Bishamon (Revisited)

Bishamon
500 Boundary Road Spring Hill
3/5
I didn't mean to revisit Bishamon, especially so quickly in my blog. But apparently Saturday night towards the end of November means you need more than a days notice for a reservation at many places. So in desperate flurry of trying to find a table for five on Saturday night that all of my guests would enjoy, I just gave up on places I hadn't been and decided that Bishamon would do. Again Bishamon failed to disappoint me, its position in Spring Hill keeps it fairly empty, so getting a reservation or eating in the tightly packed tables of the dining room was not a problem.

The feel of Bishamon still gets my juices up, the weathered red brick wall that splits the room in two giving the restaurant a particular feeling that while not unique feels intimate and unusual. The tight small two dining rooms create a spacial feel not seen often in a city where expansiveness dominates the design game. The bright lighting provided by a swarm of hanging lights with different sized lamp shades that haven't seen light in Australia since 1979 (The spherical paper shades you know from your grandmothers house).

I'll just quickly cover the service, the service was reasonably prompt, without being exceptional. The fact that we were in a corner of the room with few people around may have contributed to the occasional inability to get the waitresses attention, but for Brisbane the attention was above and beyond what you see at many restaurants. Now onto the most important part, the food. Having been craving a hotpot for what felt like an eternity, I already knew that Sukiyaki was on the menu for tonight (I like Shabu Shabu but I had that last time). But before i get to the main dish, i would like to go over the starters that we ordered. Ordering a couple starters (and the best starters Yebisu and Choya Ume) Edamame and Tuna Sashimi. The Edamame (Boiled Soy Beans with salt) were refreshing to have again, however what can I say about soy beans. The Tuna Sashimi was of a high quality with its texture being almost perfect, however the slight lack of flavour compared with other Sashimi I have eaten leaves it ever so slightly disappointing. The main however was everything I expected it to be, and more than last time due to the fact that I now understand how to do hotpot properly.
The Sukiyaki is in my opinion better than the Shabu Shabu I had last time, and especially when we started getting the slices of pork in it. The broth of food juices and sweet soy sauce being much simpler in flavour than the prepared broth of the Shabu Shabu.

Just to finish I would return to Bishamon again, and the fact that it competes quality wise with many of the bigger Japanese restaurants in this city for a lower cost makes it one of my favourite casual Japanese eateries.

Our Starters cost $5 for the Edamame, $19.95 for the Sashimi. The Main Sukiyaki cost $32 per person for all you can eat (regular hot pot cost about $28.50 pp) Yebisu (Japanese Beer) cost $7 each and Choyu Ume (a Japanese plum wine) cost $30 for a bottle. Other mains are available in the $15-$35 price range
Bishamon is open for dinner 6:00pm to 9:30pm (last order) Monday to Saturday and For Lunch 11:30am to 2:30pm every Monday to Friday.