“They apparently pleaded with the paper not to publish the review, which was of course published anyway, and if the three hundred phone calls they received in three days are anything to go by, it’s if someone had taken a bloody great rock and dropped it in the middle of the pond. They hope things will calm down in three or four months, but for now are resigned to playing for packed houses…

“the only place I can think of where, upon finishing your meal, you could have such a candid and courteous conversation with your hosts. It’s also the only restaurant I can think of that wouldn’t kill for a review like the one it received. In short, I can’t think of a more modest restaurant.”

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“I just made a booking… at Tempura Hajime (the place you told me about) earliest date. August 2nd.”

Wow!

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Sashimi and eel in the foreground.

There is sometime that draws me back time and time again to the stripped back aesthetic of a good Japanese restaurant.

It is the antidote to the worst of what try-hard restaurants offer. I’m talking about the over elaborate try-hard food that has become the vogue in some of Melbourne’s top restaurants. I won’t mention any names, but there are plenty out there pulling together too many inappropriately matched ingredients in the name of flavour and texture.

Sue, some of these dishes look great and have plenty of height (I believe these are called waiter haters). But if the average diner – and most of us are just that –needs a map or guidance to eat the dish then something is very wrong.

Anyway, I don’t want to detract some the elegance and simplicity of the food offered at Tempura Hajime (60 Park Street, South Melbourne +61 3 9696 0051), which is at the St Kilda Rd end of the street.

When I read over at Tummy Rumbles that it was brought to us by the same people who started-up Yu-u in Flinders Lane – husband and wife team Daisuke and Noriko Miyamoto – I knew I had to visit. Eating with Jack also visited and before that Karen at A Gastronomic Voyage (which has subsequently moved domain). Both were equally impressed.

What is interesting is that it appears this is a place discovered entirely by bloggers all of whose opinion’s I trust, perhaps more so than the experiences I often read about in newspapers and magazines. I just hope I haven’t spoiled it by mentioning this place the mainstream media.

At the risk of repeating what has been written already, you enter through a minimalist entrance to one side of the main entrance to the commercial offices at 60 Park St into a lounge area where you can have a predinner drink.

I don’t because the action is through the sliding door to the next room which sits just 12 around a bar. For $66 you relax into a 16 course meal, including 12 of tempura.

Part of the aesthetic is the handmade pottery from which each diner eats and drinks (unless you choose a wine or beer). I choose to drink a cold saki (trust me it is much, much better than hot) and am given a choice of handmade cups to drink from, each one delicate and unique in appearance.

We sit there enjoying the theatre of the tempura stadium. I felt so much more relaxing than many restaurant experiences.
Don’t worry about filling up though as most of the courses are small an you’ll have a chance later with a rice dish. The meal starts with sashimi and eel.

And then the chef’s attention is on us sensitive to our moods and what we eat. First comes a single tempura prawn. aturally, I eat the lot and Jak gives me her tail.

A single tempura prawn.

What follows is a single baby sweetcorn and a single scallop filled with urchin row and sliced in two. Urchin row can be a challenge for some people but this is delicious. Jak wanting to save room for later gives me half, no dumps half in my dressing of lemon juice.

I find this a bit irritating the way she just dumps thing on my plate, even though I’m more than happy to eat it. The chef senses my irritation and makes his retreat. After asparagus, we enter the realm of a perfect, punctuated fish and chips. The chip comes first in the form of tempura purple sweet potato. The punctuation, if I remember the order, being okra, before we are presented with a perfect King George whiting, sliced in two. I simply dip it in lemon juice and sprinkle it with salt.

More follows each serving small, perfectly formed and well thought out. Eggplant is stuffed with minced chicken, a single mushroom with prawn. These are trumped by John Dory, wrapped in nori, deep fried and topped with umeboshi, a kind of Japanese pickle, and ground sesame seeds.

John Dory wrapped in nori…

All through the service is faultless and the chef engages us in conversation discussing the dishes and Japanese food.

Finally comes a rice dish, in the form of a donburi, a mix of vegetables, fish and prawn tempura. It is served on rice with a choice of sauces. It is time to fill what space is left in our tummies.

Two choices of donburi

Yoghurt panna cotta.

I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that this is my preferred form of eating, many simple tiny courses prepared with love and attention to detail. Naturally, I can’t eat raw fish or tempura every night. But you know what? I will be back very soon. And again. And again…

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