It Just Has To Be Delicious

Archive for November, 2025

Hiyori, Manning

Nestled in amongst the Manning community and shopping centre, Hiyori first came to my attention when I found out that they serve a Teishoku Japanese lunch. Great value, for around $30-38 depending on your protein, you get a tray with rice, protein, pickles, tamagoyaki (egg), soup, dessert (usually mochi), and a serve of tea – choose from hojicha, sencha, matcha, and genmaicha. Proteins include miso cod, koji salmon, sashimi, wagyu, and yakitori, and the whole meal is a wonderful experience.
While you decide, you get a small bowl of beans to snack on.

On our first visit we chose the miso cod. Great good quality cod with a delicious miso sauce. The soup had a chewy dumpling which made for an interesting texture, the egg was smooth and tasty and the pickles wonderful. Mochi dessert was green tea, which had a slightly bitter coating and a slightly sweet soft jelly texture. The sencha tea was first class.

On the second visit I chose the wagyu roast which came with a soy dip. Again, top quality protein and the mochi was a mango flavour which I preferred to the green tea version.

My partner chose the Koji salmon, again a lovely good quality protein.

On our next visit we decided to try dinner and it was an absolute treat. Everything we had was good. We started with a kingfish crudo, probably my favourite dish.

Then tuna tataki with a lovely chilli oil ponzu sauce and grated radish.

Next came the shio teba chicken wings with yuzu koshu, umeboshi paste and mayo – so moorish and addictive.

Next the sticky belly pork chashu with miso and red onion salad. A little fatty for my tastes but the lean meat tasted amazing.

Then last the okonomiyaki stack – japanese pancake with bacon and cabbage

Dinner didn’t disappoint. Bookings are recommended, Hiyori gets busy and there’s a good reason why.

Last Visit October 2025
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Fun thing to do, Restaurant review

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Tendon Kohaku, East Vic Park

What could be nicer than tempura and rice? Tendon Kohaku have a mouthwatering list of choices and “tendon” is a portmanteau of tempura and rice, nothing to do with connective tissue!

The menu include a range of tempura, there’s the Kohaku that includes prawns, chicken, corn, beans, shiitake mushroom, pumpkin and runny egg tempura; then there’s the prawn lover one that is purely tempura prawn; there’s also wagyu versions, veggie, and eel. The choice is yours and you can order additional side dishes of tempura if you wish. Each set comes with sauce (classic or spicy), pickles, miso, chawanmushi (savoury egg custard), and wasabi. You can choose from white rice or multi grain rice, and you can add tencha tea if you like to pour tea over the rice.

There are other dishes available such as katsu curry, and udon noodles, and a variety of soft drinks, usually tea based.

It’s all extremely well organised, but can get incredibly busy at weekends, so the best plan is to get there early and order early.

On this occasion I chose the soft shell crab tendon with tencha:

Everything on the tray was delicious. The wasabi nice and strong, and the variety of things to eat made it a really enjoyable and interesting meal. I definitely want to come back and try the other tendon options.

Last visit November 2025

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Restaurant review

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