Teppansan Japanese Cafe179 Russell St, Melbourne
Tel: 96631938

With low funds and a big sign advertising lunch specials for only $5.80, the first thing that came into mind was "Yay! Cheap food!"

There are a number of options under the $5.80 range, and if you pay a bit more, you get a bento range for $10-12. All meals come with a free bowl of miso, but if you order the bento meals you'll be able to select either Harumaki (spring rolls) or Takoyaki (octopus balls) as an entree, and you get to order a wider selection of mains, which includes a variety of Okonomiyaki. You can also order an Ice Lemon Tea or Soyabean Milk for an additional $1.50 with these set lunches.

The first time I was there I ordered Chicken Teriyaki with rice. It was quite a big bowl and surprisingly had quite a lot of meat. In fact I was struggling to finish it!

I had Fish Teriyaki with vegetables and rice on the second visit. This time round the meat serving was much smaller, and the amount of rice they gave also shrunk. I finished lunch and was still hungry!

Taste-wise, the chicken teriyaki was very home-made and was not at all authentic. They did have a fair bit of sauce on the rice, although that was a little bit starchy. As for the fish, they actually pan-fried it till the outer layers were crispy (which was nice!) and drizzled the teriyaki sauce on top. The veges were stir-fried, and was there solely (in my opinion) to compensate for the size of the fish.
: Ratings :

• Service: 6/10 - They seat you quickly and pass you the menu at once, but depending on who you get service is very average. There is a guy that looks like Yamino from Ragnarok Loki though, and he's always smiling, bowing and saying thank you or welcome. If he was the only waiter who served me I would've given him a 7.5! XD
• Food: 6/10 - Home-cooked rather than authentic, the food tastes okay, but don't expect the fish/chicken teriyaki to knock your socks off. If anything, when you start eating you'd probably be thinking "Hmm.. I'm pretty sure I can whip up something like this.."
  * Note: When I went there again the 2nd time, the selections had changed, and the $5.80 range seemed to have downgraded.
• Layout: 6/10 - The restaurant is long rather than wide, and they have figure drawings of Japanese people on the wall.
• Overall: 6/10 - Overall this restaurant is reasonable, considering its cheap lunch prices. It's a must-go if it's lunchtime; you're hungry; low on cash and/or food supplies; and the kitchen's worst nightmare. * Just an additional note though, that this review is based solely on the lunch specials. IMO Teppansan's not really somewhere to go and pay full price for..