Haymarket, Yumei

When I need a place to eat, I have a habit of asking a certain friend as she is more interested in exploring different cafes/restaurants than my other friends. So when I asked for a Japanese place in the city, she was quick to shout "Yumei" in Haymarket. The selling point of this restaurant was "it's like Koba Jones but cheaper" and boy was she right.

It's located inside capital square on ground level between an irish pub and a korean restaurant. Talk about multicultural...

There were five of us and the deal was each was to pick a dish (with everyone agreeing to it). Normally when we eat out as a group, my idea is that everyone picks at least one dish, that way there's more than enough to go around and there's at least one that you'd like.

The first dish ordered was Californian Roll. Normally not my choice of dish as it's too American-ised and its full of crabsticks...but this dish is different to those you'd get in take-away sushi shops. The crabsticks are shredded then mixed with mayo (anything with mayo is GOOD), then rolled with avocado and finely sliced cucumber. A dish worth ordering.

California Rolls

We ordered the small mixed sashimi dish to share between the five of us. I've only recently acquired the taste for salmon sashimi and now, I can always finish off a huge plate of sashimi. So I was slightly disappointed when my share of sashimi was only a few pieces. They weren't the freshest sashimi though it's really hard to find fresh sashimi anywhere. The oyster was a nice touch though.

Mixed Platter Sashimi

The spider roll is one that's becoming quite popular. I remember first trying deep fried soft shell crab in Chatswood and one of our diners had a huff about how it's illegal to catch crabs that are shedding its shell. I'm guessing the laws have changed for their actually breeding soft shell crabs?

Spider Rolls

This dish was the highlight of the trip. Biting through the perfectly cooked rice then getting the crunchiness of the crab. It wasn't oily either, especially for a deepfried dish. It's lightly seasoned and not overpowering, allowing the nori taste to come through too. Perfect.

Being a group of seafood lovers, the tempura prawns are a must. And mum's theory for a Japanese restaurant is that, if they can do good tempura (no excess batter, no oil dripping) then they're a good Japanese restaurant.
This restaurant must be a good Japanese restaurant as their tempuras were not as oily as some places. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside..and being dipped in that glorious tempura sauce, what more could you ask for? I would travel all the way into the city just to have a basket of tempura prawns again.

Tempura Prawns

The next dish, which I tried but didn't like was the teriyaki salmon. A bad dish to pick, I think, though I am not much of a cooked salmon eater. Don't get me wrong, I'll still order a panfried salmon dish anyday but this dish has a typical overcooked salmon taste. Hard to describe but you'll understand it when you've hard overcooked salmon. The sauce is standard, similar to bottled teriyaki sauce. Nothing special for this dish.

Teriyaki Salmon

All in all, this place was worth the trek into the city (only one of our diners live in the city).

Capitol Square

Level Ground, Shop G09

730 - 742 George St,

Haymarket