Hinata Cafe — Restaurant in Fremantle

NOTE: This review is not only about the food but the whole overall experience since this is what this eatery is about, the overall experience.

On a recommendation from a good friend we drove one hour to try this place.

First impression when walking up the stairs was a very good one. Looks funky and homely. The Japanese wait staff who was cleaning the tables welcomed us and offered us a seat as he was clearing tables. We had arrived just after the lunch rush just after 2pm. After being seated I moved to the till where one would order. Japanese server was very pleasant and welcoming.

Ordered from the menu with some questions for the menu all done nicely by the server at the till. Saw they had a Bento Box ready for immediate consumption and decided to ask what was in it since we were famished. This question put to the server who relayed the question to the kitchen where a young Japanese female cook with glasses was and there seemed to be an uncomfortable exchange where no response forthcoming. Anyway, decided to dispense with the awkwardness and took it anyway and paid up.

Food was served in a fairly timely manner. Food presentation was pleasing, flavours were nice.

HINT: There is a big difference when food is served by a more mature Japanese lady whom I would say is one of the owners when compared to being served by the young girl. We witnessed the food being explained to all the tables around us whereas our food was just served, albeit very pleasantly. Would have loved to have known what we were eating instead of having to guess and feel the same level of welcome as everyone else.

Atmosphere is nice and one pays for this priviledge as the food is delicious but essentially simple. To clarify & having spent at least a month every year travelling in Japan since 2014, Japanese food is best when simple so this is not a negative.

The Ume (plum) Soda and Yuzu(Japanese Citrus) Soda were yummy.

Overall the experience was a positive one if not for the grumpiness (this shows through facial expression and body gestures) of the cook to being asked what was in the Bento and the lack of explanation by the young waitress of the dishes when one sees every single other table having their meal explained to them.

Now the complaint I do have is I ordered an Ebi Fry Curry Rice for take away. When I got home there was no Ebi/prawn. This is really very inefficient of the cook staff and the owner does have to keep an eye on delivery as it reflects badly on the business. Especially at $26 for steamed rice with some curry sauce and a few vegetables.

We had come for a late lunch intentionally as we were told parking is an issue.

Will we return again? We may do when the menu next changes to see if they have improved after the owners receive this constructive feedback. If I do order takeaway, will make sure I take the additional step of checking the order is correct.

For the record, we spent over $100 for just 2 of us having lunch and this was without ordering sweets or tea & coffee due to having another appointment...

This was my second time visiting Hinata Cafe as I knew that their summer menu is about to change over and I had to go back before that happened.

The first time I ordered the monthly brunch set (February) and enjoyed being able to try a variety of different meals in smaller size. As I don’t eat pork I asked if the suí maí could be substituted, and received delicious vegan gyoza! The chilled miso soup was lovely and refreshing, the cucumber and noodles were a great touch. One of my favourite parts was the chilled nimono, the potato and carrot were cooked wonderfully.

The person I was with ordered the Hinata Wanpaku Sando, which is what convinced me I had to come back before the menu changeover. I am currently trying to figure out how to make tamagoyaki if that gives any indication of how good this sandwich was. I’m actually quite devastated that it’s leaving. Whatever bread they use is lovely, and the teryaki chicken was incredibly done. They didn’t go overboard on the sauce, so you know the cut and cooking are good. The fruit on the side was also much appreciated. I will miss this sandwich a lot.

I’ve tried both their ceremonial matcha, and the strawberry matcha latte. The latter is slightly sweet for my personal preference, but still delicious, and the ceremonial style was of decent quantity and well mixed. They have many interesting sounding drink options that I’ll have to try in the future.

Be prepared to wait in line, for usually only ten minutes or less (it’s worth it.) All of the staff members are joyous to be around, and often will hand out menus to those waiting to streamline the process.

The fact that this place is somewhere you really only find if you know what you’re looking for, but always packed is a testiment to...

I was thinking of a way to describe Hanata Café upon my visit and I think an “Undiscovered Treasure” is a good start. I made a booking for the Sunday Mother’s Day buffet menu (came with food and drinks). Overall, we were delighted with the decorations and ambience, from the plants decorated around the place to the soft comfortable cushions on the chairs. Very rustic, Japanese style café which has great charm. The menu included finger food (lunch and desserts) - fit on your mouth type food, which looked so pretty and tasted even better. The Japanese curry with rice was amazing, beautiful flavour and aroma. The non-alcoholic punch was average, but the ginger ale was very refreshing, not overly sweet and a slight peppery taste (I ordered two, but free as part of the paid buffet). I also loved the flower decorations on the table and the “one of a kind” table clothes, each table looked like they had different table clothes making each table unique. A lot of attention was given to the details around the restaurant. Service was friendly and polite (waitstaff sounded Japanese maybe?) Only feedback is for busy days like Mother’s Day is to have another waitstaff on the floor, at times it was hard to flag down someone because it was busy. My wife actually told me that it was the best Mother’s day lunch we have ever been too, will definitely be...