japanese

HOT: Ducks in a Row, Taxi Dining Room, Level 1 Transport Hotel, Federation Square, Melbourne

May 22, 2013 ⋅ One comment

Cosy up to winter in the best possible way by enjoying Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s June celebration of cold weather cuisine and Victorian produce, the Roast Collection and Put Victoria on Your Table. I was invited to a preview of one of the special events which is being held in June at the Asian inspired fine dining [...]

HOT: Sake Restaurant and Bar, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

February 22, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

I visit the Arts Centre Melbourne reasonably frequently and so I’m always on the lookout for great pre and post-theatre dining options in the vicinity. I think I’ve alighted on a new favourite. Sake Restaurant and Bar, a fusion Japanese restaurant and bar originally hailing from Sydney (and with a Brisbane outpost too), launched last [...]

HOT: Shimbashi Soba and Sake Bar, 17 Liverpool St, Melbourne

February 13, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

My parents recently returned from Japan where they raved about all the fabulous food that they ate, including oodles of noodles. So when they came to Melbourne to visit recently I pressed them to come with me to Shimbashi Soba and Sake Bar and bestow their expert opinion on the handmade buckwheat noodles made on [...]

HOT: Aka Siro, 106 Cambridge St, Collingwood

August 12, 2012 ⋅ 5 comments

Could Peel Street be the start of a Little Tokyo in Collingwood? First Tokyo Bike cycle shop, then Aka Siro lunch spot and recently Mina-no-ie cafe from the folks behind Japanese-style cafe and shop Cibi (also in Collingwood). Part the door curtains and step into cosy Aka Siro and you really could be in a [...]

HOT: Momotaro Rahmen, 392 Bridge Rd, Richmond

June 18, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Everyone has their favourite winter comfort food. For my mum it’s Ma Po Tofu. For RM it’s shepherds pie. For my friend M it’s lasagne. For me, it’s soup noodles. Laksa, won ton noodles, pho – nothing beats hugging a big steaming bowl of noodle goodness when it’s blowing a gale outside. Momotaro is a low-key [...]

HOT: Hako, 310 Flinders Ln, Melbourne

February 15, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Hako is a refined yet relaxed Japanese restaurant located in the office precinct of Flinders Lane. In the narrow half-block between Elizabeth and Queen Streets there are a lot of lunch options and my stomach firmly supports a trip to Hako. The interior design is Zen spare – nothing adorns the expanse of off-white walls [...]

NOT: Kokoro Ramen, 157-159 Lonsdale St, Melbourne

January 25, 2012 ⋅ 4 comments

In the documentary and cross-cultural love story ‘Banana in a Nutshell’ there’s a funny moment where the Chinese girl and her Anglo boyfriend argue whether cereal is a breakfast food or ‘anytime’ food. It mirrors the kind of conversations that I’ve had with RM before – to me cereal is only for breakfast, whereas he thinks [...]

HOT: Bento Lunch, Taxi Dining Room, Level 1 Transport Hotel, Federation Square, Melbourne

November 13, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Out of all the dining venues in Federation Square, my favourite is the Transport/Taxi/Transit complex. Transport is great for a quiet riverside drink (though it can get rowdier on weekends), I often take visitors to experience the slick food and expansive Yarra views at the high-end Taxi restaurant and we even arranged our post-wedding drinks [...]

NOT: Takumi, 32 Bourke St, Melbourne

August 4, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments

Melbourne CBD abounds with good Japanese lunch spots, from tiny laneway favourite Sushi Monger to the rarified surroundings of high-class Shoya. Takumi is a restaurant which spans these two extremes – it is spacious and uncrowded with a quiet and sedate ambience. The decor is inoffensively neutral, almost blandly boring. Boppy J-pop plays quietly in [...]

HOT: Chasing Kitsune, State of Design 2011

July 19, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments

Winter in Melbourne can be pretty grey, cold and miserable but it does bring with it some joys – festivals galore! One of my favourite festivals is State of Design, Victoria’s annual design festival. So get ready because from 20-31 July I’ll be bringing you lots of State of Design related blog posts. I’ve got [...]

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