Yakimono — Restaurant in Melbourne

I’m starting my review at the end. I attended Yakimono for the annual Melbourne Food Wine Festival. With Yakimono staging their usual CRAY CRAY event something I’ve always wanted to go to.

“So I’m leaving waiting for the elevator. I look at myself in the shining doors. I’m gleaming smiles from ear to ear. Yep that was a good great awesome amazing experience. I’m so glad I got time to thank my friend head Chef Daniel Wilson. His team did an excellent job. “ Now the review. CHARCOAL ROASTED EDAMAME NORI SALT Delicious bitter charcoal against the salt was perfect with the sweet yummmy Edamame. Great starter. Perfect with Fairy Floss top cocktail of VODKA, LYCHEE, NIGORI SAKE, LEMON, UMEBOSHI AGAVE, ITALICUS KAGU-TSUCHI. Awesome. I’ll tell the truth I had just as much fun playing eating the Fairy Floss as I did the soy beans.

CRAYFISH SUMISO, AVOCADO, IKURA, NORI CRACKER CRAYFISH SUSHI The nori cracker was amazing. Sweet spicy sea flavour with a crunch. The entire dish was delicately sweet spicy and just dam yum. Smooth avocado with delicate crayfish sushi. Loved it & CRAYFISH SUSHI SPICY PEACH, CRISPY POTATO Wow crackling potatoes meets they did say spicy peach. Perfectly balanced blend to carry the crayfish and deal the sushi’s seaweed. Excellent balance dish. Delightful.

BBQ CRAYFISH SKEWER YUZU TOGARASHI BUTTER, PICKLES Yep heaven again. Now it’s quite as good as eating cray of newspaper with nothing but vinegar. Like I used with an amazing family. But P is bloody close. Heavenly BBQ Crayfish with very peppery spices (TOGARASHI see below). That balanced with sweet sour yuzu and crunchy pickles. Are perfect matches to the devine delicious charcoal crayfish. This why I want to come to this event. Crayfish singing on my tongue spicy sweetness dancing around my taste bud. Love loved it. Yet is is but a simple dish done to perfection. Shichimi togarashi will typically include yuzu, ginger, red chilli powder, seaweed, black and white sesame, as well as the perfumey Japanese cardamom called sansho

JOSPER ROASTED CRAYFISH & SQUID INK RICE BLACK GARLIC AIOLI, TOBIKO (Flying fish roe). Black GARLIC 2 nights in a row. THANK YOU of glorious food gods. Oh yeh the rest of the dish. Crayfish slightly steamed to release the precious cargo. Meat then mixed with squid ink rice and ginger placed in the crayfish half legs claws and all. Coated in BLACK GARLIC BUTTER. Then quickly heated over coals. So flavours of: Charcoal Ginger Squid ink excellent cooked rice oh yeah crayfish and then garlic. Come on who does this to me. It’s unctuous umami delicious every word known to describe good stuff. So I did the right thing use fork and spoon to eat the heavenly deliciousness from the tale. But then it was the way a good old mate taught me (Hi P) in with the hands. So now I’m back in the old days cracking claws and get sucking out sweet delights. The table beside asking how do you do that as they kept smashing the legs with a spoon. I’ve been trained I replied. Sorry it’s confidential. By now I’m hands to elbows in awesome crayfish juice, sticky black garlic. I wouldn’t have it any other way. A main dish to remember and relish in. You bet I did. I had so much fun with this one. Just pure joy. Please the white wet wipes they provided.

SPICY CABBAGE SLAW LIME MAYO, SESAME PRALINE CARAMEL Surprisingly excellent balance with the crayfish meal. I’m sure the chef isn’t surprised. But the light seasoning & vinaigrette on the salad worked perfectly. Add some delicious crispy sesame. Perfect accompaniment.

MOCHI CAKE SALTED PRALINE, POPCORN ICE CREAM By now I’m stuffed. The cake light chewy delight. The ice special. But alas it’s just a wee taste. My stomach is saying NO. So I’m leaving waiting for the elevator. I look at myself in the shining doors. I’m gleaming smiles from ear to ear. Yep that was a good great awesome amazing experience. I’m so glad I got time to thank my friend head Chef Daniel Wilson. His team did an excellent job. Daniel from Your Reviewer (Not) Rob -...

I normally wouldn't write a review, but my experience at Yakimono was by far the worst I've had at a restaurant. My partner and I went for Valentine's Day, expecting it to be busy, which we understood. However, since it was a set menu with around 12 dishes, everyone was receiving the same meals.

I have a sesame seed allergy, which I mentioned to our waiter. He assured me that none of the dishes had sesame seed in there except one the edamame and it would be no problem to swap the edamame with a different type. That sounded great at the time.

We sat down at 9:00 PM and didn’t receive our drinks until about 9:20 PM. My partner ordered another drink, which came promptly, but we were still waiting for our food at 9:45 PM. We informed the waiter, but he barely spoke and just stared at us as we asked about our order.

At 9:40 PM, two couples sat next to us and placed their orders. We were still waiting for our food. At 9:45 PM, we received three dishes—salmon, chicken, and what seemed like squid. The "squid" looked like onion on a stick and was tough, and the chicken was cold. We were confused as to why the dishes weren’t coming in order, especially since we had ordered oysters and edamame, which typically come first.

By 10:00 PM, we noticed that other tables, including the couples next to us, were receiving all their food at once in the proper order. We spoke to another waiter about our food, and she laughed at us, which only made us more frustrated. By this point, we had been waiting over an hour, while others were being served. Our original waiter then came over with a pen and paper to take note of what we hadn't received. We expressed our confusion about the missing dishes and why others had been served before us. He said it was because of my allergy, but that was frustrating to hear, especially since he had previously told me only the edamame was being changed. It was disappointing to be told the delay was because of my allergy when no other dishes had sesame seeds.

After waiting another 15 minutes, I got up and told the waiter that if we didn’t get our food immediately, we were leaving. She said she would get the supervisor.

By 10:25 PM, the last dish finally arrived. Despite the waiter’s tray being full, she only brought us that one dish. Keep in mind, it was a set menu, so everyone was getting the same food.

At that point, we decided to leave. My partner went to pay for the drinks, but we were still extremely disappointed with the service. We expressed our dissatisfaction, especially considering the meal cost $110 per person, plus drinks. The customer service was poor, and the waitstaff seemed unprepared to handle situations like ours. Shockingly, the lady who appeared to be the supervisor still made my partner pay for the drinks. Having worked in customer service myself, I would never expect a customer to pay after such an awful experience.

We spoke to five different staff members about the delay, and nothing was done to address our concerns.

It’s truly disappointing that our Valentine's Day turned out this way. We ended up going to McDonald's afterward, where we received much better service. I would seriously think twice before booking here. There are so many beautiful restaurants nearby that value customer service, and I urge you to...

Probably one of the most hyped up new restaurants last year - the restaurant is pretty massive, spanning across two floors in a super fun and energetic neon-lit space 💫 Diners are seated around a large central open kitchen where you can watch the chefs in action 💥

Their extensive menu offers a creative interpretation on contemporary Japanese cuisine - from the raw bar to the charcoal grill 🔥

Whilst we were a little sceptical about the mixed reviews, we ended up enjoying our experience here! All the dishes we tried were delicious and the cocktails were fantastic, albeit on the pricy side! 😖

Note this visit was from a while ago and the menu may have been updated since!

Featured (🌟 = highlights): 🌟🌭 Karubi Dog ($17.5) This was a dish that hit us by surprise! The short rib was SO juicy and flavourful, definitely a must-try!

🍣 Yaki Sashimi ($33.5) The iconic 3-colour plate. Fish was super fresh and the finger lime added a nice unique touch. It’s simple and you can’t go wrong.

🍔 Kingfish Sando ($19.5) Fancy ‘fillet-o-fish’! The fish was super crispy, although I’m not the biggest fan of cooked kingfish.

🌟🍆 Crispy Eggplant ($16.5) My absolute favourite dish here! Such a creative take on eggplant, the batter is perfectly crispy yet light and airy. The sauce doesn’t look so ‘pretty’ but it is indeed delicious! It’s sweet, sticky, and creamy at the same time. Absolute heaven!

🌟🥩 Spiced Beef Tartare ($28.5) One of the better tartares we’ve tried! The addition of chilli and the mustard hidden in the centre adds so much flavour. Loved the presentation!

🍸 Hiroo & Ginza ($24ea) Two of their most popular cocktails. The cocktails here are divine and you honestly cannot go wrong with any option.

🌟🐙 BBQ Octopus ($39.5) Another one of my favourites that took me by surprise! This is a signature dish and I can see why. The octopus was well cooked and nicely charred, but the highlight was the sauce! The combination of cream cheese, sweet chilli sauce, and crispy rayu is a textural and flavour heaven 😍

🍢 Negi Chicken ($19.5) Skewers were very juicy - a decent option, but not the best I’ve had

🍜 Smoked Eel Udon ($29.5) Udon noodles were so thick and bouncy, coated in a delicious thick sauce. The sauce was a little light on flavour but it was nonetheless delicious and easy to slurp down 🤤

🌶️ BBQ Shansho Chicken ($24.5) This one was a flavour-bomb! The sauce was absolute fire 🔥 (I’d imagine it would taste amazing with the udon too!) It’s called ‘chicken’ but it’s a ramen dish!

🍌 Tokyo Banana ($17.5) If you’ve tried the Tokyo Banana snack before then you’ll find the flavours in this dessert very familiar. It’s basically a very expensive Tokyo Banana - probably wouldn’t order again! 😅

🍰 Marble Cake ($18.5) This dessert was also a bit of a miss. This one’s a yuzu and black sesame marble cake but the black sesame was pretty light and only came from the coating on the outside. The cake itself was a little too dense for my liking.

🌟🍸 Asakusa ($24) A very memorable cocktail to end the night - highly recommend trying if you love...