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Sir Hinchalot's view on AYA:

The Sir Hinchalot links with things Japanese go back to childhood days when the only thing I could play on the piano was chopsticks and in later years took an inordinate liking to the silly song about “ I think I’m turning Japanese, I think I’m turning Japanese, I really think so!”

Gave me a new slant on life so to speak and we used to make cruel jokes about people of oriental appearance having eyes at “ ten to two”. And if you need that explaining so be it.

And that also means I won’t explain the old joke about why Japanese men have slanty eyes and buck teeth.

But all that aside I have to say that Japanese food is my favourite cuisine in the world. No doubt.

It used to be Chinese and I still rare the Flower Drum as the best Chinese restaurant in the world. Dined there on Friday in fact. Their oven-baked conk ( or conch) minced and stuffed back into the shell and their minced crab baked on the shell or two magic dishes. As is the salt and pepper prawns they get from South Australia.

But, in general, as a style of cooking I would opt for the clean, crisp taste of Japanese. Whether it be shabu shabu – that paper thin beef you cook yourself with cabbage and noodles and mushroom and bamboo shoot, or Teppanyaki-style cooked at the table on a huge hot plate for you.

I have mentioned before some of Sir Hinchalot’s favourite Japanese restaurants in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.

In Adelaide it is Sumo’s. In Sydney it’s Shiki down at the Rocks. And in Melbourne there’s KoKo’s at Crown and Kenzan in the city and Teppanyaki in Collins Street and Kobe in South Melbourne. And a great, little, new discovery: Naked Japan in Victoria Avenue in Albert Park.

Now we can add another one. Right at the top of the list. It’s Aya – a-y-a – in High Street, Armadale.

We had heard a lot about it in recent months and several recent visits have confirmed everything I was told.

Aya is first class. The restaurant is long and narrow but the ambience works. They’ve built glass-walled booths that give you privacy and a feeling of well-being.

Their California rolls and their spicy sushi rolls are as good as it gets. The California rolls, which we always used to call nori rolls ( don’t know California got in there) are traditional wraps of seaweed around avocado, crab meat and home-made mayonnaise.

If you like tofu – which is bean curd – they do it differently. Three skewers of tofu with different tasting sauces and they look like paddle pops.

Tempura is one of my favourite Japanese dishes as long as the batter is extra light and crispy. It has to crumble in your mouth – not like the thick batter they used to coat fish in before plunging it into the deep fryer, in tired, old oil, at the local fish ’n chip shop.

At Aya the prawns and vegetables deep fried in tempura batter are a must. Light as a feather. They can’t be doing you bad. But my favourite dish on several recent visits is Gyu-maki for which three different types of vegetables are rolled in thin slices of lean beef and stir-fried in soy sauce.

They’ve also got steamed crab dumplings and one earthy dish I liked was Yosenabe, the traditional Japanese hot pot of seafood, chicken and vegetables in a special stock. And they’ll add thick white noodles if you like.

The name of the place is Aya. I’a liked it. And I’d intend to go back. A real treat in Armadale.