It’s been a long time coming… I’ve been waiting to try Ishizuka since early last year, but because I fell pregnant I held off from one of my favourite food – sashimi!
J made this year’s lockdown birthday very special…
He ordered the take home version of Ishizuka’s Premium Sashimi Box, Kagoshima Wagyu, Japanese Sponge Cake and Matcha Tarte Tartin. Everything was beautifully packaged and easy to reheat.
The Premium Sashimi Box had an overwhelming variety of sashimi, it had Akami Tuna, Dry Aged Blue Cod, Zuke Maguro, Chu Toro, Yujimo Snapper, Scallop, Toro, King Fish, Ikura, Salmon, Prawn and Abalone. The Box came with high quality printed paper introducing the sushi prepared for the day. I assume every day could change depending on Ishizuka’s produce. Almost all the pieces were beautiful. The only two I found chewy were Ikura and Abalone but J thought the Ikura was fine. Every piece was fresh, my favourites were Scallop, Salmon, King fish & Dry Aged Blue Cod. The box travelled very well – we put it in the fridge right after it got delivered.
The Kagoshima wagyu also came with introduction to the meat, where it came from and instructions to reheat. The details of these notes made me feel so much closer to the food than a standard food delivery. The quality of the paper was a lot better than the standard A4 paper, it was textured. I really like the way Ishizuka did this. It was as though we were eating at the restaurant with the chef explaining everything about each dish to us.
We had questions about whether the wagyu was raw and we had to cook it, and the note answered all our questions. The wagyu could be eaten cold in a sandwich but we wanted it heated up. A simple 15 minutes in the oven with the Hoba leaf was just what we needed to do.
Before reheating, wrapped in Hoba Leaf 
After 15min reheating 
The Wagyu melted in our mouths, cooked perfectly to be soft and not chewy at all. The Hoba miso sauce was packed full of flavour, rather on the salty end for us to enjoy everything else on the side that was fresh and light. There was a generous amount of sauce provided in the pack – we actually saved the sauce to cook other food with it. 🙂
We were only able to finish one dessert for that night, so we picked the Japanese sponge cake and saved the Matcha Tarte Tartin for the next day. But in hindsight we should have had the Matcha Tarte Tartin because it had a crispy pastry base, whereas the sponge cake was in a sealable bag, which would have help keep it’s moisture for a few days longer.
The sponge cake was delicately packaged, It was moist and dense but still airey. I could have this every day!
The Matcha Tarte Tartin’s size was as big as my head! I was also surprised that it wasn’t very sweet. The clear glaze was flavourless gelatin, the sweetness came from the fresh crunchy apples delicately cut and layered on top. Could definitely taste the almond and see the green layer of matcha sitting on the crispy puff pastry. While the matcha flavour was light, we still enjoyed the Tarte Tartin. It took us a while to finish it but we didn’t get sick of it.
Overall, I’d recommend their Premium Sashimi box, Wagyu and Japanese Sponge cake. The Matcha Tarte Tartin was just a little too big for two people. So if there’s more guests, definitely give this one a try!
NoWongFood Rating:
Service: 4/5 (Delivery)
Ambience: 5/5 (Instructions / Packaging)
Entree: 5/5
Main: 5/5
Dessert: 4/5
Beverage: N/A
Overall: 23/25
★★★★
NoWongFood 