Mr Tan was working over this weekend and to reward him, I decided not to cook! See how nice I am to him! haha..after 2 days of Malaysian food, I wanted to have Japanese food tonight, in particular, yakitori. Once again, Maedaya is not open today and we didn't want to travel too far so we decided to find a japanese restaurant in the city. Must remember to visit Maedaya on Saturdays! Being a Sunday night, there aren't too many decent choices available. Sigh. It was down to Menya or Ajisen Ramen. Of course, we have been to SG's ramen countless time because I love its Volcano Ramen but not the one here. Mr Tan decided on Menya since we had not been there before. He knows how I like to try new places. Hehe.
Apparently there are 2 Menya restaurants and we wanted to go to the one in Melbourne Central but it was already closed and so we went to the one on Elizabeth Street. It was busy and packed. Some of the diners were loud and it didn't help that the restaurant was playing pop music. Too loud and noisy for our liking.
I decided not to order any main but more entrees. The order list goes, Okonomiyaki ($4.20), Yakitori ($8.90), Assorted Tempura ($7.20), Menya Sashimi ($10.90) and Menya Ramen ($10.50) to share. I thought it would be wise but I never expect the portions to be so HUGE. Once again, too much food.
Menya is essentially a Chinese-run Japanese restaurants and I doubt any of the kitchen staff is Japanese. The food quality is below average and we definitely won't be going back. The okonomiyaki was supposed contain vegetables but I could hardly find any traces of it. So much flour! The yakitori were HUMONGOUS, each stick was equivalent to 3 sticks of chicken back home. I love my food with lots of sauce and even for me, the sauce is overwhelming. I taste nothing but the sauce. The tempura batter was too thick and the sauce was kinda sticky. Weird. The sashimi weren't fresh and really disappointing. The ramen was full of ingredients but the noodles were soft and we hate soft noodles. We were stuffed but not satisfied.
Mr Tan commented that I always spend alot of time researching on nice restaurants to eat but most of the places we have been to never seem to satisfy me. Perhaps my standards are too high but I think the truth is, the food here is really s***!
everything looks like they have waaay too much sauce. i have been to the one in melbourne central. this is very similar to one that you described here. the food is a bit tasteless and tastes like the food court stuff.
ReplyDeleteby the way, melbourne central has a new dining area on level 2.... maybe you should check that out and write on it? you can read my posts for more information
Hi Katy, I totally agree with you. There was so much sauce and it was as if they were using it to make up for the lack of taste in the food.
ReplyDeleteWill check out the dining hall if I have the chance. Cheers!
how come my cousin and my BIL says Australia's food not bad?! hmmm...
ReplyDeletemany have raved about the places we visit so obviously I go with high expectations, perhaps too high..the food is not bad but not WOW type..
ReplyDeleteheard that sydney's food is better! can't wait to visit sydney.....
I want to go too!!! I have never gone to Australia b4 eventho it's the nearest Ang Mo country...
ReplyDelete