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On the last night of my 3 day birthday eat-drink bender we booked a table at Nobu for a romantic night out just the two of us.  My only request to the Boy for my birthday present this year was for him to get me a gift that would be a total surprise!  Upon suggesting this to him some weeks before I was met with a number of retorts and complaints as he was certain that there would be no way he could think of something without any guidance. I knew he was wrong – when he puts his mind to it he comes up with the most awesome present ideas.

As the taxi pulled up outside our house, the Boy handed me a birthday card in a red envelope saying “Here’s your present!”  I decided to wait until we got to (A)LURE for our pre-dinner drinks before opening it.  It was such a fine evening so after ordering our drinks we sat out on the balcony basking in the setting sun.  I opened the envelope and in it was a card containing a printed piece of paper……curious….

“Happy Birthday Beautiful! Hope you’ve had a marvellous birthday and looking forward to an extra special one next year!”  Before even reading the enclosed piece of paper it suddenly dawned on me what he meant and I felt an overwhelming feeling of excitement and happiness! Next year for my birthday we will be in Thailand celebrating our marriage!!! Wooot!!!

To my even greater surprise the paper read as follows:

 “Aerial Combat Flight for Two: If Top Gun looked like fun then you’ll be thrilled by these combat formation flights with your family member alongside you!  Strap into a war bird and get set for an adrenalin fuelled flight!

When you and your companion arrive at the airport we’ll have you looking the part in no time when you put on your flight suit! You are then strapped into the seat behind the pilot and briefed on the mission ahead. Then it’s out to the flight line – the fun is about to begin!

The combat formation flight is performed with two CJ-6A Nanchangs. At the beginning of your flight you will experience the art of close formation as practiced by the air forces of the world. Then it’s time to split the formation. The fight is on! Diving and turning to gain position behind the opposing aircraft, your pilot will take you on an amazing aerial combat adventure, using real military rules and procedures. This is not a simulator or computer game – this is the real thing!

The CJ-6A Nanchang is the current primary trainer of the Chinese air force, with a 9-cylinder Radial-engine and sliding canopies. This aircraft is still in use, being employed by several air forces in training military pilots around the world.

After your aerial combat flight you and your friend will climb out of the cockpits, grinning from ear to ear and buzzing all over with excitement after having experienced an absolutely mind-blowing flight!

Far out!!! This has to be one of the most original and brilliant presents yet! The Boy has totally excelled himself! After guzzling a couple of glasses of champagne we moved over to Nobu to continue our evening.

We were warmly greeted and shown to our table where our waitress offered to bring us the cocktail special of the evening.  It was something sparkling and peachy but unfortunately I cannot recall much other detail.  The drink was very sweet almost overpoweringly so but totally enjoyable nevertheless.   Without even needing to ask, she came back to our table as we were sipping our drinks to remove our normal soy from the table and replace it with gluten-free soy.

Our waitress was very knowledgeable about the menu and was thrilled to enthusiastically describe some of the preparation in the kitchen to us.  We started with the yellow tail sashimi with jalapeño – a true example of how Nobu does Japanese differently with Peruvian flair.  For this signature dish, we were advised to eat each delicate velvety slice of tuna with a coriander leaf to experience all the flavours. The cool freshness of the coriander along with the bite of the jalapeño was out of this world!  Being a big fan of wasabi – the heat of the jalapeño is quite a different kind of heat and made a unique and interesting change.

Miso is traditionally used as a paste to flavour a vast number of Japanese dishes. To dramatically increase the flavour Nobu has pioneered the technique of processing the paste to create “dry miso” and he uses it throughout the menu as a powerful seasoning.  To make the dry miso, the miso paste is spread out onto baking paper and cooked for a few hours in the oven at low temperature.  It is then crushed in a food processor to produce small granular chips of intense flavour. Our white fish was served with dried red miso, fried garlic chips, a sprinkling of chives and a tangy lemony dressing.  After the combination of heat and sweet coriander with the yellow tail tuna, the more salty and acrid flavours of this dish was a great progression in flavours.  An excellent second choice.

If you are going to order anything off the menu – the Miso Black Cod is a signature dish that cannot be missed. This is where you really better believe the hype.  After being wowed by a copy of the same dish at Ku De Ta in Bali, I can truly appreciate how the original version here at Nobu has been perfected and mastered.  The fish is marinated in miso for no less than three days allowing it to fully permeate through the thick slab of Alaskan Black Cod.  The texture of the fish is so buttery and slithers into your mouth like silk.

The pork belly with miso caramel is another signature dish but this in no way compared to the show stopping black cod.  The miso had caramelised to a sticky sweetness but the crackling lacked oomph in its crunch which was a little disappointing.

The marron spinach salad was a bit of a spontaneous order as we originally wanted to have a mushroom dish but were informed that all the mushrooms were marinated in wheat based soy and therefore not suitable.  Surprisingly the spinach was the highlight of this dish with the dry miso giving such an incredible flavour.  The marron was quite humble in comparison to its salad.

The soft-shelled crab was one of the specials of the evening and I was so pleased to hear it could be adapted to be gluten-free!  It was served with fresh watermelon and sesame which I haven’t seen before.  Although I know I shouldn’t eat watermelon I did eat some this time and its bursting watery sweetness was an interesting match with the salty crispy crab.  I really shouldn’t have though because I did suffer a bit the next day! Watermelon and other melons are a no-no for fructose malabsorbers.

Now that we had sampled some hot dishes and some cold dishes, we moved onto some of the sashimi and sushi.  We order some squid, salmon and smelt egg sashimi. The sashimi was fairly good quality but not the best we have ever tried.  The squid was particularly well prepared with no chewiness. It was the sushi rolls that we both found most special.  The tuna and asparagus rolls looked so simple but they were like little bombs of flavour and the larger house made rolls were even more so.  I highly recommend all of the sushi rolls we tried.

For dessert I ordered the Bento box purely based on it having green tea ice-cream which I adore.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when she opened the box lid and sitting innocently in there was a gluten-free chocolate fondant with one lonely little scoop of green tea ice-cream.  My eyes lit up like a child at Christmas as I cut my spoon into the centre and out gushed delicious chocolaty goo.  My birthday celebrations were satisfyingly complete!

Nobu definitely broke the birthday budget, and it may indeed be sometime before we return there but it was totally worth it!

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Nobu

Burswood Entertainment Complex, Great Eastern Highway, Burswood 6100 | (08) 9362 7551 | www.noburestaurants.com

 

Price:                     $$$$ (Cold dish $18-65, Hot dish $22-52, Sashimi $3-10/piece, Sushi rolls $8-28)

Food:                    4.5/5 (one word – cod! OMG!)

Service:                3.5/5 (although initially brilliant, service slowed significantly as evening progressed)

Ambience:           4.5/5 (great lighting and relaxing but sophisticated)

Drinks:                  4/5 (tried the Hokuetsu Junmai Daiginjo sake – floraly sweet and refreshing)

Total:                     16.5/20