Secrets Behind The Dark Curtain

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Izakaya Den

CBD

114 Russell St

Melbourne, VIC 3000

Ph: (03) 9654 2977

Web: Izakaya Den

Open Hours
Monday ~ Fri 

12pm ~ 2:30pm

5:30pm ~ till late

Saturday

5:30pm ~ till late

Walked down the stairway and pushed through the glass door, there was a party going on in a long narrow lounge style Japanese restaurant. It is a bit tricky to find the underground industrial looking contemporary warehouse type bar/restaurant with high ceiling and open kitchen. We walked forward and backward on Russell Street and tried to find a sign, but there was none. And finally when we located the correct address, it took us a few seconds to decided whether we should go behind the dark curtain. This was not expected how we discover one of the most popular restaurants in town. Nothing in our imagination. And once we made the move, we found a paradise isolated from the rest of the world. Welcome to Izayaka Den!

The interior was modern chic, the atmosphere was funky and fun, the all dressed in black Japanese wait staffs were friendly and the young looking patrons were trendy. This place certainly got style. It looked huge at first but later I found there was a mirror at the end of the restaurant and it double up the space. How smart was that! It was very busy on a Saturday night and there was a queue with well dressed patrons before us. Impressive first impression. We were curious and excited to find out the secrets of this place.

The restaurant has a policy of no booking for less than five people. There were only three of us that night so it took us about 20 minutes to wait at the queue. With hip pop music playing loud on air, oshibori (wet towel) served and cocktail in hand. It didn't seem to be a long waiting time. And finally when we got our seats at the bar, we were all rewarded with the delicious food.

While we were waiting on the queue we ordered our drinks and I had the Tokyo Cosmos. It was terrific and they have a great selection of sake and Japanese beer, interesting cocktails and some local produce wines. If you asked for water, those were served in cute little glass cups with cartoonish characters such as pandas, Bambi and the one I had was an adorable little girl. I wonder whether it's by artist Yoshitomo Nara (奈良美智)? Very sweet and it made me smile.

What we ordered:

Drinks

Tokyo Cosmos $18

Sapporo Japanese Beer

Food

Octopus Pickle Cucumber and Wakame Salad $7

Sakata Coated Prawns Citrus Mayonnaise $12

Sweet Corn Kaki Age $7

Gotzinger Berkshire Pork and Cheese Sausage $14

Spicy Tuna Tataki with Garlic Soy $18

Steamed snapper with Rice in Cherry Blossom Leaf $9

Pork Fillet "Kushi Age" $15

Lamb Ribs, Red Miso $14

Fresh Salmon Sushi Roll Pickled Konbu, Ponzu $15

XO Tongue with Spirng Onion $14/ Duck and Leek Skewers $15

Sweet

Apple Millefeuille $10

HoujichaIce Cream $6

Our food journey all started with a simply dish: Japanese octopus salad. Chopped octopus, cucumbers and wakame marinated in miso and vinegar dressing. The octopus was fresh and chewy. The dish was refreshing, light and clean. A very nice start. Our next dish was the sakata coated prawns with mayonnaise. It was very well cooked and with one bite you got to taste the crunchy crispy coated rice crackers and then with the second bite there was the freshness sweet prawn meat. The cute curled up prawns were really stunning, taste even better with the citrus mayonnaise, it delivered a bit more flavour. Then, there were the popular corn fritters. I must admitted it was very interesting. Such simple ingredients make a very nice dish. The corn was sweet and juicy and the batter was crunchy and tasty. I bet the kids would love this, and so did I. Anyone know the secret of cooking this dish? I really like to try it at home. It would make a prefect party food.

Pork and cheese sausage was my all time favourite, the dish here was fantastic but the only thing we were unsatisfied was the quantity served which was too little to share. Followed that we had the two dishes of the night. First was the beautifully presented spicy tuna tataki with garlic soy. Tuna slices was seared on all sides and placed on top of garlic and wasabi spiced mayonnaise. The middle part was still raw and it was so soft and fresh, the fish melted in your mouth. A wonderful dish, the sauce was well seasoned and flavoursome; the texture was rich and delicate. The other high light of the night was the lamb ribs with red miso. The ribs were extremely moist and perfectly cooked and matched wonderfully with the red miso. It is a dish I would order again and again. It is also a dish I want to steal the chef's recipe. Nothing fancy when looking at it but I'd eat it one by one with my bare hands. Super delicious!

If there was a most inspiring dish of the night, it must be the steamed snapper with rice in cherry blossom leaf. Look how pretty they were: three little snapper parcels on a small Japanese ceramic plate with bamboo print. The snapper and rice adsorbed all the freshness of the leaf and it both smell and taste magnificent. Pork fillet was a traditional Japanese dish. It was not something I'd normally have because many restaurants served them hard and overcooked. However our friend ordered it here at Den. The deep fried pork fillet coated with breadcrumbs was so crunchy outside and the meat was surprisingly tender and moist. The pork was well marinated and the batter was well seasoned. Perfect! A dish I'd recommend if you like deep fried food. It served with cabbage and mustard sauce. And with a bowl of rice and a glass of beer, awesome! The salmon roll with roe on top was fresh and lovely presented but nothing outstanding. It was the only dish we had some leftovers. Maybe that was because of all the other dishes were too fantastic. In memory I ordered XO tongue with spring onion but I guessed we were given the duck and leek skewers instead. The dish we had didn't taste like XO tongue. The meat was thicker and the texture was rich and moist. Yum!

Izayaka (居酒屋) is a type of very popular snack bar in Japan for groups of people go in after work to drink sake and beer and share small dishes. You can find it everywhere in the country. Here in Melbourne, menus projected on the wall, dishes comes in small serves tapas style to share and presented on lovely Japanese ceramic bowls and plates. The food probably not as traditional and the price may be a little bit higher. However, it's lively, it's fun and it's modern. Most importantly we can't finish the night without their marvelous desserts!

Apple Millefeuille: a sweet and sour combination. Five layers of smooth apple sorbet with crispy deep fried thin apply slices in between, served with honey and strawberry dices. Dada...the winner of the best dish no doubt goes to Apple Millefeuille! It is the beauty queen. Don't you agree!

Izayaka Den is certainly a hidden treasure and definitely worth a visit. It is an amazing place to hang out with friends, have a bit of chat, drink beer and share snack food. The service was attentive and efficient, they topped up our glasses all night long and the food came out really quickly. We were there to enjoy the ambiance, each others company and also the decent food. It is the small things added up little by little which make this place completely sensational. We enjoyed our meal very much! Cheers!

Cuisine: Japanese

Food: Good

Service: Good

Atmopshere: Good

Value: $$$

Recommend: Good

*Rating: Excellent, Good, Average, Poor, Very Poor

Modern Day

on me: yeojin bae silk floral dress, miu miu bag
location: russell st, melbourne

Ramen? What Was All The Fuss About?

Ramen Ya

350 Bourke Street

Melbourne VIC 3000,

Australia

Open Hours:

Mon ~ Tue

11am ~ 5pm

Wed ~ Sat

11am ~ 9pm

Sun

12am ~ 4pm

Ph: (03) 9654 5838

Web: Ramen Ya

Gone shopping in the city during a weekend. DH suggested to try this ramen place located in a laneway next to Melbourne's GPO building. He said it was going to be good as he saw so many positive reviews on urbanspoon. People were crazy about the place and it was amazingly popular, blablabla...Okay. Although I'm not a ramen fan, I'd still like to try anything taste delicious. Can't say no due to my obsession to good food.

The so called "best ramen in melbourne" was quiet on the Sunday afternoon. There were plenty of empty seats both indoor and outdoor of the restaurant. Great location for shoppers like us to take a rest and grab some snacks and sit at somewhere relaxing where we can stretch our legs and arms. DH was super hungry and I was only soso. They have ramens, bento boxes, gyoza and salads all printed on one page of a small menu. Honestly, not much to choose from their limited varieties and obviously ramen were their signature dishes. Therefore, I ordered a house specialty: charshu ramen with tonkotsu soup and tofu salad. DH had the kimchi ramen and also he's all time favourite: gyoza. Order was placed and paid at the cashier and you picked your own drinks from the fridge. The total of the bill including two Japanese soft drinks (calpis and Japanese green tea) was $3x. Price was cheap!

There is no needed to wait to be seated as you can seat where ever is available. We picked a table at the outdoor area to get a better view of the whole restaurant. Food was speedy, staffs were friendly and there was minimum requirement for service. No complain as $10 for a bowl of ramen is really budget. This place is great for young people.

We shared the gyoza. It was cold and the skin was hard. Not that fresh and they were like leftovers. The tofu salad I had was bland and tasteless. I rather they use the delicate silky Japanese tofu instead of the harsh and lack of flavour tofu. Then we had our bet on the ramens.

Our ramens came on a wooden tray and placed on our table by a nice waitress. Reasonable size and good portion of ramen. There were a half egg, few slices of pork, seaweed, bamboo shoot, some pickles and spring onions in the bowl to balance up the whole dish. DH's ramen was very similar to mine except he has extra kimchi in the bowl. The pork base broth was thick and creamy, it was tasty but nothing surprising. Furthermore, it was not hot enough and the ramen was like pack instant noodles from any Asian groceries. You must be kidding me if this is how the best of all ramen in town taste like! Then my hubby could be their top chef with he's signature dish (the only dish he cooks) of Shin Ramyun, a Korean instant noodle which available in most Asian groceries.

Maybe we were disappointed due to our high expectations. Seriouly, it was no better than ramen in a bag. And with an extra egg added in the soup just the minute before you turn off the gas and some kimchi place on top which you can get from Korean gorcery and sold in plastic box or add any other ingredients as you wish, the taste would be as good as what I had at Ramen Ya! With the right cooking time, the noodles should be chewy and tasty. For more delicious broth, you could use precook stock from pork marrow bones and vegetables that have been simmered to smithereens which added flavorsome, richness and depth in the broth. The stock can store in fridge and use for other purposes. Okay, if you don't like to cook, try some other places. Ramen Ya, what was all the fuss about?  The only thing I liked about it was the ice cold Japanese green tea in can. I'd rather spend my $3x on two cups of coffee at Ca De Vin located on the same narrow lane, get a bunch of flowers next door, and eat instant noodles at home cooks by DH.

Cuisine: Japanese

Food: Average

Service: Average

Atmopshere: Good

Value: $