Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi, Neutral Bay

Dumpling Sister is off gallivanting around Europe, and I can't tell you just how incredibly envious I am.  Since, she's away for sometime, envious or not we decided to have an official bon voyage dinner for her.  Dining out seems to be my responsibility on my side of the family, which is great as it gave Cheesecake Boy and I a chance to dine at one of our old favourites being Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi.

Now bookings here are a must.  Otherwise, make sure all your fingers are crossed before you enter one of the two entrances of this establishment.  If you enter through Ju Ge Mu you are walking into their teppanyaki domain, but last Saturday we had other ideas as we entered through Shimbashi, where they specialise in soba.  However, it doesn't matter where you sit as you can order from both menus, I just didn't want to smell like barbeque after dinner, so that's why I booked to dine at Shimbashi, but one of these days I'd love to sit at the teppanyaki bar at Ju Ge Mu.

EnoPizzeria, Neutral Bay

It was Dumpling Mummy's birthday, and when you have fussy siblings like I do... Well, what they like to eat, dictates what we eat when we dine out together as a family.  The other part of my family hates to travel, so when I heard that Mauro Marcucci had just recently opened EnoPizzeria in Neutral Bay, I knew that it was going to be the perfect place for everyone to enjoy a relaxed birthday lunch.

Sushi Samurai, Neutral Bay

It's been a crazy time in the Dumpling Girl and Cheesecake Boy household, we've been flat out and we're exhausted.  However, after catching up on some sleep we're back up and ready to write again.  I did hint that after our trip to the zoo that we were heading to lunch with my family and Sushi Samurai  in Neutral Bay was the pick for the day.

Sushi Samurai is a favourite with my side of the family, especially with my younger siblings as they are super fussy and this is the only place that caters to them all and gets everyone one of them out of the house.  Usually, if one of them doesn't want to eat at a particular place they refuse to leave the house, kids are really getting more difficult as time passes, don't know if anyone thinks so too. 

Anyway, Sushi Samurai definitely one of those places that you have to be there early or book, it's a local favourite and I am been here on week nights where the whole place is booked out.  We are running a bit late as getting out of the zoo took longer than we thought, but we make it to lunch and are ready to eat.

The restaurant entrance



We started off with some lotus root chips, my little brother and I love these chips and have to order them every time we come.

Lotus root chips, $10.80