Hareruya Pantry — Restaurant in Melbourne

Good place for Japanese snacks, really nice service staff that encourages you to taste test their ice creams, very busy so get there early as items are often sold out by the afternoon. Pricing is reasonable, but on the slightly more premium side- but quality is impeccable.

Here’s a comprehensive review of everything I have tried so far:

Avoghurt daifuku with kuromitsu= 9/10. Subtle taste but tasted a bit like an avocado smoothie. With the added kuromitsu, the more savoury ice cream blends well with the sweetness. Genmaicha monaka with kuromitsu= 10/10. Very strong green tea flavour, not very sweet at all, which blends well with the sweet kuromitsu. The mochi bits are blended in with the ice cream, so the smooth ice cream is juxtaposed to the chewy texture. Calpico and Yuzu monaka= 8/10. The sweetest I’ve tried. Both the calpis soda and yuzu flavour are prominent and it tastes more like a sorbet, if you like soft drink and citrus flavours it’s a good one. Red fruits + elderflower + yuzu= 9/10. Sweet and sour sorbet. Very addictive.

Monaka or daifuku = Daifuku. The mochi is stretchy, adds a chewy texture and is absolutely delicious. Monaka makes it taste like an ice cream sandwich and gives it a hard crunch. Texture only, the monaka doesn’t really have a taste.

Sha-ke Mayo Onigiri= 6.5/10. Not bad, but the taste was a bit bland. Mayo taste wasn’t really there. Tanuki Onigiri= 9/10. So good and so flavourful. Full of umami flavour. Tastes like if you soaked rice in udon noodle broth Ume Kombu Onigiri= 7.5/10. Really yum and full of flavour. Ume plum flavour wasn’t too strong either which I liked.

Matcha latte= 7/10. Not sweet at all, but very strong matcha flavor. If you like the bitter matcha taste without sugar (I’m a sweet tooth, hence the lower rating), this one is for you.

Karaage with wasabi tartare= 7.5/10. Karaage was very crispy and juicy, but felt that the wasabi tartare was a bit too thick and the wasabi taste was not really there.

Today’s Osozai= 8/10. Very delicious and healthy box of marinated veggies. Each veggie had its own unique taste/ sauce and was super delicious!

Matcha Tigre= 8.5/10. Tastes like a matcha cookie with chocolate chips, with a gooey chocolate centre! Matcha taste was delicious and the chocolate was divine. Very rich, so beware if that’s not your thing.

Hope...

Hareruya Pantry has something for every mood, and I bet will become your favourite takeaway lunch spot after your first visit.

Craving something sweet? treat yourself to a wonderful range of handcrafted gelatos. My favourite was the shirogoma inside the monaka wafer) or get a tasty pastry thathave been elevated with a Japanese twist.

If savour is more your style, Hareruya is well known for their bento boxes. All are made fresh in-house every day and they often sell out. They have 3 different bento boxes available every day, consisting of a beef, fish and vegetarian option. They all have an amazing range of premium ingredients in them and also look the part, pricing at $22-$24 pr box. For some this might be up there in price for a lunch meal, but a meal it is so expect to be both extremely satisfied for both taste and hunger.

Hareruya also offers a few of my favourite smaller lunch options including a range of sandwiches(tamago Sando aka egg sandwich is my FAV!)Onigiri rice balls and salads.

Simply after a nice drink? Hareruya offers a delicious range of lattes either hot or iced with regular, oat or soy milk available. If you're after something super fresh though, Hareruya offers freshly squeezed on-site OJ for that sweet vitamin C hit. My personal favourite was a nice, hot Hougicha oat latte on a rainy Melbourne day.

Hareruya's offering of premium, fresh Japanese eats manages to stand out in a city with such culinary cultural diversity. Along with stellar service, it's a winning combo that can see Hareruya Pantry becoming one of Melbourne's iconic...

The staff are so friendly! And I personally love that the icecreams weren't too sweet, you could definitely have seconds in one sitting 😄

🍧DAIFUKUS The flavours we tried include; 👌Genmaicha daifuku: Strong in flavour, it is made up of a mix of mochi and kuromitsu, it tastes quite similar to match but is less bitter and is on the sweeter side. It's quite a unique flavour and a definite must try.

👌White sesame daifuku: Personally I love black sesame icecream, so White sesame was a definite win for me, it's strong in sesame flavour and was a great simple treat.

Red fruits daifuku: With a mix of red cherry, berries, elderflower and Yuzu this gives you a refreshing fruity punch. You definitely taste the 🍒 so if you're a fan, definitely go for it.

Calpis and Yuzu daifuku: Those of you who are looking for something refreshing and 🍋/citrus in flavour this would be the perfect boost for a hot day. It is also quite subtle in flavour.

🍪 SWEETS 👌Matcha cookie: Highly recommend the matcha cookies! There are azuki beans, white chocolate mixed throught the giant matcha cookie PLUS it includes a mochi centre! Personally I'd say it's well worth the $5 for a cookie!

Miso brownie: The brownie is quite subtle in flavour so you don't really taste the miso but it is still a nice simple brownie you...