Bon Kura Japanese Cuisine - Review

Regular readers will know that Mr P. and I were in Canberra recently to catch up with blogger mates, and our niece and nephew who bravely moved from sunny Queensland to freezing cold Canberra.  Even though it was only early April, it was getting a wee bit chilly in the evenings down there.  Actually a pleasant change from the endless summer we have been having up here in ever so sunny Brisbane.

The nephew chose this Japanese restaurant for us in the suburb of Dickson.  I love the way that Canberra has so many little 'burbs, each with their own distinct flavour. Dickson is full of various ethnic restaurants - or is that a non-PC word these days? Anyway, it has Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian, you name it.  Bon Kura was the one for us this night.  And it is nice to know that Confucius was watching over us!

Confucius watching over Dickson  

Since most of us were driving, the drink of choice was soft.  One of us asked for lemon, lime and bitters, and it was consensus all over the shop:=)  This is my fave non-alcoholic tipple.  I think we all enjoyed it.     

lemon, lime and bitters all round $4.80 each

We started off with edamame - boiled and salted young soybeans. These were fun to eat; deliciously chewy and salty.  A great little starter to a meal, though I have read that they come from genetically modified beans so not to be eaten regularly if you are concerned about that sort of thing.  And yes, I am!  

edamame $5.80

gyoza $9.80

Who can resist gyoza?  Not us.  These were pretty much as expected - fried dumplings with a pork filling.  Tasty but not outstanding.  I think a wee bit more time in the fryer may have been a good thing.  

curry Korokke $5.80 

Mr P. chose these for a starter.  He said they had a nicely crisp coating, with a squishy potato filling.  Sadly, the curry sauce was somewhat glutinous, not very spicy, and worst of all, was only lukewarm.  So all up, not very pleasant.  The croquettes were "okay"; made up of spiced potato with only a mild curry/spicy flavour. Okay but not a winner.

chicken tempura roll $6.80 with egg and avocado 

Once again, these were as expected.  Fried pieces of chicken in batter, rolled with egg, avocado and mayonnaise.  They were okay, but nothing to write home about.  N.B. the price on their menu now shows as $7.80.  I also ordered prawn tempura rolls with crab, avocado and sprinkled with flying fish caviar.  We paid $10.80, now showing as $11.80 on their menu.  

The fellas had mistakenly eaten most of the prawn rolls before I got a look in, thinking they were the chicken version.  I did get to eat one, and it was very bland.  I could taste neither prawn nor crab in them. Stomach filling with the rice, but not spectacular.  And somehow, no photos of these were taken.

salmon tempura $17.80 

This dish was good value.  There was a generous amount of fried salmon in batter, but sadly way too much of that ubiquitous white cabbage.  I mean, who the heck eats it? And it doesn't look pretty either.  Never mind the cabbage; I really liked the salmon, and found it surprisingly rich and filling.  The fish was tender and tasty, and overall, a winner for me.

veg. tempura ramen bowl on soy broth $14.80 

these are the veg. tempura pieces that came with the ramen bowl 

Mr P. is a huge fan of noodles so this went down well with him.  It had lots of seaweed (not such a huge fan), and the tempura had a thick and crispy batter.  This was a very hearty and substantial meal, even for ever hungry hubby.  

Genki nigiri set $18.80

Friend of nephew let me have one of his fishy nigiri.  Delicious; fresh and yes fishy. This dish looks pretty, and tasted mm yep like sushi.  So there is rice, there is fish, there is wasabi and pickled ginger.  You get what you expect with this one.  And that's a good thing.

ramen bowl with chicken karaage $14.80 

The nephew went for the ramen bowl based on pork broth, accompanied by pieces of fried chicken karaage.  These bowls are substantial so bring your heavy duty eating face.  This was a tasty and good value dish.

udon bowl with teriyaki chicken $14.80

The niece chose an udon bowl, based on pork broth.  As you can see, this is a whopping bowlful of noodles and teriyaki chicken and egg and radish ... and so on and so forth.  She did her best to conquer this one, but in the end it defeated her.  This was another very good value dish.

After this, we were replete; no room for dessert which was mostly ice cream of various flavours like green tea or taro.  I did like the sound of Japanese dark chocolate cheesecake which I believe is much lighter than normal cheesecake.  Ah well, next time.

the new Canberrans (except the one on the right) 

fishy chopstick holder/fishy lights on the wall/inside the restaurant 

The nephew tells me that horizontal wooden slats are all the rage in Canberran eating places.  Mm interesting.  I don't think we have that trend in Brisbane yet (or ever).  The food was filling if not amazing, and good value.  We were there on a Monday evening; service was quick and polite.  This is a cheap and cheerful venue, with plenty of room, comfy seating, and filling dishes.


Bon Kura is open 6 days a week except Wednesdays.  They serve lunch and dinner, with chef's specials, hot pots, bento boxes, curries and noodles.  Fish heads are a speciality!  And they are licensed, but do allow BYO.


13 Woolley Street,
Dickson ACT 2602
Ph: 02 6262 6669