Ishikai Japanese Cafe

Location: 177 Russell Street, Melbourne [between Bourke and Little Bourke Streets]
Cuisine: Japanese
Company: Jenn

In accordance with our plan for ramen, Jenn and I headed in search of a good Japanese restaurant to try out. Walked past Ishikai and decided that the dessert and drinks menu was enough to tempt us inside.

~Food~
I found the servings for the mains quite large. I ordered the Karaage Age Ramen, which was essentially fried chicken marinated in some nice sauce on top of ramen noodle soup. The soup had a nice flavour to it, not to salty to complement the strongly flavoured chicken. But the serving was HUGE! Jenn opted for some sashimi and sushi, then ordered another raw beef entree. The raw beef dish seemed a little small, and came with a raw egg in eggshell and onions on the base. To me it looked like a dish of beef waiting to be put into hotpot.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Friendly and casual enough for our liking. Only drawback was the amount of time they took to get Jenn's dessert order. In the end, we canceled it because it was taking too long.

~Price~
Very cheap for the serving size. There are a whole range of desserts and drinks for a very reasonable price too.

~Overall Impression: 7.5/10~
It was a good feed, especially on a rather cold day. Will probably go back again for the ramen some time.