Kissaten Alphington きっさてん — Restaurant in Melbourne

We’ve got a fine cafe here. A very welcome addition to this area in a well known location. It’s already my new favourite place.

Kissaten specializes in Japanese inspired breakfasts and lunches and they do these very very well on what we experienced today. I’ve always quite liked this place and thought it was a tad underutilised in the past as Apte cafe. There’s a pleasant minimalist look and feel and warming colours. It just needed something better established here.

I adore places with sparkling water deals. The water here is made on premises. It’s all joy as it’s bottomless for $3 only, soon with a pump. I adore ramen for breakfast and couldn’t look past that here on the menu. It was a key reason I’d sought the place out. Mine was the Shio Tonkotsu Ramen. It was delicious. Super pork belly in the dish. Two beautifully cut and cooked slabs. A really lovely deep rich broth too. Beautiful kale in the dish as well which was both soft and chewy. In addition, the hard egg was a flavour explosion. A lovely consistency gave way to a thrilling saltiness that I’d find hard to explain. It was fabulous. I really enjoyed the noodles too and the sesame seeds as well. Overall, I reckon it’s a cracking dish. My partner went the breakfast ramen which I was eyeing off from across the table. She really enjoyed it and polished the lot off in no time. I’ll have that one next time, thank you.

We really liked the Japanese chili with black sesame and the bonito flakes with white sesame that was provided with the ramen. They were terrific and helped to add extra flavour and texture to both dishes.

This cafe is such a great addition to the area. It’s not a huge menu but there are still about six or more dishes I still want to try here. There’s big things in prospect for the cafe in future too. Hopefully a liquor licence soon and then we’ll see wine, sake, craft beers made available. Perhaps even a Japanese themed Bloody Mary too! A coffee window is also a possibility as well at the back of the cafe. There’s a really handy car park at the back for non locals and the window would make grabbing a coffee extra easy.

Talking of coffee, it’s taken really seriously here at Kissaten as is tea. My brew to finish today was the Peruvian single origin which is a good rich and inky black coffee. It was expertly made here and delightful.

A terrific cafe. I cannot...

I'm posting this review because I care.

edited because I felt I wasn't being constructive

I ordered the following -

Houjicha Latte (Kissatenspice blend). I didn't taste any houjicha. All I tasted was a chai latte. If I wanted a chai latte I would have ordered a chai latte. It wasn't bad for a Chai latte.

Shio Tonkotsu ramen. Disappointed to say the least. Broth was bland and no real flavour depth. The pork belly was super salty but was rather tender.

I've been to Japan three times and I am a ramen person. This does not compare to Japan. Comparing ramen here, this was the worst "ramen" I've ever had.

On top of that, I waited 45 minutes for the ramen. If the ramen was good then the wait might have been worth it.

I can't speak for the other items on the menu but try something else if you come here maybe you'll have a better experience.

Response for the owner

I could tell by the menu you weren't going for "Authentic", which is why I compared to the ramen here also. I'm all for trying different takes on dishes but If I were to critique on just the flavours alone, then they just weren't there.

I mean no disrespect, but if the Hojicha latte is a version of a Chai then call it a Chai with hojicha blend maybe. Also there is no point putting a piece of pork belly in a vegan friendly vegetable broth and then calling it a Shio Tonkotsu ramen. As salty as the pork belly was, the worst part was the yasai broth (I apologise and retract my comment about is being Tonkotsu broth). It's hard to describe, it wasn't like it didn't have any flavour, there was but it was almost as if you added vegetables to water and served it without proper seasoning.

Given the high ratings and the refreshing menu items, I hoped for the best but unfortunately none of the flavours worked with each other. I understand that everyone has different tastes and I respect that but the one thing that was missing is cohesion in flavours. I could've given you just a star rating but that wouldn't help anyone especially you so I'd rather give you an honest review as I love Japanese and Japanese inspired food. And the fact that you bothered to respond means you also care which is a positive thing for...

Been meaning to try this place since I saw an article on broadsheet. Had the hojicha latte, breakfast ramen and the okonomiyaki chips. As other reviews here said, if your expecting a balanced flavourful ramen avoid this one, while I was aware it was a vegetable broth I was surprised there was no flavoured oil at all, means the broth has very little body/mouth feel. Could not taste any tare or any kind of broth flavouring. Toppings were good. Noodles were also a disappointment. I sat and wondered if the chef had ever experienced good ramen. Would not order again. Latte was good, does taste like chai. Okonomiyaki chips were good. I thought the cafe had a nice relaxed vibe. I will come back if I'm in the area but wouldn't make a trip specifically.

Add it after some pondering I had a thought that a bacon infused oil or a bit of bacon fat would be really nice flavoured oil, the broth is missing a bit of salt or umami in there. This is the trouble with putting "ramen" on the menu it brings out all of the...