Harajuku Gyoza
Gyoza, or in English, edible purses filled with happiness.
Harajuku Gyoza is located 2 minutes from Kings Cross Station, and right next door to the previously-reviewed Kazbah - golden location. Without building up the anticipation for a smashing review too much, let me just say that it was disappointing. I feel betrayed by the happy little gyoza cartoon figure. Everything about its adorable face says 'Eat me! I'm authentic! I'm delicious! You can't go wrong here!!' when the subtext was more like 'My cute smile tries to distract you from the fact that many other restaurants serve better gyoza and ramen, and my wait staff will try to pass off beer about to go off in a month as 'special beer'!'
The main event is, of course, gyoza. At Harajuku Gyoza, you can pick between poached gyoza or pan seared gyoza. We picked poached pork and pan seared duck gyozas, except I couldn't tell any difference at all between the flavours or the appearances of the two types of meat. The only difference, as far as my taste-buds were concerned, was that they over-poached the poached version and thus the skin became soggy.
Were they awful? No. They were reasonably delicious, but when you call yourself 'Harajuku Gyoza', your gyoza'd better be freakin' amazing, not unoffensive. One thing I didn't like about the gyozas in particular is their liberal use of spring onion to bring out the flavour, leaving a nasty after taste for hours after the meal.
The ramen is also nothing to write home about. In fact, I have had better ramen nearly everywhere else I've been to. In a city that also includes legendary ramen houses such as Ryo's, the broth of this soup tasted artificial and insincere. The egg had a very strange, overly-sweet taste. The noodles were of a good, bouncy texture; but that's little comfort when the soup is disappointing.
My favourite part of the meal was the dipping sauce - which I blended myself using their suggestion - two part soy sauce, one part white vinegar. I ended up having to dip the noodles of the ramen into this concoction because the ramen soup was awful.
Score: 1.5 / 5
I do think my disappointment had something to do with the fact that I had been looking forward to trying Harajuku Gyoza for quite a while. Still, I'm giving it a fail score because honestly, there are many, many other eateries with much better gyozas and ramen, bring the score down to 2. I'm also taking an extra 0.5 marks off for them serving beer that goes off in a month - I have come to expect 'special' to mean introducing something or promoting something for you to try; not an attempt to pass off soon-to-be-expired food (they should have at least been honest and open about that).
Cost: gyozas range between $8-9; ramen / rice dishes around $14; bits and bobs between $5 - $13. You can get better Japanese fare for cheaper in the city.
Address: 9-15 Bayswater Road, Potts Point, NSW 2011 Sydney
Website: http://harajukugyoza.com/
Harajuku Gyoza is located 2 minutes from Kings Cross Station, and right next door to the previously-reviewed Kazbah - golden location. Without building up the anticipation for a smashing review too much, let me just say that it was disappointing. I feel betrayed by the happy little gyoza cartoon figure. Everything about its adorable face says 'Eat me! I'm authentic! I'm delicious! You can't go wrong here!!' when the subtext was more like 'My cute smile tries to distract you from the fact that many other restaurants serve better gyoza and ramen, and my wait staff will try to pass off beer about to go off in a month as 'special beer'!'
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| My Wall of Cute Plates will also try to distract you. |
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| The Offending Beer |
The main event is, of course, gyoza. At Harajuku Gyoza, you can pick between poached gyoza or pan seared gyoza. We picked poached pork and pan seared duck gyozas, except I couldn't tell any difference at all between the flavours or the appearances of the two types of meat. The only difference, as far as my taste-buds were concerned, was that they over-poached the poached version and thus the skin became soggy.
Were they awful? No. They were reasonably delicious, but when you call yourself 'Harajuku Gyoza', your gyoza'd better be freakin' amazing, not unoffensive. One thing I didn't like about the gyozas in particular is their liberal use of spring onion to bring out the flavour, leaving a nasty after taste for hours after the meal.
 |
| Ramen! Are you Excited? Don't be. |
My favourite part of the meal was the dipping sauce - which I blended myself using their suggestion - two part soy sauce, one part white vinegar. I ended up having to dip the noodles of the ramen into this concoction because the ramen soup was awful.
Score: 1.5 / 5
I do think my disappointment had something to do with the fact that I had been looking forward to trying Harajuku Gyoza for quite a while. Still, I'm giving it a fail score because honestly, there are many, many other eateries with much better gyozas and ramen, bring the score down to 2. I'm also taking an extra 0.5 marks off for them serving beer that goes off in a month - I have come to expect 'special' to mean introducing something or promoting something for you to try; not an attempt to pass off soon-to-be-expired food (they should have at least been honest and open about that).
Cost: gyozas range between $8-9; ramen / rice dishes around $14; bits and bobs between $5 - $13. You can get better Japanese fare for cheaper in the city.
Address: 9-15 Bayswater Road, Potts Point, NSW 2011 Sydney
Website: http://harajukugyoza.com/
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