It’s Valentine’s Day! Happy Valentine’s to all the loved up couples, and to those of us still single… There’s always friends! Last year we wrote about Japanese Valentine’s Day, so check out this post if you want to read up about what happens in Japan. This year we’re highlighting a great date night option, Tamageta-ya. Recently they’ve started hosting live music on Friday and Saturday nights from 6pm. Check it out for the perfect romantic atmosphere this weekend, with smooth jazz renditions of pop songs by Naoki Hoshino.
Guessing what song Naoki is playing is half the fun of the night – we caught a couple Ed Sheeran songs, some 90s boybands, and a few that you just can’t help but smile from like Somewhere Over The Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz!
We started our night off with the sake tasting set. You get to choose 3 sake for $8! Since there were 6 sake on the menu, and 2 of us, it made sense to get all 6. Our top 3 recommendations are the Dassai 23, Jugusei no Jyozen Mizunogotoshi and the Dassai 50 (in this order as well!) We had a lot of fun taking tiny sips, sharing and comparing which we liked.
The food comes out pretty quick, so be prepared. We ordered the miso pork cutlet set, miso ramen, whitebait tempura, and sashimi 9 pc. Tamageta-ya’s menu is pretty diverse and you can thank owner and head chef Yoshi-san for that. Talk to him for just a minute and you won’t be able to miss his creative drive. He’s definitely an experimenter, all motivated by just having fun. He’s also health focused, offering black rice instead of white for no extra charge. It’s less processed and more nutritious, and pairs with the set meal just as well (if not better) than white rice does. The set meals are fairly generous, coming with agedashi tofu, home made miso soup, and the rice alongside your main.
The miso on the cutlet is thick and glossy with an intense miso flavour. We seem to have subconsciously picked a miso themed menu, and it’s equally strong in the ramen. The broth is comparative to Wok & Noodle’s miso ramen, and that’s a huge compliment. It’s a surprising delivery from a non-ramen shop, and if you’re hanging for noodles, we’d recommend you go with this! To break it all up and introduce some freshness, we decided on getting the 9 piece sashimi platter. There’s other size platters and other ingredients available as well, including sushi rolls if you prefer rice. We were stunned by the elaborate and decorative display! Again, Tamageta-ya surprises with quality time and time again.
Instead of dessert, we got drinks! It was a Saturday night, the music was beautiful, and we’d spent all day at Manly beach, so there was no better way to top it off than Tamagata-ya’s house cocktails! The Calpis and Ume was our first choice, coming out tropical looking and blue but still in those smile-inducing Suntory high-ball glasses. There’s nothing better than seeing one of these come out – unless of course your drink also has a colour co-ordinated twizzler!
For anyone who loves Japanese bars and cocktails, these are delicious. We also ordered the Yuzu + Honey, and the Mojito versions of the high-ball. We definitely recommend you check out Tamageta-ya, and if you need extra incentive, they’ve just updated their Washoku Lovers member benefit! Check it out HERE.
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