April 21, 2013
-
Edoya
Friday night- we decided to get dinner in the city (this was 8.30pm). For some people this can be a tad late, for others this is THE perfect time to eat. In Melbourne- it’s a busy time.
Mamsita had a line coming up their staircase and onto the sidewalk- so we gave that a miss. Supper Inn was no better and even Ling Nam had a 15minute wait. We weren’t going to bother with Chin Chin/Movida/Meatballs.
As we walked down Russell street- we decided to go to Edoya(138 Russell Street, Melbourne)- Mr_54632 and I both like Japanese. Lucky for us, it wasn’t as packed.
We started off with some endamame beans (which I think are on the house- sorry I didn’t pay the bills). They were so so, not the best but not bad. Then we got an “entree” serving of sashimi(assorted fish) – unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of the food because… yes, i forgot. I can report that the fish were fresh. No complaints from us
Apologies for the blurring photo of the tempura (these were taken from my phone).
The gyoza came out last(i don’t know why considering it was from the entree section) and frankly they shouldn’t have even bothered. These were the worst gyozas I have ever eaten in my life so far. They were EXTREMELY dry inside and completely tasteless (i.e sitting in the freezer for donkey years). I ate two and left the rest for Mr_54632. He didn’t enjoy them either but didn’t want to waste food. I have had better GYOZA from so many different places, if Edoya was my first experience, one would assume that all Japanese dumplings are rubbish. It’s not- just the ones from Edoya
The chicken was meant to be deep fried needed a little bit more batter, the chicken itself was nice and juicy. Unfortunately they forgot the mayonaise and had to be reminded about it.
The tempura was pretty good, it was battered lightly, it wasn’t soggy (like some places) and wasn’t hard or to dry. I think they were the highlight of the meal for us.
In general, I can see why on a busy Friday night where all the OTHER restaurants (even the ones with realllllly dated and tired layout) are still doing a booming trade
and why Edoya isn’t as busy as everybody else in the vicinity. The food is a complete hit and miss- some good, some bad and some just absolutely terrible (hello- Gyoza). The service is also so so. The waitresses are attentive enough to notice that you’ve finished your food and remove the plates when necessary but are completely hopeless when they’re asked to get “another plate of Endamame beans”. The waitress disappeared and didn’t come back with a new plate as per our request.
I suspect when Edoya first opened, it probably was something special, not only is it looking tired but it offers nothing new and what it does offer isn’t even up to par with it’s nearest competitors.
Yet, it’s still chugging along, I don’t know for how long. But I know for us, it was our LAST and ONLY experience again
