Brim CC — Restaurant in Melbourne

Brim-CC was my favorite Japanese café ever since it opened 14 years ago. It served modern Japanese dishes and had different menus for each season. The menu only featured around 12 items, most of which were created by the Japanese chef—dishes you couldn't find anywhere else. The presentation was a form of art, something you'd expect only from high-end Japanese restaurants. It was a hidden gem back in the day.

I stopped visiting about 10 years ago when it became too busy day and night.

I tried it again tonight, and I was alarmed the moment I saw the menu. It now looks like a typical Japanese eatery run by a non-Japanese chef. Fried rice in a Japanese restaurant is very uncommon if it's truly authentic. And now, all the creative and innovative dishes are gone, replaced by standard traditional offerings. I checked Google reviews and confirmed my suspicion—the original Japanese owner sold the business during or before COVID, and the quality has dropped dramatically.

The signature curry dish is still on the menu—the only one that remains from the original Brim-CC—but it’s now watery and has noticeably less meat. The recipe was likely sold along with the business, but the new owner has cut too many corners. It’s no longer the same dish.

When I walked into the café, the original artistic ambiance was gone. The new renovation stripped away most of the Japanese elements. Now, it feels like a standard Aussie café.

I ordered the curry tempura prawn don. It’s clear that the new owner is trying to replicate the original curry flavor, but as I said, too many shortcuts have been taken—it’s something else entirely. The tempura prawns are the frozen kind made in Vietnam or Thailand, the same ones you find in Asian grocery stores. The batter isn’t the kind you'd see in a proper Japanese restaurant. The original Brim-CC prided itself on making everything from scratch—this new version does not. It’s definitely not organic either. Even the drinks are no longer organic, so they really shouldn't be calling themselves an organic café anymore.

Overall, the food quality is average—not bad, but nothing special. You get what you pay for. The original Brim-CC was an exception: run by a passionate Japanese chef who truly cared. The new Brim-CC is just another average Japanese café —good enough to fill my stomach, but not to make me...

The first time I came here was at least 5 years ago when my old manager introduced me to this place. I ordered the same dish - Curry Katsu Don, which back then I thought was quite delicious. It was so good that I've always wanted to go back since then. So today was that day where I finally got to go back and introduce some friends. All I can compare this to was a positive memory from five plus years ago, and from what I usually get from Obento. While I wasn't disappointed with the dish, I also wasn't entirely impressed with it either. It just wasn't as great as what I remembered it to be. I got the Curry Katsu Don with Chicken. The dish was acceptable, but it's not something that I ever need to go back for again. I'm happy to keep going back to Obento as it's cheaper, has quicker service, and has bigger servings with more flavour. It's just not worth the trouble of leaving the office early enough to secure a table at Brim CC. How could they make it better next time? Honestly I think a bit more chicken would be great and the dish was missing potatoes. In fact, the potatoes are what I usually look forward to. And the curry gravy could do with some stronger flavours with a bit more heat. I feel that they were playing it safe with the flavours and not being ballsy enough. In general, most places are like that these days. They either don't know what real flavour is, or they're just too afraid that a customer might give them negative feedback for their flavours being too pronounced. The same goes with salt. Nobody seasons their dishes anymore. It's very disappointing. This is why I prefer...

Brim CC Japanese Organic we decided to go there for a late breakfast 10.30 am they open at 10 there is construction going on in the street so the ambience is not great but this is more than made up for in the great food and friendly service. I had the HALF CURRY & rice + Soup SET --- $12.50 it was the chicken curry really good with miso soup made with lots of veges and meat balls delish. My wife had the Tokyo Bento --- $12.00 Rice balls, Meatball, potato salad w/Japanese mayo, traditional carrots and egg plant & tofu w/sweet miso Not only did this look fantastic it tasted fantastic 10 out of 10. We liked it that much we had to go back the next day and shared the Buckwheat Pancake (Gluten Free) --- $8.00 With sauteed Organic summer veges With Organic Fruits and honey (as sweets) The Pancake with veg was huge taking up almost all of the plate covered with Japanese style veg it was very good. The fruit pancake though not as big was very tasty and wonderfully sweet. We also had the Japanese tea on both occasions having never tasted this before it is a treat for the senses very different almost a sort of meaty after taste. The service was very friendly and helpful. We would defiantly recommend that you try Brim CC...