My friend and I have heard good things about Hachiko in Belconnen, a Japanese fusion restaurant, so we made a lunch date to try it out. It’s a little difficult to find as the entrance is more towards the boardwalk and there isn’t any signage outside that day.
In all honesty, it’s easier to choose the deluxe set menu ($80 per person). On top of that, we ask for two additional dishes – the takoyaki ($12) and chicken karaage ($12) entrees. These are one of the first dishes to arrive at the table – both decent dishes.
The first to arrive from the deluxe set menu are the Pacific oysters with pickled water chestnut and lime. I’m surprised and happy to find that we get two oysters each. The chestnut gives a nice crunch to the fresh oysters – always a nice start to a meal.
The chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg custard) is served in a deep bowl and there’s a sizeable portion of it with blue swimmer crab and enoki dashi. It’s only very lightly seasoned with a good amount of crab meat on top. I would have liked perhaps a bit more salt and seasoning, but otherwise it’s a warm delicate dish.
The grilled king prawns with garlic butter and yuzu are easy to pry out, soft and buttery. No complaints except I wanted more.
The wagyu gyoza comes with homemade chimichurri sauce and fried kale. These are fat and juicy with crisp bottoms. Even without the chimmichurri, I think the gyoza are good on their own.
A tempura platter of vegetables, prawn and oyster arrives with three types of dipping options – nori salt, coriander ponzu and shichimi pepper. I leave the salt and pepper, and just dip into the ponzu.
The Australian wagyu 6+ striploin comes with sautéed potatoes and mushrooms. It comes thinly sliced with a bit of char. It comes served with Japanese chimichurri, wasabi and nori salt. I end up ignoring the wasabi and enjoy dipping it into the nori salt and chimichurri.
The miso marinated glacier toothfish comes with tomato salsa, citrus miso and fried leek. The fish is softer than it looks. The citrus miso is interesting and sweeter than expected. A wedge of lemon is also provided for that fresh zesty hit.
We also receive a plate of broccolini and miso soup (not pictured) as part of the set menu.
To finish, the set menu’s dessert comes with a dessert plate of yuzu lime tart served with two choices of ice cream. We receive the yuzu tart, along with a matcha tiramisu and four ice cream flavours – sakura, hojicha, matcha and black sesame. The gesture is unexpected but appreciated. I can’t really taste anything else but sweetness in the sakura ice cream. The other flavours are lovely. The black sesame is deliciously nutty. The matcha in the matcha tiramisu only seems to be the dusting of matcha powder on top. It’s very creamy with not much sponge, so it’s not really to my liking. If you like your citrus desserts, the yuzu lime tart doesn’t disappoint.
Hachiko is a welcome addition to the Belconnen food scene. It’s a small restaurant with a few small booths on one side and high stools on the other (perfect if you’re dining solo). Being Japanese fusion, you can also find burgers, pasta and pork ribs on the menu. There’s also a $26 lunch special with entree, main and drink.
For the parents: Highchairs are available.
Hachiko
8/115 Emu Bank, Belconnen, Canberra
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