Shoya

By: Lionel Bitchie
Date: 25th Jan 06
Venue: Restaurant
Meal: Dinner

What:
Shoya

Where:
25 Market Lane, Melbourne

When:
Sun-Thursday 6.00pm to 10.30pm
Fri-Sat 6.00pm to 11.00pm

Contact and Info:
9650 0848
Licensed and BYO (Corkage $3 pp)

From the outside, Shoya Japanese Restaurant looks pretty humble, even missable, like any other restaurant on the China Town strip. Positioned next to Flower Drum you almost feel sorry for it – until you go inside. Looking like a Kill Bill set without the violence, Shoya can hold its own. With a Japanese BBQ area downstairs and a sushi bar, dining room, cocktail lounge and karaoke bar upstairs it is more like a theme park than a restaurant.

The sashimi (pictured) is excellent, served Iron Chef style with an ice dish that both tacky and genius at the same time. The sake list, although expensive, is impressive and the specialty dish, which involves quail and scallop, combines a flightless bird and sea creature in a way you never thought possible.

Shoya may not be a cheap night out, but its menu is as inventive as it is poorly translated, and both these elements give it a personality that makes the experience more than worthwhile.