For that very reason entering Restaurant JUN is quite daunting. As my brother and I walk down the alleyway off Hay Street and then downstairs into the restaurant itself, we are discussing if we’re even going to be able to recognise dishes on the menu. Yes – we are that naïve.
Our fears are quashed though, when we enter JUN and are greeted with all the staff screaming (what we can only assume is) welcome in Japanese. We are escorted to our table right at the front of house and I am quietly disappointed not to have been offered the traditional Japanese seating right next to us. The table we do sit at is made up of two two-person tables, so the waitress moves one aside, allowing us to have the other to ourselves. After handing us the special and regular menus, she then brings over our chopsticks in their home-made cases. Very cute.
We’re amazed at the cheap prices of the dishes on the menu and I curse my partner for not liking Asian foods, thinking this would be the perfect cheap date restaurant. We decide to share several dishes and when the waitress returns once more, my brother Matt leaves the ordering up to me. I think he regrets this decision when one-by-one the staff bring out countless dishes, eventually having to reattach the previously moved table to our own in order to make room. Awkward.
The Yakitori skewered entrees of Chicken Tenderloins with Plum Sauce ($4.20 for two) and Salted Pork Belly ($3.80 for two) are up there with my favourite dishes of the ‘banquet’. The plum on the chicken is unexpectedly tart, but it works given the cautious application. Too much of it would have you looking like you’d sucked on a Warhead.
The absolute star of the show was our Hokke – grilled Japanese Atka Mackerel ($12). Served in two fillets with a crispy skin and tail attached, Matt dug into this first and struggled with picking out the tiny bones. Once the meat was removed though, he said it just melted in his mouth. I had to get me some of this, so I ripped out the spine and ate the thickest part of the fillet. The bones in here were barely noticeable and I think you could very well eat them without punching a hole anywhere there shouldn’t be one. Matt was right, the Hokke was divine. We spent the next few minutes devouring its slippery meat with our chopsticks – a long, hilariously rewarding task.
When I told a friend we were heading to JUN, she said I must try the Chicken Katsu ($22) as it was a traditional Japanese dish. Matt and I couldn’t help but notice how different it was to the rest of the dishes we ordered, heavily crumbed and fried. Everything else was very light and it seemed like this addition held a Westernised flavour. It was delicious and a favourite of Matt’s, but it would have been better eaten on its own and not in a shared feast.
We also ordered some steamed rice ($2.50) and Udon noodles ($6.50), neither of which were anything to write home about. The Green Tea Ice-cream ($4.50 on the specials menu) however was a refreshing end to a very filling meal.
In hindsight, we did order much too much food but with our bill totalling just over $60 it really didn’t matter. The entertainment provided when every new customer was greeted as they walked in, the table next to ours celebrating a birthday with thousands of camera flashes and peace signs, and the old man sitting alone at the counter finishing a book with a bottle of white were well worth the new experience.
I’ll be heading back to JUN, and next time I’m bringing a large group to bag one of those Japanese style rooms.
Restaurant JUN is BYO.
568 Hay Street, Perth WA
(08) 9221 3339
Photos courtesy wannabegourmand.com