Address: 135 Commercial Road, South Yarra VIC 3141 Australia.

Opening hours: Mon – Sun (6pm – 10pm)

First of all, sorry for being absent from my blog for the past four weeks. I was extremely busy with my job and house hunting. It’s not easy to find a rental place in suburbs closer to Melbourne compared to regional areas like Geelong. It was a very frustrating experience as I found that most of the photos posted didn’t represent the current state of the house accurately when I went to inspect. It’s such a waste of my time. Anyways, fortunately now everything had been resolved and I can finally continue sharing my foodie stories with you.

Today, I would like to introduce you to a Japanese fusion restaurant called Gaijin. My friends Mei & Sheng brought me here for dinner and I had a ball at the restaurant. Our dinner started with seaweed salad and adegashi tofu. The seaweed salad is just my type of food, sourish and sweetish which is the perfect appetizer dish. This dish may look simple but contains great flavors and texture which made it my favorite dish of the night. Adegashi tofu was good as well with its crunchy skin and fragrant broth. The ahi tuna tartare (raw tuna cubes marinated in special sauce served with mango salsas and mango on nori tempura chips) was quite an interesting concept but somehow the taste was just average for me.

Seaweed salad.

Agedashi tofu.

Ahi tuna tartare.

We also had the crispy soft shell crab and just as its name implies, it’s crunchy. The tasmanian roll (avocado, cream cheese, and crab stick wrapped with raw salmon slices, rolled up with rice and seaweed) and the spider vs dragon roll (tempura crunch, soft shell crab, and cream cheese topped with unagi slices) were packed with both flavors and textures. The sashimi combo was fresh. All of us loved the king fish the most. It has a delicate taste and a subtle sweetness to it.

Crispy soft shell crab.

Tasmanian roll.

 Spider vs Dragon roll.

Sashimi combo.

Our dinner at Gaijin ended on high note. We ordered two desserts to share and both of them were exceptionally good. The black sesame panna cotta was so delicious and possibly one of the best panna cotta I’ve tried thus far. The panna cotta was silky smooth and the pairing of black sesame and coconut is a match made in heaven. Green tea lovers should not miss the green tea crème brulee served here. The slight bitterness from the green tea complements the sweetness of the crème brulee and azuki beans. The azuki beans added another dimensions of texture to the dish.

Black sesame panna cotta.

Green tea crème brulee.

Overall, the food at Gaijin was excellent. They perform extremely well in the texture department as they managed to incorporate different textures into their dish. The dishes are nicely presented and reasonably priced too. This place is definitely worth visiting and their Japanese fusion rolls shouldn’t be missed.

Tagged: adegashi tofu, crème brulee, dinner, food, fusion, Gaijin, japanese, Melbourne, panna cotta, restaurant, rolls, sashimi, seaweed salad, soft shell crab, South Yarra, tuna