Hosokawa

Hosokawa

3/53 Racecourse Rd, Hamilton, Brisbane

(Ph) 03-3868 3762

During my short time in Brisbane, I thought I had to check out Hosokawa - the Japanese restaurant in Hamilton many friends had been raving about =) We came here for an early dinner (6pm) so I could make my flight back to Melbourne later that night. We made sure we made a booking, and lucky we did, 'cause there are really only like 10 tables all together. It's a small cosy restaurant with minimalist decor, serving very traditional Japanese dishes.

We started off with some starters. Edamame - boiled soybeans $5.00

For some reason I really like Edamame, I don't think it's actually the taste that I like but more the fun action of squeezing the beans out of the salty casing =) They were still warm which was a bonus, unlike some places which preboil them so they're cold when served to you.

Next came the Agedashi Tofu - deep fried tofu in broth $8.00

It came in a bit too much broth for my liking, especially 'cause it was quite salty but the tofu was tasty, deep fried on the outside but soft and smooth inside.

I had tried this dish somewhere before but I can't remember where, and remember I really liked it. Nasu Dengaku - grilled Eggplant with miso past(e) $8.00 They need help with their spelling =P

This was one of the best dishes of the night - the miso was slightly salty but complemented the sweetness of the eggplant. The inside of the eggplant was so soft and mushy but the skin slightly charred.

Of course we had to order some sashimi and sushi. Sashimi Platter (large) $32.00

Impressive looking dish! The sashimi was very fresh and perfectly cut - lots of skill involved =P Quite a nice variety of salmon, tuna, kingfish, scallops, clams, octopus and some other unknown sashimi =P I normally love salmon best, but the tuna was very good with no tendons or anything - it's hard to get good quality tuna!

Sushi Platter (large) $32.00

There were a few more variety of raw seafoods on the sushi platter compared to the sashimi platter - more clams and prawns, and salmon roe! <3

We also got Tempura Moriawase - deep fried vegetable, fish and prawn with tempura batter $24.00

A good variety of tempura - the batter was perfect, not too oily but still very crunchy and light. I liked the eggplant and fish the best, but the prawns were good too, nice and big =)

We thought we should try a Unagi hand roll $8.00 - so cheap for unagi!

And it is massive! They were very generous with the unagi and it was a very thick piece too. The unagi was grilled so was still warm inside the handroll with the crunchy seaweed - definitely recommend this too!

We felt we weren't too full yet so wanted to order some noodles/rice. They actually don't have any rice dishes here and all their noodles come with tempura. We went for Nabeyaki Udon - vegetable, egg, fish cake and prawn tempura on top of udon noodle soup $18.00

A bit more variety of stuff with the udon but it's all really just fish cakes. I'm not a fan of tempura in noodle soup, the tempura just gets soft in the soup - I really don't know the logic behind that =/ Nothing too special about this dish but not bad - wonder if they make the udon here? Don't think they do..

Food~
8/10 - quite good authentic Japanese restaurant, a little pricey but well worth it!

Service~
3/5 - the restaurant was full very quickly but service wasn't too bad overall

Atmosphere~
3/5 - genuine little Japanese restaurant, just remember to book!

C.
xo