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Located on 3rd floor of Emporium - modern Japanese venue with tons of beautiful decorations. Always busy so try to come early! The Marbled Sukiyaki Bowl - Premium marbled wagyu beef were tender and juicy. Egg was perfectly cooked (exactly at 63 degrees according to them). Relatively small portion but it's definitely filling! Also highly recommend umami fries!
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Overall rating: 4-4.5
I've been to this Japanese Australian casual dining restaurant serving local Australian produce of premium quality and complex execution of gourmet food.
The restaurant has a gastronomical theme with a modern elegant decor. We are welcomed by friendly staff who take us to our seats. The only issue is that you may be sitting on the same table as strangers due to the overcrowded space.
We ordered my go-to rice dishes: Sukiyaki Bowl and Crispy Roast Pork Bowl.
These rice dishes have never failed to satisfy me. The sauce is perfectly seasoned onto the fluffy rice and meats. I am always amazed about how consistent they are with their perfect and technical soft-boiled eggs, creating that creamy shiny glaze on top of the rice when broken into.
The wagyu sliced of meat had the perfect amount of fattiness, and melted in my mouth. It is a wagyu bowl that aligns with the traditional dons in Japan at a fine dining level.
The crispy roast pork was so juicy and fatty, and the skin was ever-so crispy while still intact with the pork.
In my past experience, I've also had the Unagi Bowl and Aburi Salmon. Unagi is not my favourite, but the glaze and truffle egg was interesting and definitely worth the taste.
I loved the Aburi Salmon and how juicy the perfectly cooked salmon was. Their secret Calia sauce added to the perfect balance of flavour, which I highly recommend to try.
We shared a bowl of Umami Fries which were seasoned perfectly and had a nice slight crisp, not too oily and was rich in umami like its given name. The shredded nori was a tasty addition to the fries.
In the past 3 years I've been here, it's sad to notice there may have been a declining portion of meat in the bowl, shrinkings its value.
The desserts are quite average, especially with their Brown Sugar Milk Tea. An unpopular opinion from me since I did not quite enjoy the grainy texture of cake.
The Matcha Lava cake, on the other hand, is delicious and rich in both matcha and chocolate. The ooze you get from the first cut won't always be what you get, but is so good and not to sweet, you have to try.
Would love to come back to try their starters. Calia is the ultimate spot for luxury food at an affordable price.
Food: 4
Value: 4
Ambience: 4
Service: 5
Came a day before the second lockdown began!
Temperature is measured before you enter, and of course sign in is required through a qr code. Tables are adequately spaced out. Weird to see calia so empty
Food tastes as per normal.
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