The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 55

NOV 30-DEC61999 Ihf Sjjbne j) JBoroing rate good living Good eating Eat out Terry Durack Scoresheet 1-9 Not good enough. 10-11 Needs work. 12 OK. 13 Getting there. 14 Good.

15 Really good. 16 Really, really good. 17 Great. 18 Excellent. 19 Close to perfect.

20 Total perfection. Got that sunken feeling? Lose your shoes and your inhibitions and enjoy the Jlipside of Japanese dining. Don't wear your best shoes to Ju Ju. There is no point when all you do is walk down the steep flight of steps leading off a busy Kings Cross corner and promptly remove them. Not only that, but also you slip them into a recycled plastic bag and have to carry them to your table.

So much for making an entrance. Even Liz Hurley would look unprovocative carrying her stilettos in a white plastic bag. Ju Ju is one of the strangest restaurants in Sydney, and yet it feels like one of the most familiar. Once you get used to the wooden corrals, the lowered tables, the smooth boardwalks and the fast talking waiters you realise why. It's the closest thing to an Aussie pub you can get while still eating Japanese food.

There are a bar, much drinking of beer, and even TV screens. Only the TV screens aren't for watching the Knights, the Swans or the Test. They're for the dreaded karaoke, which starts at 10.30pm and costs si a song (lyrics are in both Japanese and English). The Japanese term for this sort of establishment is izakaya, which roughly translates into Basically, it's a simple, informal place where one can relax, eat and drink cheaply, in cheerful surroundings. The mere appearance of a customer at the foot of the stairs is enough to send the young board-shorted, beanie capped staff into a series of loud, hypnotic, chant like greetings that sound like something you'd hear from the Bradman stand at the SCG.

"Irrasha imasel" they yell, which means welcome, and that's pretty much how you feel as you are led to your fenced-in, sunken table Ju Ju SHOP 320, KINGSGATE CENTRE, DARLINGHURST RD, KINGS CROSS. TEL: 9357 7100. and presented with a menu that would blow your average bar-food lisLout of the water. There are more than 50 numbered dishes, plus a daily specials list. Most people go for one of the several sushi platters, followed by a communal cook-at the-table dish such as sukiyaki, shabu shabu or yosenabe a one-pot dish of seafood and vegetables to be dunked into hot stock.

The rest of the menu is eclectic, to say the least, from french fries with tomato sauce and grilled potato, bacon and cheese to such exotica as boiled tongue and jellyfish with soy dressing and squid "inners" with spicy fish eggs. Don't do as the menu suggests and order just a couple of dishes to start, as log jams at the sushi counter can iceberg lettuce. A deliciously stewy, long-cooked dish of beef muscle, waxy potato, onion and carrot (suji jyaga) is an absolute bargain at S4.50. Served in a little iron pot, it out Irishes Irish stew, with brisket like chunks of meat and fall apart potatoes. Ju Ju has more hits and misses than a bad Godzilla movie.

Nabeyaki udon, a life-sustaining bowl of fat white udon noodles, and a just-cooked egg, is a good, honest meal in itself, apart from some unnecessary seafood extender sticks. Sushi hand rolls are limp and forgettable. Karaage (fried chicken pieces) are crisp and more ish. A slab of grilled salmon (s6.8o) comes covered in a gloopy miso sauce and a scrappy lettuce salad, and is best avoided. Harbouring fond memories of an okonomiyaki (savoury pancake) once eaten on the Japanese island of Shikoku, I look forward to sticking a chopstick into Ju Ju version (s8).

It's a thick, omelety affair studded with pork, vegetables and what looks like more seafood extender. It is highly entertaining, due to a coating of katsuobushi, shavings of dried cured bonito that wave alarmingly with the heat rising from the pancake. But it is so strongly flavoured with Japanese Worcestershire-style sauce that I can feel the tastebuds being killed off in one mouthful. I can't tell you what the seafood extender tastes like, as I very carefully avoid it. Ju Ju doesn't represent much of a threat to Matsukaze, Unkai or any of our other top flight Japanese restaurants, but it does give us a valuable insight to the flipside of the Japanese dining experience, with cheap and generous food that's fun to eat.

It's as smoky as hell, a bit rundown and noisy with it, but that never stopped anyone going into a good pub, either. LOGAN cause delays. When they do finally materialise, my six nigiri or finger sushi ($9) are fresh enough and bright enough, and very nearly worth waiting for. Hot on their heels comes a neat serving of six gyoza, little crescent shaped, pork-filled dumplings that have been steamed then fried, causing their bottoms to brown and crisp. They have been left a little long in the pan and their bottoms are very brown and very crisp, but the filling is gentle and juicy.

Most of the food, over two visits, is perfectly fair and fine. A green tea noodle and tofu salad (S6.50) is a refreshing combination of soothing textures and flavours, although stylistically it could have done without the Dinner Sunday, Tues-Thurs 6.30pm-1pm. Fri-Sat 6.30pm-3am. Closed Mondays. Food Japanese eclectica.

Owner Mr Lee. Chef Mr Mizusawa. Floor Hip, young and easygoing. Cards Cash only. Vibe Basement bar in the heart of the Ginza.

Wine A basic, well-priced list, plus Japanese beer and local sake. Smoke No nonsmoking area. Access No wheelchair access. Noise Loud then the karaoke starts. Vegetarian Assorted options; negotiate with staff.

Plus The amazing variety of food. Minus Getting up from a sunken table. Dollars About $30 for two, plus drinks. Value Worth taking off your shoes. Summary Ju Ju mixes a rough-and-ready tavern atmosphere with beer, sake and just about every dish in the Japanese repertoire, then adds late-night karaoke in case you weren't having enough fun already.

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www. outdoorheritage.com 1 i Score: 1220 ROCKS CHATSWODD CHASE SYDNEY CENTRAL PLAZA WARRINGAH MALL DFS THE ALSO MELBOURNE GOLD COAST CALL 1 BOO SA 1 1 6B Top: Ju Ju, the closest thing to an Aussie pub you can get while still eating Japanese food. Above: A communal cook-at-the-table dish. Narelle Autio.