Wabi Sabi Salon

Ph: (03) 9417 6119; 94 Smith St, Collingwood 3066

japanese, $$ -
Open mon-fri noon-3pm mon-sat 6pm-late; Licensed, BYO bottled wine onl, Corkage $2.50 person; MC V EFT

Mietta's Review
A wonderous blending of Fitzroy and Japan. The waiters with their tatoos and dreadlocks look as if they're working to support their Brunswick St coffee habit. The food mixes traditional with rather adventurous Aussie inpired dishes. There is a mixture of seating from tatami mats to cane armchairs. Good place for a sake or two.

Other published opinions

The Age Cheap Eats 2008 "Collingwood meets Osaka here and the feel is warm, playful and a little chaotic: a feast for the eyes, and the turn"

The Age Cheap Eats 2007 "With nooks aplenty, Wabi Sabi melds the style of a Japanese bohemian with the playfulness of a child's tree-house. There's a bamboo-shaded courtyard (the spot for sake and a tender beef and potato hotpot) and a mezzanine above the bar (good for Asahi beer and lightly scorched yellowtail sashimi)."

The Age Cheap Eats 2006 This charming, cluttered den fuses a traditional izakaya with good ol' bohemia. By the dim light of paper lanterns, to the beat of 1930s jazz, patrons chat at the wooden communal table

The Age Epicure 14/6/05 Matt Preston "Enter Wabi Sabi and there is a slightly chaotic and ramshackle feel with a little nori roll counter by the front door, a pair of big bamboo-framed easy chairs facing each other wedged hard between the chest-high bar and a large table with a top made from a thick slab of tree that has a deep gouged flaw on one side. Ah, the flaw makes this table perfect, does it not? Very "wabi". Every surface of the bar seems to be covered in little objects and touches, layer upon layer, like the patina of age. Hmm, very "sabi"."

The Age A2 Patrick Witton 2/4/05 "IF COLLINGWOOD and Tokyo had a love child, it would be Wabi Sabi Salon. This year-old Japanese restaurant marries style with soul, the grungy with the groovy. It is, indeed, very wabi sabi: a Japanese expression that describes beauty that's imperfect or fleeting. You can see it in the decor of pebble gardens and dated Japanese posters, and in the smiley staff who deliver "Japanese Mama's Cooking" on what looks like primary school craft crockery- that is, misshapen ceramic dishes, some rough, some smooth, but they all fit in perfectly."

The Age Cheap Eats 2005 "this restaurant and bar blends traditional Japanese with a decidedly Collingwood ambience. Note the dreadlocked and tattooed waiters, the chill-out tunes and the lantern-lit interior."