Sushi

J Café Restaurant

167 Exhibition St, Melbourne 9650 9877

Soft Shell Crab Sushi burger and Gyoza in a Bento Box

Spicy Raw Tuna Sushi burger and Sashimi in a Bento Box

Salmon Alburi Sushi burger

Ebi Mayo Sushi burger

Yomogi Daifuju (red bean), Black Sesame Daifuku, Green Tea Cream Daifuku, Murasaki Imo Daifuku (purple sweet potato)

Ichigo Daifuku

Overall:

Sushi in the form of a burger? GENIUS. These burgers comprise of various sushi fillings and buns made from sushi rice that are held together with a sheet of seaweed. There are almost 20 different types of burgers to choose from which are made fresh on order. My favourite would have to be the Ebi Mayo Sushi burger (crispy tempura prawn, lettuce, tartare sauce and teriyaki sauce) although every other burger I’ve tried has also been very delicious. There is also the option of getting your Sushi burger in a Bento box which comes with the choice of an entree and miso soup. I found the Bento Boxes to be merely okay so these days I simply order the Sushi burgers by themselves.

For those who are a fan of daifuku (small round glutinous rice cakes that contain a sweet filling), try the Ichigo Daifuku here!

Note that service can sometimes be slow and that prices are cheaper for takeaway Sushi burgers.

Me N Roll

636A Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn 9973 9825

Honeydew Rice Wine

Octopus Roll

Salmon Salad Roll

Spicy Tuna Roll

Prawn Crunch Roll

Thoughts:

Honeydew Rice Wine – sweet and refreshing with the distinctive taste of honeydew = Good

Octopus Roll – octopus mix, roll salad, cucumber and avocado = Not bad

Salmon Salad Roll – salmon, roll salad, cucumber, avocado and onion = Good

Spicy Tuna Roll – tuna mix, cucumber,spring onion and fish roe = Not bad

Prawn Crunch Roll – tempura prawn, roll salad, cucumber, avocado, fish roe and lettuce = Good

Overall:

I don’t buy many restaurant vouchers these days. However what compelled me to buy this particular voucher were the words ‘All-You-Can-Eat Sushi’, and for $29 for two people I was sold! I felt confident that I could eat at least 5 of these sushi rolls without a problem! But it turns out that rice is not your friend when it comes to all-you-can-eat.

The sushi rolls here are freshly made, nicely presented and are quite generous in size. (Note that this voucher limited our selection to what was available on the Roll-B and Roll-C menu only) The staff here are friendly and the decor is very cute. Nonetheless I don’t think I would come here without a voucher or discount of some sort.

Haru Haru

315 Glenhuntly Road, Elsternwick 9532 9644

Okonomiyaki

Tuna tataki

Agedashi tofu

Beef bulgogi don

Rainbow roll

Sushi (small)

Thoughts:

Okonomiyaki – Japanese pancake with vegetables and squid. A bit too much sauce was added which made the pancake very soft = Not Bad

Tuna tataki – lightly seared tuna with home-made yuzu dressing = Not Bad

Agedashi tofu – deep fried bean curd and dried bonito flakes in dashi soup = Not Bad

Beef bulgogi don – beef bulgogi with rice and vegetables = Not Bad

Rainbow roll – lobster meat, avocado and cucumber inside the rolls. Prawn, avocado, salmon and tuna on top of the rolls. As soon as I saw the word ‘lobster’ I knew that I had to try this. Unfortunately this dish did not taste very fresh and the lobster meat was questionable = Not Bad

Sushi (small) – salmon, tuna, prawn and sweet fried tofu = Not Bad

Overall:

Friendly service, pleasant atmosphere, lacklustre food.

Tanabe Japanese Restaurant

479 Main St, Mordialloc 9588 2881

Kushikatsu

Tempura

Salmon and avocado hako sushi

Sushi moriawase

Thoughts:

Kushikatsu – crumbed pork and onion skewers that were sweet and tender = Good

Tempura – really light and crispy, some of the best tempura batter that I’ve had in a while = Good

Salmon and avocado hako sushi – you can’t go wrong combining fresh salmon with creamy avocado = Good

Sushi moriawase – included fresh tuna, salmon, white fish, prawn and egg. Each piece had a small amount of wasabi between the rice and the top layer, giving it a tasty kick = Good

Overall:

Enjoyable food, simple decor, Japanese chefs in the kitchen and friendly Japanese waiters who are extremely polite and attentive.