20190906 Yumi and Brunelli

I have to work with what I'm given... the first picture tonight is a mystery! A row of chairs... I am assuming this is from the school in which Chad works. I'm sure there is a story behind this picture... maybe Chad can enlighten us

Contrary to the picture, the actual evening started off in our usual spot - the Elephant - with us sitting in the back booth again.

Stephen and I get there first and sit opposite each other. I only reserve a spot next to me for Con now (Chad is not allowed to sit next to me anymore because he won't let me up to the bathroom when I ask to pass).

Con is always good value and is always in good spirits. Nothing seems to get Con down. His happy-go-lucky attitude is inspiring.

Chad had a present for Richard tonight - an associate card for the Cricket. Needless to say that cricket will have a theme for the group tonight as it determined where we had coffees later... but before we get onto dessert - what about DINNER!

It was Con's turn to choose tonight and it is clear that we are running out of ideas... we've now visited most places on Rundle Street. There is, however, one place that I wasn't looking forward to - the Japanese place - Yumi.

I really didn't like my experience the last time I went to a Japanese Sushi train, but after watching the movie Tampopo I was at least willing to give the Ramen a go. Noodle soup with veggies and tofu doesn't sound half bad.

We strolled across the road to the venue and easily found a table for 5. It's a tiny restaurant with no more than 20 seats I think.

Drinks.... Chad had Sake and Stephen had a Pinot Noir. Chad's Sake was warmed and served in a pottery jug - it was very ceremonial. Chad said the Sake was very smooth. When he finished the Sake in the container, he asked for the rest to be warmed too. A winner I think.


Chad, myself and Stephen ordered the Miso soup. It came in a cute small bowl - a cloudy mild flavoured soup with tiny cubes of silken tofu and slithers of seaweed. It looked the part and I enjoyed it. Stephen added soy sauce to his because he said it was too bland. Con also had the Miso soup but with Crab. He enjoyed his and said that it was reminiscent of the movie Tampopo. High praise indeed.

As part of the entree serves, Stephen and Richard also had their Terriaki chicken served. Richard would have liked the 'Side' to have been served with his main dish and was quite annoyed (nearly tipped the table) and had a word with the waitress that he wasn't happy. Stephen, unusually, was relatively quiet on this matter and was happy to munch away at the chicken until the mains came out.

There was only 1 chef in the kitchen, and he was struggling to get everyone's food out on time. That was the biggest down-side to the service. However, Chad, who had to wait the longest for his food, said he didn't mind the wait. Neither did I.

Stephen had Yaki Tori Udon. Thick wide bands of udon noodles with shavings of chicken and other stuff.  It looked great, but Stephen said it was just too noodly and tasteless. Unexciting. It smelled of pork which he didn't like. Stephen gave his food a 6 out of 10 (terriaki chicken side dish 7.5).

Con had the pork Katsu curry. He originally asked for chicken but they didn't have any. You wouldn't normally think curry and Japanese food, but it looked amazing. Con gave his meal an 8 out of 10.




With Richard, Chad didn't take a photo of his food, but Richard had the Yaki Tori Special XO Sauce fried rice. He put a little soy sauce on his rice but overall he said it wasn't bad. His score was a 6 out of 10.

My dish looked amazing. I had the chargrilled spicy calamari doburi as a main. It was a rice dish with calamari and a fried egg on top. The flavours were certainly there. It wasn't too foreign for me and I ate all of it. I said at the time I would give my score an 8 out of 10 mainly because I was so surprised I enjoyed it as I did. Later, I would downgrade it to a 7.5 because there are more tastier meals that I have had.

Chad's piste de resistance.. was the Deluxe sushi and what a dish it was! Amazing delicate raw fish wrapped in sushi. Chad loved it all and dipped them in the wasabi sauce not touching the soy sauce at all saying it didn't need it. He initially gave his meal a 9 but later upgraded it to a 9.5!!! I think this is the highest score so far.


When it came to the bill, Stephen and I gave Richard $60 for our portion - Con gave $20 and Chad paid separately on his card, leaving Richard to pay the remainder of the bill. 

One nice touch... the chef came out and apologised for the delay in getting the food on the table (and the mix up with chicken being an entree). I thought it was lovely of him to do this. He looked like he had had a hard life and took great pride in his work. Chad and I assured him that there was nothing to worry about.

Even though it was Con's turn to choose where we go for coffees, Richard had a hand in it by suggesting Brunelli - mainly because it had the television screens for the cricket. Australia were playing England.

Richard bought the coffees and got himself a triple layer chocolate cake to go with his coffee. By this stage, I was full and couldn't eat anything else. We sat to the left inside but there was a draft from the door and it was freezing!! I've always associated Brunelli with being cold in winter and today was no exception.

Another lovely night. It's so important to appreciate friends and to savour these moments when we can share a meal together and enjoy the end of the week.