The rice was was cooked just right, not too sticky, not too hard.  Very good indeed.

The Katsu Don was not served how I expected it.  I am used to a large bowl of rice, with some breaded pork cutlet, an egg and a few bits of fried onion.  Maybe a little bit of steak sauce dumped on top, or a teriyaki sauce squirted in lines over the sliced cutlet.

Here it was plated up, with a smaller pile of rice on one half of the plate, just enough to hide under the cutlet, which was a good sized piece of meat.  On the other side of the plate was a heap of greens and three yellowy slices of pickled something (beets, perhaps?), and a little ramekin of a gingery, thick vinaigrette.  The cutlet was topped with a good amount of the light brown steak sauce common to Japanese restaurants.  And it was good.  Cooked so it was still moist and tender on the inside, but with plenty of crunch on the outside, I was disappointed when I finished the last bite, even though I was satiated.  The salad made a nice counter point to the rich, savoury meat, with a crisp bite, added to by the dressing and the crunchy, acid of the pickles.

I was at first disappointed that I was given a knife and fork, but you know what?  It made it far easier for me to eat, and enjoy, and not make a mess everywhere.  With a bowl, one can lift it to your mouth and scoop in the rice.  Not so easy with a plate.

I also liked a couple of nice little touches here.  The green tea was softer and less harsh than some genmaicha (roasted rice and green leaf) teas I have had.  Refreshing and gentle.  I also liked the chopstick rest, which made it easier to manage your cutlery while chewing over the Nigiri.

Service was fair, they seemed to have forgotten about me at one point, despite there being four tables and two servers.  But once they recalled the guy hiding behind the plants next to the cashier desk, all was well.   Certainly would go back again for a longer meal.  Pleasantly surprised.