Koku Culture in Ashfield – Review

Nursing my very first hangover after an epic Friday night I headed out to catch-up with a close friend a tryout Koku Culture in Ashfield. It certainly took a while to get my first hangover, however when I drink I tend to get super dizzy before I can get drunk enough for a hangover. So I guess this has been a good thing in a sense. In another view, I was also a little proud that I finally achieved hangover but it’s something that I won’t be rushing back to quickly. Back on to the food.

After two trains, I walked a short 5minutes to Koku Culture from Ashfield station. The cafe was quite easy to get to from the station after using a small side street. I recommend when you get to the road where Koku is located, stick to the station side and don’t cross over.

Koku Culture – introductions and menu

The cafe itself is quite small and so when I arrived all the tables were taken. I was offered the bench but as this was a catch up I opted to pop my nail on the list so that we could dine at a table. Shortly after doing this my friends arrived. We waited about 10minutes before a table was available which isn’t too bad compared to other places I have visited. The menu is fairly small but there is something there for everyone, even those who aren’t big on eggs like my partner.

I choose the Wok Fried eggs with okonomiyaki sauce. My friends got the Sauteed spicy miso butter mushrooms and Japanese style corn, zucchini and nori fritters. For drinks, I got a matcha latte. Cappuccino and latte were ordered by my friends. We also ordered the famous Brulee Matcha pancake to share, which was the real draw to us visiting Koku Culture.

The food (and drinks)

Oddly the food arrived way before the drinks which weren’t necessarily a bad thing it was just different. Unfortunately, they had missed the cappuccino and after a while, we had to request for the drink to be made. The wait staff handled this really well and the drink arrived quickly.

I’ll mostly talk about the Wok Fried Eggs, however, I can say that the other two dishes looked beautiful. The feedback from my friends was that they tasted great as well.

The eggs arrived in a sort of layered dish. With cabbage on the bottom, followed by bacon and the little bits of stuff you can see on the top in the picture below (if you know what that is called please let me know). There were also a few other bits layered in which sadly I can’t quite remember what they are. What I do remember is that each layer not only tasted great on its own, they worked really well together. The egg fascinated me the most. It was fried in almost a ball shape with all sides a really nice golden brown colour. The egg was runny in the middle. The only way I can describe it is a cross between a poached and fried egg. I’ve never seen anything like it and it was great to eat!

For my drink, I slowly sipped this during the main so that I could save some for the pancake. The matcha latte was that perfect level of bitterness. The latte art was beautiful on all drinks and they tasted just as good they looked.

Brulee Matcha Pancake

Saving the best for last, the Brulee Matcha Pancake. After we finished our mains, we were asked if we were ready for the pancake. I loved the attention to detail and that the waitress remembered our order. I also loved that we were given the option to get the pancake after our meal.

The most beautiful dish arrived on our table and after grabbing a few pictures we quickly dug in. The bottom layer had the fluffy matcha pancake. On top was the sweet creme brulee. The combination of sweet from the Brulee and bitterness from the matcha worked really well together. The fruit and cream on the side added another depth of flavour to the dish that broke up the intense flavour. I feel that this is a dish for sharing as I think it would be a bit too rich for one person. I would happily order it again and will likely be doing so in the future as my partner missed out on trying it.

Overall 5/5

It’s very rare that I give a place 5/5 however in this case Koku Culture has earnt it. The food was delicious and not too expensive. There was great service and everyone was friendly. I highly recommend visiting, just keep in mind that you might need to wait a little while for a table.

For more food reviews take a look at my last post on Adler Inn.