Sakura Kaiten

Some days I feel like treating myself to a few tasty morsals of vegetarian goodness. If you also find yourself so inclined, can I suggest you try Sakura Kaiten Sushi.

The staff are friendly, welcoming and helpful in this stylishly decorated sushi bar. I asked for assistance in identifying vegetarian options on the sushi train and the waitress quickly pointed out several options for me to try.

I selected the vegetarian gyoza (5.80), a fried-mashed-potato sushi ($3.60), a seaweed sushi ($4.60) and the agedashi tofu (4.60). Other options on offer were vegetable tempura, seaweed salad, spinach salad, cucumber salad, edamame and several other options.

The potato sushi comes accompanied with subtly flavoured mustard and was probably my favourite of the selection.

The gyoza were topped with a savoury sauce and contained mashed vegetables including potato and were lovely and crisp.

The seaweed sushi had that straight from the ocean taste and was delicious when dipped in shoyu sauce.


I enjoyed the agedashi tofu, but I think the Wood Spoon and Peko Peko on Smith Street might have the edge for tofu goodness. Nothing wrong with Sakura Kaiten's offering, just not my favourite.


If you haven't been to a Japanese sushi train bar before, it is worth going just for entertainment value. While not featuring an actual miniture train like some places we found in Tokyo, Sakura Kaiten has a nifty conveyor-belt that whisks the beautifully presented and numerous dishes past diners for easy selecting. The dishes are colour coded to represent different priced options from black and pink as the least expensive to white and red as the (slightly) more expensive options.

The cafe soundtrack of Marvin Gaye and several other Motown and Soul balladiers contributed to an ecclectic and most enjoyable lunch.

Izakaya Hachibeh

Izakaya Hachibeh offers a refreshing change from the usual chain-store nori-ramen-noodles Japanese options elsewhere in Melbourne.

I went for lunch and selected from the excellent value $12 Hachibeh bento menu. Following the eco-creed I ordered the fried vegetables, potato salad and agedashi tofu (because I’m incapable of going to any Japanese restaurant and not ordering it). The bento menu might be confusing, but the idea is that you select one item from each of the A, B and C boxes. There are also specials options on a board and more extensive alternatives available should you wish to branch out further. A PDF dinner menu is available on their website. One of the more intriguing options is the “Hachibeh ladies lunch set” which is only available to those without a Y chromosome, so I was out of luck.

The large bento comes attractively presented with the three selected options and rice arranged in their own little compartments in the box. There is also a complimentary miso which was very good. The flavours in each dish complemented each other nicely. The tasty potato salad was cold mashed and well seasoned with spring onions and pieces of carrot. It went nicely with the flavoursome teriyaki sauce vegetable stir-fry of carrots, cabbage, cauliflower and onion topped with sesame seeds. Of course my favourite was the agedashi tofu. Deliciously crisp on the outside and exquisitely smooth within. And the texture was matched by the taste. Excellent.

The word Izakaya is a compound of the Japanese words for sit (“i) and sake shop (“sakaya”). Upon entering Izakaya Hachibeh, you’ll find it looks more like a restaurant than a bar, with black tables, maroon walls and beautiful red lanterns adorned with characters reading “izakaya”. But there is also an impressively diverse range of sake on offer including their “special-made Hachibeh sake” which I’d be keen to try for dinner.

The restaurant which markets itself as Japanese Tapas was a novel concept for me. But with more than 100 small dishes available for dinner, they certainly have variety.

Izakaya Hachibeh should also be commended for the clarity of their dinner menu. I haven’t yet been for dinner (perhaps for a future entry) but I checked the menu and was delighted to find an entire section headed Vegetarian No Fish Stock with 20 delicious-looking options to choose from. Other Japanese restaurants could do well by learning from this example.

Izakaya Hachibeh is a friendly and great value lunch spot with authentic tasty Japanese food and I’m looking forward to trying it for dinner.