Sushi

Ponshu Kiroro

Edamameholic

(stir fried edamame with garlic and red chilli)

Spicy, salty, garlicky deliciousness covered each and every edamame bean! I found these to be very addictive.

★★★★☆

Parfait Lunch Set

(marinated salmon sushi parfait, chunky miso soup, wasabi dressing)

Fresh, tasty, and well presented.

★★★★☆

Spicy Miso Ramen

(spicy Hokkaido miso ramen with kurobuta pork, boiled egg, cabbage, onion, bean sprouts, spring onion and sesame)

The thin broth reminded me of kimchi soup. The pork was quite tasty and the pieces of cabbage came in really big chunks.

★★☆☆☆

Overall:

A bright charming place that offers delicious Hokkaido fusion cuisine, as well as a lovely range of Japanese beverages. This hidden gem is well worth visiting for their interesting dishes and their friendly service.

Ponshu Kiroro

9 Katherine Place, Melbourne, VIC

(03) 8657 8553

http://www.kiroro.com.au/

Hinoki Japanese Pantry

I finally tried the sushi bar at Hinoki Japanese Pantry the other day after buying groceries from here in the past.

Hotate (scallop) and Salmon Aburi

★★★☆☆

Nosé Maki and Hoso Maki

★★★★☆

Small Sashimi

★★★★☆

Overall:

Our order took a little while to prepare but when it was finally ready, everything tasted fresh and was of fantastic quality. The grocery store section at Hinoki Japanese Pantry is impressive with a wide range of products ranging from Japanese curries and ramen to sake and green tea Kit Kats. This simple orderly store is a good place to head to for your Japanese grocery needs, as well as for delicious sushi and sashimi. Note that limited seating is available so getting takeaway may be necessary during busy periods.

Hinoki Japanese Pantry

279 Smith St, Fitzroy, VIC

(03) 9417 4531

http://hinoki.com.au/

Maru Shih

Sashimi

We were expecting more of a variety but at least this was fresh.

★★★☆☆

Salmon and Avocado Inside Out Hand Roll

★★★☆☆

Yaki Udon

(chicken and vegetables cooked in Japanese sauce with mayo)

★★★☆☆

Okonomiyaki

(Japanese savoury pancake with seafood and vegetables)

Dry with minimal seafood.

★★☆☆☆

Beef Udon

(sliced beef, onion, spring onion and thick udon in soup)

The soup was a little bit too sweet for my liking.

★★☆☆☆

Katsu Curry Udon

(fried crumbed chicken, spring onion and thick udon in curry soup)

A hearty noodle dish.

★★★☆☆

Green Tea Latte

This was unfortunately too sweet and needed a stronger matcha flavour.

★★☆☆☆

Overall:

Great value for money (especially for a place in South Yarra), friendly attentive service, and tasty Japanese fare. Maru Shih is a place worth visiting if you are in the area.

Maru Shih

49 Toorak Rd, South Yarra, VIC

(03) 9077 9108

http://www.marushih.com/

Satoru’s Japanese Restaurant

Sushi Set

(salmon, tuna, prawn, calamari, scallop nigiri and sushi roll)

★★★☆☆

Bento Plate

(prawn and salmon dumplings, chicken spring roll, calamari tempura, teriyaki chicken and sushi roll)

★★★☆☆

Overall:

We visited for lunch on a Saturday and had a lovely cheerful man (I’m assuming he’s the owner) both prepare and serve our food. The seafood was fresh and the bento plate unique (this was the first time I’d ever heard of prawn and salmon dumplings). I can see why this place is the most popular Japanese restaurant in the area.

Satoru’s Japanese Restaurant

Shop 1, 108 Old Pacific Hwy, Oxenford, QLD

5665 9295

Kenji

Sushi Bento Box

California deluxe rolls, nigiri sushi, gyoza, chicken karaage, croquette, crumbed fried prawn, calamari ring, edamame, salad

★★☆☆☆

Prawn, scallop and seared salmon nigiri

★★☆☆☆

House Special roll

Tuna, yellow-tail, prawn and cucumber, wrapped in salmon

★★☆☆☆

Green Tea Thickshake

Tasted like vanilla ice cream with occasional lumps of matcha powder.

★★☆☆☆

Overall:

Warm and inviting atmosphere, lovely service, extensive menu, typical Japanese fare. Note that this place is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Kenji

Burwood Arcade Shop 10, 1405 Toorak Rd, Camberwell, VIC

(03) 9889 1084

Sushi Hotaru (revisted)

Salmon cream cheese roll

Seared salmon and scallops

Lobster salad gunkan

Seared scallop nigiri

Spicy seared salmon nigiri

Prawn box sushi

Chicken karaage

Spicy tuna nigiri

Salmon avocado roll

Takoyaki

Overall:

Love this place. In fact not much has changed since my first visit over a year ago. The service is still super quick (I ordered pretty much everything from the electronic touch screens) and the food is still fresh and delicious. The menu is updated 3 to 4 times a year and everything is freshly hand made right in front of your eyes. This time around I especially enjoyed the spicy seared salmon nigiri, chicken karaage and the seared salmon and scallops (I could really go for more of this right now!) This is definitely the place to go to if you are after quick, tasty, reasonable priced sushi train food. Note that this place can get quite busy and that they will not seat you until your entire party has arrived.

Check out the first part of this clip to get more of an idea of what to expect at Sushi Hotaru.

Sushi Hotaru

Shop 118, 200 Bourke St (1st floor of MidCity Arcade), Melbourne

(03) 9663 7538

*Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of SD Marketing Global.

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).

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.

Shoya

25 Market Lane, Melbourne 9650 0848

Pickled fish and vegetables

Intensely sour

= Not bad

Savoury Egg Custard

Marvellously silky steamed egg custard with chicken, prawn, mushroom and edamame

= Excellent

Tempura

The tempura batter was delicately light, crunchy and subtly seasoned. My only gripe with this dish was the enormous piece of broccoli that was served. Don’t get me wrong, I love broccoli. It’s just a little difficult to eat when it’s the size of my hand.

= Good

Signature Deep Fried Dish

The left portion comprised of a tantalisingly tender scallop that was wrapped with understated crab meat and deep fried, while the right portion comprised of deep fried egg and mushroom.

= Good

Sashimi

Extremely fresh and delicious with each piece having that amazing melt in your mouth texture.

= Excellent

Sushi

Fresh and tasty but the wasabi was a bit too heavy for my liking.

= Good

Wagyu Steak and Miso Soup

Not sure if this is the norm, but this steak happened to be cooked medium-well and some of the pieces were extremely tough and sinewy. The sauce was lovely and aromatic, however the quiche that was served alongside was quite cheesy and did not complement the steak whatsoever. A strange combination.

= Not bad

Mixed Steamed Rice

Lacklustre fried rice that comprised of chicken, vegetables and mushroom.

= Not bad

Green tea ice cream

Weak green tea flavour, dense and had ice chunks in it.

= Not bad

Overall:

This place offers tasty yet affordable lunch sets that start from only $24.80. The cheap lunch sets must be very popular as by 1pm we were told that the two cheapest sets had already been sold out. But that didn’t faze me as I wanted to get a slightly more expensive Shoya Special Lunch Set anyway. I ended up getting the Matsu Set and substituted the crab dish with tempura. Most of the dishes came out at a nice even pace so that as soon as we had finished one dish, the next one would promptly arrive. Service was good and the atmosphere was chic and sophisticated. We witnessed one of the chefs preparing Shoya’s famous sashimi ice domes. They looked spectacular but I think you can only get them as part of the $180 dinner degustation menu. I think I’ll just stick to coming here for lunch.