Best of the Gold Coast: Japanese restaurants

A relative newcomer to the Gold Coast cuisine scene offering rowdy Japanese pub-style, share-plate dining has been voted the favourite by goldcoastbulletin.com.au readers

SEAFOOD Generic image of Japanese seafood dish, sushi. (TO BE USED ONLY FOR EDITORIAL)

WE asked and you’ve voted! Here are the top 10 Japanese restaurants on the Gold Coast as voted by the readers of goldcoastbulletin.com.au

10. JFX

Southport

JFX stands for Japanese Food Express and that’s pretty much says it all. The place pumps at lunch time so arrive early to find a seat among the Asian students all taking advantage of $8 lunch specials. Open Monday-Friday, 11am-9pm; weekends for dinner.

9. TetsuAki

Paradise Point

New kid on the block has quickly attracted a following from local families who keep going back for the fast, fresh sushi, sashimi and more. Banquets priced from $50-85 a head. Save space for dessert. The tempura coconut ice-cream with green tea syrup is a popular choice. Open seven days, 11am-late.

8. Itoshin Japanese Restaurant

GC Highway, Mermaid Beach

This Gold Coast institution of 20-plus years has fed two generations of hungry surfers and their families. The place to eat sushi and sashimi, sliced fresh from what’s in season. Recent hits from the specials menu included Toothfish grilled in miso, tuna, trout, salmon, kingfish and octopus.

7. Hachi

Nobbys Beach

Fast, fresh affordable Japanese sushi served by friendly staff. Menu favourites include the tempura prawns, teriyaki chicken and rice, Hachi sampler plate, sashimi, vegetables and chicken curry and wasabi salmon and steaks.

6. Ten Japanese Restaurant

GC Highway, Broadbeach

Ten means heaven in Japanese and here, guests enjoy high-end service and premium cuisine served in a sublime setting that comprises sushi and teppanyaki areas, a prestigious private function room and sake lounge, designed exclusively by a renowned Japanese architect. The wine cellar boasts 150 labels, including every vintage of world-renowned Penfold’s Grange from 1966 to 2004.

5. Benihana Japanese Steak House

Surfers Paradise

Chop Chop. The teppanyaki chefs at this Japanese steak house know how to put on a show. The food is fresh, clean, affordable and cooked at the table. Fun. Order from a menu of sushi, sashimi, nigiri, tempura and hibachi meats to share or $62 a head banquets that go by names like The Samurai or Bonsai. Open for dinner seven days.

4. Zipang

Currumbin Waters

Fresh, clean, affordable Japanese tapas plates to share served up in friendly surrounds. Zipang is the latest project for Atsu Mizushina, formerly of Genki Cafe, Palm Beach. Order the gingery pork dumplings (Gyoza) or seared scallops and lotus chips from the menu or from a specials board that has recently boasted delights that include pork belly and kimchee hot pot, chilli and paw paw salad served with seared scallops and prawns, braised Daikon radish in sweet miso and cashew and green beans. Yum. Open lunch, Monday-Friday and dinner, Monday-Saturday.

Donto Sapporo, Broadwater.

3. Donto Sapporo

GC Highway, Broadbeach

Authentic Japanese sushi, sashimi, tempura, side dishes, soups and noodles served in surrounds that transports diners back to old Japan. Try house specialties that include garlic cloves in tempura batter served with sweet miso paste and sea salt. Visiting Expendables star Dolph Lundgren was a dinner guest during Supanova. See his glowing review on the restaurant’s Facebook page. There’s also a cute snap of the manager dressed as Pokemon favourite Pikachu. Open Monday-Saturday for lunch and dinner.

Chef Chase Kojima at Kiyomi, Jupiters Hotel and Casino.

2. Kiyomi

Jupiters Hotel & Casino, Broadbeach

Modern Japanese cuisine created by Chase Kojima and served in sumptuous surrounds. Kojima, is formerly of Nobu, Las Vegas, Dubai, London, Los Angeles and the Bahamas and Sokyo at The Star, Sydney. The Omakase degustation menu — a selection of signature dishes paired with matched win, sake and cocktails at $140 per person is a good place to start — and finish. The Hiramasa kingfish, miso ceriche and crispy potato is the best dish on the menu, while the crispy rice and spicy tuna will both surprise and delight. Open for dinner Tuesday-Saturday.

Mitchell and Nerissa McCuskey at Etsu Izakaya, Mermaid Beach.

1. Etsu Izakaya

GC Highway, Mermaid Beach

There are plenty of reasons to tempt you through the doors of Mermaid Beach’s relatively new Japanese restaurant. Platters of fresh hunks of sashimi. A range of Japanese sake, whiskey and beers. Lightly seared and very popular succulent strips of beef tataki. Yes, all your favourites. But one of the specialities of this bustling and super-social spot which opened in August, last year, is the skewers of chicken, seafood and vegetarian goodness all cooked by Robata Grill out the front, a Japanese-style barbecue which infuses your dish with a unique tinge. At Etsu they use binochotan charcoal which owner Mitch McCluskey says adds a sweet, smoky flavour to the dish. “That’s our feature out the front, the Robata grill, it’s something a bit different to your typical teppanyaki place.”

Soft shell crab at Etsu Izakaya. Photo: Anthony Weate

You’ll know Mitch and his wife Nerissa — particularly if you’re a Burleigh local — from their cafe haunt there called Commune. As Mitch explains: “Like Commune which is a loud and crazy cafe, we have built a loud and crazy environment (at Etsu).” Loud and crazy with mystery.

Don’t try to find the sign for Etsu if you’re driving up and down Gold Coast Highway looking for the place — you won’t see it. It doesn’t have one. But it is also not hard to spot. It’s the place with the big white barn-type doors and red lanterns out the front. “This is no signage — we haven’t even advertised. But once you open the doors it’s a crazy loud Japanese izakaya. It suits our personality,” Mitch says. “We’re getting a lot of local support, particularly from Burleigh and Mermaid but we also get quite a few people in from Brisbane and Sydney and Melbourne which is pretty exciting.”

Small sashimi plate at Etsu Izakaya. Photo: Anthony Weate

Mitch adds it has been a surreal time for the pair, having started Commune as a very small operation four years ago. “It was just an coffee machine and a few pieces of banana bread. Then everyone wanted bacon and eggs and breakfasts. It just took off,” Mitch says, adding after three years of it they wanted to branch out into something else. “We go to Japan snowboarding every year, we just love the food and culture there and when we got home last time we thought what would work really well on the Gold Coast would be Japanese share food like this.”

Gyoza at Etsu Izakaya. Photo: Anthony Weate

You’ll see Mitch, 36, and Nerissa, 34, in there just about every one of the seven nights a week that it’s open from 5pm — he’s the maitre d and she oversees the “food path” of the dishes put together by Japanese chefs. Along with the Robata grill skewers, they offer wagyu sirloin steak, cooked whole and cut up, tempura prawn and vegetable options, chicken karage and much more.