On Saturday night I-Hua, her fella and I drove to Komeyui Japanese Restaurant. Already waiting for us was Bryan, whose poetic and heartfelt blog always delights me, and next to arrive were my BFF and her husband. It was all I could do not to jump up and dance giddily, because it’s been over a year since I last saw Agnes’ face and had the pleasure of her making fun of me in person. (Over the internet, it’s never quite the same.)
Last to join our table was Bryan’s gorgeous and famous fakegf. Quite amusingly (to me), I had only just discovered that fakegf is one and the same as the fabulous J-lady who emailed me months ago and with whom I’ve become happy-Facebook-friends. (I’m not always the sharpest tool in the shed.) Long story short, we were both delighted to meet each other. And she brought peanut butter cookies! Win!
As soon as Bryan saw fakegf, he enthusiastically threw out his arm and pointed at me. You know, as if it wasn’t clear who the strange white girl at the table was. I laughed. Oh, how I laughed.
We left the ordering up to Bryan, and he did us proud. We had yuzu-marinated salmon (above), which was both delicate and citrus-y-zingy.
There was thinly sliced duck on fried potato discs, which my ever-sophisticated BFF decided would look tastier if she stuck her fingers in the frame.
Agnes, you’re a ninja with your photo-bombing peace sign. Keep up the good work.
One of my favourite dishes of the night was the Tofu and Baby Sardines. The tofu was delicately creamy and soft, while the fried sardines tasted more like potato chips than fish.
I must say, though, that having just watched Poor Unfortunate Souls, I found the sardines rather disconcerting in appearance.
Sashimi joy! I’ve never had scallop sashimi before. Well done, Komeyui.
Ox tongue. Soft Shell Crab. Crispy. Words.
I did encroach onto Bryan’s ordering territory at one point by demanding we get the Ohitashi, aka boiled greens with soy sauce and bonito, aka VEGETABLES. Sure, the entire serve was only about two mouthfuls, but at least it was green.
Tonkatsu, with light from the heavens (or someone’s camera) shining down upon it. We also received free sparkling sake that Komeyui’s Twitter Queen delivered to us. It was both sparkling and delicious.
Omusubi, with more bonus photo-bombing fingers! Not Agnes’, though. She failed big-time at hijacking the omusubi’s limelight.
Because we were at Komeyui for rather a long time, we were given a scrumptious free dish of kingfish sashimi flavoured with lovely things that I can’t quite remember at this point. But I think yuzu and sundried tomato were involved.
Do you know what else was involved? I-Hua and I spontaneously bursting into a rendition of Just Around The Riverbend, forgetting the lines at exactly the same point, and then dissolving into giggles.
Edamame is wonderful. Pan-fried edamame, equally so. Oh, vegetables, I love you.
Bryan ordered Chawan Mushi for me after discovering that I’d never had it, despite having visited Japan. I lost much food blogger cred when this fact was revealed, but I’d like to defend myself by asking whether anyone else has spent an entire day in Japan tracking down and eating three different versions of Mont Blanc? No? I rest my case.
It was a delicious and wonderful night, and the perfect way to end the staying-with-I-Hua part of my Melbourne trip. Thank you Bryan, Agnes, I-Hua, fakegf, both As, and Komeyui! You are all Supremely Good.
{ 91 comments… read them below or add one }
oh u were in Melbourne? It looked like you had a delicious time here
An amazingly fun and delicious time! I always do
Oh, you were in my work neighbourhood! That Japanese place used be a gorgeous French restaurant until last year. Glad to hear it’s still a great place eat, albeit with a different cuisine!
And you didn’t hear my voice and come running to dissect fashion and Glee with me?! I’m hurt.
Next time, for sure!
I think it’s just as well I haven’t been to Japan, or my lack of experience with most of these dishes would be even more embarrassing than it is! I think I need someone to take me to a Japanese restaurant and order for me. I’m far too cautious and tend to stick to what I know, which probably means I am missing out terribly.
(As a PS, your comment on my blog? It seems our mothers share a career / profession
).
You know what I think? I think our mothers are the same person. How else could they have created two daughter with such similar views and tastes and delights as we two?
This is definitely the only explanation.
P.S. Get thee to Japan! Travelling around Japan was when I first truly fell in love with travel and food-travel
Do you think we should tell them
It is pretty amazing.
And Japan – duly noted!
No, it can be our little secret. Except, of course, my mum reads my blog, so she’ll find out
Jealous, right here. That chawanmushi looks so good I wanna dunk my face in it, which I realize is a terrible idea. Your friend ordered very well for you guys, that is a stellar assortment.
It was stupendously lovely, so light and ethereal and not-too-eggy. I’ll look forward to comparing your version…?
Ooo. Challenge accepted!
That food looks amazing! Reading the descriptions though I’m not sure that I’m adventurous enough to try most of them …
P.S. Is it weird that I waited an hour to comment so that I wasn’t the first this time? Actually, don’t answer that – it is weird and it’s event weirder that I’ve felt the need to mention it, but I’m not going to delete it this time
Close your eyes and think of England!
P.S. Bahahaha! That totally made my day. You’re definitely my kind of weird, I love it. But you ain’t got nothin’ on my nincompitude. (I can’t even admit the stupid thing I did today!)
Oh gosh, it’s funny how once something has popped up in my little bloggy life it keeps coming up again and again … I was reading a blog the other day with that as the post title – I’m sure the girl in question would have been mortified if she actually knew what the original meaning of that phrase was! It certainly had nothing to do with her post … you’ve certainly taken my mind off the taste of raw fish though.
P.S. You cannot do that! Now I really, really need to know what the stupid thing was.
*laughs and laughs* Did anybody tell her? And what did she *think* it meant?! *giggles*
P.S. If I can collect a few more nincompoop moments, I’ll write a blog post about them, I promise. But, you know, I can’t force the nincompitude. It just comes when it comes.
Ooooooooooohhhhh, I’m always very excited about Japanese food! There’s probably no other cuisine that teaches you so much to experience every single bite with all your senses.
I also want the little radish chopstick bench.
(Do you call it like that in English? The German word for that is “Stäbchenbank” what means “bench for chopsticks”.)
I LOVE THE GERMAN LANGUAGE. I love all the single words that are truly many-words-squished-together!
I’d probably stay “chopsticks stand”? Honestly, no idea! All I knew is I took that photo because I wanted the radish too
When my friend from Sydney was here for some time and learned a little German, she said she was astonished how many German words are just made up of two other words. It’s true, a large part of German vocabulary consists of composites like this, and when you take them apart and look at the single parts, they sometimes are a little whimsical.
Oh, to go back and do a Masters in Linguistics…
Haha.
Oh Japanese food, how I love thee! Usually when we go out, I end up with sushi and assorted appetizers due to all the gluten in most of the food. When I’m lucky, my husband fixes gluten-free Japanese food for me…and a nice cup of real matcha. (he has mad chado skills)
That’s spectacularly awesome! My brother’s ex once came over from Japan for Christmas and made us proper matcha with the special whisk and everything; it was incredible! And Japanese is my favourite cuisine
I’m salivating! I will definitely have to go there next time I’m in Melb
and I’m surprised you haven’t tried scallop sashimi, it’s always standard in mixed sashimi platters. Iori’s sashimi platters have them. It’s my absolute favourite sashimi 
Last time I was in Melb, I had dinner at a delicious Thai restaurant called Longrain. I would highly recommend it!
(I know this has nothing to do with anything, but I figured since your blog posts have given me places I want to eat at, it’s only polite to give you some kind of recommendation also)
What what what?! I ain’t never got no scallop sashimi at Iori!
(I bet if I went back and looked at past photos from Iori, I’d see scallops and be forced to apologise
)
Oooh, Longrain! That’s one of the fancypants places, you lucky thing you! I’d love, love, love to go there sometime. Take me? I’ll let you keep winning WWF…
P.S. That’s totally a relevant thing to talk about here, wheeee!
Hehe, well I’m feeling generous so once I move to Melbourne AND YOU COME AND VISIT ME (needed to make sure you’re aware of the seriousness of this sentence
), I will take you to Longrain for sure! Perhaps for your birthday this year? (We can always say any day is your birthday)
Usually the scallop sushi turns up in sashimi platters (at least the Iori ones) as tiny little cubes. So you can’t tell at all that they’re actually scallops. The only reason I know is because when I went to a sushi train in Sydney one year, I asked the chef (making sushi/sashimi right in front of me) what it was because it was always my favourite thing in sashimi
Darling, any sentence that involves Melbourne, you, and deliciousness will always be the epitome of seriousness in my mind
Ooooh!! Do you really think you might be there by May? I’m in! So much better than spending my birthday alone at a Let’s Chat About Dying forum…
Thank you for the sashimi tip! I’ll need to get back to Iori soon and inspect the sashimi platter more closely. After all, I’m overdue for my black sesame ice cream fix
I don’t know when I’ll be in Melbourne, perhaps I shouldn’t be jinxing it by talking about it as if it were a done deal. (Though the moving there part is a done deal… at some stage
) This is why I’ve said any day can be your birthday. Hehe!
Well, I haven’t been to Iori for a while either… so if you’d like to go sometime
Well done you! It’ll be months before I post up our adventures, but at least we get to relive all over again
Teehee, I’ll look forward to being completely surprised when yours shows up then! It’s better that way, really, as it’s quite boring when everyone posts the same thing at once
You just better not forget to talk about how amazing I am when you do write it all up. In a box.
Sufferin’ yukatas – here’s me thinking I would see a pic of you hopping into some nimono in your kimono. Maybe the pic is yet to come? Love that Japanese food Hannah.
You know what, Mike? I do have a series here called “Let’s Do The Time Warp Again”, where I post travel stories from pre-blog, and there’s definitely going to be some Japan stories eventually. Alas, no kimono though! I didn’t do the pretend-to-be-a-geisha thing in Kyoto…
Oh man. Everything looks freaking good. It’s funny– Japanese people eat a lot of vegetables…yet their restaurants usually feature little greens, if any. Or if there is a “salad” or whatever, it’s mayo-based!
You know, you’re right! How funny. Although I guess, even in Western restaurants, you often have to order a side of greens as an extra these days?
Ahahaha, yes I do do silly things sometimes, like pointing at you (for Fakegf to see) when it’s so obvious to everyone you’re the visiting celebrity!
Love the photo-bombing!! I’d never think of putting up the finger pics, trust you to do exactly that! LOL
Aw, shucks! It did make me feel rather special, amidst the giggles
(The only other time I’ve felt like a celebrity is when students were taking photos of me on their phones in rural Japan…)
Teehee, I have no shame.
I was tempted to put the photos up of your face photobombing, but resisted in the end.
nom, that kingfish sashimi looks so good! I love that style dish, so fresh! yay for vegetables
Heidi xo
The freshness is one of the things I most love about Japanese food
You know, I’m still partly surprised I didn’t order you to take me home and cook me Brussels sprouts 
Oh My Sweet Goddess of All Things Good and Chocolatey ….. I soooo want everything pictured and to have joined youse all!
And look Kath! No frozen yoghurt!
I so wish you could have been there too 
One day!
Oh gorgeous gorgeous goregous gorageous! I have no words to express. I will be returning to this page ALL DAY. You have no idea how starved I am for fantastic Japanese food!!!!
That’s it then. You’re to come back to Australia immediately for a visit, and Mum and I are taking you to Iori. STAT. Then Urban Pantry. Just ’cause.
Oh wow!!! You made my day when I read that (just couldn’t reply without freezing off my hand). If I weren’t so tied up and moneyless I’d be on that south-bound plane. Here it’s just fog and ice-encrusted trees!
Ack! If only I had that private jet at hand!
One day
Officially salivating. I always try to order some kind of greens at sushi restaurants, too. I’m also the girl who eats the radish garnish just to get some veggies in her system. It’s gotten me some weird looks, but so worth it!
Oh, don’t worry, I’m a garnish fiend myself. The weird looks I get are usually more to do with my high pitched shrieks of “PICKLES!” whenever such deliciousness get put down on the table.
Oh goodness gracious! I’d love to have a bite of everything on here! Especially the marinated salmon, mmmm. And how funny is that? The sardines look exactly like the anchovies that we Koreans eat as a side dish. It’s like they’re constantly staring at you huh? xD
Rather off-putting, I must say! We did debate at the table over whether these truly were “sardines”, and the consensus was no. I’m sure I had them in Japan by a different name! Anchovies, whitebait… we couldn’t decide!
Looks like a place we must go to in Japan. I’m wondering whether that free dish relates to the Japanese tradition of giving a free dish at the end of the meal. They call it something like “sarbis” (I think they mean “service” but Evan can probably explain … I have no idea if I’ve got it right). We had it at a few places in Japan … but none quite as fancy as that!
And oh, how I miss onigiri!
Was that a Freudian-travel slip, and you actually meant Melbourne? Or that it looks like a place you *went* to in Japan? Hmmm, that’s an interesting question! The free sake was definitely because this was the first time I-Hua and Bryan had met the Twitter Lady, but maybe the kingfish was the “sarbis”?
Me too! I so, so loved buying onigiri at convenience stores and having no idea what flavour they’d be!
Yep, meant Melbourne … but of course I want to go back to Japan again so it all whirled up in my brain and came out wrong.
I want to go to EVERYWHERE. Can’t wait, so excited, must breathe, must happen!
ooh so much seafood that I was excited by the vegetables too – greens are glorious! But what did you have for dessert?????
Aha! This is how I prove it! We didn’t have dessert! See? GROWN-UP!
touche!
So many of these dishes I’ve never even heard of before. But snaps, they look amazing. I would comment on each dish, but it would all be the same comment, something about beauty and deliciousness, etc.
Oh and I was all “it’s not evening in these photos, look at all that frickin sunlight!” Hemisphere fail.
*giggles* It’s funny you mention the sunlight, because just the other day I got mopey thinking about how we’ve passed the longest day in the year and it’s only a matter of time before it’s dark at 5pm again. Woe! Woe and misery!
And then I remembered that’s a few months away yet and got over myself.
In the winter it gets dark at 3:30/4 here. Now I’m moving further north? Double hemisphere fail!!
My face is the colour of horror.
That looks so fabulous. I love it how our Melbourne adventures have never crossed paths as yet- I’m getting scads of new ideas. SO want to go to this place! It looks right up my alley. I can’t believe you hadn’t had chawan mushi either- I think it’s one of the hidden delights of Japanese eating. Oh but I’ve never had pan fried edamame. I so so want to try those. Must get to Melbourne again this year. Must.
Hurrah for Melbourne’s utter wealth of options for deliciousness and happy times! I think the reason I didn’t have chawan mushi was because I spent half of my Japan trip alone, and so tended not to do the many-courses-meals where chawan mushi would show up. And I was also mildly addicted to, and determined to hunt down, zaru soba (with green tea soba, please) at every opportunity
Oh boy I love Japanese. And there’s none available where I live. I shall live vicariously through posts like this and then make lists of cuisine goals for when I head to cities. On the plus side though – Melbourne only 4 hour drive. WINNING!
That is so completely winning!! If I lived only four hours from Melbourne, I’d definitely head there next weekend for my brother’s and housemate’s birthday house party. Booo.
But enough about me. Perhaps I could send you a packet of soba and pickled ginger and you could bring the Japanese to your town?
well, it might be 4 and a half hours, but still. A LOT of potential. Soba and ginger could be a winner, or at the very least I’m gonna get some instant miso soup and a box of Golden Curry…classy.
Ah, Japanese curry. So sweet, so glossy, so salty… so good.
that is one japanese fine dining there! hahah the sardines are a bit disconcerting, but people eat it a lot in asian culture. its a typical Korean sidedish “banchan” and packed with protein.
you are pretty daring when it comes to trying new things. that is simply awesome.
Teehee, thanks Junia! That was always a point of pride for me, growing up. I loved being the kid who could say she’d eaten frogs legs and snails and chicken feet and jellyfish
What a lovely menu, my mouth is watering looking at all the good food. Quite honestly in my myopic understanding of Japanese cuisine, I somehow envisioned only sushis…don’t judge
Teehee! I think that’s often what Japanese in America is, though, although I’m sure there are many restaurants that go beyond sushi. But just think, there’s so much in the cuisine that even you could eat whilst pregnant!
Oh wow, this all looks SO good!
Aah, Bryan’s becoming a bit of an old sport in Komeyui now, looks like you definetly had some of the best stuff!
And whilst I haven’t hunted down three mont blanc’s in one day, it’s always on my ‘highly prized list’ whenever I am in Japan… 
*high five* Oh, Mont Blancs! My favourite was the one from the below-ground Kyoto department store food hall. It had a pastry base, chestnut paste, whipped cream, piped chestnut cream, a glazed chestnut, and gold flakes. SWOOOOOON.
Such a scrumptious dinner! So unfortunate I missed out on seeing you on this Melbourne trip, too. Ummmm I might be in Canberra later this year, though. So… *hint hint*
Oooooooh!! *jumps up and down with glee*That would be amazing! Definitely keep me in the loop, I’d *love* to meet you for deliciousness here!
How much later in the year are we talking?
August, possibly. It’s still all tentative at the moment. Will let you know if it’s going ahead. Otherwise, hopefully I won’t have other commitments again the next time you come around to Melbourne… :p
Oh no! I think it is very, very important that you come before then. *stares at you intently* Oh, if only the Australia Day weekend was a long weekend, I’d come back for my brother’s house party!
Oh, you’ll be busy/away in August?
Half hoping to be but it’s a long time away yet, so fingers crossed our plans can coalesce
Aww you guys ound like you had such a great time! Haha there are a disconcerting number of eyes in that bowl!
I know, right? I didn’t really notice on the night but that photo is WEIRDING ME OUT.
Not all your photos feature my fingers. I failed.
There there, young grasshopper. Tomorrow is another day.
I have those same chopstick rests, no joke! My set is a whole mish-mash of different ceramic vegetables- I have a carrot, pea pod, two tomatoes next to each other, etc. I have the pea pod in this photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/_bittersweet/6619981739/in/photostream … But sadly, it got cut off in this angle.
Too funny!
Teehee, that’s fabulous!! I want the set too! And, after all, I’m a Hannah too, so by rights shouldn’t I have it?
Love that you used one of them in the photo of Gena’s dish! Fabulous small world 
Oh my, everything looks soooo good! I would love to try that duck on top of a crispy potato!
you ate such delicious things! I’ve never had sashimi before and it looks quite good but the fried crab is my favorite it looks delish
Oh, I love sashimi! The crab was surely delicious too, though
HAHA i did wonder if you realized i was fakegf. It did turn out well anyhow! It was so lovely to meet you. looking forward to seeing you again!
You’re like a superhero with all your secret identities!
It would be super lovely to see you again and talk more. Thank you for the delicious cookies!
When you have a spare day on a future Melbourne trip, give us a little warning and we’ll throw you a vegan potluck. We’ll fill it with those vegetables you love so. Also, probably dessert.
Oh, Cindy, really and truly? *dances around the room in giddy glee* That makes my heart soar! I will definitely, definitely take you up on that. Oh, I just need to move to Melbourne already!
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