Shimbashi Soba So Good @ Chevron Island, Gold Coast

I first found out about Shimbashi Soba when I visited Duo Deli Café just a few shops away on Chevron Island. Shimbashi Soba hand makes their own soba noodles, which are Japanese buckwheat noodles. The restaurant is small but tidy. We went there for lunch and ordered:

Oroshi Soba

Cold soba noodles with grated radish and seaweed. This dish was my favourite. Their soba noodles are very aromatic compared to commercial packets. You can really taste the buckwheat and it went extremely well with the grated radish and seaweed. Price wise, this was worth the most as well.

Lunch box with small udon

The lunch box included: salmon sashimi, sushi, salad and rice, with a side of cold udon noodles.

With their lunch boxes, you can choose between salmon sashimi, chicken teriyaki, tempura or beef teriyaki as your main. With the side meal, you can choose from cold or hot udon or soba. I think the lunch box was too overpriced for what you get. The quantity was adequate – a lot of carbs including sushi, a bowl of rice and a decent bowl to noodles to fill you up. However, taste wise, it wasn’t anything special.

If you’re planning to visit Shimbashi Soba I would recommend you to stick to the Soba dishes to try hand made soba because it does have a special taste to it. Perhaps, you could try a Soba dish with some tempura?

Duo Deli Café @ Chevron Island

I’ve been to Duo Deli Café twice – once on a Café Crawl (where we were too full to order, but promised to come back) and on another occasion for breakfast with friends.

 

On the Café Crawl, we all shared Duo Deli’s Cheese Plate, where we could choose from a selection of cheese from the deli – Brie and Cheddar were our choices that day. The Brie was from France and it was absolutely divine – rich with a creamy aftertaste! The cheddar strong and sharp, and it really did leave an impression!

 

The cheeses were accompanied a wide range of crackers, toasted fruit bread, fresh and glace fruit and chutney. My favourite combination was the Brie with quince and walnut paste on the Lavash crackers.

On my second visit, we got to taste the chef’s breakfast creations and these were:

Manuka-smoked Wild-caught Salmon, Poached Eggs, Sumac Roma, Grilled Asparagus, Herbed Rosti

 

Roasted Field Mushroom, Avocado, Sumac Roma, Poached Egg, Lemon, Turkish Bread

 

“Israeli” Eggs, Chilli, Parsley, Mint, Garlic, Coriander, Tomato, Evoo, Lemon, Turkish Bread

 

I actually saw the table next to us order the Israeli Eggs when I was on the Café Crawl and ever since then, have wanted to come back to try it. However, maybe my expectations were a little too high for this dish because it wasn’t exceptionally yummy. According to my friend, a Melbournian, apparently they have quite a few cafes that make really nice Israeli eggs or baked ones, and this one at Duo Deli Café was average. However, the presentation of it was good enough that it’d win patrons' choices for this dish over the others.

Their coffee isn't too bad either! It's always good to have a cuppa coffee to start you day off smoothly! 

My friend ordered their Orange and Strawberry Fruit Ice Crush which was very refreshing!

I wouldn’t say that their breakfast options were outstanding, but there is potential for the café! The staff members were very attentive and friendly, the atmosphere is really relaxed, and the presentation of the food was creative as well. The ingredients they used were very fresh and the menu selection’s well balanced! I must say though, that the cheese platter still stood out the most from the others!