Sushi Masa: 10 Bourke Street Melbourne

Final blog post for year, I'm going to finish it off telling you about a great little Japanese place in the city. 

At Sushi Masa a Japanese man prepares made to order sushi or sashimi for the lunch crowd. The restaurant smells like the ocean and the food is fresh, plentiful and delightful.

My go to favourite is the vegetable bento box with vegetable tempura, agedashi tofu (crispy and well balanced), nasu dengaku (grilled eggplant with miso sauce), miso soup, rice and salad (the potato salad is not fussy eater friendly). Very filling, I haven't managed to eat it all yet but it is worth a try, particularly for $16.50. 

Senor Gringo gets the sushi and sashmini combo and I'm game for a little teeny bit of the raw tuna dabbed with wasabi. Their teriyaki beef is also a winner and the lunch menu is about half the price of the dinner menu.

Three ticks. It deserves recognition.  

Los Latinos: 128 Mitchell Street Maidstone

In demonstrating my commitment to the tick strategy, I have been to Los Latinos three times (although this is my first review).

If you care about service and the vibe of a restaurant this is not the place for you. If you want home style cooking that has probably stayed the same for eons, visit Los Latinos.

It is a strange little place. It is small and bright but it looks like it was furnished in the 1980s with little attention since. The main waiter is also a bit tired and in need of a little energy - he can become quite flustered and huff and puff and roll his eyes when you request to be seated or served. Ignore it. I bet he works long hours and needs a break.

The menu is dominated by plantains, pupusas (a much thicker version of a tortilla), shredded beef/pork/chicken and the odd seafood dish. Everything we had our first time round was amazing – chorizo in little tortillas with zesty fresh salsa; vegetarian tacos tinga made on the spot with pico de gallo and guacamole; plus some kind of platter with strips of beef, greens, pico de gallo and rice (sadly I haven’t been able to figure out what this was, perhaps they made a mistake when they piled all these options on one plate). Everything was well balanced with a good mix of zing and earthy flavours. Paired with a margarita (not the frozen kind) and it was home style foodie heaven.

Second time around we ordered nachos, which was totally rubbish – supermarket corn chips, an unappetising dollop of beans and a tiny smidge of salsa. I asked for the beef version with no cheese or sour cream and they obviously decided I really just wanted beans. Not nice. Stay away from any of the corn chips options. You could do better yourself. Our second dish was shredded beef, beans, rice, plantains and arepas (a south American flatbread) served on a sizzling plate. I asked for no dairy but I got it anyway. This dish was nice but without something fresh to break up the flavours it did feel a bit stodgy.

On our third trip we ordered the chorizo entrée again – yum, the beef tacos tinga – also very yum and yuca frita con chicharonnes – deep fried plantain (think potato or taro), with pork (belly maybe), curtido (fermented cabbage) and a hot chilli salsa. This was a wonderful choice – lots of flavour, everything was very balanced and my belly sung the chefs praises.

In essence, order a dish with a mix of fresh and cooked ingredients, stay away from the corn chips, ignore the rubbish service and order yourself a beer. It’ll make for a good start to your weekend I promise.

Two ticks.  

Brim CC: 601 Little Collins Street Melbourne

Brim CC is a super packed Japanese fusion place near Southern Cross Station and I mean super packed - the line is often out the door.

You'll forgive me then for feeling disappointed. The food is pretty, organic and has just as many options for vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters alike, but I found it lacking in oomph. No amazing flavours. Everything was muted. If this was near my work, I would go there occasionally simply because its organic and better than many processed food venues but I didn't love it. Purple peanut is better and right round the corner at 620 Collins Street. If you don't like strong flavours and you are in the area, than this is probably the place for you.

We ordered two bento boxes to share - the Tokyo bento and the vegetarian special. The Tokyo bento had three rice balls (which is a bit much thanks - one would have been fine), a hamburger steak meatball and potato salad (both contained egg), grilled eggplant and tofu with miso paste (not bad but I've had much better) and sauteed carrots. All very gum-able. I imagine this is what a child or an old person would eat for dinner. As I said, very mild flavours and I didn't try the meatball but it looked unappetising.

The Vegetarian Special I would go so far as to call bland. It contained a small dish of soy beans in a tomatoey type sauce, cold tofu with a tiny bit of carrot dressing (it would have been completely flavourless without the dressing), a random pile of diced tomato with nothing on it (??), grilled pumpkin (which offered some natural flavour), traditional cucumber pickles (thankfully - I love pickles) and sweet daikon (it was meant to be sweet and salty but wasn't).

The most popular lunch choice is the combo - mix and match soup, salad and rice with curry. The soups seemed fairly random for a Japanese fusion place - Russian borscht, French sausages and veggies, vegetarian ginger and carrot and Hungarian goulash with gnocchi. The curries were more of what you would expect - katsu, Tokyo style beef curry and Tokyo chicken and tomato.

Apart from the abundance of rice, the food is pretty healthy and does offer a nice alternative to other options but it is for those with a very mild palate. I love bold flavours so I won't be returning but I do recognise everyone is different and clearly this place is popular so it must be filling a void.

One tick.

Touche Hombre: 233 Lonsdale Street Melbourne

Senor Gringo and I visited Touche Hombre during lunch on a bright sunny Monday. The outdoor tables were full but the indoor tables were empty. I put this down to the after work/lazy Sunday vibe of the place - it looks like a cross between a trendy bar and hipster café, with waiters to match.

The menu is interesting. It is clearly not your standard pork/beef/vegetarian place. You can order blue swimmer crab tostadas with pickled chilli and lime pearls; crumbed haloumi tacos with pickled beetroot aioli, herb, pear and pistachio salsa, duck carnitas or chimichurri chicken burritos. Lots of options! To me, this shows the chefs have put some thought into their food and are not here to deliver the same as everyone else. Vegetarians and gluten free eaters are well catered for and if you don’t eat dairy your options aren’t limited but vegans would be left eating the guacamole. Sorry guys!

I ordered the guacamole with slow cooked beef rib. This is exactly what I felt like on the day but if I wanted to order else I would have to do some serious altering to find food to suit - damn aioli everywhere. The guacamole was advertised as an entrée but it was very filling for a lunch option. The chips were great, not the same rubbish as you find on most supermarket shelves; the guacamole was zesty, more-ish and very flavoursome. It was topped off with pomegranate seeds and pickled radish - clearly someone here understands the importance of fermented foods! And my slow cooked beef rib was off the bone, nicely spiced and quickly devoured. I did not have room for anything else.

Senor Gringo ordered the sirloin steak burrito with truffled fried egg, habanero cream, pico de gallo black beans and rice. He said the flavours were very mild and it was nice but it could have benefited from some fresh veg, lemon or extra spice to counteract the cream and egg. If you care about vegetables, I would recommend you keep this in mind and make your choices to suit.

I’ll head back to this place on a summer afternoon.