Motto Motto Japanese Kitchen - Upper Mount Gravatt, Brisbane. Just opening up right outside the shopping precinct of Garden City, and on the doorstep near the restaurant precinct near the cinema, Motto Motto has already made a big impression. With the minds behind the much-acclaimed restaurant Sono (which I have yet to go to) driving this place, and having an idea about how good Sono is it is guaranteed that Motto Motto should have a lot going for it. Heck, as of writing this review it tops Brisbane's Talk of the Town. There is a food reason for this; all the needed components for a decent restaurant are there and co-operate leaving a good impression.
From the outside, it does not look like they have a whole lot of space inside. In true Japanese style, there is a combination of contemporary and traditional going on simultaneously here. To put it in a word, there is an origami motif going on with their interior with all the geometry and signage; it is something that needs to be seen. Additionally, there is a separate "room" for solo diners separated by a bamboo wall; this "room" has a long bench where they can observe bypassers right outside through a tinted window. All of this feels really cosy, calm and innovative in design. As usual, beyond the food orders being served to you most of the rest is self-service. All the cutlery (i.e. chopsticks), condiments et al are centrally located on a small table to collect before and during the meal.
My dining buddy and I had some grocery shopping to do, and thus we ended up at Garden City. Before commencing the shopping, we were hungry and decided to find somewhere to eat. Realising the aforementioned buzz surrounding Motto Motto, it was sussed out and thus we ate there. With the buzz going around, it should have been no surprise that virtually all the tables were full (even with a couple spilling out to the shop-front a la al fresco). Also, being a place where the idea is to have a quick meal and go (or possibly otherwise) and using hawk-eye scanning I managed to score the two of us a table albeit needing to be cleared (though that was attended to quickly).
Now hear me out when I say this, the service can seem erratic. The entire staff are quite friendly, do their job really well and the extent of work ethic is really good. By erratic, describing it goes hand-in-hand with some of the base descriptions of the food. Let's say you order a few things for your table, and get a number. Some people who come after you get served before you - I am getting to it - and not every component of your meal comes at once to the table. This is because the meals are served fresh to order, and you can tell from the quality and the flavours of the food; they were some of the tastiest morsels around and the dishes are presented really well (even the dishes they were in had a pleasing aesthetic).
This is really different from your usual cheap Japanese place where it is either sushi or curry (or sometimes both) that takes precedence. There is still a curry on the menu, however the general gist of the menu is several options of donburi, a couple of general noodle dishes plus various small snacks to go on the side. Then, there is an innovative options as well where they sell rolls not unlike a po'boy or a bahn mi. These are filled with various items, given a small bit of salad in it and look like a decent feed. And I have not even got onto the range of drinks including ciders and sake, basically a whole lot from native Japan - maybe even Ramune in the future?
To start off with, I ordered some soft shell crab. This was soaked with a sweet-and-sour dressing, which embellished the subdued flavours of crab very well. The flesh was really sweet, as soft as butter and the style that it was cooked was akin to a tempura batter. This came with two bits of crab, which is perfect for sharing. It was a perfect way to begin the meal, and it is much recommended to give it a go - particularly if you have not tried soft shell crab. I already look forward to trying the other items from the snack menu.
Alongside his meal, my dining buddy ordered a side of their fries. These are seasoned with a seaweed-infused salt, cooked until they are quite crispy and are shoestring style. The serving that was given was beyond generous. These fries were so good that I could not stop eating them, and this is even by the standards I hold to fries which I am not overtly picky with them at all. They were crunchy on the outside, the potatoes were cooked all the way through on the inside. Though fries fan need not to be convinced.
As the main that I ordered, I went for a donburi and got something a bit different - the Saikyo Yaki Fish don. Starting off, saikyo yaki is a sweet, pale paste based off miso and it often goes with seafood like so. In this dish, it combined grilled fish, edamame beans and mixed seafood (from the looks of it there were scallops, shrimp and - possibly less appealing - crab sticks) combined with creamy rice. To get it out there quickly, the edamame beans were a good match having a similar aesthetic to garden peas in Western risottos. As for the donburi as a whole, it was very good and really filling. The sauce was delicious, smooth and had slight flavours of ginger in it. The seafood mixture was beautiful, with all the pleasant sweetness and juicy texture necessary to know that it is good quality. Perhaps a bit top heavy on the proportion of rice, however.
If there is such a place that is living up to the hype surrounding it, Motto Motto certainly is such a place. The whole experience is fantastic, and not too expensive either. Motto Motto is a welcome break from the vapid food court options, feels like an actual restaurant on the inside, has a definite cute factor to it and as the most important factor in the bottom line, they have some great fare on show. It can be safely said that the owners at Sono are geniuses finding a niche gap, and making it fit satisfactorily with a high turnover rate and plenty of contented stomachs giving their gratitude.
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