Shinmai Tasty is a new Japanese eatery at Edgewater, its fit-out done in time-honoured Japanese style.
It is cosy, welcoming and feels comfortably lived in, despite its newness.
The menu is a smartly devised two-page affair that runs from sushi and sashimi, through to salads, mains, bentos and dessert.
Shinmai Tasty
- Address: 44 Edgewater Boulevard, Maribyrnong
- Phone: 9317 3830
There are many classic dishes to be had, and a few that appeal because they’re unusual.
The dining room is long, with one whole wall adorned with two utterly gorgeous murals.
Here’s a round-up of what Consider The Sauce tried over two visits:
Miso soup ($3.50, served free with bentos) – very nice without being great, packed with lots of seaweed and very fine tofu cubes.
Nasu kara chips ($8.50) – these proved a big hit and were, to my mind, stupendously fine.
The tempura batter was very good and the long eggplant strands within cooked to molten, delicious perfection … served with mayo and dusted with chilli … a knockout!
Edemame ($5) – salt-sprinkled soy beans were a nice snack before more substantial fare.
Wagyu beef tataki ($16.50) – I am used to beef tataki variations being heavily marinated, very garlicky and served with a raw egg. This was something different and lighter, the beautiful beef having something of a citrus tang about it.
I tasted neither the agedashi tofu ($9.50) nor the mixed tempura ($14.50), but the very happy recipient of both could hardly have been more emphatic in declaring both outright winners.
The sushi fan orderers of the mixed sushi/sashimi ($38) were a little underwhelmed. Big tick for the sashimi – “indifferent” the word used to describe the sushi.
My soy udon chicken soup ($16.50) was superb, with super broth that was both delicate and robustly flavoured.
Along with the fat, slippery noodles and a goodly amount of seaweed, right there in the middle was a whole chicken thigh – a first for me, that I can recall, in a lifetime of eating noodle soups. I wondered how I was going to eat it – but it was so beautifully cooked, not to mention supremely tasty, that I had no trouble getting the meat from the bones.
Bentos of sashimi ($22.50), beef teriyaki ($20.50) chicken teriyaki ($19.50) and unagi (eel, $23.50) were all enjoyed.
Green tea brulee – so creamy and scrumptious, and an outright bargain at $5.90.
Not everything we tried at Shinmai Tasty unequivocally hit the spot … but some dishes did. We reckon this is a very welcome addition to the Japanese options available in the west.
