ibuki house

My sister turns 16 this year and to celebrate we picked a place which has been making rounds on WeChat, a mobile app which my mum uses to do her online social networking. This place, in the Chinese community on WeChat, is known as "that place with the old man who makes really yummy Japanese food, it's on Glenferrie Road".

This little shop is sandwiched between ethnic food stores and trams stops on quieter part of Glenferrie Road. Blink and miss. The interiors look like a suburban Japanese restaurant. Black lacquered tabletops, yellow lights, some pieces of art that people in Japan do not put on their own walls. Although it's not fancy or winning any awards in modern interior decorating it is clean and homely. The service is lovely and the non-Japanese waiters try really hard to leave a good impression.

We went for the full omakase experience - basically a degustation and a chance for the chef to show off. This usually begins with the cold experience (sushi, sashimi) and graduates to rice, soups, tempura and meat toward the end.

Here are some photos I managed to snap. With no photograph of the menu on Urbanspoon and no website I am left with wringing for memories of the deliciousness. Did I mention we also had LOTS of sake and celebrated in true Chinese / Japanese style?

Top: beef tataki

Bottom: oysters with caviar.

Seafood chawanmushi.

BOSS sashimi plattor complete with lobster, abalone, and all of the ocean.

Individual seafood soups.

Seafood tempura with vegetables.

8 (? I fell unconscious after the 4th or 5th course) courses later, we all rolled out of here - we, the family who order 6 dishes between 4 people because "it might not be enough". So delicious. Did not regret.

Ibuki House
14 Glenferrie Road
Malvern
0412 318 880