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Surprise Package -A small Japanese eatery makes a big impression on Tony Harper.

Brisbane News- 5th May 2010

People have been mentioning Mizu to me for at least two years. This wee Japanese restaurant housed in the wilds of Teneriffe looks like little more than a glorified takeway, but it punches well above its weight when it comes to the food.

The word on the street is true - it is good.But if you don't take a great deal of notice, it doesnt look like a lot. Its laid-back, bare bones and casual, but not in a cheap or tacky way.

"The Mizu kitchen is capable of magic. A dish of black cod saikyo yaki (grilled miso-marinated cod with eggplant and zucchini, saikyo-miso sauce, mizuna leaves and julienned salad,$30) thrilled. The fish was as perfect a piece as I've eaten in the past two years. The balance was spot on - a hint of sweetness foiled by the bitter notes in the salad, it was texturally complex and simply sublime."

>> view more of the article online

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Mizu offers traditional Japanese touch in New Farm
Restaurant Review - 12Jan09 - Lizzi Loel

IT'S an unassuming little place but Mizu on Macquarie St in New Farm has a very firm handle on its product - great, rustic,authentic Japanese food.

Don't go there for the fit-out unless you are looking for simple and inconspicuous with undressed tables and moulded plastic chairs outside and much the same against a painted wall within.

There are some great prints of fish on the wall and a pleasant waiting area near the counter should you want to order your meal to go.

At lunch there are bento boxes in many guises but there are also plenty of other choices that you can order individually.

Edamame (soy beans) come steamed and still in their pods, sprinkled with sea salt, which is about all they need.

The sashimi plate has a mixture of fish including white reef fish, salmon and top-grade tuna. There are gyozas, californian rolls and a line-up of salads, the most enticing of which was the crab and soba salad. Fresh crabmeat is shredded throughout bouncy buckwheat noodles and Asian green leaves, tossed in a mildly spiced dressing and topped with fried lotus root. Served in an earthenware bowl it was worth fighting for, and that is exactly what ensued as three of us descended on it as the first dish to hit the deck.

Chicken kara-age was less popular but only because it arrived after the crab assault and also the sashimi and seafood tempura spreads.

At night the sashimi morphs into something of a West-East fusion with thinly sliced tuna being billed as mizupaccio served flat on the plate and dressed with grape seed oil, soy and dried shisho flakes.

The crab and soba salad is supplemented by a prawn and mango number and the Mizu summer salad (tofu, cherry tomatoes and julienned salad sprinkled with ponzu sesame dressing) also appears both night and day.

At night there is a range of other dishes that all warrant investigation. There are wagyu dishes with MS grading of 6-7 served with spicy garlic miso and sauteed mushrooms, a tuna steak pan-fried with sukiyaki sauce and a "touch of sansho pepper" and ebi kinoko, sauteed local tiger prawn with mixed oriental mushrooms and topped with salmon caviar.

As usual when I review a Japanese restaurant I have a son in tow. It's much more work to prepare their favourite food at home than to let them tag along (although I think I can still peel some rice remnants off the kitchen ceiling from the last sushi-making session) and for all of us visiting Mizu is way more appealing.

In addition to all the separate dishes I ordered, he still felt it necessary to order a bento box which, interestingly, are offered day and night.

This came with the usual inclusions of pickled vegetables, miso soup as well as a tempura prawn, sashimi and a little serve of beef yakiniku. It was a feast and all gleamingly fresh and there's a wine list that, while small, is sensitive to the delicate nature of the food.

Mizu also has a solid collection of sakis and Japanese liqueurs and if you wish will store your bottle for up to three months.

>> read the full Courier Mail review

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Queensland- Sunday Mail- Sushi down by the Docks
Restaurant Review - 27Apr 08

A friendly Japanese restaurant at Teneriffe does traditional dishes in a superbly tasty Sunday lunch.

Anooska Tucker-Evans

A Sign on the door of Mizu stated: "Thanks to your support we are now open seven days."

I was unsure what support they were talking about, as on my recent visit to the Japanese restaurant the place was empty. With blue sky and the sun shining, I would have thought the cafe at dockside Teneriffe would have been packed for a Sunday lunch, but we were the only patrons.

The absence of customers worked in our favour though as we received nothing but speedy, warm and friendly service from our very attentive waitress.

Judging by the food, though, there was no reason for the place to be quiet.

The menu consists of traditional Japanese dishes including gyoza (pan-fried pork and vegetable dumplings), buta kakuni (slow-cooked Bangalow pork belly in soy, sake and garlic), and beef tataki (sliced rare beef eye fillet), plus Western favourites like miso soup, sashimi and sushi.

We started our lunch with the calamari panko and chicken kara-age from the starters and light meals section.

The kara-age (fried chicken) had a deliciously crunchy batter, while the chicken inside was moist and tender. The panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) were crisp and fresh, while the calamari was a little chewy.

We then moved on to a small plate of california rolls. The prawn, avocado and cucumber combinations were beautifully fresh and the rice was just sticky enough to stay together without being gluggy.

Our final dish was the Mizu bento lunchbox.

One of three bento boxes on the menu during our visit, it included two of the chef's specials – on this occasion swordfish and chicken teriyaki – plus sashimi and tempura prawn and vegetables. It also came with dipping sauce, salad, rice and miso soup.

The tofu in the miso soup was silky smooth and almost as good as tofu gets.

The side salad was also delicious, with a wonderfully light but tasty dressing adding plenty of flavour to the mixed leaves (although it was just mixed leaves – don't expect a garden salad).

In the box itself, the tempura prawn (yes, just one) and vegetables – potato, zucchini and pumpkin – were cooked like only Japanese chefs know how. The batter was light and crispy, with just the right amount covering each ingredient so as not to weigh them down.

The teriyaki chicken was all right, but I've had better. However, the small piece of swordfish – covered in a sweet, sticky sauce – was divine. Flaking at the touch of my chopstick, it was cooked evenly through and well flavoured.

Swordfish also featured in the sashimi, along with salmon and tuna.

There were two slices of each raw fish, which were all fresh and cut to just the right thickness.

The wine list is minimal to say the least, with only seven whites and reds plus a sparkling available, and only three of those offered by the glass. We opted for beer instead, and with four Japanese beers on offer - Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Ebisu - it was the far better choice.

Each worked well with the food, and was the perfect Sunday afternoon throw-back.

While the decor is fairly plain, both inside and out, the fact that you're in Teneriffe sort of gives the place a cool vibe anyway.

If you're in the mood for well-priced, tasty Japanese food and friendly service, make Mizu a place to consider.

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Brisbane News Magazine
Restaurant Review - Feb 13-19. 2008

Simplicity can be complex, as I discovered when my wife and I spent a week in Hagi, a medieval castle town at the western end of Japan's main island, Honshu. Famous for its pottery and 17th-century Samurai houses, Hagi also happens to be a gastronomic hotspot. We found the food remarkable, and became converts to the Japanese way of
eating. More than any other cuisine, Japanese food relies on natural fl avours. What could be simpler than sashimi, consisting of nothing more than raw fish cut into slices?

Behind the simplicity stands a philosophy that celebrates aroma and texture. Sydney super-chef Tetsuya Wakuda says Japanese cooking is the art of making simplicity seem like abundance.

In Japan, traditional cooking is mostly done in or over water, not in oil. This explains why Japanese remain generally slim - despite a yen for hamburgers among the young.

In Brisbane, Japanese restaurants are few in number, fast-food outlets aside. One new addition is Mizu in Teneriffe, where coowner and chef Soichiro Chaki presides over a casual dining space.

Chaki's food covers many bases - salads, sashimi, tempura, teriyaki, tonkatsu and steak. The wine list is ordinary, but the range of sake (five types) and beer makes up for it.

The waiter's command of English was equivalent to my fluency in Japanese, which led to charming confusion, rectified when we were seated and served with a Japanese amuse-bouche dish of cold tuna with egg.

Mizu's pottery plates have been handthrown and reminded us of Hagi as we shared entrees of green beans with sesame sauce ($7) and fried fish with onions and carrots marinated in sweet vinegar sauce ($8). The beans were enlivened by a sauce in which tartness and nuttiness seamlessly combined. My fish, amid julienned vegetables,
delivered a pleasing pickle taste due to the vinegar sauce.

For some reason, Chaki refuses to heat sake in quantities of less than 150ml, so I left my wife to sample a large, warm sake at $15, while I investigated a flight of three 50ml thimblefuls of cold sake ($12).

By way of mains, we opted for blackboard specials. My wife ordered a warm salad with tempura prawns ($18). I chose mutsu saikyo yaki ($24), left, fillets of grilled toothfish marinated in miso. They were fall-off-the-chopsticks tender. The warm salad consisted of fresh green leaves spliced with slices of mango, and the tempura prawns were encased in crisp batter. The salad came with tofu and tiny cubes of cheese described as wasabi cheese. This is not the first time the East has lunged towards the West, but the inclusion of cheese did nothing for the salad, or the prawns.

A pot of green tea ($3.50) rounded off a meal that delivered satisfying flavours with quintessential simplicity.

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