Miso Japanese Restaurant

MISO 

20/123 Liverpool St
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
+61 2 9283 9686

Miso is the not-so-latest venture from the Masuya group in Sydney. They specialise in the tei-shoku style of food, meaning set meal. It’s a more casual form of food which is very popular in Japan, and often a value-for-money proposition.

I usually make a point to order whatever the restaurant is famous for (and good at) however, this time around, their HUGE bento boxes caught my eye and I was immediately sold.

The Miso Bento

Being a part of Masuya group (and those of you in Sydney will know how successful this Japanese food group is in Sydney – especially their Makoto branded sushi train places- there are usually masses of people loitering outside of the restaurant waiting to go in), having a line outside is a given. It was a good thing that we went at a fairly reasonable time and so the line wasn’t too long. Except that our group was a slightly unusual 5 pax, meaning we miss out as 2 pax were seated before we are (since tables for 5 don’t come up often).

Unagi (eel) bento

What was enlightening was that they were very apologetic about not being able to seat us next and gave us an explanation as to why… it really felt as if we were in Japan again, unlike our experience from the night before, where the staff in a certain Japanese restaurant had lost all the customer service aspect of their culture.

Ms A had visited once before and for some reason she didn’t like it, but was game enough to give it another go. As I mentioned, I took no notice of their set menus and ordered the Hokkaido Bento, which to me was the most inviting of them all.

Hokkaido Bento

Having the bento took me back to the time when I was sitting in a Shinkansen, eating the bento. All the parts that made up the bento were delicious and there was nothing that didn’t feel the least bit authentic. The best compliment I can give is that I truly felt like I was in Japan.

Shinkansen Bento

For a set menu restaurant, I wouldn’t say they’re cheap. I wouldn’t even say that it’s value-for-money, but then again, I do realise I live in Sydney where EVERYTHING is expensive, and if I can feel happy and content after a meal, then I believe it is worth the $$$.

[Onomatopia]