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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.
Had to wait 20 minutes for seating during lunchtime which is mostly due to covid which is understandable but the food was very tasty and the service was great and attentive! Definitely recommend the boba cake as it was delicious :)
Always a pleasant dining experience here at Calia. Ordered the Aburi Salmon Bowl, Crispy Pork and Matcha Tiramisu and they were all pretty good.
It's now truffle season, which means that truffle fries are back! Crispy fries with a light hint of earthy truffle flavour, topped with shaved parmesan. However, I'd prefer if the fries have a stronger truffle taste.
Overall rating : 3.8/5
Every time I went there have to wait for a sit really long, since it is a much smaller space than in Chadstone. Anyhow, the food and service quality is still excellent as usual, always go for a wagyu bowl, the aburi salmon and the amazing boba cakeš
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We revisited Calia Emporium recently after a mediocre first visit awhile ago. Service was much better this time around even though they were super busy.
We had:
Aburi Salmon - the salmon was perfectly seared and went well with their signature sauce
OāBara Bara - the mixed fish was fresh and delicious
Brown sugar Boba cake - a bit over hyped and was nothing spectacular
Cappuccino - this was well made and a great end to the meal
Definitely will be back.
Previously:
We had high hopes visiting this highly rated restaurant in the Emporium but had them dashed fairly quickly upon our entry. After we queued up for a few minutes, we were greeted by a frustrated looking wait staff who had some difficulty keeping her emotions in check.
We ordered a variety of items. Prices were reasonable. The sukiyaki bowl had nice wagyu beef slices with a lovely egg on top. The somen noodles had quite tasteless crab meat in a tea broth. The vegetarian kinoki bowl was fresh and beautifully plated.
For dessert, the brown sugar boba cake was a let down. The chiffon cake was quite dense.
The restaurant was super busy and it was a challenge to attract the attention of staff. Will consider a re-visit in the future.
Calia is a great venue in Emporium to take a load off and experience high quality food with a fantastic ambience and customer service.
The staff are willing to offer suggestions, prompt with service and the food speaks for itself.
The bowls are great value and the sashimi is perfectly portioned, cut and served how it should be.
The Boba cake is a must!
Tried the branch in Chadstone and this. Both give us a surprise taste and we love it. The matcha lava we thought it might be too sweet as a dessert, but it came out to be just nice. Will be back for the beef!!
Iāve been wanting to go here for almost a year now and I finally had the opportunity to visit last night. Overall, the food is good but not āknock-your-socks-offā good. I had the XO ramen, which was interesting but surprisingly lacking in broth (I had to steal some from my boyfriendās pot). It definitely wouldnāt have tasted as good without it. The pork floss was a nice touch. We also had rose cat paw lattes which were lovely and added an element of playfulness with our meals. Afterwards we checked out the retail section of the shop where they had a unique assortment of (fairly expensive) homewares. Definitely a good experience overall.
I love Calia! This Japanese eatery has been my favourite place to visit with my family and friends. From staff, interior, food, location, presentation, drinks, desserts and products are unique!! I'm never disappointed every time I eat here. It's great for a catch-up or a birthday gathering. Try to prebook or get in early as it's popular.
Itās pram friendly as well for those who have children and babies.
You won't be disappointed when you eat here š
Such a lovely Japanese restaurant. Love the interior design and vibe. Food is very delicious and nicely presented. Service is quick and staffs are friendly. Itās a busy place and thereās always a queue. However, the turnaround is pretty quick. And you wonāt get bored while waiting as the Japanese shop connected to the restaurant has so many interesting items to explore. Will definitely come back to try more dishes. Highly recommended.
Yep 10/10. Beef - amazing. Tender- perfectly cooked, beefy. Fried chicken, 10/10. Ordered extra fried chicken because one serving is never enough. Rice is always great here, clean and aromatic. Curry sauce is smooth, inoffensive, and presented well. Drinks were high quality albeit pricey. Only grievance was the phone line/signal when trying to call was really bad. Hard to make a booking.
Comfortable dining area and efficient staffs. Love their truffle items. Options to ask for cooked meat if you donāt like them undercooked .
Overall pleasant dining experience .
Long queue at peak hours so better to make booking to avoid disappointment.
I loved everything about this place and Iād been a fan for a few years now; the meals (both savoury and sweet - and their presentations), the ambiance, the service, the location, everything except the wait times! Their sweet dishes were elegantly delicious with great texture combinations, their savoury Japanese-influenced meals were so delicate and flavourful, and the lattes always came with cute latte art! A couple of my favourite dishes were the Wagyu bowl and the Chirashi bowl. Highly recommended for both lunch and dinner.
Beautiful and spacious venue. Restaurant on upper level with lift access. Japanese grocery shop on lower level. Food was fantastic, all beautifully plated and all delicious. Reasonably priced. Service was good too. Highly recommended.
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