When you arrive at Kurobuta, you immediately relax a little, probably because the people who dine at this restaurant at lunch looked like they were there for the long haul, as in they had nothing important to attend to and there wasn't a suit in sight. Combine the cool clientele with the Australian staff, the music and the décor and what comes out is more Melbourne café than smart restaurant which is more what we were anticipating given the ex-Nobu background of the Australian head-chef, Scott Hallsworth.

So in the spirit of this little Melbourne micro climate we decided to kick back with a couple of signature cocktails called Green Bastards which blended Hendricks gin, Midori (a Melon based liquor) and fresh cucumber. It was certainly green but pretty friendly and very refreshing...the perfect aperitif I would of said.....maybe the bastard part comes out after having drank 3 or 4.

The food at Kurobuta is Japanese-Asian and there is so much to go at; the idea being you order a selection of dishes for the table that you share. Being new to the restaurant and a little lazy we asked our waitress to pick for us and so began our feast. We started out with some flamed edamame and sweet potato fries finely cut with some tasty dipping sauces and then got stuck into the mains with some yellowtail sashimi, some beef fillet tataki with garlic crisps, some wagyu beef sliders and the piece de resistance 2 steamed buns stuffed with BBQ pork belly and a spicy peanut sauce. Everything was delicious the last couple of dishes the wagyu and the pork belly put us in food heaven...

We finished it off with a slice of amazingly moist and scrumptious carrot cake off the top of their bar and washed it all down with two espresso martinis and a couple of shots which were called something that cannot be repeated in this review.

As we stumbled out a few hours later from our lunch time gorge on some of the best food and cocktails we had eaten and drank in ages we could only mumble to eachother about how much we enjoyed ourselves and how we would definitely be back. So as much as I want to keep this place to myself and would hate to turn up one day and see I couldn't get a table immediately I want everyone to try this place and then we can all talk about it.

p.s. did you know? The espresso martini was invented by Naomi Campbell who walked into a bar and asked the barman to make her something that will perk her up and f**k her up!