Review Chotto Motto - Collingwood

Came here for dinner with friends after a long day at work and this place really lifted our spirits. Great energy from the decoration but also the lovely staff. We ordered a bunch of items to share and can’t complain about the flavour of anything we had. It was all delicious! Yes it’s a bit expensive but to have a 100% success in the dishes we ordered was worth it. Going to the toilet was a funny experience, I won’t ruin the surprise!

Chicken Karaage is amazing! Light crispy crumbs with juicy meat. Croquette had this spiced flavour to it. The garlic sauce on the dumplings is fragrant but we find the skin a little thick to our liking. The quirky japanese theme interior is definitely a vibe. Food - 7 Service - 8 Vibe - 9 Price - $$$

What a cute little place! The vibe is super cool and great to come with a small group of friends, great selection of drinks for a fun chill night. In terms of food... well this is why I wouldn't quite give it 5 stars, it's ok and a little pricey..... I'd have preferred the dumplings pan fried at that price point. I did enjoy the Mac n cheese personally but not everyone's cup of tea. Tip: a seat at the bar is fun so don't be afraid of it.

What a great restaurant!!! The decorations are really fun and entertaining!!! The staff was so friendly and professional! The food was tasty and we recommend you try different gyoza and share them with your friends. We really enjoyed the brownies too!!! Also, try their cocktails because they are very tasty!!!

Lovely! We Sat in the garden area with the heaters it was so warm. Love the karaage and kingfish sashimi! I found the dumpling ok but not impressive. Very interesting set up

What a fantastic place! Such a fun atmosphere. The food is outstanding, the best dumplings in Melbourne. A whole bunch of vegan options if you need them too. Karaage is amazing and so is the tofu. The cocktails are a delight as well.

The food was outstanding, lots to choose from and a good amount of dishes to get share plates, sides and dessert. Absolutely gorgeous flavors. Many items marked gluten free and vegan, so lots of options for certain dietary requirements. Lots of Japanese collectibles and quirky things to see. Good selection of craft beers and cocktails, highly recommend for a fun night out and amazing flavors.

Food was amazing. Especially, Mac n cheese and Chicken karaage with Green curry mayo. Staff were super friendly even though they were really busy, as we luckily got arranged table for 2 without reservation on Friday night after lockdown.

Lovely industrial Japanese milk bar inspired decor with attentive and passionate owners<br/>Comfortable and own seating for the solo diner and the food though expensive for the area and decor is as you would expect for Japanese inspired food, fresh and high quality, portions are also good,<br/>Service is knowledgable and prompt with excellent fries, wagyu curry, Gyoza and their fried chicken dish yum, ch Ickes karaage, rice is nice too<br/>An above expected price but the trip the experience and the food quality and uniqueness is all worth the thoroughly recommend

Ive tried to visit Chotto Motto but it's always booked out so I had to settle for some take away. <br/><br/>OMGosh these are simply THE BEST gyozas I've ever eaten. I had tried vegetarian gyozas, mushroom tempura then seafood gyozas, pork goyzas and some karaage. WOW!!<br/><br/>The flavours just blew me away. <br/><br/>And with everything served in sustainable packaging this place is a winner!

I really wanted to like this place as big gyoza lover.<br/>But taste was not outstanding. Ingredients inside of gyoza were too minced no texture. Not much difference they all taste similar. If they specialise one dish they need to be passionate about it. Spend more time to create better food if you charge a lot without making the space crazy look..

My favourite fashion forward venue that is interesting and beyond creative, try the tofu phone when you are in next. Great reason to leave the table and have a moment to yourself. I love the food, so many options as well as so many beautiful drinks, beautiful staff.

I had been really excited to try Chotto Motto, however it was a bit disappointing and did not live up to the hype. I ordered the dumplings in chilli oil, and they were served cold, they had not been cooked at all. When I brought this up with the waiter, he barely acknowledged me, and some new dumplings were brought out about 20 minutes later, with no apology or acknowledgement of their mistake. The cocktail I ordered was okay, a picture of it on their instagram makes it seem larger than it was, and it was served with no garnishes (as the picture shows). I thought the vibe was really cool, however we were sat on a shared table in a small nook, with no real view of the restaurant. I will try it again as the food (when cooked) was tasty. Did not wow me like I had expected.

On our recent visit the gyoza was burnt. Can the Manger note that your chairs are not fit for comfort. The price point here should allow for a comfortable experience left not wanting to return hence the review.

I was hesitating a bit about this place. Some of the reviews are mixed and i was worried it might be another hipster central restaurant. Turned out that wasn’t the case at all. Their gyozas are excellent. The best I’ve ever had in Melbourne. We ordered classic pork pan fried and prawn & ginger in chilli oil. The variety of shared dishes are also brilliant. We had the scallops which were fresh & beautiful. Agedashi tofu was delicious, especially with the sauce & the shittake mushrooms. Cauliflower tempura was deep fried goodness and made a great snack with beers or sake. Overall vibe was relaxed with great music and still attentive service even though we had to order at the register. I will be back again.

Such a trendy Japanese restaurant tucked into the streets of Collingwood. Absolutely loved this place, it was full of nostalgia with old school items as you walk in. The share plates were of a generous size and delicious!

Was really looking forward to trying this place after many failed attempts planning with friends. Finally the stars aligned and we sat inside at 7:30 on a Friday night. The place was only moderately busy and the music was intensely loud for such a small place with all customers seated. Definitely not a bar at all.<br/><br/>Pretty much ordered half the menu and found the only redeeming dish was the dessert apple pie gyoza with soft serve.<br/><br/>The chips are a reasonable serving size but the green curry sauce that comes with them is kinda lacking in flavour and is quite a small amount and in an awkward dish so dipping chips is not an easy task.<br/><br/>The Karaage looked impressive but turned out to be not overly flavorful and the pieces quite large and the green curry sauce also reappeared alongside the karaage. The chicken was cooked well though.<br/><br/>The corn was a good size with a two peice serve. The Thai Basil mayo sounded better on the menu. It was ok but really needed some citrus/acidity to cut through the mayo and cheese. Still overall pretty good.<br/><br/>The beef wrap was underwhelming and on the salty side. The wrap itself seemed to be soggy by the time it hit the table and a little hard to eat as it falls apart.<br/><br/>After a long wait time the gyozas made their way out although we did see wait staff do a few confused laps of the venue before finding our table. (We were actually advised the gyozas had a long wait time when we ordered but it was closer to double that).<br/><br/>Given the price and some of the hype we were expecting the gyozas to be close to perfect. They were nowhere near it. The classic pork was very bland and ruined by the $5 cheese add on. The cheese option is just a basic melted cheddar and such a confusing oily mistake. I don't know who's idea it was but we thought it must have been so crazy it might have actually been delicious but nope. Don't try it please. The sauces served alongside were also a tad confusing and also no mention from the waitstaff as they serve you on what you're actually getting. We found the best sauce was the basic dumpling sauce already on the table which is just a soy/vinegar/chilli mix.<br/><br/>The other type of Gyozas ordered were the prawn and ginger and again the flavour was no where to be found and texture was odd. The prawn is just a paste inside. No chunks and definitely no noticable ginger. Again the best sauce was the table sauce.<br/><br/>As mentioned the only dish that kind of hit the spot was the dessert apple pie. More of an empanada than a gyoza and fried with a similar texture to a Macdonald's apple pie. The soft serve was a pineapple flavour with okinawa black sugar syrup and toasted coconut peices. Not much pineapple flavour or coconut peices but it was tasty and really quite nice texture wise etc.<br/><br/>The drinks ordered were exceptionally expensive and not amazing at all. It lived up to my rules about Yuzu flavoured drinks that have more than 3 ingredients... They never actually taste like Yuzu.<br/><br/>The design and art in the restaurant is nice and seems like a cool place to be minus the music but honestly I'm still so confused about my experience and the food I ate. I wouldn't really describe it as "fusion" food but it is definitely not authentic.<br/><br/>If you want an interesting mix of Japanese food with authentic ingredients, a cute cafe vibe without loud music and cheaper drinks try Cafe Carpenter in Chadstone. 10/10.<br/><br/>

Wanted to like this so much, but unfortunately nearly everything was extremely underwhelming. Every dish ordered came with the same 'green curry mayo' sauce which while not bad got a bit boring. $5 cheese addition on the gyoza was borderline disgusting and did not pair well together at all, gyozas otherwise bland and sauces were average. Cool concept but suggest kitchen should actually taste what they're putting out.<br/><br/>For such a small menu the service was extremely slow.l, and music ridiculously loud.<br/><br/>Overpriced and disappointing.

Awesome vibe, amazing dumplings. Pretty loud inside when busy but worth it for the great food!

A quirky new bar / gyoza place that has opened up. Has lots of character including a beer vending machine! (Well, it dispenses a drink and you have to pay for it at the bar). They don’t take reservations but early on a Friday night it wasn’t too busy and it’s conveniently located next to a brewery and a pub so you can have a few drinks before heading in (the cans are kinda expensive, they have a 3 selections on tap including little creature IPA at a mind blowing licensee losing 6.4% ABV). <br/><br/>The dumplings are delicious. It’s a modern take on a Japanese classic. However the hot oil one wasn’t as hot as i thought it was going to be (extra on side for you to add). Service was very quick and you can certainly wait to see if you’re full before ordering more. One plate of 10 gyoza seems small but is rather filling. <br/><br/>Could be on the expensive side if you’re a big eater (and you can’t not have beer!) but their service is fast so you can order one thing at a time. I’d certainly come back to try other things!

Chotto Motto is an interesting fun place to get a modern, westernized twist on gyozas.<br/><br/>Ordered:<br/> 🌽 Yokocho Corn (v): with Thai basil mayo & cheese ($6.50)<br/>🥟 Prawn and Ginger gyoza (10pcs): prawn shiitake mushroom & ginger boiled in crispy chilli oil ($17.00)<br/>🥟 Tofu & Oatmeal Gyoza (v): tofu, oatmeal, kale, quinoa, lotus root & cabbage ($17.00)  <br/>+ add melting cheese ($5.00)<br/><br/>Review:<br/>!!The Zomato menu is outdated - please refer to Chotto Motto's website for more accurate dishes & prices!!<br/><br/>I really like the mexican elotes, but chotto motto's version of corn had me dipping back into their thai basil mayo base for more. There was something so pleasantly addiciting about this combination 🤤.<br/><br/>The prawn and ginger "boiled in crispy chilli oil" made me a little nervous but it tasted really really good! It's salty enough you don't need to add soy sauce and delicious enough that you keep chowing down.<br/><br/>Tofu and oatmeal gyoza was a bit of a random order, especially with the melting cheese. I think it was a bit too strange for me and my partner but it made us really appreciate the other two dishes we had. <br/><br/>Overall, great place to take a friend/friends/a fun date!

Really wanted to like this place, and it does have really good vibes with a super cool fitout. There was a DJ on a Saturday night which made it louder than usual but ok for a small group. The chicken and coriander dumplings were the most tasty, with the sauce of the boiled dumplings trumping the fried ones, which were not as crispy as we hoped. Sadly the fillings of the prawn and ginger, and the tofu and oatmeal dumplings were quite bland. Best thing we had all night was the fries (was a generous serve) and the tomato medley with vegan feta which were both tasty. Overall the food was quite expensive for what we got, next time will just go for a drink

Cute and quirky vibes with friendly service. I ordered chicken tonkatsu which tasted okay and the serving was quite generous, but I could find the same for cheaper elsewhere in Melbourne. Would consider going back though for dinner and to try their other menu offerings.

Went here for lunch service. Interiors are quirky but comes together nicely. Service is good. Food serving is generous, although a bit expensive for the taste (my pork tonkatsu was a bit tough). This place is probably better for drinks at night.<br/><br/>PS: if you’re a fan of @tofupupper on Instagram, the Tofu phone is located here, which was fun!

Fun and great Japan-inspired vibes with delicious dumplings and variety of drinks! It’s very popular and the food does take a while to come out so get some drinks!! Highly recommended, must see!

This is the cutest, quirkiest and tastiest little Japanese eatery Melbourne has.<br/>Go for the Katsu Sando with their special sauce on a weekend lunch menu. Will definitely be back for more cool and tasty yum yums.<br/>For more foodie goodness follow my ig: emptystomach

Didn’t enjoy the shiitake gyoza as you couldn’t identify any prominent shiitake flavour or texture in the dumpling . Plus if you’re going to have a restaurant without table service reflect that in the price of your food and drinks . Far too expensive .

• Kale Gomaae - Kale was pretty old. Also overpriced<br/>• Cauliflower Karaage - Would recommend but wished the batter was crispy. It was not as crispy as expected.<br/>• Shiitake, Cabbage & Ginger Gyoza boiled in Chilli Oil- the filling was bland and a little under seasoned, had to literally drink the sauce to savour the dumplings<br/>• Chickpea & Quinoa Gyoza - nice and crispy. Could use more cheese. <br/>• Apple Pie Gyoza with Charcoal Coconut Softserve - Macca’s Apple pie is more worthy. The soft serve was good. Interesting flavour<br/><br/>Price wise everything was overpriced for what it is. Especially the drinks. Could get Gyozas or dumplings for cheaper in CBD.

The stooges and I are massive fans of Japanese food, in particular gyozas. When we heard that Chotto Motto are serving gyozas, we had to check it out. Located in Collingwood, just off the main road, there’s plenty of free parking around the area if you go to the side streets. Inside the restaurant, it was filled with cool retro decor including a vending machine to get your drinkies.

Birthday lunch at Chotto Motto...Quirky little place with an inviting interior including a beer vending machine and pink florescent lights. Loved the knick nacs!<br/>Small but nice menu with great vegetarian options. Food was delicious with very reasonable prices, had the lunch special with miso soup.<br/><br/>The food was not brought out around the same time for everyone at the table, which let the experience down a bit. By the time my meal/friends meal had arrived, we had watched everyone at the table else eat (hard to do when you're hungry).<br/><br/>Lovely staff!!

No. of Visit: 3<br/>Overall Rating: 4.-4.2<br/>◆funky little place, from interior to menu, all are really playful, curious and tasty.<br/>(However you do need to pay attention if your guests cannot handle too much of the innovative from "chilli-boil" or "soy-sauce ice-cream" etc.)<br/><br/>◆all gyoza types are great, but Classic Pork is best of the best. <br/>◆I recommend "Rockling Kaarage" from the entree - really different and I haven't seen it from other place. If you don't like fish, then next best is Japanese potato salad. <br/><br/>◆soft-serves - with soy sauces ;p<br/>◆they sell their drinks from a vending machine ;p

Food was nice other than the cold edamame.. not so enjoyable and hard to bite through. <br/>The biggest let down was my partner having to line up for 15 minutes mid meal for drinks whilst everything continued to come out and go cold. <br/>Obviously this is a new venue and there is some teething issues, will be back to give it another try some time soon. <br/>

Great fit out!  But everything else was a bit so so.  Food was a let down esp the potato salad, Gyoza was ok. drinks WAY too expensive.  Like some of the other people have mentioned hopefully just teething issues.

Wicked atmosphere and tasty food. Like all good places in this area we had to wait for an hour before getting a table for our group of 5 - however this was actually perfect as there’s a lovely pub across the road that has a great selection of beer and live music. The drinks at Chotto Motto were fun and not like any I’d had at other Japanese restaurants. The waiters were polite and thanked us for coming at the end of the night. Overall great night

Might be a case of the place and staff still ironing out a few kinks, but the gyoza weren’t great. The “prawn” tasted strange and had the texture of some sort of fish... the chicken ones also had a strange texture. Pork were nice but after almost an hour waiting, i felt compelled to put up this review. Service was incredibly chaotic and slow. For example; No water on the table, missing plates, no serviettes. We were fine to go up and get these things, but it was all a little off. Sorry :(

Visited relatively early on a Tuesday night and it was shockingly busy, with about a 25 minute wait. Luckily I was able to snag the only available seat straight away after ordering, although this spot was right in front of the (open) door on a very chilly night. I sipped a beer, selected from a novelty Japanese vending machine, as I waited for my food. Options are pricy but good and include both local and Japanese options. The natural wine selection is also really nice.<br/><br/>The edamame came straight away and were prepared well. Slather on some chili oil for a real treat. The potato salad was next. I loved the crispy tempeh on top and was generally satisfied with this dish. The kale gomaae was less exciting. It was served cold which I understand is traditional when this dish is made with spinach, but it didn't work so well with the more cruciferous greens. The best dish of the evening by far was the quinoa and chickpea gyoza, pan-fried to perfection and served with a diverse trifecta of sauces.<br/><br/>My only real critique is that they took incredibly long to come out. It was a busy night, but the lag between these and the other dishes was too great to excuse - especially when I wanted to enjoy all the dishes together. I should also note that there are certain items on the online menu that were not available in-store, which is also a big disappointment. This place is very cute and obviously the owners pay lots of attention to detail, so hopefully the kinks in customer experience are worked out as the venue ages.

I really wanted to love this place, but it has a long way to go before we consider coming back. The general vibe is pretty disorganised. The food is nice enough, but way over priced for the quality. You could get similar quality dumplings elsewhere a lot cheaper. There are no options for reasonably priced beers, even the local beers are $10+. I don’t mind the going up to order at the the bar, but the prices in the food should reflect the fact that you’re not getting a waiting service. Wait times for food are also very long.

Went last night for dinner and drinks with 2 friends after coming across it on broadsheet earlier that day. We ordered a number of dishes and tried each of the cocktails and a red/sparkling wine - it took over 2 hours for all of our dishes to come out and most were bland and not seasoned at all, especially the Japanese potato salad - not sure what they were trying to achieve with that dish...Problem is, people expect dumplings to be fast, tasty and value for money - they were tasty but you can get better and cheaper dumplings in china town in a far more timely manner. They ran out of 2 things we ordered (And only told us at the end when we had to ask where it was...) but were full so we exchanged them for the soft serve dessert which was also tasteless. Overall, great vibe and super trendy but not worth the cost and the majority of the food and drinks were bland and nothing special.

Hyped up venue, so decided to give it a go.<br/>No Sandos on the menu but has been advertised through social media. <br/>Staff don’t know what they’re doing and place is in shambles, no where to sit, no direction, had to order first and look for a table and paid for a drink but didn’t get it.<br/>A lot of the menu items were out of stock, karage chicken and cauliflower and wagyu took 1 hour and 30 minutes to come and was so mediocre the only good thing about the food was the sauce to dip it in, including the Gyozas.

Chotto Motto is a really cute new Japanese gyoza & craft beer bar in Collingwood. It’s impossible to walk past and not want to have a look inside. On the outside there’s a cool Japanese language inspired black and white mural, and inside there’s lots of art, ornaments and fun things to see.<br/><br/>Gyoza are the main item on the menu, and there’s quite a few different types to choose from. We also loved the fries with tasty sauce and cauliflower karaage with a delicious sauce. You need to order food and drinks at the counter and there’s not too many seats available, though we did spot some large communal tables for groups. <br/><br/>The craft beer selection is great. Lots of Japanese beers and Melbourne craft beers that fit the theme. You choose which beer you want from a big vending machine and pay at the counter. There’s also a “mystery beer” option if you can’t decide.<br/><br/>The food & ambience were really nice, and despite a few opening hiccups you can tell that they will iron these out and it will be a great addition to Collingwood. It would be great to have a couple more vegetarian options on the menu (maybe one more type of gyoza), table service and some more seating. Despite all that, I’m looking forward to visiting again soon.

Looks cool, but I came for the food. Kaarage chicken wasn’t battered properly so was just scorched and dry and a very small serve. Gyoza was just slapped on the plate, we got pork and kimchi ones. Not cooked properly. Not crispy and quite doughy tasting skin. It’s early days so hoepefully it will improve... won’t be returning to find out though

It's early days for this place, but I was very unimpressed with the gyoza. We got the chicken and the prawn and shiitake gyoza. Both plates of gyoza were visually unappealing - in particular our prawn gyoza were pale on the bottom (rather than golden and crispy as you'd expect) and definitely hadn't spent enough time in the pan. The skin wasn't crispy or crunchy, and was actually a bit tacky and doughy - not what you want from gyoza. I'm not even sure we got the prawn gyoza because the filling was brown and soft - which could have been the shiitake, however with a $5 supplement for prawn, you'd at least hope for some evidence of it inside! Lots of love and care and time spent on the aesthetic, but I'm eating out for the food...probably won't be eating out here again.

Decked out in Japanese motfis and posters, Chotto Motto is the new kid on the Collingwood block serving up Melbourne's best crispy gyozas and craft beers. It's hard to miss Chotto's stand out exterior, washed in stark white with black patterned lines.  <br/><br/>The casual eatery and bar is the brain child of Dylan Jones, father to beloved pupper and Instagram/YouTube sensation Tofu Chan, and Tomoya Kawasaki, owner of Wabi Sabi Salon & Neko Neko. The pair have been friends for a long time and Tomoya even does the hilarious voice overs in Tofu's videos (a MUST watch for a good LOL!). Tomoya always dreamed of opening a classic Japanese gyoza & beer bar, which are extremely popular in Japan but not so common in Melbourne. Japanese culture has also been a big part of Dylan's life, spending his childhood living between Japan and Melbourne. So, it made sense for the creative duo to embark on this exciting venture together.<br/><br/>Although the winning combo of house-made gyoza and beer is the main event, the other impressive dishes are also worth a try, including the Cauliflower Karaage with Thai Basil Mayo (vegan), and the Grass Fed Wagyu Beef Teriyaki Roll Up (basically a Peking duck pancake but with Wagyu - DROOL). Once systems are running smoothly, Chotto Motto will also be available on UberEats and Deliveroo but for now, you can pop in and grab some take away. <br/><br/>The quirks in every corner of the joint will never cease to surprise and entertain. From Kewpie dolls and collectible figurines, to slot machines and skateboards, the eccentricities make for interesting dinner convo. And let's not forget the drinks vending machine stocked with authentic Japanese bevs and beers. The unique space at Chotto Motto is ideal for art exhibitions and events so keep your eyes peeled for announcements. The boys also plan to visit Japan again soon, to source more vintage curiosities and run a “Japanese Treasures Market” at Wabi Sabi Salon. <br/><br/>Stay tuned!

A welcomed addition to Collingwood, this restaurant is a super cool concept and the attention to decorating the place was on point. The food was great for the most part, however we encountered a few problems which will probably be ironed out over the coming weeks. We were directed to a newly vacant table, however the table hadn't been wiped down and we weren't given new plates for our meal. We didn't realise we were meant to have plates until towards the end of the meal and tried to eat over served plates which was a bit difficult when sharing the food. We ordered the chicken and cauliflower kara-age which were really nice, and the spicy Kim chi pork gyoza. I'm unsure of whether we received the Kim chi gyoza as we didn't find it to be spicy and couldn't pick up the Kim chi flavour. However we may have mistakenly been given the plain pork one. Overall, pleased with the food and the service was friendly however there could be more attention to detail with the rush of customers coming in and out and the setting of new tables. Keen to come back and try the soft serve!