Kenzan

Overview

Nestled away in Collins Place, Kenzan has been one of Melbourne's favourite Japanese eateries for going on 35 years, and with damn good reason too. The tastefully decorated main dining room includes a side sushi bar where you can enjoy simple, tasty platters of thinly sliced sushi that rivals any upstart outfit in town.

Indeed, several of Melbourne's best Japanese chefs owe a debt of gratitude to this particular restaurant, with Kappo's Kentaro Usami and Minamishima's Koichi Minamishima both honing their craft in the Kenzan kitchens. If that's not pedigree, then we don't know what is. For the full experience, we recommend getting a group together and booking a private room.

Start with a misoshuri soup with soya bean and bean curd, seaweed and spring onions and a cold entree of sugaki, which is a serving of fresh oysters with citrus-flavoured ponzu vinegar. The hot entrees include delicately deep-fried prawns, fish and vegetables as well as fresh shiitake mushrooms stuffed with fried minced prawns.

If you're after sushi, then look no further than the chirashi platter of assorted raw fish served on a bed of sushi rice or the California maki with avocado and prawn.

Mains include a deliciously succulent pan-grilled chicken with teriyaki sauce and grilled eel in sweet soya sauce on a bed of rice. There is also the nabe ryori menu, which is for a minimum of two and cooked at the table by the chefs or yourselves. Kenzan has been around since 1981, a time when there were so few Japanese restaurants in Melbourne. And it has lasted the test of time, consistently serving up some of the best Japanese food in the city. If you love your Japanese eats, Kenzan really should be on your hit list.