Zenya Noodle Bar - Eastwood

Zenya Noodle Bar - Japanese

It's a Sunday night and today I'm at Eastwood to have dinner with family. It is basically China due to the large amounts of Asian people wandering the street and dining at restaurants. I decide to go to Zenya as I've heard good things from other food bloggers that have visited.

The restaurant is extremely busy and jam-packed. We manage to get a table for four but have to squash in 5 people. Dishes do take quite a bit of time to arrive but they definitely make up for it with taste.

  

Chicken Katsu Bento Box - $17.80

The bento box is huge and contains a variety of traditional Japanese foods. I start with the takoyaki and it is DIVINE. Melting in my mouth, they are soft and packed with flavour. The insides are completely filled unlike some takoyaki I have tried which were almost hollow. Both the sashimi and seaweed were great but the servings were small and I would've loved more. The salad was decent but the sauce was a bit too sour. Ahhh now comes the almighty CHICKEN. You can tell its just been fried and not microwaved from a frozen box. It's so juicy and crispy and simply delicious. There is a generous serving to compliment the rice and the star of the dish. I would've preferred a different sauce as the sauce provided was a too sweet.

Seared Cha-Shu Donburi - $13.80

Another great dish. Great presentation with even better taste. The Japanese mayo is always a standout and it is no surprise that it is great here too. The meat is slightly seared giving it a nice charred taste but not too burnt either. It is very tender and has quite a bit of fat on it. I love the half-cooked egg but expected at least a whole one. The vegetables accompany the meal well but the ginger was an extreme letdown. I didn't know what it was at first and took a bite of it with rice but i immediately spat it out as ginger is just too strong.

Sho-yu Ramen - $10.80

Zenya is known for its noodles but the ramen is not much of a standout. It is decent but did not live up to my expectations. Ramen Ikkyu certainly outclasses this but for $10.80 it's still a pretty good choice. There wasn't too much meat or bamboo shoots so in the end i was left with noodles and broth.

The whole meal

I didn't write about the other two ramen dishes as they were quite similar. A great meal for a good price at Zenya! Zenya Noodle Bar is a great restaurant located in Eastwood serving authentic Japanese food, which I recommend for any small occasion on a night or day out.