Eating in Melbourne: Shimbashi Soba & Sake Bar (with 7 original photos)

Melbourne is famous for high quality restaurants located in small laneways. Today I caught up with a friend who had been overseas for a few months and just returned to Melbourne. We decided to try a Japanese restaurant in the city centre that specializes in handmade soba (buckwheat noodles). Since it gets filled quickly, we went for an early dinner at 5.30 pm.

Shimbashi Soba & Sake Bar (17 Liverpool Street, CBD, Melbourne) makes their own soba from buckwheat sourced from Tasmania. They have a Japanese stone mill that they use to make only as much flour as they need per day. The noodles are therefore very fresh. Soba is best eaten cold so I ordered the salmon salad soba. The salmon was slightly seared and the texture was great. The kaeshi (soy sauce and sugar mixture) was also perfectly balanced. The seaweed and freshly cut vegetables complimented the noodles well. The noodles are thinnly cut and since they are served cold, it is a very suitable summer dish.

(Salmon salad soba)

We also ordered small dishes to share after having the complimentary potato salad. The braised ox tongue pan fried with Teriyaki sauce was very tender and delicious.

(Ox tongue)

The okonomiyaki (Japanese style pizza topped with special sauce with mayo) was soft and I liked the cabbage inside. The sauce drizzled on top was a bit strong for my taste but the mayo was tasty. The pickled ginger added a nice crunch.

(okonomiyaki)

My friend ordered a warm sake but since I don’t usually drink alcohol it was enough just to sample a bit. I liked the cute sake jar with a puffer fish on it.

(Warm sake)

(Complimentary potato salad)

(Cozy interior. Note the Japanese stone mill)

(Liverpool St)

All photos taken with my Samsung Galaxy s5