In the middle of Connolly shopping centre, not far from Connolly golf course, sits a wonderful oasis of Japanese food called D’s Authentic Japanese. It’s been on my radar to try D’s for a while, but I’ve been put off by the pricey menu, wondering if this food can really be as great as Perth stalwarts like Ha-Lu and Satsuki.
We arrived for a 6:30pm table expecting the restaurant to be almost empty, but it wasn’t. A steady stream of diners arrived and were seated, as we sat and perused the menu to the jazzy sounds of the background music.
Not all of the menu is designed for sharing, so we asked for some advice from the friendly waiters and decided to go for pickles, dengaku and sashimi to start, followed by beef tataki and assorted tempura for mains.
We opened proceedings with a cheeky, delicious, (and reasonably priced) glass of prosecco.
The pickles were crunchy and delicious consisting of daikon, celery, cauliflower, cucumber, carrot, and another unidentified vegetable which I suspected to be turnip or sweet potato.
Sashimi consisted of 10 pieces, a mixture of John Dory, Ruby snapper, yellowfin tuna, Tasmanian salmon, and kingfish. Every morsel was fresh and tasty with a generous serving of good quality wasabi provided on the platter. For me, the ruby snapper was the star.
The Garden Dengaku – twice cooked eggplant with miso flakes and microherbs was
absolutely divine. I would have been perfectly happy with a main course version of this and nothing else! The eggplant was the perfect texture and full of flavour and struck all of those umami notes that I like about Japanese food.
The tempura was a great assortment – prawns, potato, different types of mushroom, green beans etc. Great tempura batter and a lovely dipping sauce and a green tea spice powder.
The beef tataki with ponzu and spring onion was equally delicious. Delicate slices of good quality beef beautifully presented. The chef came out to make sure that we were enjoying everything – he seemed very happy that we polished off the whole meal.
We also had some miso and rice. The miso was great – warming, delicious and umami.
So what’s the verdict on D’s Authentic Japanese? The quality of food and ingredients is clear, everything was made with care, well presented and very very tasty. The location is a bit unusual, and the prices are undeniably expensive. If I spent the same at one of my other favourite Japanese restaurants, I would definitely have received more food, however the quality at D’s is outstanding, and the restaurant is a hit with the locals. I’ll go back for more, but keep this one up my sleeve as a ‘special occasion’ restaurant.
Visit Date – January 2019
Truly Scrumptious 
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