Maedaya
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Friday, January 17, 2014
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Furnished with black walls, wooden features and thick ropes stretching across the ceiling, Maedaya brings a modern spin to izakaya style dining. Known for their touch screen menu ordering system and affordably priced bite-sized dishes - this has got to be one of my favourite ways of eating as you can taste more dishes in one sitting.
Edamame
We start the night with Edamame, popping out the little suckers straight into our mouths, repeating this endlessly until the whole bowl was finished.
Maedaya Tsukune Set
Piping hot off the grill came our Maedaya Tsukune Set - 5 skewers, 15 chicken balls for 4 hungry mouths. Drizzled in 5 different sauces (garlic crumbs, black pepper, nanami chilli pepper, spicy miso mayo and wasabi mayo), one was not enough as it was devoured far too quickly. Luckily there was enough of these flame-licked skewers to go around.
Avocado Roll
A long plate held plump pillows of rice, rolled inside out with a cream cheese and lobster salad, topped with delicate slices of avocado. Immensely fond of sushi, this was right up my alley.
Cold Soba Salad
Nestled on a bed of fresh greens, the seductively slippery soba splashed with plum soy provided a healthy bite and was perfect to pass around and share with everyone.
Veggie Chips
We also ordered a mixed platter of Veggie Chips to nibble on, consisting of renkon lotus root chips, burdock root chips and carrot chips with a creamy avocado dip. Simple, yet full of crunch and flavour. The renkon chips were the clear winner, followed closely by the crispy carrot chips.
Yaki Buta
The Yaki Buta, more commonly known as Char Sui was magical - slow cooked and incredibly soft. The tender and fatty pork literally melted as it touched my tongue, just like magic.
Agedashi Tofu
Agedashi Tofu is a dish I order without fail, and is a dish that is usually done well. Decorated with grated daikon and spring onion, I had to admit I didn't enjoy Maedaya's version as much as I had hoped - with the broth lacking in depth, and the tofu on the firmer side.
Takoyaki
Lavished with kewpie mayo and takoyaki sauce, these Takoyaki balls remained crispy on the outside and plump on the inside till demolished. With a little more octopus, these could possibly be renamed amaze balls.
Gyu-Don
The last dish of the night was my favourite of the night. A bed of fluffy rice topped with thin slices of tender beef and onions simmered in a sweet dashi based broth. The rice thirstily soaked up the rich broth, juicing up the rice with flavour. Decorated with pickled ginger and sliced spring onion, this donburi was filling, comforting and most importantly, extremely tasty.
Japanese is slowly creeping up on me, becoming one of my favourite cuisines and seeming to be always at the top of mind now. There is just something so enchanting about their style of cooking, where quality ingredients are crafted and showcased in such a humble yet exciting manner.
Maedaya completely charmed my pants off. The flavours, presentation and food itself ticked all the right boxes, and was further highlighted with attentive service and lively atmosphere. It would be safe to say that I would highly recommend Maedaya in a heartbeat. Run, don't walk.
Maedaya
400 Bridge Road
Richmond, VIC
Maedaya
400 Bridge Road
Richmond, VIC
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