Shushokuya Masa — Restaurant in Brisbane City

The best Japanese restaurant in Brisbane - REAL Japanese food (owned by real Japanese people with a real Japanese chef) and very reasonably-priced considering the quality, portion sizes and authenticity! It’s beautiful sitting outside in the evening as well - my evenings were just perfect here with a glass of wine and a subtropical, light, cool breeze, gazing into the restaurant with its sake barrels. I have had a lovely Chardonnay by the glass whilst waiting for oysters and other “tapas”-sized dishes thinking how I will miss this place so much when I’m back in Europe. Brisbanites are so very lucky to have this truly Japanese restaurant.

The bento lunch (set) boxes are top quality, truly Japanese in taste and great value for money. Good Japanese rice is used while the miso soup is made using their own house-made dashi (stock). Sashimi is expertly-sliced and artistically-presented, and we have even had uni (sea urchin roe) sashimi as the special of the day! Fresh Australian seafood is sourced locally, with different daily market offerings. Some interesting daily specials and new items like sautéed chicken gizzards, thin slices of fatty pork belly on a hot plate with ginger and onion slices, simmered beef stew, and deep-fried garfish and its crispy bone have been my tapas! I also love the unagi nigiri (eel sushi - the best I’ve ever had). The sweet glaze is sensational and the piece of eel is generous, succulent and grilled to perfection.

Salads and vegetables are fresh, and there is an extremely delicious sesame dressing apart from the regular Japanese salad dressing which I couldn’t get enough of. called “Goma Ae” is delicious and I had it with broccoli and green beans.

The drinks list os also impressive with beers, wine, whisky, ciders and other drinks from Japan (sparkling sake is really nice!). There are also authentic Japanese desserts, my favourite being the sweet red bean filled Sakura Daifuku (mochi) with the most interesting salty-pickled sakura leaf on top.

Great service - friendly, polite, warm and gracious, with easy and convenient iPad ordering (do ask for specials of the day or if you have dietary special requests). Reception upon arrival is very welcoming, and they have been so accommodating to our special diets. Vegetarian and gluten free options too.

They really aim to please the customer here, and have a great passion and love for food and respect for...

The food is amazing. The prices are good. The wait times are reasonable. But the female owner (approx 50yo serving at the front) is rude and mean. I have never met someone in restaurant customer service who is so unpleasant.

I dined there many times, and then one time on a Monday when most other places were closed, we asked if we could dine there and she said no. I said we were willing to dine at the bar and she said they would not serve there (it was being used as a clutter dumping zone, but there were bar stools and clear space). I said I was disappointed she wouldn’t allow us to use the vacant seats because we were regulars and there were few options on a Monday and it was raining. I said we could just sit there to have a drink, and move to another table when it became available, and she repeated that she would not serve us. So I just quietly walked away.

The next day we had lunch there and she glared at me the whole time with an angry face. When we paid the bill, I said to her, “it’s a shame you wouldn’t serve us last night, because we spent $150 at another restaurant, and that could have been yours”. She looked at me with daggers.

And then today we went back for lunch, was seated by one of her staff, started ordering, and she came over and yelled at me and said that she refused to serve me because I complained. She actually kicked us out!

That woman should not be in customer service! I feel bad for her husband, because he is an amazing chef. Also feel bad for him that she is limiting sales in a tiny restaurant because she won’t open the bar because she is too lazy!

Reading the other reviews it seems my experience was not unique! There are nine other reviews saying the same thing: food amazing, ‘older lady’ serving is mean and rude.

If you keep your head down and use the tablet ordering system or order from the younger floor staff then I am sure you will have a good/ great dining experience - because the food is awesome. But don’t talk to the female owner - she jumps at shadows and has an irrational anger management problem of Basil Fawlty...

Authentic Japanese cuisine with friendly service, izakaya style. iPad ordering system per table, with quite an extensive menu. The beef tataki was good with grated raw garlic as a garnish which packed a good punch, the pipi sakamuahi (steamed with sake) was also flavoursome with ponsu sauce, and sashimi ship all very fresh. The squid sashimi was also well prepared with the slices cut to the right width to match the thickness of each portion, which gives a pleasant mouthfeel and texture per bite. They also had the body/mouth of the squid served as sashimi with the tough parts removed, which I think I've never had before outside Japan. Very nice. Shishamo tempura was fried well, as was the cream croquettes and beef kushi katsu (katsu on a skewer). Even the dressing on the small accompanying salads was good and memorable. Grilled mackerel portion was generous and suitably fatty to be washed down with a beer. Kids had a curry which they also enjoyed. Standout for the evening was the deep fried flounder. It may not sound like much of a dish, but when correctly done the whole fish minus the head can be eaten. Here the fish was filleted and each piece cut into bite size pieces which was good, but the bones, fins and tail were deep fried in a single piece. The whole lot can be eaten with a unique taste and texture, again I've never seen this served up like this before around here. Desserts selection was also pretty good, and they didn't skimp on the ice-cream in the parfaits. They also had sakura dango, a glutenous rice cake thinly wrapping a sweet red bean paste, but with an outer layer of a salted leaf from a cherry blossom tree. Somewhat rare outside of Japan, it was a great mix of sweet and savoury flavours with the unmistakable sakura aroma. Highly recommended for an authentic dining experience. Definitely worth a repeat visit to try out the rest...