Ooh Rice!?, Hunter Connection

In case you thought there weren't enough Asian food stalls in Hunter Connection off Pitt Street, a new one has just opened, called "Ooh Rice!?". Billing itself as the "Rice Barista from Japan", Ooh Rice!? specialises in onigiri (rice balls wrapped in seaweed), curry rice and various fried items.

Today I tried the curry rice with two fried items: the white fish fry and the chicken tempura (drowned in the curry sauce in the photo above). For those not familiar with Japanese curry, there should be as much sauce as there is rice, and Ooh Rice!?'s version didn't disappoint. The curry itself wasn't as rich as some others I've had, but it did come with the essential red pickles. The fish was satisfying, the chicken less so - it had neither the crunch of a fried chicken cutlet nor the juiciness of Japanese karaage fried chicken. At $8.50, the portion size was decent. One word of advice if you go for the chicken tempura - grab a pair of chopsticks, otherwise you'll be hunched over the bowl trying to bite off a piece of chicken from your spoon. I found this out the hard way...

As well as curry rice, Ooh Rice!? has many varieties of onigiri. It's good to see something a little more authentically Japanese in Sydney than the ubiquitous sushi roll!

Ooh Rice!? is on the upper level of Hunter Connection. There are free samples of onigiri on the counter, so get them while they last!