Tel: 03 98194858
Glenferrie road in Hawthorn has almost become synonymous with good food, and mostly at ‘student prices’. A stone’s throw away from Swinburne University, this busy street is easily accessible by trains and a major tram line running right through it.
There is plenty of variety, from contemporary bars and restaurants to casual Chinese take-away. And you might need the variety when Samurai is packed to the brim. There is a secret to it though! Read more to find out!
Chau's Review
It was just before 7pm on a Saturday when we arrived at Samurai and already it was packed. The queue outside hasn’t started yet, so I volunteered to go in to ask them to take me to the “VIP rooms”. Actually, it’s just the ‘upstairs’. So that’s the secret. Don’t be discouraged if you see the viewable sitting around filled to the brim, there is more space upstairs if you ask for it. It seems like many don’t know about this, because whilst the ground floor was brimming with hungry people, the second floor was pretty quiet, on top of the fact that it had separate rooms. It was noted though, that one room was completely empty.
The waiting staff would merely point you in the direction of the narrow staircase, but somehow magically appear on the other side when you are seated. The menu, though, doesn’t have the greatest selection, especially if you order the set meal – which limits you’re choices even more. Having said that though, a set meal is thoroughly worth it if what you like is included within its choices. It goes something like choosing an entrée or sushi dish, plus main or sushi main dish, plus a drink or a desert for $15.
In the end, I ordered an Agedashi Tofu, Pork Katsu-Curry Don (fried pork cutlet in Japanese curry with Rice) and a Green Tea Shake.
Agedashi Tofu. I’m traditionally used to my Agedashi tofu in thick sweetish dashi sauce, however this one turned out to be a piece of fried tofu swimming in a bowl of dashi soup. The fried potato starch embracing the tofu turned out to be a little soggy for my liking. However, having said that, the cotton tofu was as soft as its name would suggest. The tingle in the dashi soup wasn’t half bad either. But don’t fret if you don’t like swimming tofu for an entrée, there are others to choose from such as sushi, or raw beef.
Pork Katsu-curry Don. My Japanese vocabulary is limited to placing food orders from a menu but as translated earlier, this means pork cutlet in Japanese curry on rice. The presentation was unflattering with a cut-up pork cutlet showered in Japanese curry with carrots and onions, a bowl of rice and a few leaves at the side. The presentation, however, was not doing justice to the taste of the food. The pork cutlet was cooked to perfection, and the curry sauce was smooth and tasty as well. It didn’t come out grainy and/or too salty like other Japanese curries you might try out there. It definitely gets the thumbs up from me for an excellent modern Japanese dish.
Green Tea Shake. I personally am a fan of green tea, yet this drink came up a bit strange. As best as a food blog tries to describe a drink, I’m loss for words for this one. It has an extremely unique taste, with a bland foretaste but a tea’s aftertaste. It was thick like sludge, as you expect from a shake, which made it really diffifult to suck through the thin straw. We were given two straws per cup, which prompted our theories. One was that it was meant to be shared, another was that air can come through one while you suck through the other, and finally, you can use the other while waiting for one straw’s liquid to settle back into the drink. I would recommend giving this a go if you are adventurous, but it’s certainly not accustomed to all taste buds.
Salmon Sushi. I’m a huge fan and critic of my sushi, so I had to test a bit of my partner-in-crimes fish-in-rice-roll. Sadly, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
Chau
| Today’s Receipt | |
|---|---|
| Set Dinner (x2) | $15.00 |
| Total | $30.00 |
Summary
| Critic | Chau | Lato |
|---|---|---|
| Fare | Modern Japanese | |
| Location | Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn | |
| Accessibility | There's trams and buses, and close to Glenferrie train station too | |
| Value | I mentioned the set meal for $15. That's good value for a meal like that! | |
| Oomph | Conveniently located, cheap, tasty, what more can you ask for? | |
| Ugh | Well, the green tea shake was certainly a little strange. Otherwise, the only other bad thing is that it's so crowded and crammed. But I guess that defines a restaurant with good food at relatively cheap prices. | |
| Rating | 8.5/10. The taste of the food at it's value definately gives this place it's high score. Great value! | |
