Japanese – ohdenny

Little Rogue

June 23, 2017 Posted in Food Reviews, Japanese, Melbourne, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Little Rogue is tucked away in one of Melbourne’s many laneways and it almost seems strange to come from the always crowded Swanston St and find this gem on the relatively quiet Drewery Lane. Little Rogue is famously known for its Matcha Lattes and coffee and there’s usually a selection of small bites sourced from other local suppliers such as donuts from Shortstop or baked goods from Penny for Pound.

Their Matcha lattes is what every person seems to come to Little Rogue for, and rightfully so, because their lattes are fantastic. It’s smooth, frothy and has an amazing bold, slightly bitter green tea flavour. It’s honestly unmatched.

Last words

If you want your Matcha latte fix. This is it.

Little Rogue
12 Drewery Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000

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Kyoto Cafe

May 19, 2017 Posted in Food Reviews, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews, RingwoodLeave a comment

Located in Eastland’s Town Square, Kyoto Cafe provides a bit of Japanese flavour to Ringwood. Its interior is reminiscent of modern Japanese restaurants with its generous wood panelling all around. It has an open kitchen with kitchen-side dining, and room upstairs as well.

While Kyoto Cafe do offer a few Donburi’s (Rice bowls), they do have a more extensive Yakitori menu, as well as tapas dishes, sushi and bento choices. They also offer a few dessert options, most are displayed at the front of their restaurant which are basically a variety of cakes and cream puffs to choose from.

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One of their bento options comes with fresh sashimi, tempura, chicken katsu and steamed egg with dipping sauces.

The sashimi were sliced into smaller pieces, but tasted quite fresh. The chicken katsu was crispy, and tender, while the tempura was also crisp with a light batter surrounding it and soft inside. There was also this odd vegetable wrap, I wasn’t fond of it and tasted a bit bland.

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The steamed egg wasn’t as soft as I would have liked either and also was a tad under seasoned but still one of the better ones I’ve tried.

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The Japanese Fried Chicken here has this very dark, sticky glaze on it. The chicken was tender and crisp but I wasn’t overly impressed by the flavour of the marinade. Just give me the normal Chicken Karaage.

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To be honest, the main reason for coming to Kyoto Cafe was to try their desserts. The Yuzu cake had an amazingly punchy Yuzu flavour with a soft mouse layer, and a cake base.

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The Green Tea cream puff wasn’t as crunchy as I’d like but it had a great Matcha cream flavour inside that kinda oozed out. The Black Sesame flavoured one is on the list to try!

Last words

The ambience at Kyoto Cafe makes for a great dining experience. The food here, while it may not be amazing, will give you a tasty meal and sometimes that’s all you’re after. The beautiful desserts don’t hurt either.

Kyoto Cafe
Eastland Shopping Centre
Level 3, 175 Maroondah Highway (Town Square)
Ringwood VIC 3134

Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart – Box Hill

April 7, 2017 Posted in Asian, Box Hill, Food Reviews, Japanese, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart opened in Melbourne Central and Box Hill late 2016 with locations across Asia as well. Their stores only do takeaway, and it’s pretty much a one item store, only offering their cheese tarts for sale, but you can also grab a coffee with your tart too.

The cheese tarts have this amazing texture, it’s so creamy and light but not overwhelmingly cheesy. The buttery shortcrust pastry complements the filling well but I prefer the tart casing to be a bit thinner. Overall, it’s just creamy, cheesy, buttery goodness.

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Last words

While the cheese tarts are honestly pretty darn good, I find the price just a bit too steep and especially so for the size of the tarts.

Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart – Box Hill
SP016 1 Main Street
Box Hill VIC 3128

Don Tojo

January 20, 2017 Posted in Carlton, Food Reviews, Japanese, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Don Tojo is pretty much the Don Don’s of Carlton. Quick, fast and easy Japanese food. The menu isn’t very diverse with a few pork, beef and chicken dishes, curry and noodle soups but they excel in what they do.

The Buta Teriyaki Don is basically slow cooked pork on rice with teriyaki seasoning. I liken it to slices of roast pork with the teriyaki flavouring. It’s quite nice, though the pork I find a bit dry and lacking in vegetables or other accompaniments but it’s cheaper than your typical Asian/Japanese food so it makes sense.

Last words

Cheap, tasty Japanese food.

Don Tojo
164 Cardigan Street
Carlton VIC 3053
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Yokozuna

January 13, 2017 Posted in Chadstone, Food Reviews, Japanese, Malvern, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Yokozuna located in Chadstone Shopping Centre is a Japanese eatery specialising in ramen. Yokozuna has a few different flavoured broths to choose from to go with your ramen such as Tonkotsu, Red Ramen, Vegetable Ramen, and they even had a Black Sesame flavoured broth as an option too. While, Yokozuna specialise in ramen, they also offer bento boxes, rice and udon dishes as well so there’s plenty to choose from.

The Spicy “Red Ramen” with Pork had a lovely spicy broth. You can’t choose how your noodles are cooked unfortunately and the noodles weren’t nearly enough for the price charged.

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Fried Chicken Ramen with sauce (Karaage) had a lovely flavour to it. However, when they first gave us this dish the chicken was to the point of being burnt. While they did replace it with a new batch, that was tender and moist. It’s disappointing that they tried to give us burnt chicken in the first place.

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The Black Ramen is ramen with a black sesame flavoured broth, it has a slight sweetness to it with the aroma and taste of toasted black sesames. Interesting flavour, but one I probably couldn’t eat the whole thing of as I found it oddly rich.

The Matcha Latte is frothy, but overly milky, not enough green tea flavour and not smooth at all as you can taste the green tea powder while drinking it.

Last words

Yokozuna is unfortunately quite mediocre in all aspects. While there are some positives, there are plenty of better choices for ramen in Melbourne and better choices for food in Chadstone Shopping Centre as well.

Yokozuna
Chadstone Shopping Centre, Upper Level
1341 Dandenong Road
Malvern East VIC 3148

Tsujiri

December 30, 2016 Posted in Desserts, Food Reviews, Japanese, Melbourne, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Getting in on the Soft Serve ice cream popularity is Tsujiri on Swanston Street in the Melbourne CBD. Tsujiri is a tea brand originating from Japan that excels in all things Matcha/Green Tea. With locations in UK, Canada and Asia, it has now opened in Australia. Tsujiri’s menu offers a wide range of Matcha and Houjicha flavoured drinks, as well as snacks such as cream puffs, swiss rolls and glutinous rice balls.

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Tsujiri’s signature sundae you can order mixed (Matcha and Vanilla), Matcha or just Vanilla and it comes with the glutinous rice ball and sweet potato ball on top, Sakura flavoured wafer, red beans and roasted rice. Tsujiri certainly doesn’t skimp on the flavour of the green tea as it’s stronger than you would have at Rice Workshop or Nene’s Chicken. I also loved the subtle floral notes of the wafer, and the roasted rice for a lovely crunchy texture. The only thing I didn’t like was the price where it’s leaning towards $10 and especially for the price.

Last words
While Tsujiri excels in green tea, its pricing is on the higher end and I question whether it’s worth it even if it’s good.

Tsujiri
146 Swanston Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
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Ikkoryu Fukuoka

September 9, 2016 Posted in Food Reviews, Japanese, Melbourne, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Ikkoryu Fukuoka is located underground on Russell St in Melbourne’s CBD. Close to Flinders St station, it is one of the many Japanese ramen restaurants around Melbourne so certainly each ramen store has to entice diners somehow. Its menu offerings are similar to Hakata Gensuke and Ramen Bankara where you select your variation of the Tonkotsu broth, and choose from add ons such as sliced pork, seaweed and eggs and you are able to choose how you want your noodles to be cooked, whether that’d be soft, hard or in between . What makes this place a bit more special is that each diner has their own menu to write their choices and you include your name on this as well. So when your meal comes to you it’s on a name basis which I find to be a nice change to what is normally a very methodical ordering process.

Ikkoryu Fukuoka’s Chef selection is their Yuzu Tonkotsu which is green in colour. It’s an interesting broth, you can definitely taste the citric flavour of the Yuzu. I find it quite different to the usual more meatier broths like the standard Tonkotsu or the Miso Tonkotsu and I’m not entirely sure I’d choose it again but I’m glad I tried it anyway.

Warning though, if you do choose the Spicy Tobanjan Tonkotsu and pick level 3, it’s ridiculously spicy and I actually couldn’t eat it all because it was that spicy and I can usually take heat relatively well.

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Their Chips and Wasabi is like those wonton wrappers deep fried with a creamy wasabi dipping on the side. It’s nice and crunchy, and the wasabi taste comes through well so it’s great for wasabi fans.

Last words

Ikkoryu Fukuoka has a premium feel to it, and it is certainly reflected in the pricing as well. Their ramen is decent, but I would have liked a few more broth choices instead of just Tonkotsu.

Ikkoryu Fukuoka
Basement of 27 Russell Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
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Rice Workshop – Box Hill

March 18, 2016 Posted in Box Hill, Food Reviews, Japanese, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Rice Workshop is still one of my favourite Japanese fast-food places in Melbourne. Luckily, I’m spoilt and there is one in Box Hill so close by for me that I regularly order their Japanese curry or sometimes just a Green Tea or Black Sesame soft serve when I pass by.

It’s similar to Hanaichi in that food definitely comes quick, and it doesn’t necessarily mean it lacks anything in taste. Their Beef Curry even in a small serve can be sufficiently filling, with generous amounts of curry and beef. However, what I find it lacks in is potatoes or some vegetables to make it a more balanced meal. Other than that, I really do love the curry there.

Not on their main menu, they sometimes offer the Unadon or their Fried Eel, which has a lovely aroma to it. Definitely just for fans of eel, which I am not.

Rice Workshop have a few difference variations of their Beef Rice Bowls, along with Chicken Rice Bowls, and the curry you can order it with Chicken or Pork Katsu, Grilled Chicken or even Tofu as a vegetarian option, and of course, some Udon and Soba options as well. I find their selection of dishes to be great and honestly, price wise it’s good value too.

Last words

Tasty dishes, fast and good value.

Rice Workshop
Shop 57 Box Hill Central (South Precinct)
1 Main St
Box Hill VIC 3128

Ramen Bankara

February 5, 2016 Posted in Doncaster, Food Reviews, Japanese, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Ramen Bankara has now three outlets with the two cities stores opening up in the last couple of months. However, it was the Doncaster outlet that was first in Australia, located inside the Westfield shopping centre and providing more options for those wanting Japanese cuisine with Hanaichi and Hakata Gensuke preceding it.

I love ramen and even when I was in Japan, I never tired of it. Ramen Bankara has a choice of three different soup bases with your choice of add ons such as eggs, chashu, bamboo shoots and seaweed. Each classic option has a premium version with more add ons.

Their Bankara Ramen has pork broth as its base and it’s absolutely delicious. It has an amazing rich pork flavour, and their pork belly is so tender. One downside, was the amount of fat floating in the broth. I’d love if they sieved a bit of it out but other than that, it’s the one to get.

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Chuka Soba Ramen is another pork broth but this has the added option of getting it spicy. It’s a milder broth and a bit more tangy and cleaner for the palate.

Ramen Bankara’s Tonkotsu can also be ordered spicy, and it’s more creamy than the Chuka Soba. It’s made from pork bones that give it that creamy texture. I like the spicy kick more in the Tonkotsu.

Last words

There aren’t too many choices for good ramen around these parts of town so Ramen Bankara satisfies those cravings just nicely.

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Ramen Bankara – Doncaster
Westfield Doncaster Shopping Centre
Ground Level, 619 Doncaster Road
Doncaster VIC 3108

DonToo

December 4, 2015 Posted in Food Reviews, Japanese, Melbourne, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

DonToo, part of the Don Don’s family is like their other outlets where they serve a selection of Donburi dishes during lunch time. However interestingly, during the evening it offers a number of different ramen to choose from. With ramen stores rising in popularity, DonToo’s ramen still is a fine place to go to.

One of their ramen’s is their Laksa Ramen with a creamy curry laksa soup base. It’s quite a generous serving and with the lovely Japanese style eggs as well. Laksa Ramen isn’t too common and it would be one of my first choices!

Their Miso Ramen is also very tasty, flavourful and the addition of corn is a nice touch. I found they add just a bit too much bean sprouts but that’s a small negative.

Seafood Ramen

With this store, beers are on the menu so what goes well with beer? Fried Chicken, naturally. Try it with the chilli sauce!

Last words

DonToo does lunch well, like Japanese fast food and it does ramen even better.

DonToo
330 Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000