I celebrated my birthday at Izakaya Jiro in Melbourne, and it was pretty good. The place has a vibe…read morethat makes you feel like you're somewhere in Japan, which was nice. We started with a beautiful variety of sashimi--fresh and tasty--and the agedashi tofu and tempura were solid choices too. The highlight for us was definitely the variety of Wagyu beef cuts! it was cooked really well and super flavorful. Overall, it's a nice spot if you're after a relaxed Japanese dining experience. Great food and great service!

Overpriced and bleh!!! very forgettable!!! Ordered the sashimi and sushi $36 for 21 pieces. It was…read morerobbery!! had to order 2 other mains to suffice. Got the eek rice and teriyaki chicken. Both were average and meeeh! I don't get how this place is competitive. in summary ... over priced average food!

Only come here if you don't mind cramped seats and rude staff with non-existing service (other than…read moredelivering the food). This place is ALWAYS crowded at lunch time, so be prepared to be turned away 9 times out of 10. However, if you are lucky enough to get a seat, you'll appreciate the quick service, delicious food, massive servings and great value for money. My favorite is the tempura udon. The generous portions of tempura including two big prawns, tasty and warm soup make this a perfect winter food when you are cold, hungry and short on time.

NOTES: ~ The shop is very narrow with small tables so do not…read morecome here with a large group. There is probably only room for 3 or 4 people maximum. ~ They get their food out FAST. My friend and I came here and he has NEVER had Japanese food before, so I was determined to find a place and order him something tasty to try. We stumbled across this location while wandering around Melbourne Central and decided to try it out. I picked Sapporo Ramen for him, which included pork, seaweed, bamboo shoots, 2 salted eggs, and crab meat with ramen. I ordered Ebi Don for myself (shrimp, egg, and a special sauce over rice) and Gyoza for us both to share. The portions are pretty big and are well worth the prices (which average around maybe 10 dollars). My friend reported that he really liked the Sapporo Ramen, but of course I cannot really tell if he was just being polite since I recommended it. However, my Ebi Don was fine, although I feel like there could have been a bit more sauce. The egg was just too overpowering in flavour as well. It was still delicious at the end of the day, but because I have better Ebi Don, I could not really rate it too high. As for the Gyoza... it was not that good. The meat inside was not a plump nugget as it should be, but a bit scattered and bits fell out when you bite into it. I wouldn't be opposed to coming here again. The food was alright, but nothing to really look forward to. In retrospect, I should have picked somewhere else for my friend's first Japanese experience. Ways they can improve: ~ Have a bit more variety in their menu. I understand it is smaller cafe, but a bit of variety can never hurt. ~ Improve their food quality, particularly the Gyoza. Although I appreciate how quickly the food arrives, I would trade a few more minutes for better quality.

With ramen joints springing up left right and centre, we are really spoilt for choice! Spotted this…read moreplace when visiting the Target Centre earlier this week, thought we'd check it out. Checking out the website gave us a few giggles, with the emphasis on "first slurp" philosophy, but it did show us what delicious delights await us. Having just opened this week, Ramen Bankara is still in the process of sorting out their liquor license on our visit. We got some Japanese lemonade with the marble in the bottle neck instead - fun! Between the three of us, we tried the signature Bankara, the Tonkotsu, and the Tonkotsu spicy. Bankara had lovely springy noodles with good bite, lovely, rich soy broth, presumably with the braising broth of the kakuni (braised pork belly). Tonkotsu noodles were different - thinner and quite eggy in taste. The broth was smooth and velvety, creamy and white. The spicy version packed a punch, though you can opt for the level of heat when ordering. The only downside was probably on the charshu (sliced pork) - so delicious, but only one slice. But for the price and the size of the bowl, it is not a cardinal sin in my book. You can get extra goodies (two types of egg, bamboo shoots, spicy leek, woodear, pork slices or belly) to pimp up your noodles, or opt for the "premium" version that has extra egg and pork belly. Service was helpful and efficient - you order on a form then take it up to the till. They were extremely apologetic on the lack of liquor license, and when they ran out of pork belly :( There are still a couple of options on the menu (Tsukemen with the thicker noodles, with a dipping sauce, and a broth that's a mixture of pork and seafood base), so definitely keen to visit again. Hopefully we get to try the pork belly next time. Watch out for the opening hours - they close at 8pm!

I was excited to try their signature Bankara broth, a combination of soy-sauce and pork soup bases…read more However, it didn't quite pack the flavour I was expecting. It tasted as if it were not simmering for several hours and lacked depth. The noodles were average. Cooked to the right consistency, however they did not taste fresh and showed signs of being a typical food court level dish. At $14, the Classic Bankara came with just one slice of pork, sliced onions, one piece of seaweed and a few bamboo shoots. All other toppings are sold separately, so you can easily spend up to $20 for a complete bowl of ramen. This was a decent place that may be worth trying their tonkatsu soup base to compare. However, for the price and location to other worthy ramen shops, I would go somewhere else.

This would have to be the cheapest and most delicious Japanese in Camberwell…read more I've been a couple of Friday nights and have enjoyed edamame, katsu curry don and bento tempura box. The seats are rather low, and the lighting harsh, but who cares the food is good. And that's what I care about when I'm eating locally :)

The only café/restaurant that operates outside the confines of the Ringwood Square shopping centre,…read moreHitoshi Sushi is a great little place to grab lunch or dinner. Serving up a mix of Japanese favourites, from sushi and hand rolls to sit down dinners, the staff are always friendly, and the food that I've had is always great. As a vegetarian, I go for a rotation of the avocado, egg or vegetarian hand rolls. All are fantastic, and up there with the best I've tried. We once had a large group coming over and went to these guys for our catering. They supplied us with an enormous amount of small bite sized hand rolls, and for a great price, we had everybody's belly's happy.

If you happen to ever find yourself in Ringwood, though the centre itself may close around 6, and…read morethe carpark empties slowly, sushi is still available here til 9, the crazy hour in which I often find myself craving a hand roll. The people behind the counter are welcoming to all customers, and I don't notice many more than myself. Oh well, more for me. They make up some wicked platters and collection dishes, and while they don't a lot like the pictures in the window they taste pretty good.

Walking by this restaurant almost everyday I wanted to try it out. From the outside it looks very…read moretraditional/authentic. Nothing to flashy with the decor so technically food should be authentic. Service was great. They're very attentive and courteous. The decor was a bit outdated but sufficient. We decided to have yumcha and ordered a variety of my typical yumcha dishes. We had prawn, chives, pork (xiu mai) dumplings, chicken feet and prawn rice noodle rolls. I found the dumplings a bit doughy but the fillings was nice. The chicken feet was a bit dry and the rice noodle rolls lacked flavours. Overall, it was ok but it did lack flavour. It was good for yumcha locally but if I wanted yumcha next time I'll venture out to the city.

Unable to get into David's down the road we set-off on foot to find yum cha. This place popped up…read moreand the menu seemed good so we got in. It was quite a busy Sunday, we arrived at 1:30 and the place was full. Only 2 tables free. From the time we got there until we left all the tables remained full. You can either order from the full menu or the dim sum menu. Craving lots of things we went for the dim sum. The staff were friendly and attentive the entire time and we're happy for us to call them over 3 or 4 times every time we ordered more food. Our favourite dishes were the Shanghai dumplings - so juicy and flavoursome. The crispy prawn rolls were absolutely amazing also. Other dishes we ordered were: salt and pepper squid, BBQ pork bun, spring rolls and egg custard bun. Delicious! While the food here was not extraordinary it was perfect for what we were craving. The prices ranged between 6.80 to $11.50 for yum cha dishes which were a little on the pricier side given portions of some.

My brother raves about this place. Set in a little store on the main strip of Bayswater, Yang's…read moreserve up inexpensive dumplings and noodles. Although he décor is quite plain, that being white on white, its what you want out of a cheap eatery. No fuss, no frills, just good food made fresh. I always rate a Chinese restaurant by how many Chinese people eat there themselves, and Yang's has become a popular spot for both Chinese locals and those in the know about how good a good dumpling can be.

You don't go here for the service, You go there for the…read moredumplings at $8 for a plate of 12-15 dumplings you can't go wrong it's fast in out service and high turnover it's a great cheep fast eat with great quality food

The owners are back! All our regular dishes are back to being yummy again. We pretty much stick to…read morethe same things everytime we come here: Beef coleslaw Chicken Coleslaw Spicy Beef Crispy chicken no bones Chinese mushrooms and snowpeas Stuffed eggplants with prawns Rarely deviating from this list.. It has only failed us one time but we think it may have been because the owners were away so they had a different chef in.. BUT now they are back and the food has gone back to the deliciousness we are accustomed to!

An fairly below-average Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant on the Victoria Parade strip…read more After a long run with my lady, we came upon this because it was open late and we were hungry. Naturally, they ran out of shrimp dishes by the time we arrived. So we settled for some poached chicken and a vegetable dish with sauce. The chicken was oily and the rice had to be used to help soak up the juice. The vegetables were... saucy. And I hate "Chinese mushrooms" that were dried and have to be reconstituted. Green tea came in tea bags... not cool in my opinion. Why am I paying $2 for a tea bag? I could've brought one myself. Loose leaf tea is cheaper anyway. One good thing? Open until 10PM on a Wednesday night. Would not recommend this place unless you can't find anywhere else to eat. A more healthy version than McDonalds.... maybe.