Ocha
One of the things that I love the most about Twitter is that it is no longer quite so odd to meet up with a bunch of random people you met over the internet. Yes, there are still a few massive freaks out there in Twitterland who really should stay behind their keyboards instead of venturing out into the world, but Twitter has put me in touch with some pretty funky people. On this particular occasion I was lucky enough to have @bookshopaddict, Mrs @bookshopaddict @annetreasure, @eatnik, Mr @eatnik, @ShannonERyan and Mr as my lovely dining companions at Ocha.
As soon as we had all arrived, the handsome waiter (by the way, they were ALL handsome) asked us if we would be happy for them to put together a menu for us. Hell yeah! Ordering in a large group can always be awkward, especially if you’ve only met your dining companions once/never met them before. Problem solved.
Knowing that we would probably be having a set menu of some description, I had phoned Ocha the week before to let them know about my fish allergy. Over the phone they had told me not to worry, and just to let my waiter know on the night, and that they ‘would find plenty of other tasty things for me to eat’. I was a little concerned as I’ve had issues with this in the past; one fine dining restaurant outside Melbourne thought that it was perfectly fine for me to not eat anything during fish courses (never going back there). But Ocha were fabulous. For example, while everyone else shared these little salmon potato crisps:
I was given my own little dish of delicious teriyaki chicken:
I felt very special. Mr was jealous.
The salmon/chicken course was followed by beef tataki:
This was the first of several melty-in-mouthy courses of the night. It was as soft and delicious as it looks. Exquisite.
Next up were some of the tastiest pork and vegetable gyoza I’ve ever eaten:
After recently eating some VERY disappointing dumplings at Hutong, these restored my faith that amazing dumplings do exist. Soft and crispy skins with a tasty filling. More please.
The next dish was by far the prettiest of the evening; grilled scallops with Ocha hollandaise:
Did I mention that I’m only allergic to fish, not seafood? Woo hoo! Which means I was thankfully able to enjoy the next dish too, ebi dango:
Prawn dumplings with green tea salt. The texture of these was so unusual, the crunchy outside contrasted nicely with the soft prawn in the middle. And I think I’d like green tea salt on all my meals from now on please..
By this point in time I was getting pretty full. But there was still more to go. While everyone else chowed down on a mega platter of sushi and sashimi:
I had my own miniature fish-free version:
While I felt very special and loved, I found these scallops a little bit fishy. Mr was more than happy to take them off my hands. To replace the scallops (not that I really needed to) I swiped a piece of the soft shell crab sushi from the main plate. Wise move. Delicious.
Three more dishes to go! While all of the food was absolutely beautiful, the calamari salad was my favourite dish of the night:
Another from the melty-in-mouthy family. Hands down the softest most tender calamari I’ve ever eaten. No awkward tentacle regurgitation here..
The final savoury dish of the night, another m-i-m, was the teriyaki duck breast with bok choy:
I think if they’d served everyone their own dish this size, we would have devoured it all.
Because I’m a little piggy, I ordered green tea and red bean ice cream for dessert:
I really didn’t need to order this. But I’m glad that I did! The green tea ice cream had a nice strong flavour, it wasn’t just green coloured vanilla ice cream that some restaurants seem to get away with. The red bean was excellent, with a nice bean-y texture.
In addition to the marvellous food, what made this night brilliant was the fantastic company. Honestly, food tastes better when you’re having fun! I’m really looking forward to catching up with these lovely Twitter folk again soon.
Ocha is fabulous. The food, fabulous. Service, fabulous. Ambiance, fabulous.
Go.
Hawthorn, VIC 3122 9853 6002
Food gobbler. Wine lover. Kitteh keeper. Gen-Y. Fiancée. Twitter addict.
Fighting the war against Leggings As Pants one fashion victim at a time... 
I love Ocha but haven’t been for years (I used to work next door to the Kew location and the bentos were our special lunch treat). I’m glad to hear that the food and service is still as fabulous as ever.
Oh… wow. Those dumplings look amazing! And the teriyaki! These look amazing, and handsome waiters? I’m there.
I haven’t been to this restaurant but always on the lookout for good Japanese places and everything looks so amazingly fresh. Will have to get there soon.
YUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything looks so delicious, glad you’re feeling better!
Merry early christmas,
XXASAB
http://angelaseeangelablog.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/pre-christmas-haul/
Great review, pics add so much. Looks to be a great variety of food.
Thanks :)
Great post! I was contemplating going to this restaurant for dinner in the coming weeks, but now I know it is definitely on my agenda :) very informative, thanks!
Thank you! Have you visited yet? Am dying to go back.