As good as you’ll find in Tokyo: Fujiyama restaurant
WITH a menu that’s full of tasty, traditional Japanese food, Fujiyama is well worth trekking to Brighton for. Juliana Mare shares her review.
Teriyaki beef. Image courtesy of Fujiyama.
For someone whose experience with Japanese food was previously limited to tuna and cucumber California rolls from Sushi Sushi, Fujiyama delivered a surprise with a menu filled with page after page of delicious sounding dishes previously unheard of by myself and my family.
There’s shogayaki and teriyaki meals in beef, chicken or pork, different flavoured tofu, harumaki, sukiyaki, rice and a seemingly endless list of sushi and California rolls. Needless to say, it was a no-brainer choosing a banquet which featured a little taste of everything.
The highlight of the Bara Set ($41 per person, minimum 2 people) was the miso steak – lovely, tender, bite-sized pieces of steak covered in a sweet, sticky glaze.
From the banquet, this is the dish I would gladly order again as a main on its own. The yasai harumaki (vegetable spring rolls) had a nice, crispy shell, a tasty filling that looked almost like pureed veggies and a tangy dipping sauce on the side that was also commendable.
Although they weren’t included in the banquet, the tempura prawns were a must try. They were absolutely delicious with a golden, crunchy batter and incredibly tender prawns inside. If it weren’t for the incredibly steep price of $11.80 for an entree size, we definitely would have ordered seconds.
One of several teppanyaki stations. Image courtesy of Fujiyama.
While the food at Fujiyama isn’t cheap, it’s definitely worth it for special occasions especially given how entertaining and family orientated the teppanyaki tables are. With hilarious, lively and friendly chefs manning each station, guests can try their luck at catching cooked egg in their mouth or catching a bowl of steaming hot fried rice. While I did manage to succeed in both of these challenges, I think it had more to do with the chef’s impressive aim rather than my hand-eye coordination.
If teppanyaki isn’t to your taste, there are regular dining tables available and for group bookings, the back of the restaurant has two partitioned tables with traditional floor style dining. This is a great way to experience a semblance of authentic Japanese culture and also adds a bit of excitement and uniqueness to the dining experience.
The dessert area unfortunately is somewhat lacking. The banquet included a lacklustre scoop of vanilla ice cream, a bit of a letdown to an otherwise fantastic meal. The regular dessert menu has the typical fried banana or pineapple, fried ice cream and a fruit platter. But your money would be better spent on another entree or main.
Fujiyama is open for dinner, seven nights a week and will open for lunch upon group booking requests. To get there from the CBD, take the Sandringham line to North Brighton station.
