Fine Japanese dining at Nine Fine Food

We had dinner at Nine Fine Food which we’ve heard so much about and been meaning to dine at for ages. We had read all the debates about Ha-Lu and Nine Fine Food so were keen to try for ourselves and see how they compared.

We were also very impressed that our friend was able to get a booking a few days prior especially as the day we went was a public holiday (side note - I wrote this review late last year and just stumbled upon an unedited version today and thought it was still worth posting).

Tucked away on Bulwer Street, Nine Fine Food has a really beautiful mix of modern and Japanese décor and the lighting was brighter than your usual restaurants which was great for my food photos. But not so great for my inability to eat foods I can visualise as I could see everything much clearer!

I had the three course set menu. To start I had the soup which was really delicious and changed my mind about mushrooms, normally I only ever eat button mushrooms because the taste isn’t too strong and I like the texture. But Nine Fine Food introduced me to many more types of mushrooms that evening…

Soup was light but tasty, I was most impressed with the size of the prawn and tuna pieces. Could also taste how fresh they were…(be careful with the bones in the fish if you order this dish). Soup dish was a bit hard to scoop the last parts up…perhaps a bit too deep.

For the main I had the ocean platter which had eel, barramundi, soft shell crab and scallops…

The soft shell crab will all 8 legs in the air started my phobia…really wanted to eat it but my stomach couldn’t stomach the legs…my friends found it quite amusing to watch me cut the legs off with one eye closed so I could try the crab - burger boy happily ate all the crab legs. Was delicious - flavours perfect, shell soft, plenty of meat.

I would have liked the eel a bit firmer but I did flip the eel and freak out when I saw the black skin… flavour was amazing - burger boy and our friend regetable happily helped me eat the eel.

Barramundi was my favourite, the fish was super soft on the inside and the soft batter on the outside was yum! The fish just melted in my mouth, could have had a full plate of this…

My friend had the other ocean platter on offer which in hindsight I wished I had ordered as everything was filleted…

burger boy and his mates had the lamb & scallop for their entrees and the duck for their mains…

The duck looked pretty impressive…

For dessert I had the green tea crème brulee which was out of this world - it tasted just like a good authentic green tea ice-cream (very similar to how my mum makes it) just more liquid/creamier and the sugar was delicious…my very first green tea brulee…I love that this dessert combines western and Japanese cuisine.

Nine Fine Food is a completely different dining experience to Ha-Lu, it’s a true western / Japanese fusion from the ambience through to the menu, whilst Ha-Lu I feel is more traditional Japanese in look, feel and taste.

Service at Nine Fine Food was fantastic and I loved that wine & beer is BYO. Everything was tasty and the foods did challenge me a bit but I really enjoyed my dining experience and I’d go back again. Next time, I’ll be sure to ask if my order of choice is filleted before ordering