Hako

Ph: (03) 9620 1881; 310 Flinders La, MELBOURNE 3000

japanese, $
Open Lunch Mon-Fri Dinner Mon-Sat; Licensed, BYO byo, Corkage $5 bottle; AE MC V EFT

Other published opinions

Herald Sun Claire Sutherland, 10-06-08 Score: **** "The Japanese classics here are flawlessly presented by day with a more adventurous menu by night"

The Age Cheap Eats 2008 "Good news: once-tiny Hako has found itself spacious new city digs in a lovely old building with high ceilings and big windows"

The Age John Lethlean, 14-12-2007 "So what do you think," she asks a few familiar faces wandering into the new restaurant for the first time (the smart ones with reservations, the unlucky trying their shot at a weekend walk-in). "It's very Melbourne, isn't it?" Indeed it is. A Malaysian-Chinese-Australian host; her Japanese-Australian partner/chef; a long, narrow recycled city building on the corner of tiny, buzzing, hidden Bligh Place, done up in a way that emotes the simple aesthetic of Japanese design with judicious use of obvious cultural references"

The Age John Lethlean, 3-12-2007 Score: 15/20 "There are two Hakos, tucked away in Flinders Lane, south of Elizabeth Street. Each has its place, and I like them both, but don't confuse them. Needless to say, the pair have much in common. A cool new warehouse-style space, for one, with impossibly high matte-black ceilings and scuffed black floorboards, old window frames, lots of stark white plaster punctuated by simple Japanese furnishings and sculptural flower arrangements. It's a simple-yet-edgy contemporary fit-out by day or night, that reflects the owners' style and references Japan only subtly. And both Hakos have the same couple running them; chef Masahiro Horie in the kitchen, his wife Ji-ah organising the floor, a slightly more challenging role now they have 60 or so seats to fill (as opposed to their 20-seater in Degraves Street, the premises from which was born Hako's cult following.) Both have Japanese food; some of it quite traditional, some quite progressive, most very good"

Herald Sun Eat, Bob Hart, 3-11-07 "I visited regularly and - because of my preference for drinking tea with Japanese food, a cheap option inevitably left with change from $20. Now, visiting the new and improved Hako may cost a few dollars more. But it will still cost less than you might expect of an elegant, 60-seat establishment offering fine, modern Japanese food in the CBD: one visit to Nobu, I estimate, would cost as much as four visits here. And both should leave you in a deeply contented state of mind."