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Yu-U
Ph: (03) 9639 7073; Enter From Oliver Lane, 137 Flinders la, MELBOURNE 3000
Japanese, $ -, ** for Food & Ambience
Open Mon-Fri noon-2.15pm (or until sold out); Mon-Sat 6-9.30pm; Licensed; AE DC MC V, Seats inside 28, Private room
Chef Yoshiki Tano (7-11-07) Owner Yoshiki Tana & Miho Nakao (7-11-07)
Photo: Tony Knox
Mietta's Review
No sign just a blank door. Enter. Go down stairs and find yourself in Japan facing a large bar at which food is served. The key here is care, care more conscious of itself than of those it serves. It is particularly careful not to take more than the (tiny) allocated number, so for the unprepared (meaning if you haven't booked) access is well nigh impossible. The food is fine, the price very reasonable and the experience funky in a Japanese kind of way. Well worth a visit. |
Other published opinions
Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 15/20, One Hat "You could easily mistake Yu-us heavy, graffitiscrawled steel door for one of the many bars and clubs around this fashionable part of Flinders Lane"
The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 15/20, 1 Hat "Finding Yu-u is half the fun: its only street presence is a forbidding cast-iron door in a grungy laneway, with a sign the size of a postcard. If you had only a vague idea where it was, you'd never find it. Not that you'd get a table anyway bookings are essential both for lunch and dinner, even though they are wildly different prospects."
Herald Sun Dining Out Stephen Downes 11/10/05 Score 18/20 "Yu-u doesn't need to play hard to get, though it is hard to get in. It's the consummate restaurant in all departments and its value for money is extraordinary. The wine list is adequate and has a good spread of older vintages at fairly good prices. A handful of drops are available by glass and there is quite a good sake choice. Two table whites and three reds come in half-bottles."
The Age Good Food Guide 2005 score 15/20One Hat "FOR a place so deliberately understated, Yu-u has flashes of drama in all the right places. An almost unmarked door off a laneway leads to a chic wood and concrete space, moodily lit by downlights and floor lanterns. A traditionally dressed yakitori chef stands behind the bar, red paper fan fluttering at the coals, in light filtered by smoke wafting from the grill, looking like something from a Vermeer painting."
The Age Cheap Eats 2005 "There's been talk of a sunken, softly lit, wood-and-concrete dining space, where demure staff move in and out of shadows delivering coils of soba noodles and steamswirling miso - elements of a smart set lunch"
Age Take Five John Lethlean 11/7/04 "Surely Melbourne's coolest canteen, the delightfully publicity-shy Yu-u continues to look after our wellbeing with its marvellous $15 set lunches, which change all the time."
The Foodies' Guide 2004,Allan Campion & Michele Curtis,'The best Japanese food is a steal at just $15 for the dish of the day with soup,noodles or rice and pickled cabbage.The bad news is it's hard to get in,the good news-they take bookings.'
The Age Cheap Eats 2004,Somewhere really special,'In this beautifully styled urban oasis everything is highly polished-from the jarrah benches and concrete floors to the professional service.The $15 set lunch is one of the city's best deals'
SMH GFG 2004,'This hard-to-find,must-book,very modern Japanese restaurant,with barely a sign,specialises in grills,salads and nabe hotspots rather than sushi.From gleamingly fresh soy beans with sake to the lotus root salad,it's Tokyo in the back lanes of Bleak City.'
The Age Good Food Guide Awards 2004-1 hat, score 15/20
The Age, Sunday Life, 8/2/04, John Lethlean,'Obscure yet cool, YU.U's blank doorway gives no hint of the archtectural Japanese basement below.Sitting around the vast jarrah bar is the most sensible thing you'll do with your lunch hour this year.'
Herald Sun, sundaymagazine, eating out, Sally Fisher, 2003. Full of stylish trendies and serves tiny dishes at dinner.
The Sunday Age, Sunday Life, Eat Streets, John Lethlean, 18/5/03. "Great Bento boxes at lunch include rice, miso, sushi and vegetables.
Herald Sun, citystyle, "National Treasures", Bob Hart, 8/4/03. Best Japanese.
Herald Sun, food&wine, diningout, Bob HArt, 29/10/02, Score 18/20
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