Sushi Boto – The Overview…
Sushi Boto is currently closed. For yummy, yet affordable sushi in the CBD try Shonan Kamakura.
Food: Salmon Nigiri, Tuna Nigiri, Grilled Eel with terriyaki sauce, korokke, dry aged chirashi Don, grilled salmon and boiled rice soaked with soup
Ratings:
Food: 3/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Service: 3.5/5
Value: 3.5/5
The details…
Sushi Boto is the kind of place you’ll have to go to a little effort to find. You’re not just going to stumble past this place on a shopping spree, but situated in the gorgeous St Collins Lane food court, it’s making the most of Melbourne’s high-end food court revolution.
You can choose the dishes from the sushi Train or order from the menu if you’d prefer. While the boat concept is super cute the train itself is a little long – with dishes of the same kind bunched together – cue 10 minutes wait for that tuna to come back around. We also found this dishes didn’t look that much like the menu so we were often playing a guessing game as to what we were eating (this may have been more fun without my shellfish allergy…)
The sushi itself sadly lacked freshness, both my salmon and tuna were a little slimy, and tasted overly fishy – two clear signs they were definitely past their prime. While at $3.80 a plate they’re very affordable, I’d rather pay a little more and get fresher fish. For a busy day (we visited on a Saturday lunchtime) I’d expect there to be no excuses for the food not to be fresh.
The grilled eel with teriyaki sauce and what we assumed is the korokke fared a little better. We enjoyed the flavour in the breadcrumb of the korokke and the eel had a nice flavour and worked well with the teriyaki sauce. At a 50% hit rate we didn’t want to take anymore risks from the train and opted for a couple of dishes from the a la carte menu instead.
These dishes were better and we really enjoyed the grilled salmon. The rice here was soft and there was a great flavour from the soup. I liked the salty different flavour of the fish in the dry aged chirashi Don. It worked so well with the salmon – with a good balance of salt against the fish (which was also cut perfectly), the tuna and kingfish were also better in this dish, although they didn’t quite hit the highs of the excellent salmon. The rice was nice – soft and just a little sticky. It shows the chef team here have some talents, and we hope now that Sushi Boto is gaining popularity they can really work on the quality of all the dishes to keep people coming back to their lovely food court environment over and over again.
Everything else…
Website: https://www.sushiboto.com.au/
Address: 2.10-2.12, Level 2, St. Collins Lane, 260 Collins Street
Opening Times:
Mon 11am to 9pm
Tue 11am to 9pm
Wed 11am to 9pm
Thu 11am to 9pm
Fri 11am to 9pm
Sat 11am to 8pm
Sun 11am to 8pm
Parking: There’s plenty of paid parking nearby, but as always with the CBD public transport is usually cheaper and more convenient.
Getting here on PT: We walked from Flinders Street Station, which is easily the closest train station. Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street trams will both stop at Collins Street too (St Collins lane is parallel and in between these two streets) joining Collins and Little Collins.
Disclaimer: We dined as guests of Sushi Boto, Melbourne. Reviews are honest and based on our own personal experiences. We cannot guarantee things at a cafe won’t change including, but not limited to, menu items and opening hours, so please confirm any details with the venue before visiting.