Kumo Izakaya

Atmosphere is the stand out at Kumo. Great seating space and overall vibe, transports you from Sydney Rd outside. Service is lacking, we were looking closely and waiting a good 4-5 minutes every time we needed some assistance and our water for the table didn’t arrive until after we had ordered all of our food. Maybe it was just an off night as all staff were lovely but everything was just moving real slowly. The food was good, but there were little things which made it just slightly miss the mark. The squid lacked tenderness and was quite chewy. The tuna tacos and beef tataki were undersalted. The sushi roll had a lot more rice than filling. And the chicken kaarage was quite dry.

$155 for two including drinks. Tip: if you are getting Japanese plum 🍑liquor, don’t get by glass ($15), get one Carafe ($25) that serves at least 2 glasses per person. You can look at our bill attached. We had: Salmon Carpaccio Signature Fried rice Kimchi Edamame Bang bang chicken (not really a fan, could not taste lemon grass as described on the menu) Green tea panacotta Cheese cake(not really a cake, tastes good but it’s “deconstructed”) Great service, very fast! Would recommend for special occasions, calm and cosy atmosphere.

We rocked up on a Saturday early evening - no booking with our 4 year old. The host found us some seats in the front window. Service was warm and attentive - our child was given some cute kids chopsticks to take home. Food was fast to the table, presented beautifully and with the attention to detail and flavour, without being overly complex, that is the hallmark of great Japanese cuisine. The space is fantastic - an old mid-century bank, redesigned as a restaurant with some beautiful detail.

It's a nice place but very pricey (almost double everywhere similiar) for really small portions. The beers were great and the salmon sashimi was fresh. Grilled salmon wasn't very big as were most of the other dishes. Atmosphere is nice, decorations were lovely but they had lots of free tables and ended up squashing everyone into one row with not a lot of space between tables.

Had been meaning to check out Kumo for a while so heading in on a weeknight. We were weighing up the set menus but decided the go à la carte. Got some edamame as an app - they were nicely grilled and a solid way to kick off the meal. For entrees we went for a couple of seafood dishes. The Hokkaido scallops were nicely presented in a shell - flavours were subtle and the scallop was nicely seared. The kingfish carpaccio was super light and fresh and really nicely seasoned. For a meat dish we went for the beef rib. This was a bit disappointing - glaze was a little sweet, texture a little chewy. I reckon it could’ve used more time braising to get to the level of tenderness you’re looking for. Broccoli was a simple dish but well executed - shallots provided a nice crunchy texture and soy-based sauce paired well. Karragge was solid - super fresh, nice crunch and went well with the swicy sauce. We went for the yuzu daiquiri cheesecake as dessert - unfortunately this sounded a bit better than it tasted. Was okay but a little one note. Overall good experience and a really nice place. For me, its tough to go past Kura for Japanese food on Lygon, but Kumo is another great option to have.