Having eaten the complimentary canapes at the hotel just recently, I didn’t feel I needed a starter – I wanted to leave enough room to have dessert! But Jac was eager to try Toraya’s beef carpaccio (AU$13.50). In most Japanese restaurants this would probably be called “tataki” rather than carpaccio.

The beef was tender and delicious, sliced thinly so it melted in the mouth. I couldn’t resist eating a couple of slices. The beef had been drizzled with wasabi, and eating a slice of beef and wasabi with a little of the marinated seaweed and sliced red onion made a perfect mouthful. You know, I think I’m growing more tolerant of wasabi as I get older.

For her main course, Jac ordered the assorted sashimi (AU$24). It came with raw tuna, salmon, very thinly sliced white fish and plump pearls of fish roe, along with a steamed prawn with its tail still on, and very lightly grilled scallop and squid. To me, it didn’t seem like enough food for a main course, but Jac loves sashimi and seemed quite happy.

For my main course I ordered the grilled chicken (AU$25). I was thrilled when this dish was placed before me. On it were two chicken thighs smothered in sesame and miso sauce, a cauliflower salad, three slices of golden fried potato on which I could see sprinkles of salt and black pepper, and a bowl of steamed rice garnished with black sesame seeds (my workmates call the black sesame garnish “mouse poo!” :P) That sesame and miso sauce smelled absolutely gorgeous!

The chicken thighs were enormous! They were juicy and succulent and just wonderful to eat. Regular readers will know I love lotus root, and I was thrilled to see two fried lotus root chips as garnish on top of the chicken.

The cauliflower was deliciously tender. More and more I have been enjoying cooked cauliflower served as a side salad with meat. The two discs of sliced cherry tomato added a splash of colour to the otherwise dull-looking cauliflower (I love cauliflower, but it is a rather bland-looking vegetable after all).

After our main course dishes were cleared, it was time to order dessert! Jac was keen to try the sweet potato cakes served with ice cream (AU$10). The sweet potato cakes were battered and deep-fried, served fresh and hot with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with syrup. The sweet potato cakes had been made with glutinous rice flour (edit: they were mochi-style rice cakes) so they had a delicious chewy texture beneath their crispy golden exterior. I love the combination of freshly-deep-fried-hot and cold.

We also ordered the dessert special – house-made creme caramel (AU$4). Our waiter told us that the creme caramel is very soft and is served in its container, rather than turned out onto the plate. That sounded just fine to me!

The sweet potato cake was a pleasure to eat for its crisp exterior and chewy interior; the creme caramel was a perfect complement, with no biting or chewing necessary! It was gorgeously soft and wobbly. Jac said it tasted just like eating cream! I was glad it was a small serve – it was extremely rich. We finished every scrap of this luxuriously creamy custard.