Meshiya

Had lunch here today with my husband after almost a year from our last visit. I was really excited after seeing the new menu, I think they are under new management or they must have a new chef. Hubby ordered a Japanese curry with deep fried prawns and I had a steam eel on rice. It was such a disappointment, that was the most disgusting eel on rice I’ve ever had in my entire life! Why would anyone put carrots, bean sprouts and celeries on with teriyaki eel?! I was looking forward to eat proper Japanese rice, but they use normal medium grain rice — it was hard and dry, not like the normal rice they use for Japanese cooking which are rounder and shorter, so it nice and moist with the source. And On top of that the teriyaki eel has almost no teriyaki source on it! The service was good from the Japanese waitress but the chef who spoke in Chinese who was having a party with his friends at the table where we were sitting next to, was speaking so loud the whole time! It was worse than being in the market!

I had lunch here today for the second time. I really need to come here more. I ate oysters with ponzu and spicy sashimi in avocado. The oysters were fresh and reasonably priced. The spicy sashimi was morish — mixed fish, roe, little crunchy vegetable bits, spice and mayo. Next time I’d ask them to go lighter on the mayo. This was served in half a perfectly ripe avocado. Delicious.
My friend had the chef’s bento. Possibly one of the most generous in Melbourne. Tender, amazingly flavoured beef, 2 chicken skewers, 2 tempura prawns and a good serve of sashimi — served with rice and miso of course. It was impressive and great value for money.
The first time I came here, it was with a group and everyone was happy with their meals. Great place for no fuss, tasty Japanese food.

Bad — bad Japanese, poor service and bad experience.
The actual Japanese staff were friendly, but the other staff were verging on rude.
The food is not fresh (although we did not have the sushi). The flavours are not authentic either, which is a shame. I had been here back in 2009 and had a good meal with some Japanese friends but when i returned (at the end of 2012) the quality of the food had certainly changed dramatically.
Don’t eat here until you hear that things have improved. There is no excuse for such basic food to be made so poorly.

Memories memories memories. Similar to Red Silks, I used to eat here quite often when I was at uni.
Meshiya is a quite a small but cosy restaurant (not so cosy when it gets busy though!) on Lonsdale Street, QV Building — not a bad venue for a first date actually. It is a bit more pricey than Kimurakan but, then again, it offers a more pleasant dining experience. The staff are very nice and you’ll find a broad range of options on the menu — from fresh sushi to bento boxes and desert to finish off as well.
The large windows allow for a view of the greek end of lonsdale street.
We went on a saturday night prior to a movie and literally got our food within 5 minutes of having ordered, which was brilliant.
I like it and wouldn’t mind re-​visiting it again.

This long narrow restaurant can be a little cramped at times but the atmosphere and décor is rather nice. It’s funny, most people believe that Meshiya is actually cheap, but I beg to differ. Of course it also depends on what you order.
For example, the Chef’s Bento Box contains fresh sashimi, chicken yakitori, your standard prawn tempura and the most incredibly soft, melt in your beef. This is by far the winning dish. I never knew beef could make me feel this way. It also comes with an excellent chawanmushi. Add rice and miso and the whole dish comes to about $ 21.80. Now I’ve had terrible bento boxes for $ 16, sure it’s cheap but it was crap. In this sense, yeah Meshiya Chef’s Bento Box is good value. But hey we’re still talking about $ 21. Also, I don’t really rate their ramen dishes. I see them as just noodle soups, and despite the fact you’d can get slices of duck, I don’t feel that they’re worth it when I can get something better elsewhere for cheaper. And let’s not even mention the okonomiyaki, no seriously don’t even think about it. So really, it’s all a bit hit and miss unless if you stick to the Chef’s Bento Box and are willing to part with a $ 20 bill and then some.