The dining area was dim but had enough natural light to shine throughout the evening from the front doors. We all had a $45pp set menu, excl drinks. A total of 7 items, which equates to $6.43 per item, it’s not a bad deal once you’ve broken it down.

Calamari, Flat Head, Lamb Cutlets, Mediterranean Salad, Chicken Skewers, Papas Brava, and Churros.

The Calamari and Flat Head came together in one dish. Both were nice and hot, lightly battered. The fish was fried perfectly, it was accompanied well by the sauce. Then came the chicken skewers and lamb cutlets. These were the highlights of the set menu! The below photo doesn’t do it justice.

The lamb was cooked well. The meat was tender and the juice was still within every bite. The skewers were also not dry with strong flavors of marinade, I couldn’t tell what kind of marinade it was, but there was garlic and something sour like vinegar. The Mediterranean salad was fresh and had a good amount of dressing. I’m glad they had some kind of veggies or salad as the first few dishes had a fair bit of meat!

The other side was described as Papas Brava, the Spanish potatoes. At the time I looked at the menu, I had no idea it meant roast potatoes. But boy, these potatoes are amazing! So crispy and the right size for easy eating. I could have this non-stop.

Last came Churros, we were so excited about these when they came out, my first impression was that it was a little thinner than expected. It was a delight to have (not oily) with lots of sugar dusted on top, the disappointing part was we wished there was more… as it turned out to be 1 churro per person.

It is evident how popular Las Tapas is as the text explains how tough it is to secure a reservation for the hen’s night. The author emphasizes the importance of making reservations in advance due to the strong demand and lively atmosphere of the restaurant on Saturday nights.

Ambience in the Dining Room:

The article states that the eating area is softly lit and filled with enough natural light to make one feel at home. The high rate of table turnover during the reservation period is indicative of the restaurant’s popularity.

The Road to a Career in the Kitchen:

The meat of the piece is an analysis of the $45/person set meal, which comes with seven items hand-picked by the author. By itemizing the prices, the author emphasizes how affordable the food is.

Delicious Delights:

The first stop on the gastronomic adventure is a description of the Flat Head and Calamari, with an emphasis on its perfectly cooked and slightly fried form. The next course, lamb cutlets, and chicken skewers, are the show-stoppers. Succulent, tender, and expertly marinated, the lamb is highly praised.

Balancing Flavors:

The Mediterranean salad is a welcome change of pace after the heavier portions of meat. While appreciating the salad’s freshness and dressing, the author emphasizes Las Tapas’ commitment to offering a diverse and thorough gastronomic experience.

Spanish Potatoes: A Pleasant Surprise:

A pleasant surprise is the Spanish potatoes, often known as papas brava. The author wishes she could eat these roast potatoes every day because the text captures their crisp deliciousness.

Delightful Churros for the Finale:

The sweet flavors of churros conclude the culinary journey. Despite her eminently slender figure, the sugar-dusted pleasure is attractive. No one had any complaints other than a desire for more of these mouth-watering treats.

Recommended Restaurant:

Because of the outstanding Lamb Cutlets, Chicken Skewers, and Papas Bravos on the menu, the author expresses a desire to return to Las Tapas. Every customer at Las Tapas should order the Lamb Cutlet; it’s delicious.

I’d love to take J here for their Lamb Cutlet, Chicken Skewers, and Papas Bravos. The best was Lamb Cutlet. So I’d recommend the same for anyone who wants to try Las Tapas

Location: 100 Chapel St, St Kilda

Website: http://www.lastapas.com.au/

NoWongFood Rating:
Service: 5/5
Ambiance: 4/5
Entree: 4/5
Mains: 5/5
Dessert: N/A
Beverage: N/A
Overall: 18/20

I hope you like the part where we talked about Las Tapas. For more content like this, visit our website Nowongfood.com.

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You can see how busy it was when we visited for dinner from 6.15pm on a Tuesday.

And the usual we ordered non-alcoholic cocktails, I had the better pick this time, it was a faux pinot, strong depth in flavour (pomegranate and spice from star anise and brewed earl grey). J ordered the Italian Orange Spritz.

• Italian Orange Spritz, $14
• Faux Pinot, $10

Complimentary dish as a appetiser, lightly fried tomato based crackers with delicious salsa.

Bread also came as complimentary, they came out warm, and as we tore the bread apart in quarters, we saw the steam come out. The bread was delicious with the umami butter, the other salted butter was a little too salty for me. I enjoyed the umami butter, it had a sweet aftertaste. Cutler & Co was so generous with bread and butter, when they offered us seconds they gave us new quenelle butter.

We ordered the Yellowfin tuna crudo, Tasmanian wasabi, finger lime & celery, $34, it was very fresh with very little flavouring. The dish looks small below, but that’s because they plated in two for our convenience. Love it when restaurants do this for us. Not only is it prettier than us grabbing off each other’s plates, but it’s not as messy. J could taste the wasabi flavour from his dish, but I couldn’t. I could taste the celery more in the dish. J preferred this entree, whereas I enjoyed the Asparagus and Pistachio Entree.

Jonella farm asparagus, pistachio, egg yolk, black garlic & rye $32

A vegetarian dish, but I enjoyed the black garlic addition bringing a stronger tastes than just veggies. The finely sliced asparagus were crunchy, never had asparagus like this before. Crispy pistachio in fine bits and pistachio puree were really good to dip the asparagus with. The egg yolk was thick and I just mixed it with the puree.

For mains we ordered the O’Conner Rib Eye of 1.1 kg, with house made mustard, shaved cabbage and fennel salad, $180. We were advised upon ordering that it would take 1 hour to prepare and checked if that was OK with us. We thought we were fine, we were very hungry at 6.30pm and could take our time… but I think we had a lot of bread and two entrees got us half full…

My first bite of the rib eye was quite chewy. But after my next piece it was fine. I think it depends on which part I pick. Lightly grilled on the outer and blue to medium rare inside. It’s not very common we eat blue. We weren’t asked how we want our meat cooked, so if you can’t take blue meat, i’d suggest to speak with the waiter first.

My favourite sauce to dip was the yellow mustard. Sour enough to keep me going with the enormous amount of meat we ordered. Shaved cabbage and fennel salad were great, I couldn’t have any more of the meat, but I could continue bit by bit with the salad. Finely shaved and easy to eat.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to dessert. There were two other desserts we wanted to try but just didn’t have any more room for it. The waiter mentioned we can have dessert next time at the front of restaurant if we don’t want to have the full dining experience.

Service was brilliant, ambience was very warming, both of us had a great time. I’m still longing for the desserts I couldn’t get to try. So I’ll definitely revisit just to be completely content.

Location: 55-57 Gertrude St, Fitzroy

Website: https://www.cutlerandco.com.au

NoWongFood Rating:Service: 5/5Ambience: 5/5Entree: 4/5 Mains: 4/5Dessert: N/ABeverage: 4/5Overall: 22/25

★★★★

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Highly rated (been on good food reviews), so I really needed to find out how good it is over a girls night out. We all ordered a mocktail of spiced plum, when I heard the description from the waitress, it didn’t feel like a refreshing drink, but after ordering it, yes it was refreshing – and not much spice. So I was happy but wish it had more flavour? I could taste quite a bit of lime – a palette cleanser for each dish.

We were then served with some bread and feta drizzled with extra virgin olive oil (complimentary). This was so fluffy and light. My friend doesn’t like cheese but she could keep eating it with the bread.

We then ordered the special which was quail with lentils and cubed apple. The quail was nice and soft – juicy with the bone. The girls liked it, but I wish the meat could be cooked a little bit more so that the tender pieces of the quail would fall off the bone.

Now comes the favourite dish of the night! My long awaited aka Tagliolini al nero – squid ink tagliolini, squid & bottarga aka squid ink pasta. The squid was so tenderly soft that it was not chewy! But watch out for the kick at the end of each bite from the sauce. It doesn’t look chilli hey? The roe was amazing! I don’t usually like roe – i’ll eat it if it’s there, but these are big and so so juicy when you bite into them. The burst was very pleasant – not fishy at all. Of course the squid ink pasta was al dente to my liking!

Next main was Casarecce – pork sausage, white wine & radicchio, it was a complete change in taste – creamy and a bit heavy from the pork sausage. But I was happy with our selection. The flavour wasn’t as punchy as the squid ink, but was thick, sauced around the short pasta. Small portion of radicchio which I prefer.

1st side is Insalata di radicchio – rocket, pear & balsamic. We love, love loved their balsamic dressing, you never go wrong with rocket, pear and balsamic. But the red cabbage was a bit too bitter for me. Although colourful, I prefer it being just rocket, pear and balsamic!

2nd side i polenta chips – Polenta fritta – crunchy rosemary chips. Didn’t realise at the time of eating, but now that I see it was suppose to be rosemary – I couldn’t taste any rosemary. This was our least favourite dish of the night. Dry dish, and serving it with parmesan makes it more dry. Wish we could have had aoili or mayo to help moisten this side dish.

Lastly, our dessert was Fragole – strawberry, vincotto & sfogliatina, beautiful raspberry coolie coating each strawberry, and the pastry (sfogliatina) balanced out the sweetness of the dessert. It wasn’t a super sweet dessert – the cream with vincotta bedded underneath had a hint of sweetness. I can keep having more of the vincotta with fresh strawberries. The raspberry crumbs added the texture in each mouthful

Overall, the ambience is dim and romantic, but what impressed me is the table lighting. I was able to take great photos from my phone to share here! A lot of restaurants have dim lighting and therefore I can’t take a decent photo of the food.

Our waitress was amazing. Accidentally spilled the whole mocktail on the table and she was helping us wipe it down – yes it’s their job, but she gave us abundant napkins to ensure we were dried up! To add to it, she ordered us another mocktail, as N started to get disappointed that she had wasted her drink.

Location: 361 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000.
Website: https://www.tipo00.com.au/

Tasteelicious Rating: Service: 5/5 Ambience: 5/5 Entree: 4/5 Mains: 4.5/5 Sides: 4/5 Dessert: 5/5 Beverage: 3.5/5 Overall: 31/35

★★★★★

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Visited on a Friday night, we were advised the wait was about 20 minutes, we got given a token rather than a name drop system. As it was a cold night, we decided to wait inside. All other guests waited outside. And because we waited inside the waiter who gave us the token couldn’t find us and thought we had not bothered waiting… So we actually got served later than we should be. We were lucky that a different waiter (female) asked us what we were waiting for. Don’t do what we did… suggest you either tell the waiter you’ll wait inside or stay outside like the rest of the waiting gang!

Beef Bulgogi Hot Pot, $14.80 came with rice. It came sizzling, a good winter warmer. A little clearer in broth colour than other hot pot soups I’ve had, which is pleasant. Small pieces of meat made it hard to find the protein. But there was enough meat in the soup. Flavour of the soup tended towards the sweeter end. I was happy with it.. soak some rice in it and it’s perfect…

Beef Bulgogi with Rice, $14.80

We ordered half flavoured boneless chicken in garlic sauce, $19. We finished the hot pot, the chicken had still not arrived. The same female waitress who followed up on us while we were waiting for a table asked us whether we had gotten our boneless chicken. It was nice to know we were still waiting for another dish. We advised her we were still waiting. Although we didn’t rush the waiters, it was nice to have a proactive waitress who followed up for us a couple of times. This was without us prompting anyone.

Despite the wait, the chicken was crispy, having boneless pieces made it so much easier to eat – clean and hands-free! Interesting how there’s wedges in the basket – prefer if they gave us more boneless chicken – because it was so yummy. Some cabbage and pickled radish on the side. The mixed salad was drizzled with spicy mayo. The mayo was surely spicy. I think $18-$19 is reasonable, any more in price I’d think it’s overpriced given that the whole basket does not entail all chicken.

Half Boneless Chicken in Garlic Sauce, $19

We enjoyed our visit, but expect a wait during peak times in the evening. The service would be marked a bit lower had there not been a proactive waitress to look after us. Service: Good. Best thing is it’s on the LIVEN app for 10% anytime. Click here for LIVEN details! I’d revisit to try other dishes like Jap Chae

Location: 209 Swanston Street, Melbourne

Website: https://www.samsamchicken.com

Tasteelicious Rating:Service: 4/5Ambience: 3/5Beverage: N/AEntree: N/AMains: 4/5Dessert: N/AOverall: 11/15

★★★★

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After a while – we did see it being fully packed! It’s a popular place in Abbotsford.

I ordered the Thai lemon tea and it was quite different to any standard lemon tea I’ve previously tried. It’s strong in tea flavour – a good wake up drink. Only a hint of lemon flavour.

We ordered several main dishes to share amongst 4 of us – from the Grill we had Neur Yang – Thai style marinated beef to medium rare. It was nicely marinated with a sour and chilli dipping sauces. One of the only dishes we ordered that didn’t have A LOT of spice, $19.90

Green Curry Chicken was beautiful and creamy. With just the right amount of coconut cream. Unfortunately for the price of $17.90 it doesn’t come with a rice. My friend found it the most spicy dish compared with the other dishes.

Chicken Pad Thai was delicious. Lacked a bit of presentation for me. $14.90

Pad Gra Pow – chilli & basil stir fry with crispy pork, $17.90 – originally thought this was a veggie dish with crispy pork but turns out to be meat > veggies. Trust that when Jinda Thai says spicy – that IT IS spicy! 

Larb $14.90 – hand roasted then grounded rice, crushed dried chilli, mint, red onions with minced pork. All my friends that night could take chilli/spicy food, but when they have to stop eating and go for water – it’s serious! Again another spicy dish.

After all the spices in our tastebuds we should have gotten a dish that was stronger or sweeter in flavour but we didn’t think it through – we ordered the coconut crepe. I like how there were bits of coconut in the foam splashed on top and toasted coconut sprinkled around the plate. But the flavours were so mild that we were searching for stronger flavours. It would have been better if the ice cream was also coconut, unfortunately, it was vanilla. Although the highlight was the ice cream, we didn’t feel like we got want we wished for $8.90…

To sum it up: A wide variety of selections, great for group sizes of 4+. Inconvenient when unable to secure a table for large groups. Food is on point but small in portion for the price charged. For the non-spicy eaters – watch out for the spice!

Location: 1-7 Ferguson St, Abbotsford VIC 3067

Website: https://m.facebook.com/Jindamelb/

Tasteelicious Rating Service: 3.5/5 Ambience: 4/5 Beverage: 2.5/5 Entree: 4/5 Mains: 4/5 Dessert: 2.5/5 Overall: 20.5/30

★★★

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I love how considerate they are in having an English version of Tempura.

This restaurant is inside the shopping centre of the top floor in Akihabara UDX. Whilst being seated and waited for our meals the restaurant was very quiet all you can hear is the gentle crackling of the fryer along the side of the restaurant where they are deep frying our tempuras. You can hear that nothing is rushed. It’s quite relaxing at the restaurant actually. Not to mention the restaurant was very clean. There is a large exhaust that hovers above the fryer but it’s surprisingly very quiet… be assured that you don’t get the greasy feeling when you dine there.

So seafood tempura is eaten with salt and any vegetable tempura are dipped with tempura sauce with grated reddish mixed into the sauce. I didn’t understand why until I tried it.. the salt for tempura gives it a little bit of flavour but doesn’t soak the gently fried tempura to ruin the crisp. Their shrimp / prawn tempura are very fresh at Tempura Hisago.

These were a set lunch special which was about 1,000 yen for my tempura meal above.

The tempura mix bowl was 1,630 yen. Although it looks like there’s not much sauce in the bowl, the flavours in the mixed tempura all worked with the sushi rice underneath it. Condiments were very adequate and for J who has a bigger appetite he was content.

Forget to mention that the staff offers iced cold water to foreigners and tea to japanese speaking customers. If you prefer tea, just ask for it. The staff just isn’t sure whether you’d like their tea.

We just love how Japanese food in general looks petite but when you eat it, everything is perfect. We don’t feel overly full nor hungry for more food.

Location: 4-14-1 Sotokanda | 3F Akihabara UDX, Chiyoda 101-0021, Tokyo Prefecture

Website: https://gurunavi.com/en/g483602/rst/?__ngt__=TT1008b06d7007ac1e4aecc34Yb2bnECHorS2oudyAPCTb

Tasteelicious Rating: Service: 5/5 Ambience: 4/5 Beverage: N/A Entree: 4/5 (the other condiments with the lunch set) Mains: 5/5 (tempura) Dessert: N/A Overall: 18/20

★★★★★

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Been to several sushi train restaurants but this place stands to impress. My first visit was not a long wait because we arrived at 5.30pm on a saturday night. We waited for a maximum of 15 minutes. But if you arrive at 6.30-7.30 pm period, you would expect a long wait – they don’t take bookings either.

Sushi trains are generally expensive and the $3 a plate piles up as you’re nibbling and having a good time with your folks!

Minimum per dish is $3! You can also get $3 for a bowl of Udon! Their must-try dish is ‘scampi’ you get one raw scampi with its head entailed. I’ve only tried scampi here, so I had no expectations.

Fresh Scampi Nigiri Fresh Scampi Order

My first visit definitely impressed me with scampi, 2nd and 3rd time the dish felt warmer and warmer. Like the scampi had been out sitting for sometime.

Not only is scampi a must-try, their salmon of 7 pieces at $7.90 isn’t bad! Although you may occasionally taste frozen ice on the salmon, its better cold than warm right?

Sashimi (Salmon)

Their wasabi is better than average. Can taste the wasabi spice more than other sushi trains. Although the wasabi are packaged individually, I’ve tasted the same brand but the tingly feeling is definitely not there or out-dated which just ruins your sushi train experience.

Takoyaki

I’d also recommend to try their Takoyaki, although I like Takoyaki steaming hot from, this dish is not bad based on $3! Many Takoyakis i’ve tried does not have octopus in each ball and I always feel ripped off as there’s more batter than seafood. I believe this one is worth a try for only $3… What could you lose?

Seared Salmon Sushi Lotus Sushi Crab Stick Sushi Salmon and Avocado Handroll

I’d absolutely put my hands up on their Salmon and Avocado Hand roll and their Soft Shell Crab Hand roll as the seaweed is always crispy, rice is just right as per the other dishes – right level of vinegar and I can take each grain of rice, avocado is always fresh! Sorry I don’t have a photo of their Soft Shell Crab – but for the same price as Salmon Avocado, I reckon this is worth a shot! I believe their quality on Salmon and Avocado hand roll has always been consistent throughout the many visits I’ve been.

Lastly on food – dessert passes the test, but they have limited variety on their menu, mainly green tea, black sesame pudding and mochi. It doesn’t ‘wow’ me and I would most likely save my quota for more of their signature sushi!

Environment is clean and service delivers. Never needed to chase up on ordered dishes. Overall, I think there’s some inconsistencies throughout my visits to Sushi Hotaru. But I’d still recommend it and it definitely fills you up with a check out of $25 per person for dinner… !

Location: Shop 118 200 Bourke St Melbourne, VIC 3000 Ambience: 4/5 Entree: Not Applicable Mains: 5/5 Dessert: 3/5 Overall: 16/20

★★★★

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Ordered 3 flavours of the mocktails they were refreshing but the best is Cranberry, Mango then Lychee crush. Cranberry had coriander in it, for someone who doesn’t like coriander – couldn’t even taste it! Win.

Vietnamese Iced Coffee

I can only review on the dishes I tasted, C & W ordered BBQ Balinese Prawns Sate that I didn’t try. But they enjoyed it. It meets their experience of Bali style lemongrass and prawn.

BBQ Balinese Prawns

I had the chance to taste the Prawn Dumpling, Crying Tiger, Lamb Ribs, Betel Leaf, Pork Neck and Pork Belly.

This Crying Tiger is char-grilled wagyu beef with a spicy citrus dipping sauce. The wagyu beef is tender and the dipping sauce is SPICY! Watch out when RPS says spicy! For those who can’t take it, make sure you ask for an alternative.

Crying Tiger

Prawn Dumpling was good but a little surprised that it had a grainy texture rather than a bitesized prawns wrapped inside the wonton. Grainy makes it feel borderline mushy and not wonton per say. Sauce is again spicy!

Prawn Dumpling

BBQ Lamb Ribs: mekhong whiskey marinated lamb ribs in a sticky special sauce. That sticky special sauce is yummy! Lots of coriander too! Thankfully we can just take them out. The sauce is so juicy that you can keep eating more. The flavour of the stick sauce overtakes the lamb gamey scent in a good way… It was very easy and not messy to eat.

BBQ LAMB RIBS

Ordered Roti separately to share. But it was very crisp, I’m use to the Roti’s that is a bit more oily to tear apart. This roti is also claims to be “malaysian” but when teared apart bits and pieces fall everywhere on the plate. In saying this, it had a beautiful peanut dipping sauce to accompany the slightly dried carb. I didn’t think we needed to add this on top of the 5 dishes of set lunch.

Malaysian Charred Roti

Betel leaf wrapped itself with raw morton bay bugs. This was the best looking dish however when picking it up and biting a mouthful of it through the crunchy and fresh Betel leaf. I couldn’t taste the morton bay bug’s flesh – no seasoning on the protein but lots of little flavours on top of the protein – a hint of spicy caramel sauce.

Morton Bay Bugs in Betel Leaf

Filipino BBQ Pork Neck was next, marinated in a spicy cola sauce. served with lettuce cups and pickled green papaya. I could keep eating this because of the sauce and the size of the pork. This was the second last dish with double the portion because we all ordered this as one of the five selections of the lunch feed option.

FILIPINO BBQ PORK KAWALING PINOY

Last dish was the pork belly with double the portion – again we all ordered this so the kitchen made it to one plate. Pork Belly had a lot of fat, twice cooked pork in a tamarind caramel sauce topped with a fragrant herb salad. The crunch was from the bean shoots, but I was looking for the crackle :(… It wasn’t there.

It was still a good dish. The boys finished the dish while I continued on the BBQ pork neck :).

Sticky Pork Belly

Did I forget to mention that Rice Paper Scissor’s gets you to use your hands? Chopstick are available, but Eating Lamb Ribs, or the Betal Leaf just can’t be eaten elegantly…

Service kicked off well they were quick and friendly to guide us on how it all works at this joint. Service slowed down at our last two dishes, it came only at 1:20PM, whilst we were trying to finish it off and give the table back by 1:30PM as agreed, one waiter came to remind us as a courtesy. Nice for reminding us, but he had to knock on the table twice to tell us “Chop-chop”, it was absolutely unnecessary. They should know that the last two dishes took a long time – everything else was devoured and we were waiting for the last two dishes for 10 minutes whilst chatting. That moment we didn’t find it professional. In the end, we returned the table by 1:33PM (as per invoice). 3 minutes over – big deal. We left disappointed.

Overall, we all had a great time catching up on the double date. I believe Rice Paper Scissors excels in their sauces and knows how to accompany sauce with the right protein. They also make their protein cooked perfectly. But suggest they work on the one-off waiter’s attitude.

Location: 19 Liverpool Street, Melbourne CBD

Website: https://ricepaperscissors.com.au

Tasteelicious Rating: Service: 3/5 Ambience: 5/5 Entree: 5/5 Mains: 4/5 Dessert: N/A Beverage: 4/5 Overall: 20/25

★★★★

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We only tried two of their dishes: Peking dry noodle, $15.60 and Deep Fried Homemade Bean Curd with Spicy salt, $14.80.

The size of the Peking dry noodle was generous, there was enough meat and it tends towards a sweet sauce base. Cucumbers were sliced perfectly for every mouthful. Noodles were done well – Al dente without clumping together as we mixed it all. There was definitely enough sauce for the dry noodle.

I very much enjoyed the tofu. It was not spicy at all. So don’t be afraid to try this lightly fried tofu with silken texture inside. The inside was so soft and hot to eat. It was worth the burning of my tongue! The tofu was the better of the two.

Overall I had a good experience. With quick service and good food. I would revisit to try other dishes on their menu. Highly recommend the tofu!

Website: N/A

Tasteelicious Rating: Service: 5/5 Ambience: 4/5 Beverage: N/A Entree: N/A Mains: 4/5 Dessert: N/A Overall: 13/15

★★★★

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Their food menu is simple, but beverage menu was a bit everywhere. There was a small selection of non alcoholic drinks so we started with a Ramune – Japanese soda lemonade drink and a cold green tea. The soda lemonade are those bottles with a marble inside. Had I known that was the drink I probably wouldn’t have ordered it. Later, I found out they had better selection of beverage menu on the other side of their menu! They had mocktails like yuzu green tea and virgin lemon soda. I wish I knew before hand… Cold green tea is bitter – careful for those who like their sweet drinks!

The restaurant was clean and had an alfresco that overlooks the south wharf with the view. Thee outdoor dining area was enclosed and heated. For a couple that seldomly dines outdoors it was very pleasant. Staff were very friendly and felt like authentic japanese.

We started with agadashi tofu, presentation was good but it was underwhelming. For an entree I see why there’s 1, would have liked a couple more tofu for the price of $16. The wild mountain veggie sauce accompanied the tofu well. We cleaned up the sauce.

J loved the lamb ribs it was soft and the meat fell off the bone – deep-fried lamb ribs glazed with ginger soy honey, renkon & gobo chips. Lamb isn’t my favourite meat – I found it was too fatty. I felt like I was just having the fat. The reckon and gobo chips were yummy. A crunch to the dish where I could keep having more. They sprinkled some powder, which I guessed was chicken salt from the chips. They were nice. $24

Another fatty dish good for sake and beer. We had this with half a bowl of rice each. It was good, but no stand out for the dish. there’s not crawling skin – it was just cooked pork belly.

We didn’t want to end our dish with dessert even though the dessert of the day sounded amazing – Black Sesame panna cotta. We decided to order a hot matcha latte each. The matcha was the real deal and tended towards to bitter end which we liked. A little milkier than we like.

I believe the high rating is because of its atmosphere, service and the small eats with alcohol. Overall, we enjoyed our dining experience at Akachochin, but we thought the dishes we ordered were good but not great. Maybe we should try their fried chicken with sake next time with friends…

Location: 33 Dukes Walk, South Wharf, Melbourne

Website: https://www.akachochin.com.au/

Tasteelicious Rating: Service: 5/5 Ambience: 4/5 Entree: 3/5 Mains: 4/5 Beverage: 3/5 Overall: 19/25

★★★★

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