Kenzan Japanese Restaurant

Hubby decided to give me a break and head out for a nice dinner last Tuesday. I was in-charge to decide the venue. I spent some time in the morning surfing thru net and reading thru some melbourne food blog to find new restaurants/our next target. I did manage to find a few which caught my attention. As both of us are craving for Japanese Food, I decided to try out Kenzan Japanese Restaurant located at Collins Place.
we were both pretty hungry when we reach the restaurant. I ddin't make any booking assuming they won't have a huge crowd on the weekday + we are early. The place was not even half full when we arrived. But throughout the whole night, we kept seeing customers arriving and leaving.
After viewing the menu, we decided to have a Prawn Tempura, a Seafood Chawanmushi, a Sushi and Sashimi in mid size(should be enough for 2).
We will given edamame (beans) FOC before we start our meal. It was fresh + each of us was given our own share of edamame. I didn't manage to take the photos.
1st to arrive was the Prawn Tempura with a bowl of rice. The Tempura was nice! I smell really delicious and prawn was fresh. But hubby felt that the prawn is a bit too small, not fat enough. As for the rice, it's rather disappointing. Nothing special even though they state on the menu that it's imported Japanese grain but it taste what we have at home daily.


Next was the Chawanmushi. I like it coz the steam egg is really smooth but it's a bit to hot. I almost burn my tongue a few times. Plus they make you eat with a very small spoon! Okie I admit, I'm not lady like.



There is a long break in between the next food. Hubby was getting a bit impatient. By then, the place had already packed with customers. Finally our favourite Sushi and Sashimi arrive. 1st reaction was "WOW so big ah!". 2nd reaction was "Serving plate BIG only leh!". Hubby started to suggest maybe we should order more dish. We started eating after requesting the menu. I like the rice coz I can taste the vinegar, the sushi is well done + the fish pieces cover the rice! Hubby was disappointed by the oyster as it's too small. We did manage to have a few different types of fishes + different parts.


The menu came when we are almost finishing the food and Hubby was getting really disappointed by their service. He noticed there is a huge different in service by different people. He saw some of the waiter explaining the food to their customer when it arrive. But the gal who serve us just bring us our food and did nothing else. She even almost forgot about our request to see the menu + having more wasabi. *shake head* Hubby started complaining and comparing the food + services to the other Japanese Restaurant we tried at in Chinatown. It the end we didn't order any more food + didn't finish our meal with dessert + not a single cents in tips. Disappointing. Don't think we will go back there again. But we never knew till we try right?
Good service has been consider in when it comes to fine dining. It the food is alright not very fantastic but the service is good. We will definatly go back again. But if the food is nice but service sucks. We can forget about it.
Btw, photos are taken using Hubby's Nokia Hp. I always forget to bring the camera with me. I will try harder to remember okie. :)