Dopa by Devon

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I knew I could trust Dopa when I saw it it is brought to us by the good people of Devon - one of my favourite brunch destinations in Sydney. Specialising in donburi (Japanese rice-bowl dish) and Asian-inspired desserts, Dopa is quick, simple and delicious. 

The menu at Dopa ranges from the cheap and cheery ($13 for a simple chicken bowl) to the fancy (there is a $88 bowl featuring wagyu steak, tongue, foie gras, soft egg and white truffle and truffle agadashi tofu). Although the fancy bowls sound pretty mouth-watering, I don't know if I would actually order the expensive menu items - mainly because the vibe of Dopa is so casual, and you have to serve yourself, so it feels a bit odd to be going ultra-luxe there. 

Cheeseburger Donburi set, $17

A playful marriage between a Japanese classic (the donburi) and an all-American staple, the cheeseburger donburi is wonderfully enjoyable, filling and just ever-so-slightly naughty. The patty tastes lovely and rich, slightly pink in the middle, with a slice of good old American cheese melted over the top and drizzled with tomato sauce and burger sauce. It is accompanied by seaweed and an onsen egg, a top a slightly warm bowl of sushi rice. If I had to choose between a burger and this, I would certainly choose this (this comment does not apply to specialty burgers, of course. The Rockpool burger, which is my favourite burger of all time, springs to mind as an exception to this rule. Bar Luca and Bonditony's burgers would also beat the cheeseburger Donburi, I think).

Eggplant and tofu donburi set, $17

The menu offers limited choices to vegetarians - one of the two I could find is the vegetable donburi, which features crumbed eggplants and Asian greens, drizzled with teriyaki sauce. If you order the set, you also get a side of seaweed salad, some pickled vegetables and miso soup. The miso soup is pretty stock-standard, the seaweed salad a little bland, but the pickled vegetables are moreish and pairs perfectly with the rice. 

Murasaki-imo Shibuya Toast, $14.90

In Japanese, marasaki means "purple" and imo means "potato". It is specialty of Okinawa, and differs slightly from ube, the other type of purple potato, because while the ube is dark-skinned and puple-fleshed, the marasaki-imo is usually purple-skinned and white-fleshed. A shibuya toast is a cube of toast that is topped with ice-cream and all the sweet goodness. Although it might sound a bit strange to have toast as dessert, it really works! The buttery, warm toast melts the ice-cream slightly and then soaks up the liquid, and tempers the flavour a bit so that the dessert is not overly sweet. The dessert is further enhanced with sweet shipped cream, berries, sweet potato crisps and murasaki-imo flavoured biscuit crumbles. The interplay of textures makes this one complex and satisying dessert. 

Score: 3.5/5
Cost: usually around $25-$35 would get you a good feed, but of course, you could also go all out and order the super-bowls. 
Address: Dopa is a franchise so there are a couple of them around, the one we visited is in Darling Square. Shop 5/6, 2 Little Hay St, Haymarket NSW 2000



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