09 September 2011

Kimama Kitchen Japanese Casual Dining ~ Eating World Food Court [CLOSED]



Our food court experiences lately have been good but it's a while since we've had a real 'wow' moment. Until we try Kimama Kitchen Japanese Casual Dining in Eating World. Oishi.

[Closed July-ish 2015]



We can't believe we've never tried Kimama before. Firstly the name - Kimama Kitchen Japanese Casual Dining. Does dining get any more casual than Eating World food court? Secondly, it's actually Japanese. Thirdly, it's excellent.

The menu consists of various rice bowls, curries, udon soups and side snacks. All the dishes we tried have that magic Japanese touch, that special attention to detail that transforms a simple dish into something greater than the sum of it's parts. We noticed some folks getting side dishes from Kimama to go with their ramen from Gumshara. Kimama has instantly become one of our food court faves, highly recommended for a good, cheap, quick Japanese fix.



Gyu don - beef on rice - $8. Shawn drops in for lunch one day and tries the beef bowl and it knocks his socks off. We've had a few half-arsed gyu-dons in Sydney but this is sensational. It's Japan in a bowl.



Lovely slithers of beef with sweet soft onions. Yum. It drives us crazy when folks refuse to eat Japanese because they think it's all raw fish, seaweed and a Big Mac afterwards cause they're still hungry. This beef bowl would convert any (carnivorous) sceptic.



Agedashi tofu $4. Love the teeny cripsy lotus root pickles.



Japanese potato salad - $2. Smooth with a hint of mayo and wasabi. At $2 how could we not?



Karage don - $8. Fried chicken pieces on rice, with your choice of sauce. We went for teriyaki mayo. We're not good judges of fried chicken but it tastes great to us.



The karage don comes with free refills of rice and miso soup and your choice of sauce. We see a lot of people getting the karage don, it seems very popular.



Saba set - grilled mackerel with tasty sauce - $10. A generous hunk of salty, fishy fish with seasoned rice and miso soup. This very much reminds us of something we'd get in an izakaya in Japan.



This lovely fishy reminds of so much of Japan that we're nearly in tears. Good thing we're going back in two weeks...



We're back for the third time in three days, we just have to try the curry. Alison goes for katsu curry with rice - $11. It comes on the hugest, fanciest-pantsest plate ever to be seen in a food court.



Deep fried pork cutlet on rice with Japanese curry sauce. Yum.



Shawn's favourite - chicken katsu don - fried chicken coated in egg on rice - $10. He prefers the 'wetter', 'eggier' version of this dish but it's still good.



Onsen tomago - soft boiled egg - $1.50. Recommended to add to any don or kare.



Takoyaki - octopus balls - 6 pieces for $4 (or 12 for $7/24 for $13). Not drowning in sauce and mayo, and you can taste the tiny bit of octopus inside.



Sapporo from the bar - $7.50 each. Fully imported - from Canada.

BACK AGAIN IN FEBRUARY 2012..



Curry udon - $8.90. Udon soup with a healthy big dollop of Japanese curry sauce on top, with a soft boiled googie and a pork cutlet.

Eating World Food Court is at 25-29 Dixon St, Haymarket\Chinatown.


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Kimama Kitchen on Urbanspoon

13 comments:

  1. You are going to Japan in 2 weeks?! I am almost as excited as you are! :) Please take lots of pics for all of us!!!

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  2. Hehe, don't you worry about that!

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  3. So what's the first thing your going to eat once you get past Japanese Airport Customs? There's a Maccas at the airport.

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  4. I had NO idea this place existed...everything looks really good and that Agedashi Tofu - looks good and as cheap as (lotus) chips!

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  5. WOW! I have seen this place but never thought of going as I have always be fixated on Gumshara. The Agedashi tofu looks superb. I'm going to venture in this week and check it out.

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  6. Was just at Eating World last evening and staring at this stall while waiting for my Har Mee from Singapore Shiok (which incidentally was still as good as ever if not better) wondering if what I should try from here. Mmmmmmmm Japanese food....aghh

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  7. It's a long trip into Tokyo from Narita so we hope to grab some snacks. David Chang writes in Lucky Peach about grabbing some little fluffy white bread sandwiches and onigiri - there's a start!

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  8. Big Macs in Japan are so good though.

    My friend has always told me how good this place was. I just brushed off her suggestions 'cos I don't usually trust her with these kind of things, but after this I'll definitely have to give it a go!!

    Jealous about japan!

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  9. Have a good trip! So jealous of you guys. I am so going to eat my way thru kimara's menu. Everything looks good

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  10. great review and delectable photos!! makes me hungry for kimama right now! I 100% agree with you - kimama is a hidden gem.

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  11. They have closed now. It's a dumpling shop instead there.

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    Replies
    1. Dang, kicking myself for not going that one more time. Dumplings - yawn.

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    2. I was thinking of eating there last night, but yeah, seems they left last month some time from what I can tell.

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Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).