On Tuesday of my final week at my old job, I facilitated a workshop at my old office in Subiaco. I simply could not miss my chance to have lunch afterwards at my old lunching haunt, Toraya Sushi (Shop 8 Subiaco Square, 29 Station Street, Subiaco).
I was pleased to see that the waiter who used to serve my workmates and me was still working there, cheerful and friendly as ever. She greeted me warmly and said, “Long time no see!” I was even more chuffed when she remembered my “usual” order – chicken karaage donburi with chilli mayonnaise! Pretty impressive, as I hadn’t been there in over a year! I was so thrilled I grabbed my phone and tweeted as soon as she left the table!
I used to dislike miso soup until I had Toraya’s miso soup. I’m not sure why I liked this miso soup so much it got me drinking the stuff, but I’m glad I did. I especially love the thin threads of tofu skin floating in this soup.
Toraya’s chicken karaage is always served poppingly hot and fresh. The batter is crispy, the marinated chicken tender and juicy. It’s all slathered with lashings of chilli mayonnaise. The “donburi” part refers to the “rice bowl” – deep-fried chicken and rice is just the perfect combo for me, a voracious chicken eater and lifelong rice pot*. This is something I really miss from my days working in Subiaco. I guess it’s a good thing that I now only get the chance to have it once in a while – the temptation to eat this fantastic deep-fried chicken every second day would be just too great if I still worked nearby.
*My mum’s nickname for me as a child was “fun thong”, which translates to “rice pot”. I still can’t go more than a couple of days without eating rice – I miss it terribly if I go for too long without it. In fact, I craved rice terribly towards the end of our recent holiday – we ate delicious food while we were away, but I missed regular rice meals! Jac understood this and made sure our first dinner back home featured rice, and I’ve been eating lots of rice since getting home. My sister Juji is more of a pasta pot. Jac needs bread like I need rice, though since we’ve been together she’s gotten used to eating a lot more rice. What about you guys? “Fun thongs”, stand proud and raise your hands! :-P
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
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I’m siding with Juji on the “pasta pot” I eat spaghetti and noodles so often my husband makes me prepare other dishes for him because he cant stand it anymore ^_^
I need both rice and (Asian) noodles. I don’t know where I got that from considering my ethnic background (Eastern European to New York Jew), but California has changed my tastes a lot in the last 11 years. I can’t – really can’t – get enough Asian food (mostly Thai, Japanese, Viet) so my craving for rice and noodles is very strong.
And that is my favorite chicken you’ve posted yet. Crispy, and the spicy mayo looks fantastic. You’ve got me dying to cook dinner now!
My Greek-Aussie husband is the “fun thong” in our family. He simply can’t go without rice for more than two days or he starts whining. I, on the other hand, (Singaporean-Chinese), much prefer noodles or angel hair spaghetti. How odd we all are!
Coming from Singapore I have many friends who are fun thongs too, especially the boys. Perhaps servings are too small, but they’d always order a bowl of plain rice to go with their noodle dishes e.g. fishball with noodles in soup. Talk about carbo loading! Heh
I used to be a “fun thong”! That is, until age caught up and my metabolism went down the drain, causing me to gain weight! I eat a lot less rice now and when I do, I choose brown rice (which is really delicious, actually!). But there are some dishes that can only go with white rice – think chicken curry or a rich stew :P
im a rice pot too, i always have rice dishes everytime we go out and eat. even if theres nothing to eat in the pantry left and theres heaps of instant noodles, i’ll still scrap something to eat with rice, never noodles.
Karage and miso soup sound and look like heaven!
Went to Wagamama in Freo week before last with the photowalking crew. Ate chicken kare lomen, which was delicious, but rather messy to eat. Lucky wasn’t wearing white… oooh, that’s where we should go sometime…. although given the locations, maybe not on a working day.
I will drop you a note re FF4
My husband is a “rice pot”!!. 3 days before he starts getting a bit twitchy for rice. I’m more of a “pasta pot” but have learnt to love rice now too, specially steaming hot, slightly mushy with one of the many chinese condiments my mother in law makes /buys or salty egg etc. our son alternates his preferences at this stage.
“Fun Thong”! haha. that is really funny. I grew up in Asia when I was a child, and I remember that “fun thong” means idiot, which was what the kids in primary school used to insult each other. haha.
Oh that karaage looks amazing, I must go and try it! Although perhaps I should walk there, eat it, do a few laps around Subi Oval and then walk home so I don’t feel so bad about the delicious fatty goodness. I’m a reformed fun thong, but I still dabble in the good stuff when the calling is too great..
My husband’s a “fun thong”, he lived in Thailand for the first 18 months of his life and grew up eating a lot of rice. I prefer potatoes but we’ve both learnt to compromise although he does whine if we haven’t eaten rice in a while.
I can live without rice, or so I think. However, I secretly hope I never have to. Strangely, rice isn’t my favourite carb. I love pasta and bread too! I bet I’d crave it if deprived of it for too long though. Weird.
Ciabatta Pot… (hmm sounds wierd) I live for ciabatta bread… I eat it all the time, twice a week at least… with anything…
check out this delight…
http://theboringb.blogspot.com/2009/01/crunchy-ciabatta-with-mushrooms.html