On a recent trip to Melbourne, Australia last month, Lisa and I were treated to a new (for us) style of Japanese eating called izakaya. Izakaya in Japan were originally street-food stalls or carts for quick-snacking or drinking. These days they are more like taverns, with retro-rustic décor or stylish high-end lounges. Drinking and eating Japanese small plates, often at communal tables is the essence of the experience. Melbourne currently has five ‘izakaya’ destinations, and the one we visited was En Izakay in Carlisle St, Balaclava, an up and coming food neighborhood in the food-obsessed city of Melbourne.
En Izakay is welcoming and stylish. The menu is dotted with unusual ingredients such as the yam-like konnyaku root (also known as devil's tongue and voodoo lily) and ao-ogo seaweed. There are interesting combinations too, such as nori-wrapped tofu, ricotta and olive spring rolls, or that ao-ogo used in a salad with wakame and akanori seaweeds, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and, somewhat oddly, saganaki cheese.
Honey is also used extensively here to dress oven-baked cod, marinate ox tongue before it is barbecued, or to accompany soy and mirin in the cooking gravy for braised pork belly. We sampled the tongue and the pork belly. Delicious.
The must-have dish here is the oven-baked tofu and eggplant. Thic
k slices of both are placed together to create a mouthful of slippery textures. The tofu's interior is almost custardy, the eggplant creamy, with the sweet pungency of white miso. It's like taking that classic of baked eggplant (nasu dengaku), stripping away the skin and adding another layer of soft, textural excitement. I highly recommend it. We drank an aromatic reisling with our meal that was a perfect match. Next time you’re in Melbourne, go there! Enjoy,
Melissa
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