Mr HUGO — Restaurant in Melbourne

Hidden Gem for Japanese Donburi & Lattes! 🍣🍵

Stumbled upon this cozy spot and was blown away by both the food and atmosphere. If you’re a fan of Japanese donburi and matcha-based drinks, this place is a must-visit!

🍽️ What We Tried:

🐂 Gyu Don – Wagyu & Onsen Egg Rice Bowl This dish looked stunning from the moment it arrived—thinly sliced pink wagyu, evenly cut, draped over rice with a slightly sweet sauce. The meat was incredibly tender and juicy, melting in my mouth with the soft onsen egg and warm rice. Served with a comforting bowl of miso soup on the side.

🐟 Salmon Egg Don – Teriyaki Salmon & Soft Scrambled Egg Rice Bowl A new menu item! The teriyaki glaze wasn’t overly sweet, and the salmon had a crisp, flavorful skin while staying tender inside. Paired with silky scrambled eggs and the umami of fish roe, this dish had a perfect balance of textures and flavors—definitely one to remember!

🍵 Matcha Latte & Hojicha Latte I had the matcha latte, while my friend got the hojicha latte. Both were excellent in their own way—matcha had a pleasant bitterness with a lingering green tea aroma, while the hojicha had a deep roasted flavor with more complexity. Both were great palate cleansers and paired perfectly with the food.

The ambiance is warm and inviting, with soft yellow lighting and a minimalist wooden decor. The staff are mostly Japanese, and though the place isn’t big, it’s impeccably clean and well-kept—perfect for a quiet meal with friends.

This place honestly reminded me of Calia, Melbourne’s former go-to spot for Japanese brunch. Since Calia closed, I’ve been searching for a worthy alternative, and this place not only beats it in taste but is also more affordable. If you love Japanese brunch, you need to try this...

We ordered: • Go-Miso Soft Shell Crab Linguine ($32) • Unagi Don ($28)

The Go-Miso Soft Shell Crab Linguine was extremely salty and heavy. I understand miso itself is salty, but it felt one-dimensional—just saltiness without much balance or creativity. I had to keep drinking water, but it still left me feeling parched.

The Unagi Don was also disappointing. The eel tasted like it had been frozen—the texture was soft and lacked freshness. The flavor relied heavily on the eel sauce, which was overly sweet and cloying. The rice, however, was pleasantly chewy.

The biggest letdown was the Lemonricano ($7). I expected something refreshing—black Americano with lemon—but instead, it came with a huge amount of granulated sugar sitting at the bottom, completely unmixed. Each sip tasted more like sugar than coffee, which made it undrinkable for me. I only managed two or three sips before leaving it aside.

We finished our meal in about 15 minutes. Service was polite and attentive, but the dining environment felt rather basic. Sadly, both my husband and I felt unusually thirsty for hours afterward, even after drinking lots of water.

Overall, it didn’t live up to the expectations I had when I first...

The food was quite good!

Everything came out quickly.

The things we ordered: wings: 3/5 (lacked flavour, was crunchy though) creamy Udon 4/5. Very tasty! Almost like a carbonara udon tempura set 5/5 can't fault this at all. Udon was great in soup and tempura was perfectly crispy. gyu don 5/5 really enjoyed this, meat was seasoned well and sauce not too overwhelming on rice. beef yaki Udon - 3/5 was a little on the average side, still very good but i wouldn't go for this again. Drinks: Matchamisu And some ice cream sodas

Drinks were quite nice, matchamisu could've been a tiny bit sweeter but overall lovely.

I gave this cafe a 4/5 as we asked originally asked for everything to be shared but did not get extra cutlery or plates until we kindly reminded them a third time. Waitress seemed mad at us - it was unpleasant. If we're in the city again, would definitely come back to try the lunch menu but ask the staff to be a bit more in tune with customers...