Dining Out - Oiden Bowl Bar

Oiden Bowl Bar

When heading into the city for gaming, I like to have somewhere picked out to eat before I leave. I also like a backup plan, because sometimes places are closed. Oiden has been on my list as the backup plan for so long that I finally decided that it deserved to be the primary choice for a change. It helps that it came to my attention through a couple of cheap eat lists, and I was feeling like Japanese, but not Sushi (for a change!)

^{When you enter from George St, there's a curved glass wall in front that the right half of it is Oiden}

It's just a short walk down from Town Hall station (sure, it's in the opposite direction to gaming, but it's still not far), just a bit further along from the cinema. On arriving, you enter a strangely shaped area (thanks to the curved glass wall that forms the front) with a servery style counter along the straight wall and as many tables and chairs as could be fit into the rest of the area. I was glad to be there when it wasn't packed, but it was still quite noisy and cramped, even though it was only about two thirds full.

^{While trying to work out what you want from the menu there is also all these fried goodies tempting you}

I grabbed a drink from the fridge, and a tray from the stack and joined the queue along the servery while I browsed the menu above and looked at the food on display. I thought I'd made a decision when I arrived at the point to order and spotted the special of 3 things for $9.90 which made things a lot easier to try something I haven't had before.

^{And currently there is also this menu where you can get 3 small servings of different things from under $10}

So I changed my mind from getting Karaage Chicken to getting the 3 small servings. I still got the Karaage Chicken, but I also got Takoyaki and because I hadn't had it before and had been wanting to try it, Ontama Takana Salmon.

^{It was obvious I was going to get the tasting selection, but so many things to choose from}

When the dishes came out I was initially a bit surprised at just how small they were, but for the price, it was still good. The Takoyaki was 6 balls on 3 sticks, and while it was lacking in the bonito flakes that their photo shows, and didn't have much in the way of sauce on it, they were still a pretty decent octopus ball fried consistently. A nice way to start the meal.

I then went to the new dish, and was initially shocked that the soft boiled egg was cold, but still runny. I had known that it would be, but for some reason my brain was telling me that hot rice would have hot toppings on it, rather than cold, and especially the egg. Once I adjusted to this though, it was quite a tasty dish of food. Just enough egg and salmon to flavour the rice. I'm not sure I'd want to have a full sized serve, but only because this was just enough for me.

I finished with the karaage chicken, which I knew I was going to enjoy because it's fried chicken, so it can't be too bad. I wasn't expecting it to be complemented with some nice pickled veg and served on rice, but I should have expected that really since there is rice showing on their menu and they're a 'rice bowl' restaurant. The chicken was perfectly cooked, still being soft and juicy inside while actually being cooked through. I do like a bit crispier a coating on my karaage, but it was still a really good and had the flavour I wanted.

With the added can of coke, the whole meal cost me well under $15 (I think it was $12.50), and I left restaurant pleasantly full. That is after I'd returned my tray and empty dishes to their returns window, which was a little awkward given its location at the end of the servery.

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^{Upgoats made by the talented @ryivhnn}