Miyako

3 Southgate Ave
Southbank, 3006

I like Japanese food, in fact I like it a lot. Given the amount that I like it, I was surprised to find I have only reviewed one place in this blogs life and that place is now closed! Time for me to address that.

Tonight it was time to pay a visit to Miyako for some Teppanyaki in the Southgate complex. Miyako is quite familiar to me as it is very close to my office and have been there for lunch several times, but tonight was the first time for dinner.

Going through the entrance and doubling back to the teppan tables it occurred to me that Miyako is almost like the Daimaru of Japanese food in Melbourne. Walking past the tatami seating room, over the little bridge, past the Sushi bar seats, through the general dining room we sat at one of the three teppan hubs. Seating was a bit cosy and it became clear that the restaurant clumps groups together in to the same booking time to get efficiency from the chefs, how efficient, how Japanese!

As the last to be seated the staff were rather hasty to get menus, orders and food going. We elected for the seafood banquet which consisted of edamame, Sushi/Sashimi entree, Miso Soup, Scallops, Prawn, Butterfish, Fillet Steak, Fried Rice and Green tea Ice Cream desert.

The starters came out and it was evident that they were keen to get us in to line with the other diners as they took away my edamame before it was finished! Fortunately we got in to sync with the others, but considering we arrived on our booking time, it was a bit slack.


SUSHI/SASHIMI APPETISER

From the wobbly start, things got better. The Kingfish sashimi was of high grade and topped with a light wasabi mayo. Paired with the Sushi and miso soup it was a great start before the slice and dice action commenced.


SCALLOPS, PRAWN, BUTTERFISH

As we were working through the entrée our Teppanyaki chef “Francis” came out and commenced proceedings. The scallops were cooked perfectly, slightly rare in the centre along with the juicy prawn and tender fish. The butterfish was a bit of a show stealer, cooked with garlic butter the flesh had a nice meaty texture and richness.


HOW TO MAKE TEPPANYAKI STEAK
Sear, cover with rice wine & Flambé

The fillet steak is where theatrics started to commence, the steak was placed on the grill, covered with Japanese rice wine and flambéed. The resulting steak was served medium rare and was very tender. As we savoured the steak we enjoyed the fried rice “spectacle” where the omelette was made, shredded and bits thrown around for us to catch in our mouths. It was not as over the top as Tokyo Teppanyaki, but I was also glad I wasn’t wearing anything I was too precious over either.


TEPPANYAKI FRIED RICE

The meal finished off with the fried rice, light, fluffy with good flavour. I emulate the Japanese style of fried rice at home so it was good to try how Teppanyaki chef version. I would say their version is nicer, but that would be because they are less restrained with the use of oil over myself!


GREEN TEA ICE CREAM & BANANA CAKE

Desert was served, the green tea ice cream with banana cake. The cake? I could take it or leave it, but the green tea ice cream on the other hand was rich, creamy and good balance of sweetness and bitterness. I was also pleasantly surprised to find they have an espresso machine at Miyako and now how to use it.

So the Teppanyaki department at Miyako is a bit like the shopping experience in a department store. Overall it is a solid dining experience, not as good as one might get in a boutique store and the service at times not be as good, but standards are acceptable and the overall value is quite reasonable. The $75 per person for 6 courses was definitely what I consider reasonable for top class seafood and steak.

Miyako – 13.5/20