iMasticate

Our usual midweek takeaway joints are starting to feel really dull, so we ventured out to Bullcreek to grab dinner from Kai Japanese. As promised by other bloggers, the restaurant is tiny and it was a relief not to try and squeeze in amongst other diners. Instead, we waited in the car for about 15 minutes to keep warm as they prepared our food.

Easy to walk past without noticing the restaurant

The dine-in menu looks more exciting, but there are certain bento boxes that are takeaway only. We selected two bento boxes and two sushi sets, which fed three people for about $40. Good value!

Karaage Chicken Bento ($8.80)

We hurried home before our karaage chicken became soggy. There was an impressively large serving of chicken with chilli Japanese mayo. The sauce was quite mild, but tasted great! There’s also a wedge of lemon, a few pickles and too much sticky sushi rice. The chicken was tasty and filling, but I’m used to bento boxes with more variety so when I needed to mix things up, I picked at the sushi set.

Mixed Sushi (~$10.50)

Our mixed sushi was colourful and well-prepared, except for one piece of salmon which had a small silver piece of skin attached. The raw salmon and tuna were reasonably fresh.

Summary 
Likes: cheap and tasty Japanese takeaway

Dislikes: waiting in the car with a hungry tummy

Value for money: great

Overall: we’ll return to dine-in and try the ramen!

Contact
Address:
Shop 4, 110 Parry Ave
Bull Creek WA

(08) 9332 0388

———EDIT——— 18 January 2013

A few short weeks after our takeaway fromKai, we waited 15 minutes to dine-in atKai.On our second visit, we were super keen to try the ramen!

We ordered a small green tea to share between three of us. It is my favourite green tea, genmaicha sencha, which has toasted rice inside.

Tonkotsu ($9.80)

A large bowl of egg noodles in pork broth with roast pork, spring onions, pickled ginger, some kind of fungus, garlic infused oil, sesame garnish, and a boiled egg. Huge serving for the price and the broth was quite tasty, but we were disappointed that the roast pork was dry rather than tender and slippery.

Chashu Ramen ($9.80)

This egg noodle soup was served with a soy sauce flavoured broth and more roast pork. I left the bamboo shoots and egg for my brother, simply enjoying the mouthfuls of noodles, spring onions, and soup!

Sushi “for Salmon Lovers”

One of my dining companions selected a healthier option, with a variety of sushi rolls and sushi nigiri with fresh salmon. He seemed to enjoy it, but he was still a little peckish after finishing his dish.

Beef Fillet Tataki ($12.50)

The beef fillet was tender and accompanied by a generous serving of salad with an unusual dressing (possibly miso-based). There were plenty of raw onion slivers and spring onions, plus a few garlic chips, but I was disappointed this dish was not served with a vinaigrette (like the beef tataki at Kabuki).

We enjoyed our meal despite the small hang-ups and the prices are very reasonable, so we’ll be back!