Lunar

March 8, 2025

   

We didn't pay much attention to Lunar as we walked by it on Sydney Rd, even though it often had a queue out the front - it took a recommendation from vegetarian summering-in-Brunswick friends to get it on our list. The queue is doubly impressive given the extensive seating inside: high chairs at the bar up front, densely packed tables along one interior wall, followed by a few better-lit metal tables out back. We probably waited 15 minutes for an outdoor spot around midday on a Saturday.

   

The menu is Japanese with sweet and savoury dishes of all sizes, some novel drinks and a scattering of veg*n options (vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes are labelled, and their menu is primarily online). I got started with nori ume onigiri ($8), a tender package of rice flecked with wakame seasoning, topped with a dot of tangy plum paste and a spinkling of sesame seeds. The wrap-it-yourself presentation meant that the nori was crisp and dry, and could keep the soft filling tidy - an optimal onigiri experience!

   

We both enjoyed beverages beyond our norm. Michael is a new convert to the yuzu spritz ($7.50, pictured right), a layered tumbler of cold brewed coffee, yuzu syrup and sparkling water. I sipped on a coffee-free sesame latte ($6.50), which was nutty, milky, and gently sweet with brown sugar.

   

The show-stopper at our table was undoubtedly Michael's sansai udon with vegetable tempura ($24), a huge bowl of noodles in broth with golden-fried toppings and several fresh and pickled vegetable sides; he requested an onsen egg ($3.50) too.-

   

I rounded out my meal with ogura toast ($12), a big, white square of toasted bread with a scoop of sweet red bean paste and a little package of fancy butter.

We won't hesitate to join the queue at Lunar again - there's still a tofu and roasted veggie meal set and an egg sando to try, plus a host of little snacks and desserts.

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You can also read a positive review of Lunar by Laura Angelia.

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Lunar

458 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

onigiri & shokupan; sando & set meals; side dishes; desserts; house special, coffee combo & filter; espresso, black coffee & white coffee; taste of Japan

https://www.lunarbyhikari.com.au/

Accessibility: Lunar has a long, shallow ramp on entry and narrow waiting area with a few regular-height backed chairs. In the front area, tall backed stools are densely arranged at a high bar. In the main middle area, regular height tables are densely arranged with regular height backed chairs. In the back courtyard, regular height tables are spaced out and paired with backless long benches. We ordered and paid by phone app from our table. We didn't visit the toilets.

Shimbashi Soba III

February 20, 2025

   

We've been eating in at the Carlton outlet of Shimbashi Soba semi-regularly over the past two years, but we tend to order the same dishes over and over. A newly printed menu inspired us to mix it up on our last visit! The business remains entirely gluten-free, with spicy and vegan dishes clearly marked.

   

I ordered two smaller dishes and called it a meal. The agadashi tofu ($14) was lightly battered and delicate to handle, sitting in a pool of thin tempura sauce. I loved the crispy lotus root garnish.

   

By contrast, the vegan sushi roll ($18) was substantial, colourful and stuffed with contrasting flavours. Within the rice was zucchini, avocado and a juicy, heavily seasoned soy meat, and it was all topped with paprika mayonnaise, more lotus chips, pickled radish and spring onions.

   

Michael deviated from his favourite Vegan Red Dragon for the tofu curry rice ($31), and regretted nothing. The accompanying miso soup was welcome, but he most appreciated the heartiness of the thick curry gravy and multigrain rice, and happily picked through the fried tofu chunks, veges and pickles.

We're still going to feel the pull back towards our original favourite Shimbashi dishes, but it's no surprise that everything they prepare is the best version of itself.

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You can read about one, two of our previous visits to Shimbashi.

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Shimbashi 

344 Rathdowne St, Carlton North 

8060 6595 

tapas; dinner roll; warm soba; chilled soba; bento; rice bowl; dessert & coffee; Japanese tea & soft drink 

https://www.shimbashisobamelbourne.com/ 

Accessibility: Shimbashi has a flat entry. Furniture is a mixture of high benches and regular height tables, all with hard wooden backs and densely packed. We ordered at our table and paid at a high counter. There is a very narrow passage to the toilet, which is one non-gendered cubicle.

Izakaya Midori

July 7, 2024

   

For the first time in over a decade I've had a weekend at the Gold Coast, and I made a special trip to Izakaya Midori for a meal. I'm familiar with this restaurant through Susan, who's posted at least ten reviews of it! (See collected links at the bottom of the post.) It's located in a little suburban shopping strip, yet the business has transformed their space into a small slice of Japan with nostalgic wooden surfaces, decorative knick knacks and functional accoutrements like wooden chopstick boxes and fabric-covered bag holders on the floor.

It's a rare joy to receive an entirely vegan menu of Japanese foods. Not only is Midori's standard menu extensive, but they also offer specials (including dessert!) and a kids menu. Gluten-free, pungent-free and soy-free dishes are well marked. I was ordering just for one, and wracked with all the dishes I'd be missing out on: edamame served three ways (boiled, smoked and as chips), okonomiyaki, fancy-frilled gyoza, mash-it-yourself potato salad, numerous ramen and don mains.

   

That said, I couldn't fault the dishes I did order. I started with a katsu sushi roll ($6.50, pictured top), served with pickled ginger and not wasabi on my request. I figured the wasabi tartare sauce within would supply enough heat for me. The mock-pork filling was thick and succulent, generously and crunchily crumbed. I noticed and appreciated that I was served just 1-2 teaspoons of soy sauce, precisely sufficient for my needs.

When I saw 'yuzu' on the specials list I was sold, ordering the yuzu 'kara & tofu' combo salad ($19, pictured directly above). What a spectacular rainbow of ingredients it held! Crispy-chewy mock chicken, soft battered tofu squares, unblemeshed avocado slices, refreshing cucumber and tomato, corn kernels, sprouts, pickled purple cabbage, plentiful bright salad greens, all lightly dressing with yuzu and sesame oil. I am a notoriously slow salad eater, and it was a pleasure to take my time over this one.

My lemon myrtle tea ($7.50) enabled me to linger a little longer and digest my meal - I like that they sell this local option alongside their matcha. If I had more time at the Gold Coast, I'd eagerly return many more times to order across Izakaya Midori's menu. Knowing that I didn't, I contented myself with revelling in one unrushed experience.

   

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You can read one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten posts about Susan's experiences with Izakaya Midori. It's also been covered by I Travel For Vegan Food.

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Izakaya Midori

Shop 7/50 Woodland Drive, Reedy Creek Qld

(07) 5645 6625

lunch menu, drinks, specials, dessert special, kids menu

https://izakayamidori.com.au/

Accessibility: Entry from the footpath is flat and there's a shallow ramp between levels inside. Medium-height tables and backed chairs are generously spaced. The toilets are shared with other businesses on the block; they're gendered, narrow and lacking any accessibility features.

Ima Asa Yoru II

April 26, 2024

   

It's hard to understate how taken were with our first visit to Ima Asa Yoru. Within little more than a month we returned for lunch, missed out on a table and grabbed some tasty takeaway from their bustling pantry, and booked ourselves in for dinner on a Friday night.

   

I would've loved to try their cocktail menu but I was feeling migraine-adjacent and satisfied myself with a yuzu and ginger soda ($8.50). Michael did Friday night right with a green apple whiskey ($20).

   

The night menu is split into cold and hot dishes, with plenty of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes clearly marked across the list. We covered most of the vegetarian ones, starting with a tsukemono (pickle) plate ($13) and melt-in-the-mouth eggplant agebidashi with refreshing daikon oroshi and ginger ($18).

   

The blooming onion ($16) was an unexpected and memorable option! It's served with a dainty mayonnaise and mustard, and actually well-handled with chopsticks.

   

The mixed mushrooms ($17) were more squarely within our expectations (in the best possible way): carefully cooked to preserve their varied textures with soy, spring onion oil and lemon zest, then showered with shredded nori.

   

I was excited for the chawanmushi ($21), an egg custard served with wood roasted heirloom tomatoes and pangrattato. It's garnished with their excellent chilli crisp, which is a complementary choice that's just too spicy for me to handle; all the more for Michael!

   

They absolutely redeemed themselves with their chocolate nemesis cake ($17), a dense and fudgy dessert that we happily split between the two of us. The cream had to be spooned separately to detect the promised yuzu.

Dinner at Ima Asa Yoru was a slightly more mixed experience for me than breakfast, but that's more a matter of my taste than any shortfalls on their part. The food is consistently made with care and flair.

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You can read about our first visit to Ima Asa Yoru here.

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Ima Asa Yoru

1 Duckett St, Brunswick

9989 2309

night menu, non-alcoholic drinks, alcoholic drinks

https://www.imaproject.co/

Accessibility: Entry to Ima Asa Yoru includes shallow, wide ramps. Furniture is densely packed, made up of low tables with backed chairs and high benches with backed and backless stools (I find it difficult to comfortably use the footrest). We ordered at our table and paid at a low open counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Ima Asa Yoru

March 10, 2024

   

I've been following Ima's social media accounts since they were located in Carlton, but it's only very recently that Michael had the bright idea to stop in for lunch when we were in their newer Brunswick neighbourhood running errands. Ima Asa Yoru is located within Nightingale Village and with the temperature in the high 30s we were really putting their eco-friendly non-air-conditioned set-up to the test: it was pleasant but still warm.

   

Iced drinks were very much in order: my house-made yuzu lemonade was ringed with salt ($8.50), while Michael perked up with an iced filter coffee ($6.50).

   

The brunch menu had clearly marked, plentiful veg*n and gluten-free options, all of them varied and highly appetising. Michael was thrilled with the agedashi tofu teishoku ($30) with a bonus onsen egg ($3.50). Beyond the delicate tofu and soft egg, there was rice, miso soup and four little side dishes!

   

Meanwhile, I tried the onigiri teishoku ($28). These rice balls were served on crisp open nori and concealed the most delightful tangy, creamy umeboshi filling. I also received a complex miso soup and two side dishes of pickles.

This was such a luxurious meal, with both variety and attention to detail. Though Ima was reasonably busy, we weren't rushed through in any way. We will absolutely be back for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner.

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Ima Asa Yoru

1 Duckett St, Brunswick

9989 2309

food, drinks

https://www.imaproject.co/

Accessibility: Entry to Ima Asa Yoru includes shallow, wide ramps. Furniture is densely packed, made up of low tables with backed chairs and high benches with backed and backless stools (I found it difficult to comfortably use the footrest). We ordered at our table and paid at a low open counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Chotto Motto

January 21, 2021

   

In January we went to our first gig in almost a year! When they're permitted they're now typically at 50% capacity and some artists are compensating by offering early and late shows on the same evening. We happily snapped up early weeknight tickets to see Olympia at the Gasometer (open roof! new seating!), and booked a table at Chotto Motto for dinner afterwards.

Pandemic conditions are having their influence there, too. On the upside for customers, there seems to be extensive new seating outdoors and in their courtyard. On the downside, booking intervals are more restricted. The friendly staff made sure we knew that the kitchen closed at 9pm, and were packing up the furniture around us at 9:20pm. It's fair enough but also a pity - there's something about this restaurant's rosy lighting, cute clutter of knick knacks and snacky foods that would especially suit late night hang-outs.

   

OK, so what of those snacky foods? It's primarily Japanese style here, with Chotto Motto initially attracting attention for its fuzed gyoza 'pizza'. They're serving their gyoza separated and steamed now with plenty options besides (gluten free, vegetarian and vegan options helpfully labelled). The drinks list is fun, too. Beyond the beer and wine, there's plum wine, cocktails, highballs, sake and a novel array of soft drinks. Erin and I took the weeknight gently with a yuzu soda for me (above left, $6.50) and a Japanese Mystery Soda (above right, $5.50) for her; Erin reported that it tasted of bubblegum.

   

We were unsure how much to order, but with a little assistance from the staff we got it right. The edamame ($7.50) are said to be sprinkled with Magic Spicy Dust Shichimi, which just barely carries through when you're not crunching the pods.

   

The Saikyo Miso Gorgonzola Mac N Cheese with Aonori panko crunch (above right, $15.50) could've been a disastrous clash of flavours but its funky notes were actually pitch perfect. In the dim light the Mixed Veggie Age Bitashi (above left, $14.50) was a confusing medley of fresh and pickled vegetables (including large quantities of celery?!), but at least it offset the richness of the mac'n'cheese.

   

The gyoza, front and centre on the menu, were the final dishes to arrive at our table. There are three sauces and three fillings (only one filling veg*n) to mix and match. We liked their shitake and chive option (10 gyoza for $22.50), though for me the filling was less a feature than the toppings. The roast sesame sauce (pictured above), is mild, gently sweet and generously showered with sesame seeds.

   

The crispy chilli oil is so popular they sell it in jars on your way out. It's complex rather than hot, with abundant fried garlic and onion pieces, and fermented black beans (it's also vegan and gluten-free!). You bet Michael took one of those jars home.

It was a hot summer night and unluckily for us Chotto Motto's soft serve machine was out of action. We hear that they usually run fun flavours so we'll have to cycle by for another shot soon.

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There's a vegan-focused review of Chotto Motto on messy veggies. Omni blogs foodie about town and the sprinkler are fans, but Linnie Eats All The Food not so much.

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Chotto Motto

287 Wellington St, Collingwood

0466 054 911

food, drinks

https://www.chottomotto.com.au/

Accessibility: There's a tiny lip on the door on entry. At the moment there's seating out on the street, inside and out in the courtyard/garage. The tables I saw were well spaced from each other, but often located in somewhat cluttered or crowded nooks. The indoor lighting is low and red-tinted. We ordered at our table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Yamato

Update 11/08/2022: Yamato is now closed.

October 5, 2019

Yamato is located in the same cobbled laneway as our beloved Sichuan House, and it's been there at least 15 years. Every time I've seen it, I've remembered that it was recommended on easy as vegan pie (now half that lifetime ago!). It's difficult to pull Michael past SH's mapo tofu, but I have at last succeeded, on a Saturday night en route to the Corner Hotel.

For me, Yamato has two key points of appeal. First, it has the charming atmosphere of the small cafes we've visited in Japan - it's densely packed with furniture and cute knick-knacks, and there are kneeling tables for those who are keen on them. Second, the vegetarian entrees and mains are clearly set out separately in the menu, meaning no awkward investigations into stock and bonito flakes are needed.

The execution of those dishes doesn't rank quite as highly. The skin on our nasu dengaku ($8.30) was too tough to split with chopsticks or teeth; its seasoning was fine.

The Agadashi Combi ($13.10) was a pleasant assortment of battered veges and fried bean curd, but not the epitome of lightness or crunch.

For me, the Zaru Soba ($11.30) was the surprise winner! I loved the texture of the buckwheat noodles and the light flavour of their broth; some sly ice cubes were keeping it all fresh.

Our Yamato meal was modest, and modestly priced. While not every dish was brilliant, I can see myself sneaking in for a quiet slurp of soba and trialling something from the remaining dozen vege options.

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Blog reviews of Yamato span a decade! It was a positive one on easy as vegan pie that led us there.

There are also positive reviews on Weekend Notes, Nurikko Visits, my name is Food, and Food Rehab, and reasonably positive reviews on Short & Stout, and Eat & Be Merry; bloggers are distinctly unimpressed on Espresso and Matcha, Sweet & Sour Fork, and The Very Very Hungry Caterpillar.

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Yamato
28 Corrs Lane, Melbourne
9663 1706
vegetarian menu
facebook page

Accessibility: The laneway that Yamato is located in is cobbled, and there's a step on entry. The interior is very crowded, with a mixture of booths, standard height tables and kneeling tables. We ordered at our table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Neko Neko

Edit 30/01/2025: Neko Neko has now closed.

May 9, 2018

We've been meaning to check out Neko Neko for ages and a cold Wednesday night with a few friends was the perfect opportunity. We turned up at about 7 and had to wait for about 20 minutes to get a table for four. They only have seats for about 20 people and they're pretty popular, so I'd guess a wait is pretty standard.

Once they squeezed us in we sussed out our options. Neko Neko serves a bit of fish, but they're super vegan friendly - there are meal sets, ramen, curry and a bunch of other superfood-y things like raw okonomiyaki (whatever that is).

I only had eyes for ramen - there are three options: one with a soy sauce based broth, a creamy tan tan ramen and my choice: spicy tofu ramen. It comes with shitake mushrooms, chilli broth, tofu, cashew nuts, leek and vegan soy mince plus the standard sides of pickles, mashed tofu, cabbage and beetroot ($20).

It's far from an authentic Japanese ramen - I'm pretty sure the spiciness comes from Sechuan peppers - but it was utterly fabulous. This is perfect winter food - great noodles, loads of other goodies and a hot, spicy broth. 

Cindy went for one of the meal sets - the agedashi tofu and miso eggplant set, with eight side dishes plus rice ($19).

It's super impressive visually - the big plate of sides looked amazing. There are various pickles, soft cashew mush, tofu salad, a little potato and a big serving of red rice in the middle. The agedashi tofu and miso eggplant came alongside, in a rich mushroomy broth and was an excellent accompaniment. 

Neko Neko is a great winter option along Gertrude Street. Having to wait in the cold for a table makes it a slightly harder sell, but once you're in you get delightfully warming food and a buzzy, bustling vibe. The service isn't super slick, but it was efficient enough and the food is totally worth it. We'll be back.

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Neko Neko has received positive reviews on vego blogs messy veggies, Future King and Queen and little vegan bear as well as omni blogs Whatever Floats Your Bloat, DonutSam Eats and Travels, Fitzroyalty and Wandering Mint.

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Neko Neko
83A Smith Street, Fitzroy
9415 6026
food, more food, drinks
facebook page

Accessibility: There's a small step up on entry and the interior is super crowded. We ordered and paid at a low counter and didn't visit the toilets.

The Dojo Ramen Bar

June 18, 2016

The Dojo Ramen Bar comes recommended by High St vego-in-the-know Erin; their veggie ramen is her favourite comfort food at the end of a bad day. Last Saturday night we confirmed that it's also a suitable spot for good times, when everyone's looking forward to a gig at the Northcote Social Club. We filled out the bar's communal table with a reservation for twelve and maintained the cheerful, chattering noise levels already established by the other patrons. The staff were friendly and flexible in the face of our large group and staggered orders.

Sake cocktails and Japanese spirits are displayed most prominently on the drinks menu, but Erin actually prefers the Calpico grape soda and I went for a Ramune (Japanese lemonade, $4.50). It doesn't taste so different from a Sprite, but the pop-the-marble top is novel and very Japanese.

As far as food goes vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options are marked well, although they weren't all what we expected - thankfully the staff provided knowledgeable back-up. I thought the vegan gyoza ($8) filling was a little mushy and generic, but the dumplings were perfectly pan-fried and they're always improved with soy-vinegar dipping. The other eye-catching option was a plate of cheesy rolls, a curd-based riff on deep-fried spring rolls.

And what of the ramen? It comes in seven varieties, three of them vegetarian. (Unfortunately for vegans, the noodles contain egg, but the rest can be served with a side of steamed rice.) On Erin's advice I ordered the standard veggie ramen ($13.50). The noodles are nice, and nestled in a creamy, comforting broth made with soy milk and nut extract. On top there's tofu, spring onion, bamboo shoots, two-tone sesame seeds, a sheet of nori and - my new favourite ingredient - benishoga, a vermillion shredded pickled ginger. The other vego bowls stir miso or shoyu into the broth, mix up the veges and lack the benishoga.

It's spot-on mid-winter comfort food, and good value for money. If there's a drawback, it's that the resulting feelings of sleepy satisfaction aren't exactly conducive to late night live music. We were lucky that Olympia has the kind of talent to jolt us from a ramen stupor.

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The Dojo Ramen Bar seems to please every blogger who visits, from veg Ebezilla's Food Blog to omnis Two Bears And A Fork, Sweet and Sour Fork, The Spice Adventuress, foodie about town, Vetti Live In Northcote and Fitzroyalty.

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The Dojo Ramen Bar
333 High St, Northcote
9482 1247
meals, drinks
http://www.dojoramen.com.au/

Accessibility: There's a small lip on entry (here's a more thorough review of the door). Tables are a mix of high and low heights with backless stools, arranged at average density with clear walkways through the middle of the restaurant. We received full table service. I didn't visit the toilets.

Gas-Light Izakaya in the Gasometer Hotel

Update 15/06/2023: This izakaya is no longer operating at the Gasometer Hotel.

October 31, 2015

The latest incarnation of the Gasometer has been open a year and a half, offering a steady stream of gigs and gastropub meals... except that the kitchen's just been rebranded Gas-Light Izakaya! We stopped in early for dinner before swinging around to the band room for Dan Kelly's album launch.

The menu doesn't pay much mind to special dietary requirements - there are more than enough dishes to sate vegetarians, but vegans and coeliacs are likely to have a tougher time of it.

The fried cauliflower florets ($9) were huge and hard to maneuvre with chopsticks, but had the right balance of crunchiness and tenderness. The accompanying sweet and sour sauce only left us hankering after the spicier version we've made at home.

The jalapeno and cheese korokke ($5, foreground) was also expertly fried, though we were ambivalent about the warm mushy filling (Smith & Daughters has really spoiled us for any other croquette!). We were more taken with the tofu bao ($6 each) and especially their red dragon sauce.

Finally we split the tofu katsu-sando ($16), a neat little sandwich of crumbed tofu, chilli relish and mustard leaves on a soft brioche bun. The accompanying French fries were only so-so, but it's a nice and reasonably priced self-contained meal.

With its nori-laced Caesar salad, fried chicken bao and icecream doughnut sandwich, I reckon that Gas-Light Izakaya is appealing more to local trends than Japanese traditions. The dishes we tried generally delivered on their descriptions, but they're just barely designed with veg*ns in mind. It'll continue to be a convenient food stop for a Gasometer gig, but I don't envisage making extra excuses to visit.

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We've got lots of posts on previous incarnations of this dining room, the most recent from over a year ago. This izakaya incarnation has been blogged only on I'm So Hungree, who was positive.

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Gas-light Izakaya in the Gasometer Hotel
484 Smith St, Collingwood
9416 3335
menu
http://www.thegasometerhotel.com.au/gaslight-izakaya/

Accessibility: The Gasometer has a small step on entry. The tables are crowded in some areas but the booths and tables closest to the entry are relatively spacious. Ordering and payment occurs at a high counter. Male and female toilets on the same level are accessible only when the band room is vacant and are not particularly spacious; alternate toilets are located upstairs, one cubicle each for two genders.

Kappo

Update 27/1/2019: Kappo has closed down.

May 27, 2015

For my birthday this year we decided to try Kappo, a newish Japanese place in the city. It's the fancy cousin of the lovely Hihou and Izakaya Den so we had high hopes for a good night out. The first trick is gaining access - there's a door on the Spring Street side of the building that looks like the entry, but it's closed and there's a sign pointing you up Flinders Lane. The next door you find is somewhat forebodingly shut and after pushing and pulling fruitlessly, I finally figured out that you have to press the bell and have the staff let you in. Awkward.

Once we'd made it over that hurdle everything was much more straightforward - we were seated at the bar overlooking the little kitchen and given a quick run down of the way dining at Kappo works. Your 'menu' is basically a list of about 50 ingredients and all you have to do is decide whether you want 5, 7 or 9 courses and whether there are any ingredients you especially want to have included or excluded. We went with the 7 course option ($120) and let them do whatever they wanted within our vego constraints.

Cindy kicked things off with a ryu-kan cocktail ($23), a bittersweet concoction of whiskey, campari, umeshu and grapefruit, with a big spherical ice cube keeping things chilled. I went down the matching drinks path ($80) meaning I was bombarded with an array of excellent wine and sake, none of which I paid sufficient attention to to really comment on, except to note that the matched drinks will leave you pretty toasted - read on as my blog post gets vaguer and vaguer the later into the night it gets.

The first course involved still more booze - a little shot of warm sake, served with charred king brown mushrooms that had been flavoured with yuzu. Even though I often get matched drinks at fancy restaurants, I rarely get the actual matching that goes on, but this combination made a lot of sense to me, with the sake really accentuating the umami of the mushrooms.

Next up was a warm vegetable salad, served with a wonderful walnut miso and a plate full of delicacies for dipping - gingko nuts, persimmon coated in sesame seeds and charred peppers grown in the restaurant's own plot near Fed Square.

The soup that came next was one of the highlights of the meal - a seaweed based dashi, with some starchy tofu that somehow included potato, fried lotus roots, black radish and spring onion. It was closely followed by another plate of teeny delicacies, including pomegranate seeds, slippery jack mushrooms, crisply lotus root, a black rice crumble, tomato, wakame, lime and salt. Every little taste was wonderful.

Then came a salad, with pine mushrooms, spinach, golden beetroot and a pine-nut dressing, all covered in crispy slivers of something that I didn't manage to note down and couldn't identify by taste alone. The visual highlight of the night was probably the gorgeous veggie sushi that followed, involving shitake mushrooms, impossibly delicate capsicum, asparagus, pickled ginger and some peppery radish.

Things got a bit heartier with the next dish - yuba with saltbush, kale and shitake mushrooms.

The last of the savoury dishes has us already starting to struggle for stomach space - a simple bowl of rice with delicate pickles, daikon and bean curd.

The desserts were a combination of the winningly simple (a yuzu and honey sorbet) and the impressively fancy (sweet potato chips and sweet potato ice cream, with chocolate and a brown sugar sauce).

Just when we thought we could finally stop eating, a final tray of petit fours turned up - chocolate pastry cigars, a moscato grape jelly made with arrowroot and little brown sugar and red bean spheres. It was too much food, but too excellent to ignore.

The meal was finished off with a soothing roasted tea.

The staff were friendly and efficient and the atmosphere was relaxed (I was surprised to see empty tables in such a small place, although I guess a Wednesday night degustation is pretty indulgent). I'm sure they would easily cater for vegan visitors too - our guess was that everything we had up to dessert was vegan anyway. Eating at Kappo is a wonderful experience - every detail is impressive. You choose your own chopsticks and sake cups from their wonderful selections, you get to watch the chefs piecing together impossibly delicate dishes and you get served up a steady stream of excellent and varied food.

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There are a only a couple of blog reviews of Kappo that I could find - both The Peckish Connoisseur and Frog Foodventure were very positive.

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Kappo
1 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
9639 9500
menu

http://kappo.com.au/

Accessibility: There are a few steps as you enter. Inside, tables are reasonably close together - there are a couple of regular height, but mostly it's the bar or at a high table. Toilets were gendered and narrow.