Japanese

Big Mama

466 Swanston St, Melbourne 9347 2656

Spicy Chicken Bento Box

Korean style marinated chicken served with rice and side dishes

= ★★

Seafood Pa Jun (Korean seafood pancake)

Soft pancake with crispy edges, filled with a generous amount of seafood

= ★★★

Cream Garlic Prawn and Kimchi Fried Rice

This should have been called Cream Garlic Seafood as there was more squid and clams rather than prawns. The creamy seafood was terrific in any case, and went very well with the mildly spicy kimchi fried rice.

= ★★★

Yakisoba

Wok tossed Japanese udon noodles with beef and vegetables

= ★★

Overall:

A great place to go to for a quick, tasty, decently priced Korean/Japanese meal. No wonder Big Mama is so popular among university students.

Note that this place is closed on Sundays and is cash only.

Sushi “Cake”

How time flies! It’s been a whole year since I made a Fruit “Cake” for my mum’s birthday and I needed another cake alternative for this year. I saw a savoury sushi “cake” at a work lunch a few years ago and I remember thinking to myself: THIS IS GENIUS!

Ingredients:

3 cups sushi rice
8 tbsp sushi vinegar
425g canned tuna
4 eggs
Smoked salmon
Cucumber
Avocado

Method:

1. Rinse rice under cold running water (stirring occasionally with your hand to remove any excess starch) until water runs clear. Drain well.

2. Place rice and water in a rice cooker to cook (easy option), or in a large pot to cook. If cooking in a pot, have the pot covered and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook (covered) for 15 minutes or until the water is absorbed. (If rice is still not soft, add more water) Remove from heat. Set the rice aside and allow it to cool slightly.

3. Using a wooden spoon, gently fold in sushi vinegar.

4. In a loose base cake pan, place half the sushi rice on the base of the pan. Layer on the tuna and then layer on the remaining sushi rice.

5. Make an omelette from the eggs (I added a splash of soy sauce to my omelette), and place the omelette on top of the sushi rice.

6. Arrange the smoked salmon, cucumber and avocado on top of the “cake”.

7. Remove pan from around the “cake” and serve.

FOF Rotary Hotpot

481 Victoria St, Abbotsford 9023 6672

Although this wasn’t my first rotary hot pot experience (my first being in Thailand), I still found the colourful plates of food gliding around the room captivating. FOF Rotary Hotpot is the first of its kind in Melbourne and is currently offering all-you-can-eat for $28.80. How this place works is that each person has their own pot directly in front of them. The first step is to choose a soup to cook all your hot pot ingredients in. The soups available include Nutrition soup (plain clear soup with Chinese mushroom and goji berries), Miso soup, Tom Yum soup and Chinese Spicy soup (be warned, this soup is VERY spicy). The next step is to grab whatever meat/fish/vegetable/noodle dish that takes your fancy and cook it in your soup. Once you’ve finished eating, grab more food and repeat.

An extensive hot pot menu was also given to us so that we could order items that weren’t coming around often enough or those that didn’t seem to be coming around at all (eg. quail eggs).

A large selection of prepackaged condiments were available to have with our hot pot. (I can’t believe that people feel the need to add extra MSG to their already MSG enhanced food)

The hot items available were either extremely dry or extremely oily. Don’t waste your stomach space on these items.

The sushi was unexceptional and had been sitting in the fridge for a while before being served.

Overall:

A fun experience (especially for those who have never tried hot pot or rotary hot pot before), a large variety of food (except for dessert as there was only coconut tapioca pudding) and quick friendly service (empty plates were promptly taken away and there was always someone around offering to refill our soup).

Cafe Carpenter

742 Waverley Rd, Malvern East 9939 4061

Okonomiyaki

Japanese savoury pancake with special BBQ sauce, Japanese mayo and shaved bonito

= Not bad

Spicy Korean Chicken

Pan grilled chicken in a spicy marinade with cabbage

= Not bad

Bibimbap

A not so typical combination of rice, fried egg, chilli paste, sesame oil, minced beef, garlic sprouts, bean sprouts, alfalfa and lotus root

= Not bad

Overall:

Cute little place with friendly staff but extremely slow service. We were one of three tables and had to wait 45 minutes for our food, and even then one of our dishes was missing as they had forgotten to put the order through. The dishes we tried were quite ordinary and I doubt I would return here in the future.

Kong BBQ

Smoked Brisket with Ssamjang and Kimchi Bun

★★★★☆

Spicy Pork Belly with Pickled Cucumber and Kong Crazy Horse Chilli Bun

★★★☆☆

Korean Fried Wings with Honey, Garlic and Sesame

Super sticky, super sweet

★★☆☆☆

BBQ Corn with Chilli Salt and Miso Butter

★★☆☆☆

Kong Bossam BBQ Tray – Pulled Chicken and Pork, Pork Belly and Beef Brisket, Pickled Kimchi, Walnut Ssamjang and Lettuce

★★☆☆☆

Teriyaki Roast Ora King Salmon, Wok Fried Broccoli and Tomato Roti Roll

★★★☆☆

Pulled Pork with Slaw, Kimchi and Burnt Chilli Mayo Roti Roll

★★☆☆☆

Overall:

We came on a late Sunday afternoon (to avoid the queues) and were immediately seated. The place was bright and open with the kitchen being in plain view from the dining area, and the service was very efficient. The ‘Chin Chin’ cookbooks that were neatly lined up along one of the shelves remind you that Chris Lucas (the brains behind this place) is also the brains behind other restaurants such as Chin Chin on Flinders Lane and Baby pizzeria in Richmond.

The fusion of American, Korean and Japanese flavours create a very unique menu here at Kong BBQ. So if you are a fan of Asian fusion cuisine, this place is definitely for you.

Kong BBQ

599 Church St, Richmond, VIC

(03) 94271307

https://www.kongbbq.com.au/

Chiba Japanese

41 Hall St, Moonee Ponds 9326 0248

Asparagus and prawn tempura

= Not bad

Chiba Special for 2

Combination of sushi, sashimi and seaweed rice rolls

= Good

Overall:

Fresh and tasty sushi and sashimi, friendly service and stylish decor.

Hakata Gensuke Ramen Professionals

Tick box menu

Chicken Karaage

Morsels of crispy Hakata Style chicken served with dipping spices

★★☆☆☆

Signature Tonkotsu

Pork bone broth served with thin noodles, pork cha-shu, black fungus, bamboo shoots, spring onions and an egg

★★★★★

Black Tonkotsu

Pork bone broth with homemade black sesame and roasted garlic paste, served with thin noodles, pork cha-shu, black fungus, spring onions, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and an egg

★★★★☆

Overall:

The pork broth here is EXTRAORDINARY! Made with an abundance of pork bones, the deliciously rich broth is quite creamy as it is so collagen-rich. The tick box menus made ordering very easy and I liked how there were taste options and noodle texture options (although the soft noodle and normal noodle textures ended up being pretty much the same). A variety of condiments are also available on each table (spicy pickled veg, red ginger, minced garlic, ramen sauce, gyoza sauce, sesame, pepper) to be added to your liking. Service was very polite (as soon as we entered, we were greeted by a very LOUD chorus of “Irasshaimase!”) and the atmosphere was casual but slightly cramped as this place is so popular. So be prepared to wait (we got there at 5:40pm on a Saturday and had to wait 40 minutes) but it will all be worth it for the amazing ramen!

Note that this place is cash only.

Hakata Gensuke Ramen Professionals

168 Russell St, Melbourne, VIC

(03) 9663 6342

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Toko Restaurant & Bar

490 Crown St, Surry Hills NSW

Freshly shucked pacific oysters, tosazu

Sliced kingfish, yuzu, chives, pickled daikon

Seared beef, pickled onions, mizuna, garlic chips

Daily selection of sashimi (kingfish, salmon, scallop)

Robata grilled scallop, sweet pickled apple, jalapeño garlic

Crispy tempura squid, soy chilli broth

Chef’s selection of maki rolls

Skewered chicken

Marinated lamb cutlets, chilli miso, pickled eggplant

Pork belly, apple-kizami wasabi relish, sweet soy

Zucchini, wafu sauce, sesame

White miso soup, spring onion, tofu, wakame

Chef’s selection of desserts (chocolate fondant, raspberry/chocolate/pineapple sorbet, fruit)

Overall:

We opted for the “tsuchi tasting menu” and although each dish was beautifully presented and was full of flavor (particularly the fresh seafood), I left still feeling hungry which was quite disappointing. The service was smooth and efficient while the ambiance was very lively. A nice place, but not somewhere I would be rushing to come back to. Note that reservations are unavailable for dinner.

Takumi

32 Bourke St, Melbourne 9650 7020

Edamame and Sake

Takumi’s Special Wagyu Beef

(thinly sliced wagyu eye fillet grilled on the outside topped with finely diced onion and lightly dressed in refreshing citrus seasoning)

Tsukune

(grilled chicken meatball skewers)

Salmon Carpaccio

(salmon sashimi infused in tangy carrot, onion and soy sauce seasoning)

Jo-hire eye fillet steak and Karubi wagyu beef bolar blade

Mixed salad, Squid, Salmon

Sweet red bean ice cream and Green tea ice cream

Overall:

The quality of the food here was fantastic. Everything tasted fresh and the flavours were superb. I found the usage of lard/fat to coat the grill plate quite interesting. No wonder the meat here tasted so good. We came with a Groupon voucher and definitely felt that we had snapped up a terrific deal. The staff were efficient and the “smokeless” grills that they use here are great as it meant that you could leave without having that strong grill smell attached to your clothes and hair.

Shizuku Ramen (revisited)

309 Victoria Street, Abbotsford 9995 8180

Tan Tan Men

Free range pork mince, egg, chilli oil, preserved vegetables, rich sesame sauce

= Good

Hokkaido Miso Ramen

Original hokkaido organic red & white coarse miso, cha shu, corn, butter, sprouts, egg

= Good

Almond Tofu

Chilled sweet annin tofu (almond jelly) with berries

= Not bad

Espresso Pudding

Coffee carnation milk gelee curd

= Not bad

Overall:

Although I am not the biggest fan of their Ramen Burgers, I am a fan of their ramen! The noodles were good, the toppings were generous and the broths were simply delicious. I didn’t enjoy the desserts as much as the Almond Tofu contained berries that came straight from the freezer (beware those with sensitive teeth!) and the Espresso Pudding became overwhelmingly creamy after a few mouthfuls. Service was friendly and the strikingly dark decor combined with the curious lights created a very non traditional Japanese dining atmosphere. So take advantage of this cold weather and try a bowl of the terrific ramen that is available here.

*Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Shizuku Ramen. All food ratings & review are purely based on my own experiences and how I felt about the service, food and quality at the time of visit