The best and best value food in Surfers Paradise has long been the tiny Korean and Japanese joints hidden in its low-rent 1970s shopping malls. But it is also worth escaping the main tourist drags for Chevron Island where soba Master Yoshinory Shibazaki & his wife Keiko are bringing Japanese food on the Gold Coast to a new level.
The restaurant Shimbashi Soba on Chevron is a local manifestation of the well-known and reviewed (even by those who really know Japanese food) Jugemu & Shimbasi in Neutral Bay.
The first clue that this restaurant, which has been opened for just a year, may be something special is the grinder and the stone bench top in the window. Daily flour is ground from Tasmanian organic buckwheat and soba noodles are made in the traditional manner.
The second clue that this place is good is the number of Japanese eating there.
The menu advertising the health-giving properties of the soba noodle, the fact that it lowers blood pressure, strengthens capilliaries, reduces cholesterol, has high vitamin C, reduces fat in the liver and slows ageing of the brain.
The food is also an absolute bargain, possible one of the best cheap eats you’ll find in Australia.
In the summer humidity of southern Queensland we opted for a can of cold tea each – green and oolong. There is Sapporo on tap and a small list of good saki and sochu by the glass and bottle.
While soba and udon are the speciality there also are other dishes. We started with six room temperature pieces of salmon sushimi ($12) and two pieces of tempura Crystal Bay prawn ($6) that are almost a match to Tempura Hajime in Melbourne.
A huge $13 bowl of Oroshi – cold soba with grated radish and wakame – that Jak couldn’t finish.
I was warned that my Taromi ($15) contained fermented soy beans with a strong flavour. It was delicate and with a strange but enticing sticky texture, thin sticky slices of okra and cold soba.
It also serves many dishes on the traditional zaru, a sieve-like bamboo tray.
This is a place where you can easily eat well for under $20 and worth the diversion, even if its a two hour flight to Queensland. The most annoying thing of all is that I discovered this place only a few days before I leave for India.
I’m double posting this on Very Cheap Eats.
Become a Facebook fan. Follow me on Twitter.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey again. Another place you might like to try while still in the Coast would be Ipoh Satay House. The place I’d go for good authentic Malaysian Chinese, if still around. In a nondescript shopping block in the ‘burbs behind Pacific Fair. Try ordering off menu. Address: Shop 5, Waterway Wonderland shopping centre, corner Sunshine Boulevard and Karbunya Street, Mermaid Waters.
Thanks for this Ed. We only ever drive through Chevron but recently have noticed lots of development taking place. May call in tomorrow on way to Arts Centre for cheap Tuesday movies.
barbara, that’s exactly what Jak thought would be brilliant. We went to the Arts Centre the other day to see Frost vs Nixon – it’s civilized without crowds of yobs.
Towser, I’ll remember to try Ipoh next time.
You might also enjoy Tokonoma. It’s a nice change from the tourist spots.
http://www.tokonoma442.com.au/pages/cafe.html
Ed don’t forget to have a meal at Songbirds up in the mountains. I was there in July had an excellent meal. The chef then was Phillip Edwards.
Mustange, I have heard about it but sadly I fly out 9am tomorrow. I’ll try it next time – my sister-in-law lives up there.
Thanks for this tip. Went to Shimbashi this week and also had the Oroshi, together with an entree of miso grilled toothfish. Perfect warm weather food.
My friend also recommended a fantastic French restaurant at Broadbeach called Champagne Brasserie, which was indeed fantastic. It looks like a cheesy tatty place from the outside (partly because it’s situated in the bottom of cheesy looking motel), but inside it’s like a casual French brasserie in the south of France and the food is really, really good.
Champagne Brasserie changed hands recently. Good to know it’s still good.