Okami

All you can eat was the term we used growing up, and it meant permission to eat till you drop! Later on the word ‘buffet’ was used more commonly and I had always felt that it was just a glammed up version of ‘all you can eat’. I believe the difference between the two is that food at a buffet is always displayed and people help themselves. Okami doesn’t do this, food is ordered and then served by the waiting staff. They proudly advertise – everything on the all you can eat menu is $32.80 per person. I appreciate a restaurant who is upfront with me, I know exactly what I’m getting and how much my expenditure will be. Out of respect for Okami, I promised to give it my all and eat ALL THE FOODS!


The selection of foods here was very decent indeed. Some of the categories include – sushi/sashimi, dumplings, deep fried foods, noodles, rich, ice cream, etc. They even had a garden salad as an option, but I wasn’t going to go anywhere near that, as I had bigger missions to accomplish. The biggest test with these all you can eat Japanese places is always the sushi/sashimi. If this isn’t any good, they’ll be travelling down a slippery slope. Okami passed with flying colours, the fish was fresh and the salmon had a lovely layer of fat. I was surprised as I didn’t expect the fish to be so good!

The seaweed salad and squid salad were also stand outs. You have any idea how expensive these salads are!?! Over $5 for a small container at most places, and Okami was piling it on. I went to town with the squid salad, as it’s one of my favourite salads. The grilled squid wasn’t overcooked, and the teriyaki steak was soft and tender. I’m not a huge fan of deep fried foods, but their prawn tempura was decent too.

A lot of these all you can eat places would set a seating time limit, then bring out the food at a snails pace. Common strategy used in the Asian all you can eat world to minimise the customer’s food intake. Okami did not impose such strategy, and food was brought out promptly, huge advantage for big eaters such as myself. They also allowed us to tailor certain foods, for example they made just a salmon sushi/sashimi platter exclusively for us when we requested it. Don’t mean to disrespect the other fishes, but the salmon is the best fish here.

Long gone are the days of quality $20 something all you can eat places, the new price range is in the $30s. For the food quality we got, I felt that their price of $32.80 was well justified and I wouldn’t hesitate to bring my family here. There’s a fine print on their menu that any wastage over 200 grams would incur an extra charge, I fully support this move as food wastage is not to be tolerated! I sound like a broken record sometimes as with all my all you can eat/buffet reviews I say this, but PLEASE only order what you can finish. Lastly, take this for what it’s worth, but one of my trusted food advisers told me that he went to another franchise and it was very ordinary. This one I went to in Hampton looks to have the best reviews and I can vouch for them!

Okami
Approx $35 AUD per person
Address: 530 Hampton Street, Hampton VIC 3188
Phone: +61 3 8899 6631
Website: www.okamirestaurant.com.au

Okami Japanese Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Melba

Oh Melba… we have shared so many fond memories together. I still remember vividly one of the times when I ate for over 4hrs straight, and I saw fear in the eyes of the lady at the Sushi bar. I didn’t think she could believe that a single person could eat so much, and I nearly had to be stretchered out on that particular occasion! The reason for my madness is because everything tastes so damn good and I just want to eat it all! In case you haven’t realised, Melba is a buffet restaurant.

Walking past The Langham lobby and up onto the podium level, you’ll be greeted by the grand entrance of Melba. It’s quite a classy looking affair inside with massive windows and a magnificent view of Southbank. Growing up, I’m used to eating at buffets filled with a lot of families, fighting over the first batch of prawns to come out of the kitchen! No such dramas here. As a matter of fact this would be a great place to take your date and have a romantic dinner. There’s very few buffets where I can make this claim.

Personally speaking I adapt the same strategy for all buffets. Line my stomach with carbs and hot foods before I attack the cold seafood dishes. I find that hitting the seafood too hard at the start makes me feel extremely sick. Everyone is different and it’s best to find a strategy that works best for you. Forget the notion of trying to eat your money’s worth, it’s simply not going to happen. It’s good to note that the seating times here are generous so you get the luxury of working through the food systematically.

Well onto the food…. where do I start? To begin, I would recommend starting off with either the peking duck, lamb/beef roast or the freshly cooked noodles. Pay close attention to the roasts, you can generally tell which ones have been dried out by the food warmer. Trust your instincts and move onto something else if this is the case. Roast is a good start as it allows you to accompany it with some of the many salads on offer. I like to then move onto the freshly cooked Wagyu steaks. These are high quality pieces. Since they are so thin, I generally opt for them to be cooked rare since they always end up medium rare by the time it hits my plate.

After this it’s seafood time! The oysters are really fresh here, with a creamy texture. The crabs are a bit of work to eat, because I’m lazy I prefer to peel prawns instead. The sushi bar is my favourite hang out spot in the whole restaurant. One serve of sashimi (salmon, tuna, kingfish) is roughly 3-4 pieces, so feel free to ask for double or triple servings if you don’t want to make too many trips. Finish off with some fruits/desserts/cheese.


Obviously this is my routine, so eat and do what feels best for you! The important thing to remember is that you cannot expect an absurd variety like some of the Asian buffets, but there’s more than enough variety to suit even the fussiest of eaters. The prices varies but you’d be looking at around $94 for dinner, cheaper for lunch. There’s no doubt that this is on the expensive end of buffet dining, but it’s truly a case of quality over quantity (I’d never thought I’ll be using a phrase like this to describe a buffet restaurant). I highly recommend going to Melba and eat till your heart’s content!

Melba
Approx $100 AUD per person
Address: 1 Southbank Ave, Southbank VIC 3006
Phone: 1800 641 107
Website: melbarestaurant.com.au

Melba Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato