Unplanned double date at Izakaya Nijumaru where we shared a table with Jamie (June's colleague), and bf. The first thing we saw as we entered was the sushi bar, the second was a friendly hand waving at us to make up a foursome.

Located at Cuppage Centre, the premises are rustic Japanese with bamboo highlights. Furniture is rough and ready, and the place overall looks more robust than fine in the way we think Jap cuisine should be.

The house teishoku featured saba, pork stew and a prawn tempura. I sampled some of the saba and pork from June's set. Both tasted as strong as they were chunky, fish oil mixing with pork fat sent my tastebuds into overload. Not subtle, but a working man's meal that was. Definitely too strong for miladies' delicate constitutions, they didn't have very good things to say about it.

I was conservative and opted for the sashimi set. Three thick slices each of tuna, maguro and yellowtail(?); a side of French beans fried in egg; rice and miso. No complaints from me about what I ordered. As long as the fish is fresh and the wasabi sings in my ears, I'm good to go. Besides, I was hungry.

Price: reasonable. Two sets and a chawanmushi set me back $42 plus tax.

Edit 01:
Oops. Blinded by optimism, I misinterpreted the tournement bowling scores. It was an even draw between us and our opponents, sharing 10 points each. Our overall scratch pinfalls actually dropped and we've been knocked off the top-3 high scratch series score. We've not improved our position on the league table either. BUT we actually drew with the current fifth place team, so there's still hope yet to finish this year about mid-table.