Yakitori Bar Launch at Circa The Prince
Circa The Prince, the darling of the Melbourne restaurant scene, has launched a superb Yakitori Bar as a pop up from April 6 to May 6, with the influence and design of Paul Wilson, chef extraordinaire.
For mine it was the bao selection that proved the highlight. With seemingly hundreds of guests at the launch I proved myself adept at securing several Tea smoked duck and quince with bush plum sauce bao.
With the crowd packed in to enjoy the amazing cuisine and ambience, I managed to stain my crisp white shirt with the sauce from the bao. Not that I cared. How good is this bao! What I loved was the texture of this open bao and the hit of duck with rich tangy sauce.
Of equal magnificence was the Caramelised toothfish and native fingerlime with miso mustard bao. And then the Sticky pork with mango and fragrant herbs was another I found delectable. I understand there was also a Soft shell crab offering that I didn't manage to sample.
The yakitori itself was a modern twist on the traditional. The mountain peppered wallaby loin was a nod to Australian flavours and was delightful.
The Husk roasted snow baby corn with smoked white and black garlic aoli wouldn't have looked out of place next door at the Cantina. Also featuring were Flinders Island lamb fillet with Sichuan eggplant and Bonito glazed with bush lime and green tea.
Drinks include Kirin beer, Sake and Japanese cocktails specials.
The yakitori bar is a great concept and somewhat sophisticated - with a sense of fun. Circa takes advantage of their robata wood barbeque for the yakitori. The yakitori and bao are from $5 each. An attractive special offer is 5 pieces of yakatori and a bottle of Laurent Perrier for $50 for the first 5 tables to book.
Circa the Prince, 2 Acland St, St Kilda 0395361122.