Kinyoubi — Restaurant in Melbourne

Groupon Voucher ($59) 8 Course Vegetarian Banquet for 2 with Sake.

Food Quality: Menu: 2x Miso soup, Edamame, Agedashi tofu, Vegan fried chicken, Vegetarian selection of sushi, Mushroom and clear-glass noodle hotpot, grilled eggplant, Two portions of ice-cream and house Sake. The serving sizes were adequate and gave us a good glimpse of what the dishes tasted like. The favorite would have to the Vegan fried chicken and the hotpot. The rest of the dishes were also a nice selection. Everything was cooked well and came out hot and fresh. Dessert was disappointing as there was no selection despite the coupon stating there would be three flavour to chose from. We bot had to get vanilla, which is suspiciously similar-tasting to a home-brand.

Service: There was no different treatment for us who came with the Groupon voucher. The only thing was when we were led to our table, I informed them we had a Groupon voucher tonight and once we sat down, no one spoke to us. We sat there waiting for 5 minutes and we were not sure if we were to walk to the counter to talk to them or grab their attention. Then one of the waitresses brought out a menu for us when we were suppose to be having a set dinner. This bit was kind of annoying. The service to be honest was quite slow as it looked like there was not enough wait-staff on the floor. It was incredibly hard to grab the waitresses’ attention and at times we waited for about 5 minutes before we could speak to someone. I guess it was because they bought the food out to the other tables and then headed straight back to the counter to do other things or the kitchen. The night therefore dragged on quite longer than expected and we eventually were worn out. I think it took us 10 minutes before we could get someone to order dessert. However the food did come out promptly, just as it had finish cooking so it was deliciously hot and fresh. Pricing: The Groupon voucher was $59. The food was a good selection with different and lovely tasting dishes. However the serving sizes were quite small (shared) so I probably wouldn’t spend another $59 for this.

Location: Prominent location in the heart of Fitzroy with plenty of parking on the little side streets on the main road. For dinner go-ers, parking should be free after 5:30pm.

Ambiance/Atmosphere: Quite nice. Towards the end of the night they lit up candles on our table for ambiance but I found it hard to see my dessert. Other people may enjoy it though.

Conclusion: Go if you want to try delicious dishes, but try to look for a cheaper...

We came with a Groupon voucher for an 8-course vegetarian banquet and it was excellent value for money. We requested everything to be vegan, which was no trouble for them. The courses included miso soup, edamame, agedashi tofu, nasu dengaku (eggplant), vegan fried chicken, rolled-up crunchy tofu skin with rice, sushi rolls, and dessert.

It also included house sake, which tasted like rubbing alcohol, but hey, alcohol's alcohol.

Some of the dishes were definitely better than the others. I liked the "fried chicken" and the eggplant (the sauce with the eggplant was amazing!!! I practically lapped it up.) The sushi rolls were OK, kinda generic. Wasn't crazy about the agedashi tofu for some reason. The miso soup was tasty, and the edamame was pretty much your usual steamed edamame, nothing special (although they gave us a LOT of it, which was nice!) The crunchy tofu skin with rice was very bland, and my boyfriend didn't like it at all so I ate pretty much the whole thing myself. For dessert, we skipped the typical ice cream that comes with the banquet and got vegan desserts instead. It was basically a peach-flavored jelly thing (made with agar agar, not gelatin). It was tasty, but I was honestly SO FULL at this point that I couldn't finish it.

In general, I liked the meal. But I think some of the flavours could be improved (especially the sushi rolls, agedashi tofu, and crunchy tofu skin with rice). I'd also just gotten back from two weeks in Japan and I'm not sure how "authentic" some of these dishes truly were. They definitely tasted like they'd been a little bit Westernized, but maybe that's just me being picky because I had just been in Japan and had such amazing food there.

The two girls who served us were also very sweet and nice. The atmosphere was nothing fancy, just a cozy little place with no frills, but it was nice.

I'd definitely recommend the place if you're wanting a vegan or vegetarian Japanese banquet, especially because most Japanese places use dashi or fish in almost every dish, so it's hard to find a good vegetarian Japanese banquet. Just go wearing stretchy pants because by the end of it, you...

I'm very passionate about food, with japanese cuisine being my absolute favourite. I've had plenty of japanese food in Japan and in Melbourne, ranging from diners/street food stalls, to omakase/high end kaiseki.

I've gotten used to being disappointed by our local japanese food. The issue with Melbourne food is that the mass gets easily swayed by marketing. Google ratings are easily bought, but still, I'm compelled to leave a review to express my opinion of my recent visit.

I stumbled across Kinyoubi last night after landing on a random reddit thread while trying to search for "authentic japanese izakaya in melbourne".

Kinyoubi absolutely delivers what a true japanese izakaya experience should be. Sure, there're your famous Izakaya Den, Eazy Peazy, Leonie Upstairs when you'd like to splurge on the ambience/good feels, but nothing I've experienced in Melbourne so far gets close to the honest/good food/people first vibe of Kinyoubi.

Don't judge the authenticity by the fact that the chef/owner is from hk. Let the food speak for itself - if you've dined in good izakayas in japan - you will know what I mean.

I love the chef's attention to detail and the fact that he does not compromise on quality (he clears out the sushi fish daily, and he personally preps the sushi/sashimi soy sauce every morning, just like how he used to when he was in Tokyo).

We ordered wagyu sukiyaki, tonkatsu, karaage, sushi/sashimi platter, spider roll, gyoza. Apart from the tonkatsu which was a little overcooked to my liking, everything tasted amazing and made on the premises fresh.

I was blown away by the freshness of the sashimi in particular, I got so focused on tasting every dish, I've completely forgotten to take more photos.

Needless to say, I will be back. Next time with friends instead of family so I could experience the other important element of the izakaya -...