Our first meal in Melbourne this year was the beautiful and elegant Niku Ou, a premium Japanese bbq restaurant. We ordered a moderate amount because it was 2PM and we had dinner plans booked for 5PM 🙈.
For our party of 6, it was about $620 altogether. Dined here for lunch today.
For our party of 6, it was about $620 altogether. Dined here for lunch today.
Food
The freshly shucked oysters were an amazing delicacy with salmon roe and ponzu jelly. It was a sweet, rich and creamy bite, filling the mouth with umami goodness. The downside was it was $8 a pop so we opted for one each because we had to be smart and not spend all our money in one place 🥺.
This was the sashimi plate. For. $60, there were 22 pieces of seven different varieties of seafood, including tuna, kingfish, salmon, abalone, scallop, octopus and mackerel. It’s hard to comment on each cut because everything was split awkwardly among our group but from the 3 pieces I had, the pieces were very fresh and quality was top notch.
The wagyu yukke $25 was probably one of the best yakked we’ve had in Australia. This dish is the Japanese’s version of beef tartare, with marinated raw M9+ wagyu with egg yolk and baked almond slices. The meat was delicious and icy cold but didn’t have that thawed-ice taste to it. The egg yolk was perfectly placed, adding a rich and creamy gooeyness to their sweet soy marinade. The added almond was a subtle woody flavour.
The tebasaki karaage $20 was four deep-fried chicken wings that had been marinated in their homemade sauce, which was really Japanese sweet soy sauce, sesame seeds and mirin 😝. Can’t fool us. It was a great combination on a simple yet well-executed snacc. We thoroughly enjoyed nibbling on the wing. We had one each.
The wagyu gyoza $21 was another simple shared dish. Each gyoza was filled with juicy minced M9+ wagyu, vegetables and herbs. Pan-frying it gave it an enjoyable, thin crispy crust that contrasted nicely with the soft, chewy dough. We had one each.
Our premium selection of wagyu was selected off their QR menu and as boujee as the plating looks, we’re sad to say we only had one slice each 😢😂. One of the staff cooked our meat for us so I guess a lot of the cost went into the service. Our favourite was the M9 tenderloin and the M9 oyster blade cut.
Drinks
The cocktails were decent, maybe above average rating for a restaurant. They put a lot of energy into the dry ice effect, pouring for 5 seconds for one single cocktail. Don’t waste your stomach space filling up on alcohol here and save room for the wagyu 🐮 #PrioritiesPeople!
Service
The service was outstanding but given they brand themselves as a premium higher-end JBBQ, we would expect nothing less. It was not like the etiquette and mannerisms of a fine dining restaurant, more like “let me cook and cut for you”. We enjoyed our little private dining table, with the view of their modern, golden chandeliers 😍.
Review
The food was delicious and of excellent quality. We had a great time but we wouldn’t be rushing back here anytime soon. If we lived in Melbourne, this would be a place we would take our boss or older relatives for a fancy-yet-casual meal. However, as tourists, it’d be a while before we dine again, only because we cannot justify the price point when we can indulge at other KBBQs or fine dining.
Thank you for reading friends. Happy eating 😁.
Thank you for reading friends. Happy eating 😁.
