Gochiso Japanese, Willoughby

A few new restaurants - Japanese, Italian and a cafe have opened about two months ago at a local neighbourhood centre. This is great for us, I am all for more choices and competition. The new restaurants have certainly liven up what is usually a quiet neighbourhood. 

Tonight, my girls and I decided to try out Gochiso; a Japanese restaurant. The place is run by Sang Lee, a former Sushi-Ya (another local Japanese eatery) chef. The restaurant is located off the main street, tucked away in the centre. It is easy to find parking on the street. Gochiso operates 7 days a week - 12pm to 3pm for lunch and 5pm to 10pm for dinner. The place was humming with activity and patrons for a week night, which surprised the wait staff too. According to them, lunch times are usually quiet as the restaurant is not located within walking distance to many businesses. It is still new, and I am sure once the word gets out, their patronage will increase. Service was okay, not fast but it was a busy night with only two wait staff. Sometimes I forget that service in other restaurants other than Chinese is a little slower, for us to sit back and enjoy the meal. We found the light fittings unusual with the restaurant's name craved out in wood and hanging from the lights. Japanese art murals were painted on the walls, and on the wall near the entrance, there were photos of people on the streets of Tokyo.

For entree, we had the crispy potato croquette and salmon sashimi (girls' favourite). The sashimi was fresh and firm with a clean taste. Ash and I found the inside of the croquette too soft and mushy but crispy panko coated outside. 

For mains, Caitlin chose the Yum Yum box - which came in cute Thomas the Train bento box (not Cait's favourite and she made a comment about it not being appropriate for girls, sigh!). Her meal had a bowl of rice, 3 pieces of avocado roll, two triangles of egg omelette, 3 pieces of karaage chicken and 2 panko-crumbed shrimps. Quite a fair bit there for a little girl.

Ash and I shared a main - salmon teriyaki - served with a bowl of rice and miso soup. The salmon was pan-fried perfectly and the teriyaki sauce was not overly sweet; well balanced with soy, mirin and sugar. 

We enjoyed our meal at Gochiso. We will return with hubby who was out for a work function. It's always nice to check out a new restaurant that serves good food with reasonable prices.