During our visit to Australia, we took the opportunity to stock our stomachs up on decent food and especially decent Japanese (and other Asian) food. This sort of cuisine is quite rare in Europe, and is often overpriced and of quite ordinary quality.

So, how does a little Japanese corner store restaurant in a shopping centre in Torquay stack up against the foods that you would find at a fancier Japanese restaurant?

The Space

The shop is tucked away in the street facing corner of a Torquay shopping centre. It's quite noticable, as it is the first shop that you see as you enter the car park... and on a cold winter's day, you could definitely be enticed within for a nice ramen soup or something of that order!

On the inside, it is quite roomy and light due to the large wall windows... and the service area is pretty typical for these sorts of "fast" restaurants. It was quite apparent as we were around longer, that this place was attracting a nice lunch crowd from the surrounding shops, I guess it would be workers and shoppers looking for a quick and healthy and warm meal for lunch.

The Menu

With many "Japanese" restaurants... it can be a bit tricky to tell if the owners are actually Japanese serving authentic cooking or Chinese (or other Asian heritages) serving up Japanese inspired foods, and cashing in on the trendy cachet of the Japanese culture.

The menu features quite a number of typical Japanese dishes, sushi, ramen, bento boxes and that sort of thing... However, there are also a suspiciously healthy number of Chinese and Taiwanese dishes sitting in the menu as well... hmmmm....

The Food

The Ramen dish is my all time favourite Japanese dish... this wasn't quite there... The pork wasn't very good, and the vegetables were a touch overcooked. Plus, the Ramen just wasn't right in texture and consistency... in fact, I could almost hazard a guess that they weren't fresh but more of the instant variety... disappointing.

Next up was the sushi... another typical Japanese dish that most people think of when they are asked to name a Japanese dish. Again, it wasn't right... the rice was a touch dry and the packing was not tight. Again, it looks okay.. but it wasn't quite right!

Pork Dumplings are always a hit with my kids... and myself! So, it is always a fight to get that last one!.... a fight that I always lose. Anyway, these dumplings were okay... not great, but adequate.

Edamame beans are also another huge hit with the kids... I"m not entirely sure why, but I guess it has to do with the fun of teasing the beans out of the pods... whilst randomly leaving a huge mess on the ground! What could be more fun...

These beans were okay, again a touch on the overcooked side...

The Experience

The staff were really quite friendly, and the place was comfortable. However, I do wonder if the place was actually authentically Japanese... I thought that I heard snippets of Chinese being spoken in the background... but I could be mistaken.

Now, the food was okay... but not of the quality that I would have hoped for in a proper Japanese restuarant... there is no guarantee that a restaurant run by non-Japanese won't produce good Japanese food... but my gripes were more to do with the general quality rather than the "authenticity".

Nice place, fast service, friendly, okay food... but don't expect greatness! If you are after Japanese food in this area, there are better places...

Opening Times

Monday 9am–8pm
Tuesday 9am–8pm
Wednesday 9am–8pm
Thursday 9am–8pm
Friday 9am–8pm
Saturday 9am–8pm
Sunday 9am–8pm

Contact Details

Address: Shop 2, Torquay Village, 41 Bristol Rd, Torquay VIC 3228, Australia
Phone: +61 3 5264 6888

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