Japanese sandos and onigiri at Hindley Street’s Yuku dō
As Anjelin Lim travels to Japan “almost every year”, she has a strong connection to the country. What she admires most is their commitment to quality ingredients.
“Japanese food is all about ingredients – all about keeping the original flavours of the ingredient,” she says.
“To me, that works for takeaway, to-go concept: quality food.
“People always think about fast food as things that’s just dumping things in your tummy – it might not be healthy, it might not be as tasty. That’s what I wanted to change, even if you’re on the go, even if you’re in a rush, you can still have good food.”
So Anjelin’s Hindley Street, grab-and-go, Japanese inspired café, Yuku dō, will highlight just that.
“I did get a recommendation [saying] ‘maybe you should prepack, because a lot of people are in the rush’,” Anjelin says.
“I was like ‘nah, I still want to do fresh food’. So what I do is I minimise the process of making the food, but the prep part and the sourcing of the quality ingredients is where I spend more time on.”
The tonkatsu (pork) sando
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These premium ingredients are particularly prevalent in the Yuku dō sandos, having options like chicken and pork katsu, egg, seasonal fruits with cream and more.
With the sandos, Anjelin uses Japanese milk bread called shokupan, which is specially made by a local bakery. Anjelin says the difference between milk bread compared to brioche or white bread is the “process of making it” and the “fluffiness of the bread itself”.
“Japanese, authentic sandos are actually very simple: two to three ingredients and the bread itself,” she says.
“The concept behind sandos in Japan is such that [the bread] absorbs the juice and the oiliness. The bread is blending the ingredients instead of the opposite.
“When you really go to Japan, all sandos only have one or two ingredients in it, because it’s not there to outshine, it’s there to blend together.”
Anjelin says when making her sandos at Yuku dō, the ratio between ingredients and bread is “very important”.
“In Japan, you see it’s very neat: the bread, the meat and the bread. It’s a very nice ratio together. When you bite into it, you can actually feel the differences in the texture and the flavours,” she says.
Another menu item is the Yuku dō onigiri – another Japanese staple.
The lobster salad onigiri
Anjelin says she has put a lot of thought into the drinks selection, especially when it comes to coffee. They’re using Melbourne based roaster Dukes.
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“They are very secretive, but they are very, very, very top-notch coffee [that is] certified organic,” Anjelin says.
“They’re really amazing, and they don’t really go out and collaborate with people much. I actually had to go to them and ask them for it, because I love their coffee.”
Much like the rest of the Yuku dō menu, the making of matcha is a meticulous process.
“I’m actually blending it by myself because there’s only limited supplies where you can get matcha from here. I find that people have a very mistaken concept of how some matcha might look better in colour,” Anjelin says.
“To me, all of them have individual different flavours, just like tea is. The same with green tea say, all different tea leaves have different flavours to them.
“What I do [with my matcha] is I blend three different kinds… and go by my own taste ratio. So some of them have this powdery bitterness, some of them are stronger on the tea flavour, some of them are stronger on the grassy flavour.
“It’s not a brand. I don’t have a brand. I’m blending things together, and that’s my own little secret recipe.”
The Yuku dō space
Attention to detail is evident throughout the whole space, with timbre interiors, natural light and plants filling the space designed for takeaway given the proximity to UniSA City West campus and other surrounding business buildings.
The branding – hand drawn by Anjelin on her iPad – along with the name was also a nod to Japan.
“Yuku means ikuzo – it’s a slang,” Anjelin says. “Ikuzo means ‘let’s go’.
“And dō is a place for food or to hang out. So ‘let’s go hang out. Let’s go eat’.”
Yuku dō is located at 252 Hindley Street, Adelaide and is open from Monday to Friday from 7am until 3pm, then Saturday and Sunday from 8:30am until 3pm.
Connect with the business on Instagram for more.