Kuzu brings elegantly simple Japanese izakaya culture to Woodend
Kuzu is a worldly win for Woodend, an impressive addition to wine-dine options for the weekend getaway just an hour out of town, writes Dan Stock
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I WAS chatting with Matt Preston about his new book (Yummy Easy Quick Around The World, out November. It’s great, you should buy it!) and he reckons there’s no better litmus test of Australians’ growing food literacy than a walk down the supermarket isle.
Forget the jingles of yore when Mama made Kan Tong or Chicken Tonight for something exotic for tea, for the world is now our trolley, shelves groaning with five types of soy and four types of fish sauce and 15 styles of noodles.
You can get curry leaves and soft tortillas, pick up palm sugar, and pomegranate molasses and pancakes for Peking duck and still have room for a tin of Strawberry Quik.
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We’re in the privileged position to create and eat meals more far flung than ever before.
This, of course, extends to dining out, and I reckon there’s an equally precise test for Aussies’ adventurous appetites - looking at what the kids are eating.
And the 10-year-old I spied tucking into soft shell crab bao squirted with chilli mayo, and scoffing seared scallops served on the shell with miso cream and shimeji mushrooms, and picking up sashimi salmon with chopsticks like a pro, tells us the future looks bright.
Sure, judging by the look of surprise and the encouragement our waiter gave us when we ordered the plate of grilled tongue, their parents might still need some gentle prodding to break out of their culinary comfort zone, but full marks for offal even being on the menu here at Kuzu in Woodend. It certainly hasn’t stopped the six-month-old izakaya packing them in, a full house this Wednesday night translating into a month-long wait at weekends.
And why wouldn’t Woodend flock? Taking over the old Colenso site (which has moved to Kyneton) Kuzu is a decades’ long dream come to life for Eriko Pannam and Gareth Rowlands, who are adding tobiko and sake, wasabi and ponzu and yuzu to the food lexicon out here in the country.
The simple, sparsely decorated room is graceful in its simplicity, a kimono on the wall and a few homely knick-knacks brighten a whitewashed wall, exposed bricks and dangling bulbs adding inner-city warehouse conversion cool. Stemware is elegant, the ever-changing procession of crockery, more so, the dozen-deep sake collection impressively coming with background and tasting notes.
Imported Asahi on tap joins a tight selection of wines that marries a good selection of nicely priced Macedon Ranges locals - big names including Granite Hills and Bindi deliver cool-climate class – with a handful of French and Italians. It’s a well-chosen list of bright, vibrant whites and lean, juicy reds (with a couple of heavier, meatier drops for those cold Macedon nights) that complements Eriko’s cooking learnt – at least initially – at the apron of her grandmother in her kitchen in Yamaguchi, Japan.
There are easy wins on the menu, beginning with great gyoza – wrappers at once crunchy and silky filled with herb-flecked pork, $13 for six – and terrific tempura chicken, nuggets of thigh meat in a crunchy egg batter that comes topped with tartare sauce sharpened with a sweet-sour vinegar known as amazu ($16). More please.
That tongue – for those who dare – is excellent, the finest slivers grilled to bring out its rich meatiness, grated radish in yuzu vinegar, and sliced green onions, atop providing acidic cut through ($18). Charcoal bao provide the bookends to grilled Wagyu beef squirted with spiced Kewpie mayo. Jet black and steamed squished soft they’re no picture but are super tasty ($16), while squares of masterstock-braised pork served with a sticky yolked tea-egg and bok choy is as elegant to look at as it is to eat ($20).
Service is great, with Gareth leading – and teaching – young helpers who pour wines at the table, give prices with verbal specials, and generally keep the busy room happy while smiling at the same time. It makes such missteps as food-stained and crumpled menus and flimsy paper napkins stand out.
So, too, the miss of the daily special sashimi of o-toro tuna. This most prized piece of the most prized blue fin tuna – the fatty belly – was inelegantly cut across the grain rendering it tough, chewy. If this was your introduction to one of sashimi’s greatest hits you’d be wondering what all the fuss was about – and wanting your $22 back.
But all’s forgiven with the east-west mash up of mentaiko pasta – slippery, fat udon noodles and squiggles of squid in a creamy sauce of spicy cod roe. This “carbonara” – complete with slow-cooked egg - with all its seasame-nori-spiced cuddliness is completely addictive ($18).
While Kuzu is a worldly win for Woodend, it’s also an impressive addition to wine-dine options for the weekend getaway just an hour out of town. Do as the kids do and tuck in.
Kuzu
42 Anslow St, Woodend
4417 7804
Open Wed dinner; Thurs-Sat lunch and dinner; Sun lunch
Go-to dish: Ika mentai carbonara
Score 13.5/20
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