inaugural NOMS - Wabi Sabi Salon
Place: Wabi Sabi Salon, 94 Smith St, Collingwood (Melbourne, Australia)
Cuisine: Japanese Fusion
Price: Entrees:$15, Mains $23
The inaugural NOMS (@melbnoms) night was held at a small Japanese restaurant in inner-city Melbourne on a quiet Wednesday evening. The selection of sake is quite good (there are about five or so, with notes about each one’s flavour), but most of us settled for either Japanese beer (Sapporo and Yebisu) or Japanese plum wine.
The entrees were stellar; a wonderful selection of root vegetable tempura in a chilli mayonaise sauce, salted fried squid, chicken wings stuffed with pork, but the mains left a bit to be desired. There were some decent but unremarkable sweet potato and chick pea croquettes, @colbsi had pork spare ribs (which she didn’t finish on account of the serious layers of fat involved), there was a Japanese-style fried chicken which “tasted like chicken” and the tofu dango (”Mouth Watering Balls”) only really fulfilled the “balls” part of that promise.
Thankfully they picked up their game for dessert, serving a nice creme brulee which involved poached pear and fresh red berries, a tasty (if slightly dry) green tea cheesecake and an assortment of classic Japanese-flavoured ice creams (black sesame, green tea, and red bean).
black sesame ice cream coupled with green tea cheesecake
The bill came to approximately $55 per person - quite decent given that most of us had had alcoholic beverages and a three-course meal.
If you like Japanese food and are keen to explore some dishes that aren’t your run of-the-mill Japanese fare, head down sometime - but we wouldn’t recommend straying off the entree menu.
