On a Sunday night we decided to look for a local Japanese restaurant. We always struggle to find good Japanese food without having to travel into the city which is really frustrating.  We came across Matsuzaka in Caulfield South which looked promising so off we went!

The restaurant itself looked quite traditional from the outside. Upon entering we realised how spacious it was inside too. There were plenty of wooden tables and chairs, with Japanese inspired paintings featured on the walls, and Japanese music playing in the background.

The menu was quite extensive and had a lot of items to choose from. We felt a bit overwhelmed by the abundance of choices!  We ended up ordering the sushi and sashimi platter to start with which was really good. The sashimi was very fresh and the vinegar rice was done perfectly. We also decided to order a soup each.

I got the Osuiomono soup which had seafood, seaweed and mushroom, and Davin got the Tamago soup with egg and mushroom. Both soups were really nice and flavoured, however we both agreed we liked the Tamago soup more as it was more flavoured and the egg made it more special.

We also ordered the Kanimushi which were their original steamed crab dumplings. This was a bit disappointing. It tasted really mushy, and more like those fish balls you normally get in hot pot. It definitely didn’t feel like a special dish, and I let Davin finish most of it.

For mains, I ordered the Unagi Bento which had grilled eel in a sweet soy sauce, sashimi, deep fried tofu, salad and steamed rice. The grilled eel was flavoured really well, the sashimi was super fresh just like the sashimi we had as part of our entree platter. The deep fried tofu was surprisingly cooked to perfection! It had that lovely crispiness to it on the outside and was complemented with a light sweet sauce. Overall it was a good bento box.

Davin ordered the Oyakodon which had grilled chicken fillet pieces with egg and onions in soya sauce on rice. Now we have to say that we have been quite fortunate to try the real deal when we were in Tokyo, and this traditional dish was SO good there. We weren’t of course expecting the Oyakodon to be at the level of our experience in Tokyo here at this restaurant, but hopefully it would have some resemblance of it.

Unfortunately we can’t say it had any resemblance to the dish. In fact when it came out, Davin almost called the staff back to say it looked like the wrong dish! Upon closer inspection it did have the chicken, egg and onions but it was presented very differently. The chicken was too sweet and overall the dish didn’t taste the best.

I also ordered a Saketini which is their Japanese version of a martini. However it tasted it a bit light and diluted to me so I probably wouldn’t order it again.

In conclusion, the experience was okay. We weren’t wowed by the experience but I guess if we were really craving Japanese and didn’t want to travel too far we would consider coming back here again.

Matsuzaka
Approx $35 AUD per person
Address: 809 Glen Huntly Rd, Caulfield VIC 3162
Phone: +61 3 9523 9904