Nagomi Japanese Kitchen — Restaurant in Adelaide

We went to this restaurant with excitement last night as there had been so many positive things said about this place. It turned out that people weren’t critical enough and it wouldn’t help this place to move forward and it would be lucky if they wouldn’t move backwards.

Their manager didn’t bother and care about your customers’ dining experience and food quality at all, even though you complained, complained and complained to their two staff members. My friend said I should only gave one star to this place, but I would still give two stars as there were dishes which should still had merits in them.

The overall experience was completely ruined after having two raw oysters on our sushi platter with my friend. The oysters were not fresh at all and tasted fishy, bitter and even slightly stinky. By the time we noticed, it was too late to spit them out. I was then concerned for last night what if I got food poisoning. It was just intolerable to have stale oysters on a sushi platter that was worth 36 dollars at such a premium place, and the price we paid were enough to buy good 1.5 dozens of oysters on the market.

The Aburi sushi was also a shock as how a Japanese restaurant could possibly overcooked rice or just added too much water into the rice during cooking. As a result, the rice grains in the sushi were glued together and were quite chewy and the texture were close to glutinous rice ball without good acidity in it. The rice grains in the sushi should have been just stuck together but still be distinguishable as individual grains and you can feel the little bounce between your teeth when you chew through the rice. Btw, they also burnt the rice in the aburi sushi (see photo for the black rice grains).

I did enjoy the other components on the sushi platter (salmon, salmon belly, yellow fin tuna and scallops), although their varieties were less than Wasai in Chinatown. Their kingfish cheek was also delicious and full of umami and the meat was just tender and soaked in the delicious sweet soy sauce. Beef tataki (tenderloin) was definitely a star as the meat was tender infused with earthy (and grassy) aromas and tastes. The pickled onions in Beef tataki were impressively prepared as it smoothed out the pungency of red onions but it somehow helped to balance out the richness of a beef dish and made the dish more palatable. Their chawanmushi was such a classic Japanese dish that you could taste the egg, mirin, dashi and seafood - complex flavors in one tiny pot. Tempura (veggies and prawns) was nothing special but also nothing wrong with it.

I will still come back to this restaurant to try their other dishes but definitely not their sushi and oysters in particular. This place does have some interesting elements (e.g.: homestyle Japanese dishes, contemporary Japanese dishes) that will bring me back. I probably will be able to have a full review of their dishes at some point...

Nagomi re-opened on 3 September 2025 under new management and with new menus. Although both wait and kitchen staff are Japanese, the new menu has some fusion charateristics (chips with the teppan beef, for instance) unlike the very classical style of the previous management. Gone are the bento boxes, set dinners and sukiyaki. My wife described the new menu as more izakaya (pub) style. It offers tempura prawns (2 pcs) and tempura whiting, presumably to add to your ramen, but not a whole tempura dish including tempura vegetables. In addition to the teppan beef we had a sashimi plate and the crumbed broccoli starter. The sashimi plate was good but the individual slices were too large - they had to be folded to get into your mouth. Also, a sashimi plate would normally come with seaweed and shredded turnip; this one didn't, but it did have generous quantities of ginger and wasabi. The broccoli had a shade too many crumbs. We were given two different drink menus: one had six varieties of sake including Yamadanishiki in 180 ml bottles at $25; the other had only two varieties, the same Yamadanishki in 180 ml bottles at $30 and a sparkling sake. If you like your sake warm this is a problem as the ceramic bottles are 150 ml, so there is a bit left over which we were given in its original bottle. One solution (as in the old Nagomi) is to sell 300 ml bottles, which would also be cheaper for two people. The staff were enthusiastic and friendly and working hard to get things right, so I am hopeful that they can overcome the few teething problems. The restaurant now opens on Sunday and is closed on Mondays. The old website and domain name is defunct (you get...

I found this restaurant underwhelming. My wife and I both rate it at 2.5, but I have rounded up as act of generosity.

Nothing was awful, but nothing was outstanding either.

The service was "cool" at best. I suppose I could interpret this as a subdued Japanese ambience, but that would be generous. It took over 10 minutes for us to be served to place an order. No table water was provided, and the drinks we ordered, and table water, didn't arrive until a further 10+ minutes, with the meal.

The Advertiser reviewer in 2017 described the slow-cooked pork-belly as "...slab of loin that they reckon has been simmered for three days is such a wobbly, juicy, disintegrating joy...".

Not this time! It was dry, and pretty much a slab of boiled meat. Perhaps the chef has changed.

I had the ramen, that was less interesting and/or flavoursome than the fabulous range at Ryo's Noodles in Gouger Street.

My wife had Unagi Don (grilled eel on sushi rice). It was fine, but not overly interesting, and not worth $30.

We also had...