Sushi Ichi Bar - Parramatta, NSW

One of the biggest parts of moving out and being responsible is budgeting. In order to survive comfortably, you have to make sure to count every penny going in and out. This is a responsibility that the Mrs has begrudgingly taken up on a weekly basis and she's been doing quite well at it. This week, I was informed that despite our usual expenditure, we were doing rather well for budget and so, we could enjoy a nice dinner out. I took this as an opportunity to gorge on something I hadn't had the chance to eat in a while: sushi.

That's why early in the morning, I made a booking for two at Sushi Ichi Bar, located on the far end of Cowper Street near Harris Park. I'd seen some of the photos of this place from sweetandyummie about a month ago and I'd be dying to try this place as soon as we could. The possibility that there could be a good sushi place so close to home meant I just had to go try it. We'd been waiting on a delivery all day and had barely made it in time for our booking but I'm glad we did. In my opinion, Sushi Ichi Bar is in a prime location being so close to Harris Park/Parramatta station and being just down the road from Anytime Fitness...so convenient for people looking for a quick bite after work or a post-gym feed.

I'd wanted to order the sushi best deal which was this massive boat of nigiri but the Mrs was against it as she didn't find the crunchy roll appealing. Maybe next time I can ask them to see if they can substitute it for the aburi roll...but oh well, we still ordered enough (I guess) for the two of us. First to come was the nigiri lovers B which was four pieces of salmon nigiri, four pieces of aburi salmon nigiri and eight pieces of raw tuna hoso maki (little rolls).

As an avid lover of sushi, Sushi Ichi Bar is impresses me a lot in both the speed at which the lone sushi chef can churn out their delectable food items for 3 tables of guests as well as how fresh and immensely delicious their sushi is. For me, The sushi shari is on the softer side but I'd much prefer that to underdone rice. I mean, for a local sushi joint, the quality and balance of the rice is spot on: mildly acidic yet sweet at the same time, the sushi rice is a perfect vessel to ferry those fresh, flavoursome slices of fish into your mouth.

Additional to the nigiri lovers, we also ordered the ichi salmon aburi roll. In this roll, you as the diner get to choose whether you want seafood salad or salmon in a roll with cucumber and avocado. The roll is then topped with additional slices of seared salmon, spring onions, tobiko (flying fish roe) and sauces. Seriously...I cannot stress my immense joy and satisfaction at how good this sushi roll is. The torched salmon slices and chunky salmon meat intertwine in your mouth and give you this textural contrast that makes each bite heavenly.

That not being enough for us (me), I ended up ordering the noodle and sushi deal as well of which I chose to have the udon with three pieces of additional salmon nigiri. At first glance, the size of the bowl might be a bit small but when you start eating it, you realise they do give you a decent portion of noodles. It comes with a fried prawn tempura, a stick of seafood extender, a slice of tamago (Japanese sweetened omelette) and a slice of aburage which is sweet tofu skin. The soup is heavy on the umami and you can clearly taste the dashi stock used to make it. Needless to say, I enjoyed every moment of my udon noodles and I savoured my last three pieces of salmon nigiri even more so.

In my opinion, the most impressive part of my experience at Sushi Ichi Bar wasn't the just that they had really, really fresh and authentic sushi available (though I did love every piece of sushi I ate), it was also the fact that all of our items came to a very reasonable $46.40. I really think that the general area that Sushi Ichi Bar gets overlooked but I'm hoping traffic and business will pick up there very soon. Until then, I very much hope to become a regular at this humble little sushi bar.