Shobosho Restaurant
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Shobosho appears in the best Adelaide's restaurant list in numerous food and travel magazines including
Gourmet Traveller . It has therefore been on my watch-out list for some time. Located at Leigh Street, the oriental influenced shop front accented with pine interior looks like one of the many bars in Adelaide's West End. There is a small dining bar at the front. The main dining area is at a few steps up on an elevated level. The restaurant sign Shobosho in red neon light hung inside the ground level high chair area is not particularly obvious if you don't already know where Shobosho is. Using the
Google Map or keeping the address in mind will save you some time walking up and down Leigh Street to find it.
On a Tuesday evening in November, we decided to have an impromptu dinner to celebrate a special occasion. Calling Shobosho at 5 pm, the only booking left was 6pm spot. I wondered why it was almost booked out before 8:30pm when a lot of restaurants in Adelaide would be publishing discount deals in
EatClub on Tuesdays.
Opening the glass door and walking up a few steps, we were drawn to the Japanese looking cubicles on our left. There were communal tables in the middle and also dining area looking at the kitchen. The vast open stainless kitchen adjacent to the bar was seamless integration on the right. We were seated in the last cubicle at the end. It felt cosy immediately.
Menus
The menus said a lot about Shobosho. The drinks menu was a leather-covered book consisting pages and pages of drinks from a vast selection of traditional red wine and white wine to sake, whiskey, shochu (a distilled liquor known as "Japanese Vodka"), umeshu (plum wine), yuzushu (Japanese version of limoncello, substituting lemon for the yuzu fruit) brought from different parts of Japan. The food menu was relatively simple with only one page from entree to dessert. The excitement of discussing the menus items made us feel like we were in the middle of the hipped bar area in Shinjuku, Japan already.
Our degustation journey began
Lotus root chips dusted with nori powder. The salt and vinegar flavour sung well in our palate.
Prawn dumplings left us a little confused as it didn't feel Japanese to us.
Chargrilled asparagus with wasabi oil left us wanting more. The pickled kohlrabi was precisely cut to the exact same size and thickness. I wondered if it was sliced with a USD 400 Chiba Peel S turning slicer that I have seen on
Masterchef Australia .
Crab udon served in a buttery sauce flavoured with yuzu. The yuzu was a standout that balanced well with the crab. The udon was very silky and smooth and a joy to eat.
Shallot bread was the most outstanding dish among the very delicious food tonight. The bread itself is soft and tender with rich flavours from the toppings. It was so good that I want the recipe. It normally comes with two pieces but you can increase the serve to 1 piece per person. You definitely want to do this.
A trip to Shobosho is like time travel to Japan. I can see myself back with friends having drinks and "tapas" while soaking up the restaurant vibe.
#adelaide_city
#asian_restaurants
#barbecue
#bars
#degustation
#fine_dining
#japanese_restaurants
#restaurants
%wnadelaide
155519 - 2023-06-14 11:02:07