Some of the best meals you’ll eat while travelling are devoured on a stool while squeezed elbow-to-elbow with locals down dimly lit alleyways. This summer, Perth will experience that same thrill thanks to Ginza Nana Alley, the latest from Daisuke Hiramatsu (of Hifumiya and Jigoro fame) and the crew at Tsukumo Group.

“It’s inspired by Japan’s yokocho [alleyways] and my childhood memories of the alleyways in my hometown filled with cafes and yakitori … I wanted to recreate that here [in Perth],” says Hiramatsu, who claims that Ginza Nana Alley is the first yokocho experience in Australia.

Japanese-style yokocho service means that diners at any of the five eateries at the 70-seat indoor Ginza Alley can chat with the friendly chefs while they’re cooking under the lantern-light and bright signs characteristic of Japanese yokocho.

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Follow the glow of the lantern on Murray Street to Yakitori Washokudo and you’ll be greeted by the waft of bamboo and chicken being grilled over charcoal by chef Naoyuki Suzuki (ex-James Parker). Diners sit right across the grill and watch as Suzuki turns skewers of chicken thigh, gizzard and wing into glistening tare-glazed morsels.

Onomichi Ramen Mitsuya brings Hiroshima onomichi-style ramen to Perth. It’s more soy-sauce forward and lighter than its tonkotsu ramen cousin (which has spurred the ramen boom in the West), with a unique blend of chicken and seafood stock rather than pork.

The jewel of Ginza Nana Alley is Ginza Midai, a 12-seat, reservation-only oden kappo headed by chef Midai Hatakeyama. To describe oden as Japanese hot pot under-sells the rich tradition behind this comfort-style one-pot technique that simmers daikon and other seasonal ingredients in broth. Hatakeyama’s decades of experience at Ginza Oden Ore-no Dashi (one of Tokyo’s specialist oden restaurants) shows in the crystal-clear oden broth. The ingenuity of his tosazu vinegar jelly paired with snow crab champions local WA ingredients while paying homage to his Japanese training.

Ginza Nana Alley also celebrates the foreign influences on Japanese cuisine. There’s crisp tonkatsu (pork cutlet) at Kubota Tonkatsu served with a Japanese blend of tonkatsu mixed with demiglace sauce (“it’s all about details” says Yasu Hirose, the venue manager, who points out the fresh panko crumbs being hand-pressed onto the pork). And gorgeously wobbly purin (pudding) at the European-influenced kissa (tea) bar Monkey and Bird.

“We want to bring Japanese drinking culture to Perth too,” says Hirose. Monkey and Bird – a cafe in the morning, a shochu and Japanese whisky bar at night – makes his point. “Each sake has a different character, right? What we drink depends on the food, so [with Ginza Nana Alley] it’s a good chance to introduce a variety of sake, something new for Perth.”

The range of drinks reflects the range of food: high-end sake at Ginza Midai, beers at Yakitori, shochu at Monkey and Bird. For something non-alcoholic there’s melon soda (like a bright radioactive green spider, topped with a cherry) at Monkey and Bird, or hit up one of the many vending machines for a can on the go.

Ginza Nana Alley
Shop 3, 100/104 Murray Street, Perth
0413 777 556

Hours:
Daily 9am–midnight

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