In August 2024, modern Japanese restaurant Nine Fine Food closed. Although one of Perth’s finest restaurants is no longer with us, its owner and chef, Mr. Song (Sensei), continued to provide his marvellous cuisine through other avenues. Most recently, he has taken charge of some sessions at Kitsch Bar Asia in Leederville. I visited recently and brought a camera along. The short winter day meant that the sun was already going down, even though work had just ended for most people.
Sensei indicated he had been at Kitsch Bar Asia for a few months now—though I only found out about this recently. It is a somewhat hidden and fairly nondescript building on Oxford Street in Leederville. The interior, though, was perhaps better appointed than one might have expected.
Sensei is offering only a couple of his own specialty dishes in addition to Kitsch’s regular menu, so it was imperative to sample them both. First, we see the aburi nigiri—in this case, lightly seared salmon atop rice, with garnish and sauce adorning the main ingredients. My photograph, reliant on bounce flash off the ceiling, does not do the dish justice. It looked exquisite.
Second, we see the dish that Sensei is most well known for in Perth—Kinoco caviar pasta. You can see the pasta topped with bright orange caviar and garnishes (most notably the sliced mushrooms). What you cannot see is the sauce, which adds a creamy, slightly sweet accent to the dish.
The photographs of the pasta are a bit more true-to-life than the picture of the nigiri. For this occasion, my tools were my Nikon D70S, Nikkor 18–70 mm lens, and Nikon SB-600 flashgun. This is a compact and quiet kit; well, as compact as a DSLR and flashgun can be. It was all easy enough to put into a small backpack for the visit to the restaurant.