About Me
I'm a Melbourne boy, hailing from St Kilda with one ex, one current wife and four kids. Love the outdoors and making new discoveries. I cook a lot at home (cheers from wife) and do some preserving, mostly jams, pickles and fruit liqueurs. This is the diary of a cooking journey.

My Complete Profile

Recent Posts
I'll Show You Mine...
We'll Have the Lamb and Duck
Preserving the Bottom-Line
Grossi Florentino The Grill & Google
Sign of the Times
Polish Orchard - Mixology Monday
Oasis Bakery's Sharwarma
Grilled Mussels
Preserving Jars
To A Long Life

Links
1001 Dinners 1001 Nights
A Few of My Favourite Things
Abstract Gourmet
Apellation Australia
Becks and Posh
BurgerMary ATX
Cook (almost) Anything at least once
Cooking Down Under
Cook sister!
Cooked And Bottled In Brunswick
David Lebovitz
Deep Dish Dreams
Chef Paz
Chubby Hubby
Eating Melbourne
Eating With Jack
essjay eats
Food Lover's Journey
Gosstronomy
Grab Your Fork
I Am Obsessed With Food
I Eat Therefore I Am
Iron Chef Shellie
Just Desserts
Kalyn's Kitchen
Kitchen Wench
Lobstersquad
Matt Bites
Melbourne Gastronome
My Kitchen in Half Cups
Nola Cuisine
Not Quite Nigella
Nourish Me
Seriously Good
Souvlaki For The Soul
Stone Soup
Sunnybrae
Syrup and Tang
Steve Don't Eat It!
That Jess Ho
The Elegant Sufficiency
The Perfect Pantry
The View From My Porch
Thyme for Cooking
Tomato
Tumeric & Saffron
tummy rumbles
What I Cooked Last Night
where's the beef
WhiteTrashBBQ
Vicious Ange

Food Blog Resources
Food Blog S'cool
I Eat I Drink I Work
Kiplog Food Links

Food for Thought
Autism Victoria
Autism Vox
forget me now
Lotus Martinis
MOM - Not Otherwise Specified
St Kilda Today

Friday, May 02, 2008
Jamon Sushi
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in and hold it, don't breathe out for the rest of the night as you enter into the tiny space known as Jamon Sushi, a 14 seat sushi bar that for a short time is featuring a Wagyu menu. One needs to be comfortable with being up close and personal, for space comes at a premium in this shoebox joint - touching of bodies is inevitable.

Floor to ceiling windows means all the action is visible not just from the eight stools along the kitchen counter, but also from the street. There are also a couple of tables, with unforgiving, hard plastic seats, by a wall where lurid Manga scenes are projected onto throughout the night.

Charles Greenfield presides over all this bustle and motion much like a priest conducting an Easter mass, such is his reverence for this exclusive meat from 3 to 4 year old cattle with a 9+ marble score. Wagyu refers to certain breeds of cattle, that due to their genetics and methods of production, produce meat with extensive fat marbling

A palate cleanser plate of marinated mushroom, daikon and pickled ginger prepare the tastebuds for the first course of sashimi (raw) scotch fillet. The fine filigree of fat throughout the meat melts in the mouth like ice on a summer's day and there is a herbal or perhaps a sweet hay character that marks this meat as something extraordinarily special.

This same meat then found its way into rice rolls, partnered with mushroom and kelp; in the same way top quality raw fish is not at all fishy, the raw meat did not dominate, only giving a silken delicacy, a theme continued when the eye fillet made an appearance alongside crisp, peppery asparagus - tender slices which just fell apart; one diner cut a piece in half with a toothpick!

To cook or not, to season or not, those are the questions posed when served with slices of both scotch and eye fillet, charred briefly and served very rare, resting on zucchini shreds, nestling up to mushrooms brushed with the meat's cooking juices.

The scotch was completely au naturel, not a grain of salt had defiled its purity whilst the eye fillet had been touched with soy and ginger prior to cooking, which divided opinion as to which was the better and also caused discussion of accompanying sauces for the meat courses, which despite the love and attention lavished upon them - one tuna based sauce took nine hours to make - at times they seemed unnecessary distractions.

A dashi appeared, containing ginger, daikon and mushrooms with a slice of raw fillet draped languidly over the edge, to be cooked in the residual heat of the soup. Light and lifted, it was the perfect way to remove the cooked flavour of the previous course to allow for a bit of fun that Greenfield announced as a world first - squid stuffed with wagyu, assembled sushi roll style then sliced thin to contrast the pink and white colours, which then seamlessly segued to a spicy squid salad eaten with baby batons of cos lettuce.

Porterhouse sashimi with cucumber and softly poached daikon ramped up the meat flavour, sacrificing no tenderness at all in the process.

If restaurants have a soul, Jamon Sushi's was to be found in the next course. It was a simple bowl of soba noodle salad with nibs of raw scotch fillet and a slurp of broth in the bottom. Simple is perhaps understating things a little. This bowl of soba and wagyu managed to encapsulate the qualities of both in a way that transcended their sum - even though neither packs a flavour punch, their partnership was sublime.

No dessert was offered, but refreshing slices of nashi pear drizzled with lime juice rounded off the evening perfectly. Oh, almost forgot. Phew, breathe out.

Jamon Sushi
3 Murphy St, South Yarra, Melbourne.
Phone: (03) 98045710.

The night was very graciously organised by Ed Charles of Tomato and was a pared down version of the full menu.
 
  posted at 8:06 am
  5 comments



5 Comments:
At 12:35 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

thank you ...
charles
jamon

 
At 3:01 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can never eat dessert after Asian food.

 
At 4:35 pm, Blogger thanh7580 said...

Your writing has really improved Neil. Your summation sounds like it could have been lifted straight out of a food publication.

The food was fantastic wasn't it. It's amazing how raw beef can be so smooth and not overpower all other flavours. Wagyu is truly a wonderful meat.

 
At 4:34 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

wonderfully described and I'm sorry to have missed the last course. lovely to meet you, btw!

 
At 8:49 am, Blogger neil said...

No Charles, thank you, it was a wonderful experience and you are a wonderful host.

Hi kitchen hand, somehow they never seem neccesary and I can't come at those bean concotions either.

Hi thanh, thank you for your kind words. The whole night was a real treat.

Hi cin, thanks! It was a rare pleasure to meet one of Melbourne's blogging trailblazers.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home



Search


Recipe Categories
Soups
Salads
Vegetables
Poultry
Pork
Beef
Cakes & Desserts
Miscellaneous

Archives
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
May 2009
June 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
September 2011
July 2012

Miscellaneous
AUSTRALIAN FOOD BLOGGERS
Prev ~ List ~ Random ~ Join ~ Next
Site Ring from Bravenet


Site Feed

counter easy hit

Credits
Blog Design by:


Image created by:
Ximena Maier

Powered by:


Photos, Original Recipes, and Text - (C) Copyright: 2005-2010
At My Table by Neil Murray, all rights reserved.
You may re-post a recipe, please give credit and post a link to this site.

Contact Me
Neil Murray

Follow messytable on Twitter