If you know me well, you would know
I am obsessed with Japanese cuisine and upon receiving this very generous
invitation to dine at Fuku, it certainly wasn’t a hard decision to say yes!
The
entrance to Fuku was behind a closed gold door and to enter we had
to press an intercom buzzer on the wall. When the door slid open, I
was captivated to view an intimate teppanyaki restaurant where the back wall
was lined with sake bottles from floor to ceiling, gold murals covered the
dimly lit walls and 16 seats surrounded Japanese teppanyaki BBQ plates.
I felt
instantly impressed by this unique and sophisticated restaurant.
Fuku’s concept is teppanyaki – that
is, food prepared on a Japanese griddle (BBQ) in front of you and specialises in ‘omakase’ plates which are small
plates carefully chosen by the chef for you, and are made right in front of
you on the Japanese BBQ.
Three set
taster menus are offered; Good ($100 per head for 4 courses), Better ($135 for
8 courses) and Best ($220 for 10 magnificent courses). There is also a ‘walk in’ menu ($75 pp).
We had
the ‘Better’ menu along with a selection of different sakes off their
impressively large list (they have the biggest collection in WA).
Our
Japanese eight-course degustation journey begins…
Course one: Calamari with Herring Roe and Antarctic Ice Crab with sun dried crispy
nori sheet.
The soft and delicate crab was sweet
and succulent and was covered in shavings that resembled coconut and tiny
yellow bursts of Herring Roe. Plated on a banana leaf, the tempura fried nori
sheet was crunchy and salty with a slight sweetness from the sesame seeds. The
crunchy texture of the nori sheet perfectly contrasted with the silky smooth
calamari, sweet crab meat and popping Herring Roe.
A wonderful dish.
Second
course: Small morsels (otsumami): Smoked wagyu, Oyster Tempura,
Burdock and School Prawn Kakiage.
The Wagyu beef was lightly smoked
and teamed with a nutty and sweet white sesame sauce. Thinly sliced and rare,
the Wagyu was of such a superior quality that the tender meat quickly dissolved
on my tongue like butter.
This was a delightful teaser for the seventh course
to come…
The sweet ginger salsa elevated the fried oyster and was subtle and delicate. The
ginger was not overpowering like it can sometimes be, and complimented the
crispy oyster superbly.
Burdock I
was told, is an Asian vegetable that is often not known to many people. The
burdock was julienned and tempura fried. Upon the initial crunch into the
thick golden batter, the vegetable was soft, chewy and had a slightly earthy taste. I
quite enjoyed it, the burdock reminded me of an enoki mushroom in it's unusual texture and
flavour.
Lastly,
the soba noodles were fried until crispy and fanned on the plate resembling a
tree. These were not outstanding to me, I found their purpose to be a crunchy
texture only, as there was no flavour and they were difficult to eat. This
element of the dish was quite confusing to me, but served a fun decorative
purpose nonetheless.
The salmon and tuna was impeccable
quality; soft, delicate and just melted on the tongue.
The raw prawn was sweet and wonderfully
fresh. The Red Emperor and Japanese pickles were wrapped in kelp and provided a
sweet/sour combination with the crunchy sour pickles and the sweet meat of the
fish.
The Partridge was twice cooked: first
for five hours, then in charcoal.
It was perfectly cooked, still slightly pink, very
tender and very tasty! The succulent meat was wrapped in a soba (buckwheat) crepe with small slices of tomato and cucumber and
drizzled in a Szechuan pepper sauce.
The partridge crepe was served with a sweet beetroot
relish. Having not tasted partridge before, I was delightfully impressed. The
meat was cooked to perfection and the sauce lifted the crepe to another level. I
loved the beetroot relish as it added a sweet kick to the dish!
Course Five: Scallop, prawn and crispy prawn head.
This
would have to be one of my favourite courses of the night mainly due to the Uni
(Sea Urchin) Butter.
We
watched as the chef de-veined the prawn and fried it on the hot plate until
super crispy and flat. He added abundant amounts of oil and crushed the shell
of the prawn head until it was a thin crisp chip! A wonderfully entertaining
show as the chef created flames on the hot plate with the oil!
I was
amazed by the salty, crunchy texture of the prawn shell and loved this element
to the dish!
The
scallop was huge! Plump and seared slightly, upon first bite it melted in my
mouth and sung when covered in that incredible Uni butter! One of my favourite
mouthfuls of the night!
The beautiful
firm prawn flesh burst freshness and was grilled with that amazing sea urchin butter!
I still
fantasize about these gorgeous mouthfuls of seafood covered in that heavenly
uni butter.....
Course Six: Fish of the day.
The fish
of the day for us was Red Emperor was served with green beans, grilled octopus,
a marinated lotus root and Yuzu Miso dressing.
The yuzu sauce was by far a highlight for
me. The Japanese citrus punch worked perfectly with the sweet white flesh of the fish.
Served on the marinated lotus root, it was a significant sized dish.
It was
beautifully presented, however the octopus was a slight disspointment for me.
It was cold and quite spongey in texture, which would not have been so obvious
if the fish was not so wonderfully warm and delicate.
Personally, I felt the dish would have been better
if the octopus was left off the plate.
However, this did not stop me from devouring every piece
of the Red Emperor fish and licking the plate clean of that Yuzu Miso sauce!
Course
Seven: Wagyu (full blood) sirloin steak Mayura Station grade 9+, fried rice
with wagyu flavour.
Feeling well satisfied by now and definitely stretching
the limits of the stomach, we moved onto the signature dish.
The wagyu was nothing
short of amazing! Every
bite was juicy, tender and with the right amount of marbled fat. Cooked
medium-rare and chopped into bite sized cubes of deliciousness, the wagyu
quickly melted on my tongue.
This was
cooked with abundant amounts butter (please don’t tell the Diabetes Educator!), with soy and garlic and was absolutely the stand out dish of the night!
The steak was topped with garlic flakes and served with fried
onion rings and spicy miso sauce.
The chef
entertained us yet again as he threw a raw egg up into the
air, caught it on the side of the BBQ spatula which cracked the egg as it
landed onto the hotplate.
He shaped the fried rice cooked in Wagyu juices and butter into a heart shape and tapped the spatula rhythmically to resemble a heartbeat!
The chef staked the single onion ring layers upon one another, forming a
pyramid in which he lit on fire with oil and created a “volcano.”
The generous serving of fried rice
was oozing wagyu juices yet took a back seat as the wagyu beef took centre
stage!
Course eight: Yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit) cheesecake
and wasabi cream, chocolate drink and Mountain Peach.
Finally
made it to the dessert course! By this time, I was up to a point where not much
could fit in but looking at the pretty plate of dessert, it was irresistible.
The
cheesecake was unbelievable creamy, smooth and irresistible!
Not being a huge fan
of wasabi despite my love for chilli, the wasabi cream subtly kicked the
dessert to the next level! When combined with the soft, rich velvetly
cheesecake, the slight heat of the wasabi in the cream cut through the tangy citrus undertones and complimented
the dessert wonderfully.
The small
cup of velvety hot chocolate was rich and dark and the sweet pop from the
cherry-like mountain peach was a fantastic way to finish a meal!
The
dessert was presented beautifully.
Sake:
Now I’ve
said an awful lot about the food up to this point, and have neglected to
mention the Sake. As Jack
was lucky enough to have eight types of Sake matched with his eight-degustation
courses, I personally cannot comment on the Sake.
I’m not
going to pretend I’m a Sake-specialist of any sorts.
In
summary, I had a fantastic dining experience watching my food being prepared on
the teppanyaki plate by entertaining chefs and interacting with the chefs,
asking questions and feel involved in whole process.
I am by
far unbelievably blessed to have been invited to taste the menu at Fuku.
Although I was a guest at this restaurant and would not normally spend this
considerable amount on a meal without it being a special occasion; I can
honestly say, those who wish to spoil themselves would not be disappointed. The
service was impeccable, the experience memorable and the food out of this
world! The ambiance of the restaurant is intimate, the food is A-Grade and the
teppanyaki experience is fun and like nothing Perth has to offer!
“Fuku”
means fortune, luck or blessing in Japanese…and I can tell you now, I certainly
felt blessed to have experienced this evening!
I would
give anything for another serve of uni (sea urchin) butter!!
Note: I
dined as a complimentary guest at Fuku and particularly thank Milan for a
magical and memorable dining experience.
