Review: Horse Bazaar

One recent Friday night B had a gig at Horse Bazaar in the city, and as we needed to be there earlyish for him to setup and the like we decided to just get dinner in there as well. I had heard good things about the food, which is Japanese Izakaya in style and has lots of vegetarian choices, with many of them able to be veganised as well. 

They do a few ‘main’ dishes, but the majority of the menus is true Izakaya style and is meant to be shared. All options are available as full size ($10) or half size ($5), which I think is a great idea as it means you can try more of the menu, or more effectively order to suit your level of hunger. We were pretty hungry (what a surprise!) so decided to go with a mix of full and half sized dishes so we could try as many dishes as possible!

First up was the Miso Eggplant (full size). I never know what to expect when I order Miso Eggplant as I have had it served to me in so many different ways! This was very thinly sliced pieces of eggplant, with the sauce squeezed over and topped with sesame seeds. The eggplant was really well cooked, still firm enough to hold its shape but nice and soft on the inside too. Some pieces were almost crispy on the bottom too which was pretty tasty! The sauce was salty and delicious, as all miso sauce is, and the whole dish was a winner all round!

Miso Eggplant

Next up was the Agedashi Tofu (half serve). I wish we had got a full serve of this, it was really delicious. I love Agedashi Tofu in general and this was no exception, perfectly cooked and silky on the inside, crispy on the outside and served with a delicious, tangy sauce. You can bet we fought over that third piece (and then compromised and shared of course!)

Agedashi Tofu

Our third dish was the Cheesy Okonomiyaki (full sized). This was jam-packed with vegetables including cabbage, carrot, zucchini and corn, which I really loved. The addition of cheese was obviously welcomed, and you can never go wrong with a good squeeze of kewpie mayo! It’s not the easiest dish to cut and share with chopsticks, but we managed somewhat successfully!

Cheesy Okonomiyaki

Our second last dish was the Vegetarian Gyoza (full size) which B is always going to order if he sees it on a menu! We weren’t disappointed though, these were perfectly cooked and full of a good mix of veggies (not just cabbage as sometimes happens!). They never last long around us, and this was no exception!

Vegetarian Gyoza

Last but not least, we had some Vegetable Tempura (half size) which was a mix of vegetable similar to the okonomiyaki, deliciously fried and crispy on the outside. I’m so used to getting tempura where each piece is a different vegetable, so this was a nice change as you got more variety in each piece. It was well cooked too, not at all soggy and not undercooked in the middle either. It was served with kewpie mayo and a soy dipping sauce, so we were well covered on the flavour front!

Vegetable Tempura

As you have probably gathered by now, we really enjoyed the whole meal. It was good value for the amount of food we got and the ability to order lots of different things to share will always be a winner in my books! I’ll definitely be back if I find myself at that end of the CBD in need of a feed – lets hope B gets more gigs at the venue too!

Are you a fan of sharing food too or do you prefer to keep your food to yourself?

Horse Bazaar on Urbanspoon

4 Comments on Review: Horse Bazaar

  1. Elizabeth
    January 22, 2014 at 4:23 pm (10 years ago)

    Looks great. You can never order enough Agedashi tofu. The one time I’ve eaten enough Agedashi tofu was when I went to a Japanese friends for lunch and she made so much Agedashi tofu for once in my life I ate my fill.
    Elizabeth recently posted…Heatwave food: Labneh dip with watermelon salad

    Reply
    • I Spy Plum Pie (admin)
      January 23, 2014 at 1:24 pm (10 years ago)

      It was so delicious. I don’t think I even ate my fill of Agedashi tofu when I was in Japan! I should try to make it myself, but that could be dangerous, I don’t think it falls into the eat-everyday category!

      Reply
    • I Spy Plum Pie (admin)
      January 23, 2014 at 1:26 pm (10 years ago)

      Yep, food is always better shared! We should go there together soon, they had heaps of vegan options!

      Reply

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