Food adventures in Melbourne and wherever the tummy goes
The girlies at my old work place wanted to do a catch up and thanks to Miss Butterfree being quite financially savvy, she suggested Akachochin since Dimmi had a promotion of 50% off food. We made a booking and turned up on the night. However, once we were inside, no one was at the front to attend to us and we stood there for a good 10 minutes until a staff finally spotted us and showed us to our table.
Mr D had a whole eating day planned for my on my birthday but unfortunately due to a cold, I could only manage one eatery since I could taste again. I really wanted to try The Table at Kuro Kisume but it wasn’t open until the end of the month so we just tried the Kisume restaurant instead. We were 20 minutes early and had a few drinkies at the bar which was quite lovely and the staff were absolutely professional.
There’s a new Japanese eatery in town right in the middle of the CBD and looks over Bourke Street called Yokocho which wants to take diners away from the hustle and bustle of the city and into the “alleyways” which Japanese hard-working citizens seek refuge in a quiet eatery. Yokocho is a little bit hidden away where you need to go up the escalators in the Mid City Arcade. Yokocho isn’t quiet at all and buzzing with noise so you’ll definitely hear it whilst going up the escalators. Going through the doors, you can walk straight through to the rooftop and boy, was it perfect weather for some cocktails.
Uncle Tetsu is a name you’ll hear when you go to Sydney, “Get Uncle Tetsu’s cheesecakes!”, “Have you been to Uncle Tetsu’s?”, “How good are the cheesecake from Uncle Tetsu’s?”. Well fellas, Uncle Tetsu has finally opened up a store in Melbourne with another one pending (two stores?? WOOHOO!) so Melburnians, you no longer have to fly up to Sydney for these jiggly cheesecakes. There’s generally a line outside but it takes no longer than 10 minutes since everyone knows what they’re getting anyway.
It was date night and Mr D was in the mood for some Japanese and I was in charge of finding a place. After searching through zomato, I saw that a lot of people reviewed Suishaya Inn with a high rating. So in we went at 8:15PM on a Saturday night and I knew I had picked the wrong place. The decor was quite tacky and the staff were not Japanese (which was fine) but the thing that yelled out NO to me was the disposable chopsticks placed on the table. For a place where it’s estimated to spend approx $80 per couple, there should be actual chopsticks and not those given at takeaway stores.
A date with the girlies and we decided to check out Musashi (yes, one of the girls thought we were having protein shakes for dinner) which was opposite to the never ending queue for Hakata Gensuke. There wasn’t a line for Musashi and when we walked in we were greeted loudly by the staff and the decor was fabulous! Made me feel like I was back in Japan. You could even pop your bags in your seat / stool which I thought was quite clever.
Eastland has been opening a lot of eateries and there are just so many choices. Being hungry meant I needed to eat and quickly. We saw Ajisen Ramen and this is a chain that whips up ramen quickly. In we went and got a table quickly.
Going out with the cousins, we decided to have some matcha desserts and good ol’ Miss Train got onto zomato and found Kyo Tea House. It was quite busy on a Thursday night but we managed to bag a table and started our ordering spree.
After coming back from Japan, I was missing Japanese food oh so much. In the anticipation of missing this fine cuisine, I had booked Minamishima for the week I come back with my two stooges. There wasn’t an online booking process, you just have to call the restaurant directly but they were lovely and accommodating. When we got there, we were greeted by the staff and shown to our table. Since there were 3 of us, we missed out sitting by the bar. Our menu was slightly different to those at the bar where some of our dishes were also from the kitchen.
After arriving back in Australia, Mr Kingdom Hearts suggested a ramen date to see if I could find any ramen in Melbourne that tasted like those in Japan. So we explored Mugen Ramen since this has been on his list and he was oh so excited to check this place out. We turned up on a Wednesday night without a booking and they managed to squeeze us in. The atmosphere was casual, the staff were super friendly and the decor was very suave.
We were oh so hungry and decided on the Wagyu Tataki and this was AMAZEBALL! The wagyu was seared perfectly and the mash and the ponzu sauce was on point. This was a fantastic starter and we were super excited about our mains. This was more on the pricier side but it was definitely worth it.
Wagyu Tataki – $18
Seared Wagyu served with Yuzu Mashed Potatoes, Spring Onions and Ponzu Sauce
