After getting disastrously lost in South Melbourne (it’s one of my personal Bermuda Triangles in the dark) and downing a glass of Nogne O Norwegian ale, I had the good fortune to visit nearby Pekopeko (not to be confused with this Peko Peko) for the first time. I’ve heard eatie-foodie buddy Alex highly recommend their pop chicken (me: you mean, like popcorn chicken, from *text scratched out of transcript*? Alex: NO! well, I mean yes, but it’s called POP chicken. me: ah, okay…*scratches head*) but also took a fancy to the offer of an entrée special of wasabi mayo sliced beef and so, it was ordered. No regrets.
Ever faithful DSLR wanker and dining buddy Tris had been here before and said the bento boxes were imperative. I wasn’t going to argue. I chose the pop chicken bento after Alex’s testimonial. The bento boxes come with steamed rice sprinkled with black sesame seeds, pickled green beans and tempura something – not sure if it’s pumpkin or sweet potato as the texture of both is very similar when deep fried in batter. As for the pop chicken – tastebud explosion. Tender, wonderfully seasoned chicken morsels with the lightest, crispiest batter. These people could put You-Know-Who out of business. They remind me of kara age and tatsuta age but sort of rolled into one. Indeed, Pekopeko is not strict Japanese fare but rather a fusion of Japanese and Taiwanese dishes and flavours. Give me more!
Tristan kindly took me up on my suggestion of ordering the five-spice squid. I mean, come on, lightly battered squid then sprinkled with five spice? How awesome does that sound? (I resisted the urge to use an interrobang there but it was damned hard.) This too was scoffed down at maximum speed – unlike my pop chicken which was scoffed down at maximum velocity (running late for a silent film screening with live music accompaniment round the corner so I had to nick my chicken morsels for consumption on the run). Back to the squid – more subtle seasoning and the squid wasn’t super-fresh but still extremely tasty. Again, the batter was fantastic.
I know I’ll have to visit again because I missed black sesame ice cream and Earl Grey pannacotta as dessert offerings. Oh to work in South Melbourne just so I could come here for lunchies (I’m told it is quite popular with the working locals). I will decimate you soon, my sweeties! With another bento beforehand, of course. The food is tasty and cheap and worth inventing excuses to head down for.
An old friend Sebas originally from Toulouse, France was back in Australia. I had met him in the days when my French was near-fluent (oh how I miss those days!) as a suffering uni student nearly a decade ago. He’d been in Melbourne for three months and we’d still not been able to catch up. Eventually, both of us got our shit together and paid a city izakaya a visit. Izakaya Chuji proudly boasts that it is the first izakaya in Melbourne and that it’s been in operation since 1989. That’s two years after I arrived here from England, so you know it’s been around a long time, hehe. The decor hinted at the eatery’s antiquity. I joked that they had the sort of comfy chairs that were perfectly at home in a badly funded arts department and belonged in your lecturer’s office at uni.
I was wildly picking out things to eat so ordering was deferred to me. I asked Sebas if there was anything he didn’t eat:
– No, I eat everything.
– Oh cool, even raw meat?
– Everything.
We all giggled. It’s always a relief when you’re going to be sharing dishes and everyone in your party is pretty much up for anything. It really adds to the enjoyment of a food outing, don’t you think?
Naturally, yukke was ordered.
Raw, marinated thinly sliced beef on a bed of similarly sliced cucumber, topped with a raw egg. Heavenly. I was pretty excited about this, as it was my first time having yukke. Tristan had been here before and thought it quite special. I’ve had beef tataki before which is also served raw but this is the traditional izakaya shit, yo. As we ate, Sebas told us about how in France you can get horsemeat tartare and how good it is. Don’t think horse as a meat is very popular here though?
Unlike my experience at Ichi Ni Izakaya, our waitress was only too happy to help me choose a sake suited to my taste. We ended up with a slightly sweet, cloudy Kizakura bottle to share. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Penny also had a bottle of it at her place the day after, purchased at the Good Food and Wine Show. Our waitress made a point of coming back after we polished off our bottle to check if we liked it which I thought rather sweet.
Next up, some takoyaki. While these were delicious, I’m used to them being crispier on the outside. I first had a gorgeous Japanese friend make these for me at her place many years ago and confess that that has become my standard against which subsequent takoyaki are measured. She was single-handedly responsible for converting me to the yumminess of octopus too.
I also chose some deep fried battered squid tentacles with wasabi mayonnaise for dipping. I might just lose the respect of my fellow food bloggers by admitting…that I prefer Ajisen Ramen’s incarnation of this dish! Will you still respect me?
It wasn’t all deep fried or meaty goodness. I did also insist upon a serving of horenso. How do the Japanese get a fairly bland vegetable to taste so good? Strict vegetarians might need to be careful with this dish as they often use bonito to season it.
After this first lot of dishes, we all sat and chatted for quite some time. Everyone was too polite to say they were still hungry – so I fixed that and outright admitted I could still go more food. By this time, our delicious sake was finished, so we ordered a flask of the house sake which is served warm. I was ploughing into that too quickly so I got some of the Tanuki Beer that I saw advertised on the wall. I mean, could you resist getting beer named after a Japanese mythical trickster that potentially has magical balls?
Magical balls aside, this malty, clean pilsener number is made especially for Izakaya Chuji by local microbrewery 2 Brothers, based in Moorabbin. They really are two brothers brewing and most certainly aren’t hacks either – their Voodoo won the Premier’s Award this year at the Australian International Beer Awards last month. You can read more about Tanuki Beer here – I made sure I took a photo of the bottle’s copy for the beer nerds.
Two more dishes were ordered – one was the impressive and very generous mixed sushi and sashimi platter. You could easily get this and have between two as your main. There were three of us sharing (the ever-faithful Tris being our third) and it filled us all up. There were no more hungry protests after this was gobbled up. It was just as generous in selection too – there were four different types of fish used for the sashimi, and even unagi. I’d happily come back just for this, with a seafood-loving friend in tow!
I also got a bowl of the old fave, edamame. Addictive little critters. Izakaya Chuji’s version is not salted like mad, which I rather like. It’s such a simple dish – steamed soy beans in their pods and still I’m not fed up of it.
It was up on the specials board (and sadly, we forgot to take a picture) but cheese gyoza intrigued me. These weren’t really like standard gyoza at all in that they were hard as if they’d been baked. They were stuffed with pork mince which was carefully laced with cheese that naturally got nice and gooey as the gyoza was cooked. I have to confess, I thought it was going to be pretty ‘character-building’ but it was great! Definitely the sort of snack I’d like when sinking beers.
Finally, after all the conversation and even more food, we paid just under $50 each and bundled ourselves into the cold wintry Melbourne for some more drinking action, suitably fortified with some damn fine Japanese nosh. There are loads of fantastic snacky things on the menu so I definitely intend upon returning here. There’s also a sizeable sake list and I’m sure I could be persuaded to sample more of it! If you don’t want to stagger too far for a drink, you can try the bar next door attached to Izakaya Chuji called Nihonshu Shochu & Sake Bar (you can even directly enter Nihonshu from Chuji and they also have a similar food menu).
Perhaps I’m showing my age, but I remember when Smith Street in Collingwood was so dodgy no one would actually go there for social events. Catching the 86 tram which goes up that road all the way to Bundoora was a bit of an ordeal, as you skilfully avoided the dipsomaniacs, junkies and homeless riff-raff who would get a bit tetchy if you offered them food and not money (yeah, beggars can be choosers after all). In the last few years, I do find myself hanging out on Smith St more often to grab a good bite to eat. One such place I recommend is the cosy Japanese restaurant Peko Peko.
Because it is small, it’s highly advisable to book if you plan to eat there, and that’s exactly what I did on my last outing there. I’m trying to eat less meat so I started with a serving of their sweet potato gyoza. As with another Japanese fave of mine Otsumami, the menu is divided into small, medium and large foods. Gyoza is from the small foods menu. Peko Peko’s sweet potato gyoza is dessert-sweet and the skins are slightly chewy and not at all oily. Quite simply, they are perfect! You can see in the photo, how lightly pan-fried they are.
I had the lovely company of my partner as I felt it was about time to spoil him (as he spoils me constantly). I insisted he order the tsuke maguro which is finely chopped tuna sashimi marinated in all sorts of wonderful Japanese goodness – soy, mirin, sesame and shredded nori. This is expensive for its portion size but well worth it. You don’t really need the additional wasabi given because I find that deflects from the subtlety of the dish. The tuna is always so fresh. Seriously, if you go here, I strongly recommend ordering this if your diet will allow you.
For mains, we continued with the no-meat theme. I had the sashimidon (I’m really fond of them in general). The marinated sashimi on top is similar to the tsuke maguro. My partner remarked that the serving of raw fish seemed a little stingy, and I have to agree, though it was delicious. The rice was nice and vinegary – normally I struggle to finish large serves of rice but it was just so good. I have to learn to flavour my rice like they do for raw fish donburi.
The better half ordered the seared squid with a side of rice. I wish all places that offer squid could cook it this wonderfully. It wasn’t at all rubbery or chewy. Bliss!
While we dined and filled ourselves with food and flasks of warm sake, a steady stream of folks came in for takeaway. I could only dream of being local enough to have this as a takeaway joint! We skipped dessert but only because I had the intention of further wooing my partner at the nearby Cafe Rosamond for Pierre Roelofs’ sumptuous dessert night.
