Gekkazan

Overated restaurant, they cook good but their ingredients is poor quality! I ordered a teriyaki beef which it should have been «stake beef» but i got served «ground beef» which was 50% fat! i didn’t like the sushi i got either.

Very tasty and good quality food, lovely location and friendly staff (real Japanese).
Highly recommended for a lunch break in weekdays or all-​day meal during weekends.

Yes, you have to roll the nori on yourself. But, you will be forever ruined for any other sushi typically available around town once you do. Crispy nori! Who knew? Probably people who have eaten sushi in Japan, but I’m from Indiana… most Hoosiers are scared of sushi.
It’s certainly the best handroll sushi I have ever had, non-​expert that I am. I have trouble NOT going here for lunch when I’m in the city. I loves it. If you are a mild fan of sushi, you will not regret a trip down the GPO laneway to seek this out.

As the very late comer to gekkazan i will be the party pooper here.
The fresh, roll-​your-​own crispy nori sushi is certainly great novelty and does taste pretty damn good.
however by your third roll, I think the novelty begin to wear out as you start to question all the plastics being used and wasted to keep fresh these individual nori sheets.
The regular rolls are good, but I am left thinking «what the» when i tried the big triangular rolls. Costing $ 4 something a pop and claiming to be «grilled salmon», I found these triangle rolls to contain rice mixed in with salmon pieces… hardly close to what I imagine being big chunk or slice of grilled salmon.
The damage for 3 of us was about $ 44 for 2 drinks and about 8 sushi rolls.
I don’t know, I don’t think I will be rushing to come back. Gimme sushi train anytime.
(plus, I asked what is the diff between this green tea and that green tea, the answer was: they’re the same, Just a bit different.)

We had lunch there the other day and it was really nice. We both went with their lunch bento box and I liked it. I love bento boxes, you get a bit of everything and they are very filling.
I’d heard of Gekkazan before and I’d also read the reviews prior to trying it. I know now why all the reviews have been so positive and I have to agree with the fact that this place is really good.
The staff are very nice, the ingredients they use is fresh and this is naturally evident in the dish. They have a couple of seating inside but, on a busy lunch serving, you’d be more likely to get one outside. I really like how you have the option of having a miso soup w/​the lunch box. There’s something ‘comfy’ and ‘feel good feeling’ (feel good feeling?! Good one Kev!) about starting your meal w/​a miso soup.
Gekkazan… You’d be seeing a lot more of me if I worked in the CBD…

Perfect sushi! Especially liked the one with tempura in it. Very nice tea that you can refill as much as you like. See picture.

Was looking around for ramen, and remember about this place from few years back. So I went. Ordered the miso chicken ramen. I asked for fresh cut chilli, they didn’t have it. The chilli oil and chilli powder wasn’t spicy enough. So abit disappointed. But after pouring a good amount of soy sauce the broth taste delicious, the ramen noodle are bouncy and nice, but the chicken could be done better. Overall. Tasty though. Just not amazing…

Yes, this can get hectic in here during lunch, but it’s warranted.
Of the half dozen times I’ve been here the sushi has always been fresh (the turnover alone should guarantee this), and well made. Wrapping the rolls yourself adds a nice touch — their nori is really outstanding too, it doesn’t get stringy like some lesser sushi joints.
Gekkazan is a good alternative to most of the franchised sushi outlets in the immediate area and conveniently placed just off of Bourke St. Mall at the back of the GPO.

The perfect sushi.
This guys have managed to find the perfect balance in mixture of the ingredients with perfectly cooked rice and other ingredient. I have become a regular because nothing make more sense than taking away some Sushi to eat on a long drive (considering someone else is driving) stuck in Melbourne traffic.
I have also been fortunate to take credit for introducing other friends to this place.

Really nice hand rolls — they have a good selection of fillings, sitting in the lane way is nice, and the staff are good too. The self-​rolling roll experience is genius.

While I am still a fan of its sushi (with rice nicely separated from the nori hence keeping it fresh and crisp), their ramen left me cold — literally.
It was a cold day in Melbourne and I was really craving for a bowl of ramen. I had a tonkatsu ramen there years ago and remember it to be nice. However, that particularly item was removed from the menu. I settled for a chasu ramen in shoyu (soy sauce based) instead. To my horror, the soup was lukewarm (actually more to the cold side) and the noodles were hard and wiry. The last straw gotta to be the thick (usually a good sign but not on this occasion) slices of chasu — they were cold, bland and coarse. The experience was not unlike pouring a whole bottle of soy sauce (the soup was so salty it stings the tongue!) into 2-​minue noodles and throw a few chunks of cardboard in. Voila! There you have a bowl of Kenzan ramen at $ 14 a pop.
Looking around and seeing all the half-​eaten bowls of ramen (I have to point out the serving portions weren’t even remotely considered substantial), I should have known better earlier. Or, should I say, they should have know too?
Time to buck up or be gone Kenzan! Your GPO location is too good to be wasted liek that — next better tenant please!

Fight the crowds that gather during the CBD lunch hour at this laneway sushi stop — the buttery salmon sashimi is worth the wait. For me, Kenzan is the perfect mix between common-​day sushi (hand rolls) that people know and a little more traditional Japanese for those wanting to branch out of their hand roll crutch. It’s generally always on my «to go» list when I visit Melbourne.
The last time I was here I was dining with one such hand-​roll aficionado that was so perplexed by their «make it yourself» rolls until he bit into the crispy nori and instantly saw the rhyme behind the reason. As Tresna L said — you’ll be ruined and never wish for soft nori on your hand roll again.
Of course, the hand rolls and onigiri here are exceptional, but take my pick and go the salmon sashimi plate. For $ 15 it’s heaven on a plate. As far as the bridge between «take-​away» sushi and restaurant sushi goes, Kenzan bridges the gap brilliantly.

Kenzan at the GPO is, in my opinion, the best place to get nori rolls in the entire Melbourne CBD.
The nori rolls come wrapped in plastic to separate the nori paper from the rice. When you are ready the eat you unwrap and roll the rice roll into the nori paper. The result is a crispy outside and makes all the difference in the world! I cannot eat ‘soggy’ nori rolls anymore.
You have to get there by about 1:30pm if you want to have a decent selection as they sell out of the most popular — cooked tuna and california — very quickly. Getting a seat can also be difficult between 12:30 — 2:00pm. I usually get take away though as my office is just around the corner.
One quick tip — they often forget to put the soy sauce and wasabi in the bag so double check before you step out.

Sushi heaven. A friend introduced me to this place today and having been to Japan just a few short months ago — I am eternally grateful!
As per the other reviews here, the nori rolls are spectacular and it’s the only place I’ve seen in Melbourne that serves the seaweed fresh and crispy. In Japan, that’s all you’ll get. Everywhere in Australia serves the pre-​wrapped, cold and damp hand rolls, but now I know there is an exception. Their little plastic wrapping to preserve the freshness is ingenious from a sushi bar.
I can see myself eating here all the time now, I am definitely hooked.

The first time I heard about Kenzan, I’d walked in to a room of friends and they were all rolling their eyes in ecstasy and making funny noises. Apparently one of them had just made mention of Kenzan and their crispy nori sushi rolls and it had sent them all off in to fits drooling.
I realised I was missing out, so marched to the GPO building quick smart to sink my teeth in to one of them.
Yep, they’re pretty damn good. There’s the usual fillings — tuna sashimi, spicy salmon, terriyaki chicken yada yada yada… but what sets Kenzan apart is their nifty plastic wrapping that separates the nori from the rice until just at the last minute. Before you can eat the roll you have to do a kind of sushi origami and unwrap the roll and then re-​roll it upon itself (trust me, it will make sense to you when the time comes). This means you get expertly cooked rice, fresh and delicious fillings and CRISPY nori on the outside. It’s a textural delight and is going to ruin you for every soggy nori roll you ever eat in the future.
As a dining experience Kenzan is nothing spectacular — you’ll sit elbow-​to-​elbow with shoppers and office workers during the peak lunch period, but it’s quick and fresh and you’ll only pay a small premium for what I feel is some of the best sushi in Melbourne.

Arrived late to the hotel and found these guys on Unilocal — so thought I’d try them out. A bit pricey but food is def delicious. Spicy Pork Ramen was excellent.

I lived in Japan for two years and this place is one of the most authentic I’ve found in Melbourne. Not Aussie Japanese but real tasting Japanese.

Oh, hello lobster and potato salad sushi roll. Sup? What’s that? You’re just hanging out in the Kanzan bain-​marie waiting for me to come collect you? How patient and kind of you. Thanks. Hows about I buy you for $ 4, which seems pricey but I know you’re worth it, and go sit on the GPO steps and unwrap you from your plastic covering? Would you like that? Hows about I then see that the seaweed sheet is wrapped separately and that I have to roll you up myself, which is easy and means that the seaweed is dry and crunchy instead of soft, and therefore more delicious? Hows about I totally eat you in about two seconds and you’re one of the best sushi rolls I ever had? Yeah? Hows about I’m now talking to myself because you’re totally in my stomach? I know, right.

Kenzan @ GPO is the little sister to the much fancier Kenzan restaurant on Flinders Lane. As you might well imagine, they have a solid reputation to maintain and they certainly deliver the flavours, albeit in a much more casual surrounds and at less frightening prices.
I ordered the spicy pork ramen in miso soup and I was quickly served up a hot, steaming bowl of noodle goodness. It was definitely a notch above the other ramen eateries in town. I’ve yet to try the sushi, but if the ramen is anything to go by, I reckon this could be the place to pick up a few hand rolls on the run.
At $ 16, the ramen was a tad more expensive then at other casual Japanese eateries in Melbourne city, but in this case I really believe that you get what you pay for.

It’s hard to find a time to come to Kenzan when it’s quiet. So I always tend to grab some sushi to go. However they have many dishes on their menu, from bento boxes to various noodles. I must admit I like their soft shell crab and lobster salad, they not only taste good but it’s also something a little different to what’s usually on offer in the world of Melbourne sushi. The novelty here is, you get to roll your own sushi and onigiri. It comes all wrapped up in plastic that’s printed with diagrams on how to go about it. This makes the seaweed retain a bit of crunch, unlike pre-​made sushi you buy elsewhere. However if you can’t be bothered you can still by some of the normal kind. Also you’ll find a few good Japanese drinks on offer. I can’t go past the iced milk tea; it always manages to transport me back to my time in Japan. The prices here aren’t the cheapest you’ll find in Melbourne, but then again, they do offer something a little different to what’s already out there.