I have to admit – I had a whingey twitter on Twitter about never having plans on Valentine’s Day. Every single Valentines for the last 12 years Chef has worked. I’ve come to accept it really, it’s part and parcel of being married to a chef. This year I actually thought he might have the night off, as Valentine’s Day fell when he usually has his day off. No such luck though. I know Chef wouldn’t have noticed my tweet; besides Facebook, he’s not at all savvy with social media. But later that day he mentioned that he was taking me out for a pre-valentines dinner – at a surprise location! I got my wish after all.
I really love a good surprise. I didn’t even guess where we were heading – not till Chef drove the car past the city and headed towards Crown. Then I guessed we were dining at Nobu! I was so excited, as it was to be our first visit there. Our little bit of Hollywood in Perth. Nobu is owned by celebrity Chef Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa and is co-owned by A-list actor Robert De Niro. It seemed like a perfect pick for a romantic occasion too – The Observer rates Nobu as the world’s “sexiest” restaurant and actress Kate Winslet said about Nobu “it’s heaven on earth and sex on a plate”. Something that also interested me was a quote from Madonna; “You can tell how much fun a city is going to be if Nobu has a restaurant in it.” I always said Perth was fun!! 
Anyhoo, I’ve digressed a tad… We were greeted and seated at the square bar. It has an absolutely stunning light feature; it’s great spot for a pre-dinner drink. I had a delicious cocktail – the Pina Martini ($19). It was Mango Infused Vodka, Peach Liqueur & Pineapple Purée – woweee! It was a fabulous fusion of two classic cocktails. It set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Nobu is a high end Japanese fusion restaurant. Traditional Japanese dishes are blended with South American (Peruvian) ingredients. Though the fusion of each dish is so flawless you’d be excused for thinking that coffee, tabouleh etc are from Japan! We were taken through to the Teppanyaki area at the back of the restaurant. Our chef for the night was a real sweetheart (I had a bout of hay fever and he gave me a tissue for my eye). He was friendly, very polite and explained each course on the $120pp menu thoroughly. We had;
o Chilli & Garlic Edamame – a fave of mine 🙂 
o Mix Salad with Matsuhisa Dressing
o Crispy Squid with Salt, Pepper & Chilli
o Three Varieties of Seasonal Vegetables
o Prawns with Miso Yoghurt & Dry Miso – the Shark Bay prawns were ginormous and full of flavour. 
o Japanese Scallops with Tabouleh Salsa & Chive Oil – again the scallops were huge. The produce used at Nobu is exceptional.
o Black Angus Eye Fillet w Cabbage Roll, Balsamic Teriyaki – cooked with second-perfect timing. Delicious.
o Beef Fried Rice
o Miso Soup
o Miso Cappuccino – I thought this was just a mousse, but dig a little deeper and there are many wonderful layers hiding underneath!
There wasn’t as much theatre as at our visit to teppanyaki restaurant Fuku. We hardly noticed though. The chef at Nobu was very handy with a spatula and every dish was cooked to perfection. The couple next to us had the $188pp menu and they had similar dishes to us, with some additional courses. They had some premium ingredients like wagu and random things like eel. It looked great, but I was struggling to fit in my rice and dessert, so I was happy with what we chose.
We both really enjoyed our Valentines dinner at Nobu (and it would seem we were not the only ones celebrating the day early). We’d love to return to Nobu to try the a la carte menu as I have heard so many great things about the miso cod and fish tacos! And hopefully we’ll return sooner rather than later. As Robert De Niro says “Time goes on. So whatever you’re going to do, do it. Do it now. Don’t wait”. And who can argue with that!