Yu-U Japanese, Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Descend a small, dimly lit flight of stairs and you enter a stunning open expanse that is dominated by a wooden counter that encases the open kitchen. The wood glows under the discreet but intense spot light. When your eyes adjust, you see a another couple of stand alone wooden tables, each seats about eight.

Toko Restaurant & Bar, Surry Hills

Yakitori chicken

I've heard high praise for Toko and there's a buzz around about this place, almost to the point where I felt I wasn't a proper Sydney food blogger unless I've done Toko. 

Sushi on Stanley

It's been ages since we ate here, usually for Sunday lunch we've been going for the cheap and fast Big Boys Thai.  But I had a craving for Japanese Eel meal, so we went to Sushi on Stanley; a little eatery on Stanley Street.

We haven't been there for a while, but today it was obvious that it's changed hands. The new owners were Koreans.  Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, there seems to be more staff and more attention to customers.

My eel meal came with miso, rice, salad, prawn and vegetable tempura and two slices of eel.  Not bad for $13 dollars, but maybe more a case of quantity rather than quality.  Can't put my finger on it, but even the eel didn't have the taste that I was expecting.  The tempura, always light in flavour, verged on having none at all.

Walter had the chicken and fried dumplings which was ok.

Good value, good service, but nothing to write home about.