juan bowl & tea

coming from oriental background, i look for high standard japanese restaurants over the world. with no doubt juan has become one of my favourite japanese restaurants.

juan is cozy, clean and modern; service is attentive and polite. the menu is small but they do each of the items to perfection. we had the wagyu rice, unagi (eel) rice and black sesame mochi. i’m not going to write too much about each of the dishes, since they will give you a pleasant surprise - come try them yourself!

already planning to come back for another bowl of rice and the famedmatchatiramisu.

the food was amazing in this little tucked away restaurant. the menu is very limited, but it made it easy to order. we had the wagyu and tonkatsu don (coming from a malaysian/singaporean background there was no way i was going to order the hainanese chicken in a jap restaurant...). both don dishes were great, but what i really came for was thematchatiramisu and it didn't let me down!! i could've eaten another 5 of these even after my mains!

one of the best japanese food in sydney!!
unagi hitsumabushi and wagyu are delicious and well-presented.

- unagi hitsumabushi ☆☆☆☆☆

- wagyu ☆☆☆☆

-matchatiramisu ☆☆☆☆☆

- wagyu korokke ☆☆☆☆☆

cosy restaurant in redfern, good for a small group or couple.
they don't take a reservation, so you might need to wait outside if you are unlucky.
otherwise, juan is my go to place!!

you’re my juan and only
...👀well actually...

i have always wanted to visit @juan.redfern ever since i set my eyes upon their beautifully decorated wagyu bowl; and i finally had a chance to drag my fat ass here on juan fine afternoon with me partner and we ordered a bunch of good looking stuff🤤

🍖wagyu bowl: oh boiii i had such high hopes for this baby, given how appetising and beautiful it is visually, i was let down. the dish, to me, was just bland. the wagyu roasted beef was soft and tender, but it barely had any flavour on top of the rice. i legit poured all the onion sauce into the bowl (even tho the chef suggested pouring only a lil👀).. would i order this again? downright no. for the price point, the flavour was not there😪

🐽tonkatsu bowl: this dish saved the day and was my absolute favourite. my partner ordered this dish and legit i was eye-ing it so hard. the pork tonkatsu was so crispy and tender, the miso sesami sauce was full of flavour (yes i dipped all my wagyu into this sauce) and the rice had a subtle hint of onion and butter which complimented the pork so so well. i’m not one for fried stuff (liar!) but i would absolutely order this again.

🍵matcha tiramisu: so, my partner has a thing againstmatcha(i know, these people have problems and they should be banished), but ‘apparently’, this dessert has changed his opinion on matcha... so i guess this speaks for itself on how delicious this was😂 the alternating layers ofmatchawhipped cream and sponge were to d.i.e. for.

🍹lychee red: so juan & bowl has this thing where at the time, each individual has to order at least $30 of food, so we ordered this drink. it was a delicious drink, the lychee flavour was there (tick), the syrup was sweet and complimented the lychee well (tick), the pouring shot was a fail (no tick😂). it’s a good drink guys.

sooo, rant over. @juan.redfern was a bit of a hit and miss, but the food is of high quality. the price point is above average and requirement of >$30pp, as someone pointed out, helps businesses stay afloat during covid. overall an enjoyable experience, would defs come back for the tonkatsu bowl and other delicious looking dishes🥰

a small and humble japanese restaurant tucked away in redfern. we really enjoyed the tonkatsu which was very crispy and light. their wagyu beef don wasn’t that flavourful even with the sauce so that was a bit disappointing, but it was still good. thematchatiramisu was delicious with a super smooth and slightly sweetenedmatchacream.

i saw the hype on instagram and decided to order the wagyu beef bowl andmatchatiramisu. my friend had the unagi bowl. to me, both the wagyu bowl and the tiramisu were alright, taste-wise it’s good but nothing special. it wasn’t busy when we came and we were served immediately, but say there’s a queue, i won’t bother waiting in line. on the side note, the unagi bowl was amazing and service was great! :)

this quaint establishment has a warm and earthy feel, drawing upon japanese roots. there are limited seats so there is often a short wait; it is well worth it though. we had the wagyu bowl which looked like a small portion when it came out but definitely was sufficient. it was nice they had the tea and wine suggestion under each dish. the highlight was definitely thematchadessert; it was extremely decadent and not too overly sweet but with the right balance of bitterness and sweetness.

service not very great, restaurant itself is dainty yet positioned slightly far from any shopping centres. bathroom located outside of restaurant and we paid before our meal (the cashier lady rolled her eyes when we took a while to decide what we wanted to order ahahaha).

the bowls we chose- unagi and tonkatsu were alright. the unagi bowl was good at first but has an overly salty aftertaste and the tonkatsu, although slow cooked was a bit too tough for my liking, the serving size was quite generous.

the desserts were definitely the best part as we ordered both the warabimochi and thematchatiramisu. the warabimochi blew my mind and wayyy exceeded my expectations (it's probably the best part of the menu) and thematchatiramisu that came after paled in comparison as it was slightly more heavy and creamy (although it was still really good) xd

i do not know what the hype about this place is. food is very overpriced and staff borderline rude (they asked my friend “do you really have to go toilet now?” when she asked to use the bathroom”.
the unagi bowl was great in terms of flavour however, tiny for what you pay. the pork katsu was average, like what you can find at any japanese eatery, however, very fatty. thematchatiramisu was delicious, but once again, tiny for the price paid.
the store was also very disorganised when it came to handling customers at peak lunch time.

amazing food! you always have to book though otherwise there is no chance of getting a table.

my favourite dishes are the wagyu beef & thematchatiramisu ❤️

there limited main choices but they are all nice! the raw beef with sticky rice are really good and the pork is slow cooked and very special. don't forget to order a dessert as well. thematchatiramisu and the warabimochi are must. will definitely go there again.

this is my most favorite recently! i love everything on their menu! just pick one out of four kinds of mains randomly and you won’t be disappointed! thematchatiramisu is a must-have too. try it after the rice or you will regret it.

made a booking, came in and wait for 10 to 15 minutes to finally been seated. the choice of food was really limited, so we got the waygu and tonkatsu, 2 today's dessert which we both got thematchatiramisu and for drinks are peach melba andmatchalatte. the peach melba taste like bland water andmatchalatte, they separate the honey so you can adjust your level of sweetness. the staff guide us the sauces she put on the table and then the food came out which was super tasty and fulfilling but we can also squeeze the dessert into our other stomach. thematchatiramisu was really tasty and moist but i rather go to café kentaro or ornatek due to the portion is a bit bigger and price. overall the food came out quick and my concern most of the time is they need to get extra helping hand just due to it was so pack and not a lot of staff is at the front.

had an okay meal - it was decent enough but the tonkatsu wasn’t tender (try chidori for their sous vide tonkatsu - that was goood). been meaning to visit for the longest time so this sort of disappointed. waygu rice bowl thing was also okay. was okay.matchalatte was good. not sweet.

they only do 4 rice bowls at this restaurant so you already know everything is going to be amazing and crafted to perfection.

i had the wagyu bowl and my friends had the tonkatsu and unagi bowl. we also ordered their signaturematchatiramisu.

the beef is slow cooked to melt in your mouth goodness. tucked underneath the beef you have some drool-worthy garlic butter rice. topped with an onsen egg, you have yourself a wonderful meal bursting with flavour. 

the green tea tiramisu is so insanely creamy and smooth. everything from the sponge to the cream to the dusted powder has the element ofmatchaincorporated in it. must order formatchalovers.

pro tip: they don't fo walk-ins so remember to place a reservation before coming.