juan bowl & tea

a bit pricey but staff were very professional and nice. the wagyu omelette rice was amazing, so was the tea and dessert. definitely recommend!

japanese cuisine has always been our favourite. i mean, sushi, sashimi, matcha, donburi and stuff like that, seriously, i need a whole night to list them all out. scouring sydney foodies instagrams and we found tons of b-e-autiful and drool-worthy pictures from juan where donburi seems to be a serious business. and hell yes, they did what they promised to deliver. flavours were spot on, even though the portions didn’t happen to be quite large. sharing three between two would be nice (sign, we should have done so. yep, regretting now!).

we ordered the wagyu and the tonkatsu dons. the wagyu don was immaculately presented and the soft egg was really soft. however, the dish as a whole was slightly bland without the addition of the onion sauce. the tonkatsu was quite standard and similar to what you could get for a much lower price. the portion of the tonkatsu was quite large and the apple mayo was very tasty. the dish excelled in your ability to control the flavour through the addition of the sauce. the sakura matcha tiramisu was very soft and not too sweet, which was really good.

the interior is minimalistic and super aesthetic. the staff are very nice, but make sure you book in advance to ensure a seat!

i love everything japanese, especially japanese food. this is a cozy, quaint shop tucked in one of the redfern streets, best to make prior reservations. i love menus like this, where they pair the dish with a recommended tea flavour. we ordered the wagyu and the eel options, both tasted pretty good. we also tried the matcha tiramisu which was highly recommended. i look forward to coming back to try other dishes!

the arrival of juan caused quite a stir among the foodie community in sydney. for that reason, mr piggy and i waited for the heat to fade before coming here. just like a typical japanese restaurant, the decoration is simple and minimal. the restaurant is small with limited tables (make sure you book in advance).

quaint restaurant with minimalist interior. booking is recommended although there were a few empty seats when we arrived at 7pm. we didn’t have any issues with the service as others have experienced. we ordered the wagyu bowl, hainan chicken with its matching “milky oolong tea” ( which does not contain any milk :/) and the matcha tiramisu. the wagyu bowl doesn’t compare to the ones we had in japan but it was still decent. the hainan chicken was very enjoyable. the chicken skin was lightly scorched with fragrant fried onion crunches mixed into the rice. the pickled onion gave a good acidity to the dish. the matcha tiramisu was an amazing dessert and impeccably presented. it was moist, creamy with a good but not overpowering amount of matcha.

they also have seasonal seafood entrees and dessert which all looked amazing but we didn’t try. would definitely return next time. overall, a great and enjoyable meal.

some of the best japanese food i've had here in sydney without breaking the bank. i had the pork katsu dish and it was so tender and juicy with a lovely balance of meat and fat. the matching tea was delicious, and the dessert (which i have forgotten then name) was just as good as the meal itself. i'm generally not a big fan of asian desserts as they tend to be too sweet for my taste, but this one was subtle, fruity, fresh and only mildly sweet.

the restaurant itself is quite small so make sure you book, though the interior is very modern, clean and well lit. the only negative thing i could mention was the wait for the food to come out was a bit longer than that one would expect.

this is a really nice spot for some delicious japanese food. the aesthetics of the restaurant is very clean and modern. the service staff are also very helpful and friendly.

i shared the dishes and so i was able to try the tonkatsu, the unagi and the wagyu rice bowls. everything is super delicious so you really can’t go wrong with any of the them. if had to choose a favourite though, my favourite would be the unagi.

in terms of dessert, we could only have the daily special which was a matcha shortcake which was average. i think the savoury dishes are the definite highlights.

visited this with my juan and only. we ordered the wagyu beef don and pork tonkatsu don. the wagyu pretty much melted in my mouth and the pork was super juicy and flavourful.
we also went ahead and ordered the matcha tiramisu and iced matcha lattes - both were amazing.
i recommend booking a table in advance as it can get super busy.

a little bit far from the train station if you are not to drive. very limited choice of dishes and sometimes not all of them are provided. and you may still feel hungry if only ordered a main. pics may not tell the whole story.

•newly opened and takes only bookings
•service is slow and minimal staff
•i understand the owner recently quit her job as a graphic designer, this place needs to be managed better to take it to the next level.
•wagyu don - looks impressive and the soft egg is magnificently soft, the wagyu is delicious however the overall taste was bland.
•unagi hitsumabushi - again looks impressive but the overall taste is better than the wagyu.
•sakura matcha tiramisu - probably the highlight of the dishes. hands down this dish i would rate 10 out of 10.
•i hope this joint works out their nuts and bolts soon. i would still go back for the tiramisu!

yet another place that fails to impress.
logic at this place goes out the window. firstly, this place seems to only accept reservations - fair. however, when you go to order you must go up to the counter. but! you can’t order unless those that have entered before you have. never have i heard of such a thing. i stepped up to order and was told to wait until the other table had placed their order. even when you do place your order, the table that comes in after you, will receive their dishes first despite ordering the same thing. maybe they should hand out numbers so we can be served as if we’re at the local woolworths deli.

unagi hitsumabushi - they serve this with a teapot side of dashi. it wasn’t until i was getting to the end of my meal i realise what its true purpose was. hidden under a thin layer of egg is some unagi and a mountain of rice. the sweet soy sauce became sickly overpowering. here you realise the dashi acts as a diluting agent for the sweet soy but also drown out and mask the amount of rice you receive. if they threw in the word don it’d be more understandable. however, three words to describe this dish: rice, rice, rice.

wagyu - i only tried a little bit of this dish, but from what i observed there was also a lot of rice hidden underneath. what i thought to be a stand out dish was really nothing special. the flavours paled in comparison the the unagi, but this could be due to the overpowering sweet soy.
matching tea was very very light.

try the ‘bowl’ if you just, but nothing worth revisiting for.

note - use of cards incurs a surcharge of 1.4%.

really good food and dessert.. the best matcha tiramisu that i ever had. also i don’t really eat rice but their grain rice really good.. the unagi really perfectly cooked and seasoned.. also their cutleries and plate really pretty

wagyu
aud 22

you will definitely want to try this dish when you@ just take a look at it💫 each piece of wagyu is soft and juicy. the chef told us we should pour off the sweet onion sauce around the the wagyu first, then mix the onsen egg with the wagyu and the rice underneath.
i would rate this 10/10✅✅ make sure you make a booking before reaching the restaurant!

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small restaurant with only 3 staffs, always fully booked if you dont book days in advance. tried the pork katsu and unagi hitsumabushi. the pork katsu was a dissapoinment because most of the pork that we got was the fat and not much meat, and the crumb was quite oily. the unagi on the other hand was really nice, the flavors were balanced nicely, but the portion of the unagi was quite small.

for dessert we tried the match tiramisu and it was really good. the texture was nice and soft and it was not too sweet.