Yakimono, Collins St CBD

Yakimono is one of the new restaurants in town that had opened during Covid19. It is run by the same group that manages Chin Chin, Society and Kisume so I had high expectations of this place. I have tried Chin Chin and the food was bold and fantastic. 

Yakimono is touted to be a Japanese grill / skewer bar but it also offers plenty else on the menu like handrolls, rice and noodles.

Bookings fly fast in this place and we just got in by the seat of our pants for a Sunday lunch session at the bar. Our wait person reaffirmed that they received 500 bookings every day since opening. Not bad for Covid19 times!

We ordered the tuna with fermented chilli sauce. Gaz described it as Sirena tuna in chilli can, but with raw tuna. I thought it was a spot on description.

Next was chicken tsukune with raw egg yolk sauce. I was told that the chicken mince is steamed before grilled but it looked pink to me so I donated my half to Gaz who happily devoured it. The glaze was sweet and savoury and tasted good, though. 

So for a Japanese skewer bar restaurant, I can't say it wowed me with it's skewers. Perhaps we should have ordered the king prawns skewer instead which would not be difficult to cook through but at $35 per serving, it would be difficult to swallow. 

The brocollini with macadamia nut dressing. This was delicious! The brocollini was grilled raw but served slightly charred and tender. I love the macadamia nuts and the savoury creamy dressing.

We had it with spanner crab egg rice. This is another MVP dish of our order. Certainly lots of spanner crab meat and prawn bits to be found but don't expect chinese style fried egg rice with fluffy individual grains of rice, because I suppose that's not what it is. The rice is slightly clumpy and wet but I don't mind it.

Udon with eel. I think the udon is house made, and is the soft, glutinous type. The eel is fresh (not the packaged type) and the first bite of the dish was pleasing because there is some kind of panko or crunchy bits scattered on the udon to give that different texture to the dish. 

There were only a couple of dishes we really liked and I think the price is steep. The service was really prompt and attentive even though the staff were busy. So while it was a good experience trying out the new restaurant so perhaps it would be a long while before we hurry back.