Wabi Sabi (Japanese)

Address: 17 Wellington St, St Kilda VIC 3182
Tel: (03) 9529 8505
Website: www.wabisabi.net.au

An ornately decorated modern Japanese dining experience.

During the week, it is more economical to sample their signature dishes for a cheaper price by getting the Weekday set menu which is $25.00.

Entrée:

Edmame bean – a hairy green bean, not to be eaten whole but to carefully suck the individual beans out of the shell. Lightly dusted with thick salt granules to taste.

Spicy Squid (pictured below) – Found this absolutely delightful, it had a powdery light batter sprinkled with a red spice (probably paprika) to give it a nice spice. Delicate, light & tasty.

Lightly scorched sushi – Not usually a fan of this “meat on rectangular block of rice” (I’m sure the sushi style has a name but I am not cultured enough to know it), but this receives a double thumbs up. Literally melt in your mouth ocean trout!

Croquette – A slice of lotus root (similar to radish, but better tasting & absorbs flavours better), coated in a crispy, flaky batter.

Agedashi Tofu with shiitake mushroom sauce (pictured below) – a generous serving of two pieces of fried tofu in a rich, stirfy sauce with capisum.

Main: Teriyaki chicken rice – very mild teriyaki & light soy flavour, almost watery even. Not one of the tastiest teriyaki chicken dishes I have sampled – catered to a western market (unfortunately I have to liken it to a diluted version of “chicken tonight” stirfry-in-a-jar). Rice was a sticky, ‘al dente’ texture though, nice.

Also ordered green tea icecream separately to finish the evening off – they have same great sounding fusion desserts on offer e.g. green tea cheesecake, red bean icecream served with chocolate cake etc.

Definitely a repeat purchase for their delicately served entrée/tapas menu!