Travelling in Mary Janes

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You might remember that I raved about Ibuki awhile ago here. Since then, Ibuki has moved from its Bentleigh East location to the CBD. Opening up not one, but two different branches in the city. And like a good food blogger, I booked myself (and some friends) a table at the brand new Ibuki to see what changes have taken place along with the move.

The entrance to Ibuki is not very eye-catching. The entry way itself is small tho the minute you stepped through the frame, the feeling is that of instant transportation to Japan. The posters in the window showed a raving review from The Age and photos of the owner and his sons. The decor is outstanding, though I’m not a fan of the dim lights. It did add to the atmosphere but unfortunately for me, dim lights give me a headache and make me sleepy.

My dinner partners for the day were: Penny from Jeroxie, Melissa and Danny from Tummy Rumbles, Henry from th0i3 and Wendy. And this is where I will take a minute to say: I absolutely love hanging out with fellow food bloggers! …. Ahem.

Back to the story.

I came to Ibuki with expectations. I don’t know if one could say they were high expectations, but having experienced what Ibuki was capable of before, I was hoping that I wouldn’t be disappointed by the brand new incarnation of Ibuki, to say the very least.

An interesting point to note is that Ibuki does do À la carte now in addition to their set menus. Instead of just one set menu for the day, you can now choose from two different ones: $60 and $90 versions. We went with the $60 set menu. (As reference, the old set menu was also priced $60 per person).

First course - Entrée

Edamame, seaweed soaked in vinegar and a sliced of lemon and two chicken meatballs. My favourite was the seaweed. It was sweet and very pleasant. I was rather sorry to see that it was only a shotglass worth. I wouldn’t have said no to more!

Second course - Sashimi

I must admit that this was one of my disappointments of the day. Don’t get me wrong, the sashimi was fresh, very tasty and the wasabi punching a rather good kick. But even after taking into account that this is a single portion, and the sashimi platter you saw on the table in the previous location was for 10 people, it was still a rather drastic reduction in quantity and variety.

Third course - Chawan Mushi

Tasty, filled with seafood and delicious morsels.

Fourth course - Tempura

This was to serve the 6 of us, and it worked out to be 4 pieces per person. Nothing spectacular here, unfortunately.

Fifth course - Sushi

Again, with the quantity and variety disappointment. I’m starting to sound like a broken record so I won’t repeat myself. Tasty, but nothing spectacular.

Sixth Course - Udon

On my last visit to Ibuki, I was in such a state of self-induced food coma that I had to pass on the Udon. So I was rather looking forward to it this time. I’m not too fond of the fact that the Udon was flat Udon rather than the typical round variety and felt that there was too many different ingredients clogging up the soup. Having said that, it was definitely flavourful, and the soup tasty.

Last course - Dessert

Nothing to write home about, but it was a refreshing end to the dinner and allowed us to cleanse the palette with some fresh fruits.

The verdict? I don’t think I’m going for the set menu again. I do understand that having moved to a city location, the overheads will definitely be more, expenses higher etc. etc. If I had never visited Ibuki before the move, today’s dinner would have been satisfying and I’d be with nary a complaint. However having known what Ibuki is capable of, I definitely think that what Ibuki used to be known for, is no longer applicable.

I might go back to Ibuki, to try their À la carte menu in the future, but unless I hear of things going back the way they used to be, I don’t think I’ll be ordering their set menu again in a hurry.

Ibuki on Flinders

321 Flinders Lane, Melbourne (Grand Mercure Flinders Lane Apartments内)
(03)9614-2311
Morning: 6:00-10:00
Lunch: 12:00-15:00
Dinner: 18:00-0:30

Ibuki on Lonsdale

556 Lonsdale st., Melbourne
(03)9602-5555
Lunch: 12:00-15:00
Dinner: 18:00-0:00
Closed: Every Sun

Website: http://www.ibuki.com.au