Japanese is
one of the many favourite cuisines of mine when it comes to food. So when my
girl friends ask me to organize a lunch date for us, I instantly recommended
Sono at Portside knowing that they offer $25 business lunch set during
Wednesday to Friday. The girls happily agreed!
I’ve made a
reservation for the 5 of us and they have nicely organized a Tatami room for us
with river view so I can park my pram in the room too.
The
Business Lunch Set includes:
- Salad
- Salmon sashimi (3 pieces) or Prawn & Avo sushi (3 pieces)
- A choice of main between Mini Wagyu Sukiyaki, Teriyaki Chicken, Pork Katsu and Assorted Tempura
- Steam rice
- Miso soup
I’ve chosen
Salmon Sashimi over the sushi and Assorted Tempura as my main. I feel the
presentation of food is fantastic although I’m a bit disappointed in the
portion size and quality of food.
I’ve eaten tempura at many Japanese
restaurants in Brisbane, Hong Kong and Japan. The perfect tempura should be
lightly battered that it tastes crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside
even when it’s cooled down. It should leave you with an oily feeling after
eating. Unfortunately that is not the case when we dine at Sono. My tempura is
so oily that I can see the oil marks on the paper placed in between the tempura
and the serving plate. As I have a baby to feed and look after, I only start
eating my tempura when they have cooled down, and it’s not that nice at all, a
little too oily and soggy. It’s got a good variety of prawn, fish, pumpkin and
eggplant though. I finished all my food anyhow. I wish my bowl of rice is a bit
bigger so I won’t feel like I need more food after this meal.
Service is
pretty good in general as all the staff members are friendly and welcoming
although during the lunch service we didn’t get our green tea topped up
regularly leaving us feeling thirsty during the meal.
Will I
return? Yes, I’m hoping to see some improvements as there’re lots of emerging
Japanese restaurants serving quality food at reasonable prices in the suburban
areas. Sono really needs to put some efforts to give us a reason to visit
again!
