Ocha2Go is a very well hidden little local gem, close to Hawthorn station and extremely unsuspecting from the outside. I don't think I can count the number of times I would have walked by this place on my way to the train station to get to school or work or life. In general. I alway assumed it was just a extremely quick eat Japanese place, where you can get your sushi rolls to go and such and never really thought of the name correlation with it's mother restaurant, Ocha.
How wrong can I be! Once you slip on in, the room is surprisingly bigger than expected, extending out towards the back in extremely vibrant shades of purple and orange. Not quite as zen as one may expect, but I like the contemporary feel.
With a varied clientele (mature couples, families, boys on a night out), comes a fairly varied menu. With an array of sushi, entrees, rice dishes and noodles, there's certainly something for everyone here!
Can never go past a glass of plum wine, as sweet as it is. Mmmm.
I decided to keep it fairly light and went with the sunshine roll. Salmon, prawn, avocado, cucumber and flying fish roe. Yeah a bit boring, but it was kinda hot and humid and I really wasn't in the mood for anything steaming! The flavours were okay and the salmon was quite nice, but I found the construction of the rolls to be a little poor, it wasn't very neatly compacted and felt like it was falling apart a bit.
With my (gentle) encouragement, Brad got the beef and vegetable curry. Japanese curry sauces in my opinion are hard to fault, but I wasn't particularly impressed with how chunky everything was, the potatoes were quite large, carrots thick. Warming, but not as hearty as I would like. Still, curry gravy with rice? Instantly epic win!
This was the absolute star of the night. Soft shell crab roll. Gosh, how do I start? The crab was...well not crunchy, but it had that incredibly light crisp around the outside and the meat inside was warm (a surprising treat) and tender. This was just perfect.
All in all a very satisfying meal and it's nice to know there's a nice, but casual Japanese restaurant just a 10 minute drive from my house.
64 Burwood Rd
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MmMm.. soft shell crab... and not that far away! Yayy!
ReplyDeleteCan I have some Sushi pretty please:)
ReplyDeleteHad some yesterday, but can never get enough:)
Have a great day.
I Hua - Yaaay! Definitely go for it, sooo delicious! :)
ReplyDeleteGirl in Oslo - Haha me neither! If I could eat one type of cuisine my whole life it would be Japanese! :)
Ooh, another beauty that's near home! This is going on the list!
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