Chiba
More food needs to be served on bunny plates.
The cuteness adds to the flavour and no one could possibly be unhappy when faced with a bunny plate. Just look at it!
Do you also want to have dinner on bunny plates? Then check out Chiba, a Japanese restaurant located in Moonee Ponds.
They’ve been been around for a while, and recently Bro and Bro’s gf treated Alastair and I to dinner there. Yay.
Bro and his gf have eaten there a few times, so we agreed to their recommendation of the massive sushi to share (on the menu it’s the Chiba Special for 2 – $50). It’s a selection of sushi, sashimi and seaweed rice rolls.
It comes on a boat. A boat! There’s enough here for four people to share as an entree or two people to share as a main and is very reasonably priced for the size. Everything on the boat was perfectly acceptable.
You can also order sushi, sashimi or hand rolls as individual servings / dishes if you prefer.
We also shared a aserve of the soft shell crab rolls ($15) which were fantastic. The rolls were filled with avocado, chilli mayonnaise and a lots of crispy soft shell crab. Really, really nice.
We also had an okonomiyaki ($9.50) which was fine.
As if that wasn’t enough food (it was quite a lot already) we ordered separate mains.
Bro’s gf had the beef curry rice ($13). I have a deep, deep love for Japanese curry and I was tempted by this but decided to go in a different direction.
I ordered the Gyu Niku Maki ($19.50) which were beef rolls stuffed with vegetables in a wine and soy sauce. Slices of beef were rolled around sticks of vegetables (carrot and I forget what else). The vegetables were cooked but still retained some firmness and crunchiness.
While Bro and Alastair both had the Tonkatsu ($19.50) / deep fried crumbed pork cutlet. It looked nicely crispy.
For dessert, Alastair and I shared a serve of the black sesame ice cream ($6.50). This was quite a lot of ice cream – the cup was already quite large and it was full to the top. Sadly, it wasn’t that good – it was far too creamy with not a strong black sesame flavour.
Bro’s gf had the banana tempura ($8.50) which also comes with ice cream (normally vanilla or green tea though they allowed her to sub in black sesame “just this once”).
Bro had the dorayaki ($7.50) – a pancake filled with red bean served with fresh fruit and ice cream. (I knew he was only ordering this because of Doraemon. SIBLING MIND LINK.)
Chiba is a nice local restaurant and I’d visit again (though I’d probably skip dessert). The menu is vast – sushi, sashimi, tempura, soba, udon, different rice dishes, almost whatever takes your fancy really. If the large menu gives you problems there are also banquet options from $35 – $43 pp.
PS: I’d recommend booking. They’re surprisingly busy.
View Off the spork in a larger map
Chiba Japanese Restaurant
41 Hall Street
Moonee Ponds VIC 3039
Phone: 03 9326 0248
Web: chibajapaneserestaurant.com.au
msihua
July 10, 2013 @ 10:58 pm
ON A BOAT! And yes, all things should arrive on cute plates, cups, mugs, bowls, etc
Hannah
July 11, 2013 @ 5:24 am
Dorayaki!!! Must admit that all the black sesame ice creams I’ve had in the US lately have tasted more like vanilla than black sesame. Makes me sad.
Ashley
July 11, 2013 @ 5:28 pm
Amgawd, sushi on a boat. i want. Looks great! 🙂
And yes to more bunny plates!
Iron Chef Shellie
July 14, 2013 @ 4:06 pm
Yes, more bunny plates need to be in circulation! … check Made In Japan!