Yoyogi

I love this place. It's my eatery if all else fails and often enough when they don't.

211-213 Swanston St, Melbourne

In the heart of the CBD, as realtors might say, situated near the entrance of Chinatown and sandwiched between Claypot King (that's a story for another day) and Crown Cafe Bakery (nice cakes, apparently, but the one time I got something from there I also came down with gastro...) this place has the freshest, tastiest Japanese food for student prices. I've pretty much had everything on their menu - that's how much I love eating there.

My friends and I went down the other day and ate:

Agedashi Tofu

We watched the benito shavings do their creepy curling up and moving around thing for a while. Kinda fun. :) The tofu was really tender and yummy. ;___;

Gyoza

I love pan-fried dumplings. :F Steamed dumplings are healthy and all but...missing the crispy outer shell. Not in-your-face meaty, so that was nice. Well, depends what you feel like.

Okonomiyaki

I don't love okonomiyaki so I really don't know what to say. It was nice, though. I'd eat it again. A bit burnt but the crispiness was nice.

Ramen with seasonal vegetables

Well, this wasn't mine and I only ate the bamboo shoots that came with it. Nonetheless, those were some nice bamboo shoots. ;D

Cha Soba

Yeah...don't worry, you actually get more soba than that but I was too hungry and forgot to take the photo until after I had decimated what came in the bowl. That sprig of coriander was a nice touch, thanks to the okonomiyaki dish. I love soba. This green tea flavour wasn't too flash - I couldn't really taste it - but the buckwheat one is really good. I suggest getting the soba with a side dish or ordering this and an entree because, well, a meal isn't a meal without meat. ;D

My friend has this thing she does in Japanese restaurants to test their skill. She always orders an oyakodon at every new Jap. place she finds to see how they make it. I forget what she said about Yoyogi's oyakodon but I decided to eat it one day. Not bad. Quite good, actually, but the serving was too large for me. I'm more one for smaller but a greater variety of dishes when I eat.

Other dishes of note:

Unagi Don - Japanese-style eel on rice (with miso soup) is the best thing I've ever eaten. The eel is so incredibly tender and tasty I almost cried when it was gone.
The ramen with narutos in - sorry, I really forget what this was called but it had kim-chi, takoyaki and naruto slices on top. It was good and spicy for a freezing winter.
Tonkatsu Ramen - this was the first dish I ever ate at Yoyogi's. I still remember because I couldn't believe that I was eating something this good that hadn't been made by some friend's parent.
Any and all of the bentos - lots of varied little dishes and a cup of miso to fill you up. They give you a taste of some of the entrees.

Everything on the menu is incredibly edible. Move beyond the sushi and dimsim front and go and take a seat at the back. Even better - upstairs.

Keep an eye peeled for the chef with the hair dyed a brilliant, clown red.