Hako

They say good things come in small packages. E might get you buzzing but they can be exy and leave you grinding teeth. Making babies is fun, but having one will cost you an arm and a leg. Mum, dad, I’ll repay you somehow one day.

Perhaps a meal at Hako just might go someway to wiping off that bill. A cheap eat champion, its entrée menu larger than the mains, options that showcase the simple beauty that is Japanese cooking. Order plenty of those small dishes designed to share, which unlike some of my life choices growing up, do not disappoint.

Gyoza is a must, fried pastry stuffed with pork meat, cabbage and garlic. Yakibuta, ramen style slices of pork belly is oven baked with a healthy strip of silky fat attached, salty sweet from a marinade of soy and mirin combo. Nasudengaku, eggplant deep fried with a thick paste of miso oh so creamy, the flesh perfect harmony with the sweetened fermented soy and rice mixture. No doubting the quality of the things with fins used for the sushi and sashimi platter served in a bento box. As surprisingly as an unexpected pregnancy, but much more pleasurable, the special of fresh asparagus and minced beef encaused by panko and deep fried, lathered in a runny egg sauce hinted with soy and mirin. Extremely yummy.

The food here probably won’t get you to the highs that small white tablet provides, but what gets my rocks off is getting a great bargain. I much rather the small packages that Hako delivers.


3.5 / 5 yums!
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Where? 310 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, VIC
What? Entrees $12, Mains $20