Lunch at Purple Peanuts Japanese Cafe, Melbourne CBD

Purple Peanuts Japanese Cafe
620 Collins Street (the Prague end)
Melbourne CBD

I’ve already reviewed Purple Peanuts once, when it won my 2011 “best Japanese places to eat in the city“, or some other oddly-specific category I made up at the time. But I went back for lunch again to try a couple of the other things, and thought it deserved a post all to itself.

This time, I tried the tofu burger, which comes in a turkish bread sandwiched with Japanese mayo (why is this stuff so much better than normal mayonnaise? But it is!) and salad. It was tasty but not quite as flavoursome as I had expected, which is ironic given I ordered a tofu-based dish.

A filling meal.

My friend got the chicken curry which was likewise a large meal for the price. There was a lot of curry sauce but she slurped it up with no complaints. I had a small case of dish envy.

Presented prettily. (Optional miso soup in top right hand corner)

I think I preferred what I got here last time, which was a selection of the salads and a tuna okonomiyaki, which were both healthy (in the case of the salads) and delicious (in the case of the probably deep-fried okonomiyaki). So I’d probably recommend going for one of those, if you don’t feel like a giant curry-based dish.

The queue here moves ridonkulously fast, so don’t be put off by the line out the door and wending its way down Collins Street. By the time you are able to read the menu on the blackboard, you’re already being put under pressure to order! This could be one of the first cases in my life where I would prefer a LONGER queue, to allow for more decision-making time. Verdict: still good, just order carefully.

Between visits, other bloggers have reviewed Purple Peanuts – it’s quite the popular place! Fatboo visited and liked it; Naturopathic Eats found it hit and miss, interestingly one of the misses was the salads which I quite enjoyed! And Lashings of Ginger Beer reckons it’s a higher quality Don Don’s… I’d have to agree.

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