restaurants

Uni Boom Boom

I’m always up for trying new cuisines and dishes so when the opportunity came up to experience a café brought to us by the main Australian distributors of “uni” (sea urchin) and “bird’s nest” it was something I jumped at the thought of! Having only tried sea urchin once, after this experience with uni sashimi and uni don, one can really say that sea urchin embodies a flavour that compares to nothing else, but unfortunately, also comes at a steep price not many would afford. The good fat: We were taken on a lovely tour around the shop at the back – which stocks everything gourmet that the Asian community in Glen Waverley would be enticed by. From French-imported porcini olive oil, to the classics like sashimi-grade abalone, swallow’s nest gift packs worth up to the tens of thousands dollars, sea cucumber, and of course, sea urchin, it was interesting and eye opening to see the luxurious level of products stocked here. Keen to try their uni, we went all out and ordered 100 grams of their triple A grade sashimi, along with their specialty uni boom don, featuring uni sashimi, quail’s egg, seaweed salad and sides as such. Each slice of sea urchin melting in the mouth tasted like a gourmet canape from Poseidon’s new year’s eve feast that was an insanely rich and dense blend of everything embodying the ocean – from crab roe, to salmon sashimi, to prawns. Definitely an acquire taste that some may not be accustomed to! The uni boom don was complemented by a raw quail egg that we mixed in, and delicious sushi styled rice with hints of sweetness and vinegar to help cut through the richness of the uni. The bad fat: A very specialty styled café with a simplistic, Asian diner like décor (disposable chopsticks and plastic spoons, cheap flimsy wooden tables) that seems to vastly cheapen the quality of food they’re serving so it felt a bit paradoxical at times. SHOULD YOU GET FAT HERE? Yes – BUT ONLY if you have the cash to spend and the taste buds to appreciate the finer degustationary delights of Asian cuisine, including abalone, uni, and swallow’s nest. FAT-O-METER: 4/5