Find curry croissants and mochi pizza at this jazzed-up Japanese cafe and shochu bar

By day, dappled light filters through trees and long windows to play upon cracks in the polished concrete floor. This might mesmerise you between sips of coffee courtesy of Wide Open Road roasters, or one of a selection of loose leaf teas and matcha lattes. Scones are baked in-house, Brioche by Philip purveying shokupan and indulgent doughnuts. The daytime food menu is similarly brief. Three-cheese toast with honey manages to be light and subtly rich at the same time.

If you’re after a more substantial hot lunch, consider the curry. Like most Japanese adaptations of Western food, the approach of homage, innovation and refinement results in a genre of curry that is, broadly speaking, simultaneously familiar and novel. It’s a pleasing counterpoint to the innumerable ones I’ve enjoyed courtesy of my South-Asian heritage. Rice with rangiri-cut carrot, zucchini, green beans and onions are cooked in a thick sauce that blooms on the palate with a complex spice and a slow, mild glow of chilli.

If feeling more experimental, try the curry croissant – in a move of seemingly paradoxical but restrained maximalism, grilled cheese on airy pastry halves works incredibly well with the vegetable curry. Day or night, there is always room for quiet surprise here.

Japanese curry is generally made with dried blocks of roux. The obscure brand of curry (the owners won’t divulge their secrets) used at Tokyo Table carries a rich pepperiness that complements your choice of fried tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet), prawn, chicken, or mixed vegetable tempura. Served with rice and a simple salad for around $20, it’s great value.

638 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, tokyotable-online.com.au

Hokkaido soup curry originated in northern Japan in the 1970s, showcasing seasonal vegetables in a thinner gravy. This spot on Little Bourke serves up Hokkaido-inspired soup curries in a cast-iron pan. Vegetables arrive with meat or prawns (or by themselves) with a bowl of rice on the side. Add that rice to the soup and enjoy!

346 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, wakuwaku.au

If your dining companions are not so curry-inclined, they might choose from the several prepared vegetable dishes in the deli-style cabinet, served in a wooden bento box. Meanwhile, your decision paralysis will be directed to the curry and rice dishes, or should you try a “Grandma’s curry udon noodle soup”?

83A Smith Street, Fitzroy, obanzaimama.com.au

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