AGWA Yacht Club boat party & dinner/ singing at Mizuya

Idea: spend all day on a boat soaking up good music, then have a Japanese eating and Karaoke fest

It was sunny. It was hot. There was a nice slight breeze out on the water. I made sure to get enough sleep the night before. Yup, I was ready to board the AGWA Yacht Club boat. The MARTIN BUTTRICH JAZZANOVA AGWA YACHT CLUB 008 to be precise. Not much can beat a day out in the sun, dancing, soaking up some good music, all with amazing views of the harbour. For some reason, every time I go one one of these boat parties (this was my third one), we all suddenly turn into tourists, "look bridge, we're going under THE bridge!" "Such a beautiful city to live in" etc. etc. You can't flaw the view, especially when the sun sets over the harbour. The vibe was right, the crowd was the perfect crowd, no Big Day Out boofheads on board with racist tattoos, or girls in skimpy bikinis and not much else. It was also, might I add, quite a good looking crowd. Hmm...

We stayed on the upper deck for almost the whole time (it went from 2-8pm). There were good djs up there, and the views were amazing. Our VIP wristbands also helped us to skip the lines to get up there. The maximum capacity rule on the top deck is always quite annoying, as the toilets are on the lower two levels. But rules are rules.

The Burger Phone made another appearance, the AGWA Slushy cocktail was by far the best and we all had leafy leis. We only checked out the lower level on the way out, which is where the main acts were. But I had to keep an eye on the time. I had one of my besties birthday parties to get to, and I didn't want to be too late. I passed the Town Hall on my way, which was all lit up pwerty for Christmas.

 

I made my way from the King Street Wharf to Mizuya Japanese Restaurant on George Street. It's one of the largest Izakaya style restaurants in Australia. Now, Mizuya is one of those places that my Japanese food obsessed friends and I go to all the time. This is for 3 main reasons. 1: they have touch screens, which are fun and make your food magically appear on your table before you know it. It's also a little easy to get carried away with, but in a good way. 2: The booth tables. And 3: the chili and garlic edamame. It is AMAZING! Everyone has to try it. Even if you go to Mizuya just for some Japanese beer and the edamame, it's a must. (Sorry, we ate it far too fast for a photo!)

I'm not sure if I can remember everything that we ordered, so here's what I remember. (We did have the entire table covered in food the whole time as we stuffed our faces). We had tofu agedashi, which was cooked to perfection, with just a nice light batter. We tried out some things from the kushiage section of the menu. This pretty much means deep fried. We chose the deep fried camambert. Good in small doses. But it must be lethal if you have too much. Instant heart attack. So bad, but so good at the same time. The gyoza are also up there on my list of favourites, with a really nice touch of ginger in them.

We had some noodles, which were a bit too greasy for my liking that had chicken and vegetables I think in it. But it really wasn't that memorable. The salmon sahimi was however, very tasty and fresh.

The cocktails unfortunately weren't my type of cocktails. They were all very sweet, especially the Love Hotel, which I just had to try about because of it's name. I think I'll stick to Japanese beer next time. Unless you're a teenage girl, you're probably not going to like the cocktails I'm afraid.

We also did the Shabu Shabu thing, and unlike Ju Ju's, the water wasn't vinegary, which was a relief. We cooked udon noodles, veggies and beef in it and we all ate as much as we could, until we thought that we might explode.

Being suitable stuffed, we decided it was time for Karaoke! This Karaoke is in a seperate room, so that you can have full privacy to belt out whatever your heart desires (that your friends allow). You can also order drinks and food in your karaoke room, doing dinner in the restaurant, or in the karaoke room. We decided to try out both that night. I would recommend booking if you're interesting in doing karaoke on a Friday or Saturday night, as it gets extremely busy in there.You can search for songs via the title of the song or the name of the artist in your room. And although I wasn't programming them in, it's one of the few karaoke places I've been to in Sydney where we didn't spend the whole night trying to work out how to program a song. We were able to start cranking out New York New York by Alicia Keys, quite a few ballads and some song by the Backstreet Boys (see below images...) Yes, we went there! Backsteet Boys.

After our night there, I would recommend Mizuya. Just don't bother with going to their website, it's kind of just a pdf. Either ring, or just turn up for dinner. We had so much fun singing and eating, even if we all pretty much lost our voices and the cocktails weren't the best. Also I love the random horse lamp. Next up for the night, I was off to a party in Newtown. I know, big night!

 

Dinner & Karaoke @ Ju Ju

Idea: Karaoke and dinner somewhere interesting @ Ju Ju in Kings Cross

"Goody and delicious" - Ju Ju. Who could possible hate that slogan?

My friends assure me that normally the staff at Ju Ju aren’t as stressed as they were when we went last Saturday night. We literally had to grab someone to serve us, but every restaurant has an off night. We had shabu shabu, the salmon roll  from the specials list, one of the combination udon and various other bits and pieces, considering there were quite a few of us.


I think that Shabu Shabu and drinking alcohol needs to have a warning, as I ended up with a burning hot noodle flung onto my leg, and someone else managed to get tofu, meat and veggies all over the floor (getting smooshed into our toes). However, for the more coordinated, I’m sure this wouldn’t be an issue. The vinegar water that the Shabu Shabu was being cooked in was a bit too vinegary for my liking. The salmon roll however, was amazing, and the udon noodles with the combination of (I'm not really sure exactly what, but I could tell that there was a tempura prawn in it) was also really good. The yaki gyoza and agedashi tofu are always favourites of mine and at Ju Ju this was no exception. Especially considering how fast they disappeared. Everyone looked like they were enjoying their food, although by the time the food came, they may have just about eaten anything.

There was plenty of Japanese beer flowing, as well as some vino, so that by the time karaoke begun, we were in quite a good mood. This is not the type of karaoke for those who are a bit shy, as they aren't private karaoke booths. There’s just one microphone and everyone gets to hear your lovely singing. The tables are sunk into the floor, with edges to them, so there’s privacy while you dine. This is strictly a no shoes zone, so watch out or they’ll chase after you with the intention of bearing those tootsies to the outside world. Lots of food later (when it finally arrived), beverages and a bit of singing, we decided to head out. The good thing is that Ju Ju’s is in the heart of the Cross, so there are plenty of options to head out to afterwards.

So, despite the lack of service, I would still recommend Ju Ju. I love a good Japanese style Tavern. What I wouldn’t recommend is a big night out after this (after spending all day at the beach), and going straight out on a bushwalk in Terry Hills in 31 degree heat the next day, with barely any sleep (as the hangover effect is just starting to kick in).  But that's self induced, so I can't complain about that! All in all, a pretty great weekend! As the coasters at Ju Ju says, "always around you" ... I think that's a good thing?