22 Oct Shou Sumiyaki, Melbourne CBD

Sumibiyaki refers to the Japanese cooking technique of food grilled on mesh over charcoal grill and this is what Shou Sumiyaki specialises in. They utilise smoke-less charcoal grillers, which seem to work well unless the grillers are overloaded with meat – overenthusiasm/impatience will fill the room with smoke. Cooking is generally left up to diners so you can cook the meat to your liking, at your own pace and in whichever order you’d prefer. Available for your grilling pleasure are a variety of cuts of meat, mainly F1 grain-fed wagyu but also kurobuta pork, poultry, seafood and vegetables. Each person is given a set of sauces to dip food in: yakiniku barbeque sauce, mustard & miso sauce, spicy garlic & miso and sea salt.

We ordered the $160 set menu for four people. Although the set is suited for four, it can be shared with more or fewer people. Keep in mind that the number of individual servings for items like rice and miso soup will be unchanged. The amount of food presented was not much for the $40, though the seafood and meat were certainly of good quality and the meal was enjoyable. I particularly enjoyed being able to sample and compare the different cuts of wagyu consecutively and wouldn’t mind returning to try out some of their lunch specials.

Shou Sumiyaki
160 Little Bourke St
Melbourne, VIC, 3000
(03) 9654 3933
http://www.shousumiyaki.com.au/