Takeru, Sydney CBD

Takeru Restaurant is for value, tasty, fusion Japanese food that I have enjoyed for a decade or so. It's great for a casual dining experience in the city. The city restaurant is quite small and the furniture is small so don't come here with any 'bigger boned' friends.

It's not known for it's fresh sushi or sashimi but for cooked dishes, I quite like it. You have the option of ordering full sized dishes or you can also opt for the half size dishes so you can try of a variety of food!

The must have to order dish has to be the Kaisen Don ($12.50ish) which is a bed of rice with a layer of salmon, tuna, spring onion, mayo and wasabi. Pour a dash of soy sauce and mix up all the ingredients, be careful with the wasabi and enjoy a delightful mouthful of flavours.  It's a simple dish but it's just enjoyable to eat. The Kaisen Don is pictured below.

Takeru Restaurant also has a number of pasta dishes which aren't quite conventional.  The half sized Salmon Pasta was a generous portion (pictured below, $7.50ish) is served with broccoli.  It's worth trying one pasta dish. The sauce can be a bit rich but that's what you would normally expect from a white sauce.

Another best seller is the omelette with noodles ($12.50). The egg omelette (pictured below) holds in the noodles in the middle. It's a dish you should order every now and then as it's very filling with all the noodles and it can really add even more richness in your meal. It's delicious!

My other must have dish is the chicken and flour dumpling pizza. Served on thin lebanese bread, the pizza is best served with a dab of tabasco sauce which perfect contrasts with the cheese, mayo and chicken/dumplings.  It's just a rare combination of things put together that I absolutely love. I have not seen this dish on any other Japanese menu ($10ish). Pictured below, the photo just doesn't do this justice.

Prices: $20-$25 per person. If you are not hungry then you can probably get away with having half of that

Location: Town Hall is the closest train station and it's about a 10 minute walk to 339 Sussex St, Sydney. I suggest you walk down to Hungry Jacks on George st then head down Sussex St as the closest intersection is Liverpool St and Sussex St.