Todays food review is about…

MASUYA!

I have such a fond spot for Masuya. Granted this is only the second time I've been here… and after at least 7 years as well... STORY TIME!!!!

There is this girl: Jasmine is my best friend, and longest friend. We've known each other since kindergarten and growing up all these years I can tell you... we are so made for each other 😍 For some reason we have the same birthday month only being 2 days apart, J is next to K in the alphabet (fate), and we even managed to end up at both the same high school and university. We'll probably end up working for the same company or something when we graduate who knows! Anyway some time in Year 8, her family invited me to have a special celebratory birthday dinner with Jasmine. I remember my mom making a big deal out of it because she was like why would you take a 13 year old to a fancy restaurant??? Thnx mother! 

I was really nervous and excited for this dinner because I was the biggest J-Pop fan back then and really keen to eat some awesome Japanese food from the awesome Japanese culture. I had also never had anything like this except food court sushi involving teriyaki chicken. So we arrived there it was so nice. Jasmine's mom ordered so much food! There was udon, tempura, rice, sushi and the signature famous sashimi boat. Okay now remember I was 13 and I had only ever eaten teriyaki food court sushi and now I had to take my first bite of .. raw fish. I didn't even know this was a thing. So many questions running through my head - is it cooked? Is this safe? Am I going to get worms? I was so not used to it and I found it all weird and warm and slimy and fishy and… it. was. the. worst. I was eating around the whole sashimi boat, taking my time with the udon and nibbling on some tempura and by the time everyone was done there was still a few pieces of tuna sashimi still on the boat and Jasmine's family looks at me and says, you're the birthday girl you HAVE to eat the last few pieces. Oh my lord. I didn't want to seem ungrateful and I remember wanting to cry as I chewed on the sashimi and prayed the fishy taste would disappear faster 😱 😱 😱

…

……..

Since then I've gotten over the weirdness of eating raw fish. I actually really love sashimi now. YAAAAY! It's such a delicacy. But to be honest to this day I still don't like tuna sashimi in particular. However this experience was very dear to me when I look back for being such a gateway to exploring food out of my comfort zone. Thank you Jasmine & family, and thank you Masuya. I am a more adventurous food lover thanks you all 💖

After 7 years of not hearing about Masuya and forgetting all about it, it pops up on my Instagram feed because my friend Selina ordered and posted about *drumroll* the sashimi boat!! 

This was at the time Francis' cousins - Isaac, Cassandra, and Cathy came over from the Philippines for a vacation and I had promised them a little foodie tour. I heard Cassandra liked sushi so Selina's instagram pic instantly got me reaching for the Zomato app and checking out how Masuya was doing. Still good? 4.5/5 - that is an amazing score for a place on Zomato (people on there be real harsh you know)!! Then still would definitely be our first stop! 

Together with Francis, his brother Anthony and the cousins we all met up at Wynyard station. 

Masuya is a pretty short walk from there (and also from the office where I used to work)!

You will see the black Masuya sign as you walk towards its location however DOWNSTAIRS to the basement level is where you will need to further walk to enter the restaurant. I saw a review saying that it gets really busy during lunch and dinner so one should book. I called Masuya 30 minutes before we got there and it was really easy to get a booking. Probably a quiet day!

Walking into Masuya… soooo much ~NOSTALGIA~

I think this place looks exactly the same as I remember it, only a tad smaller because now I'm a little bit taller and not so intimidated hehe. They also have this massive 5m sushi counter full of fresh looking cuts of seafood. Sorry I didn't get any pictures!

Sorry Mr. Business-man-in-my-shot

The service was instantly very friendly as expected in a Japanese eatery!

We walked in and I was like "Hello I have a book-" and the waitress was like *all smiles* "Kim?"

They seated us immediately, got us some table water, and menu's all around. 

The menu's have really nice photos of most meals!

It was very awkward because there was 6 of us and we ended up only ordering two plates of assorted sushi/sashimi and I didn't know how to explain this food tour activity to the waitress so I just smiled and said "That's all thank you" 🙊

Sushi Aussie $24.80

'Combination of traditional & modern sushi nigiri and sushi rolls'

- What is Sushi Aussie? I'll admit it looked a bit more Aussie on the menu because the prawns pictured where very whole, shelled and cooked a nice bright orange but these prawns were very typical Japanese shrimp nigiri

- The sushi rice is a bit more vinegary than we are all used to

- The salmon and seared salmon nigiri were all melt-in-your-mouth goodness

- The tamago was sweet and a nice touch

- Overall this plate was simple and delicious, it really had a bit of everyones favourites!

Sushi Tsukiji $24.80

'Sushi lovers choice made using local fish of the day as well as seasonal sea urchin, tuna & salmon'

- Oooh the much more sophisticated looking plate between the two

- I had the kanpachi (yellow tail) nigiri and it was nice, with a really subtle sweetness

- Anthony was the *lucky* one who got to try the sea urchin gunkan and he said it was horrible tasting HAHAHHAA I wonder about that! I will have to try it some day

Awkward leaving after only having two platters. I think we made them think that we didn't like their food! But I enjoyed the sushi here and it was really nice to visit again~ 💕

Check out our next stop at Jamies' Italian! (Review and link coming soon)

TL;DR:

Price: Expensive but worth!

Quality: Fresh and delish

Service: Typical friendly and professional Japanese

Ambience: Has both an air of casualness and yet, fanciness