BrimCC Organic Soup and Japanese Cafe

601 Little Collins St
Melbourne, VIC 3000
http://www.brimcc.com.au/

It’s always good to have a backup plan, because when you go out to eat at three different restaurants a week, it’s inevitable that you’ll eventually find yourself standing before dark windows and an unexpected ‘closed’ sign. Unfortunately we don’t practice what we preach, and were left out in the cold after trekking out to South Wharf to find our dining destination cruelly closed. After a lot of thinking, we decided to revisit an old favourite, BrimCC Organic Soup and Japanese Cafe.

I know I say this about a lot of restaurants, but I’ve never meant it more than I do now – eating at BrimCC is like eating in the kitchen of a loved one. The room is filled with the warm scent of curry and soup, and the menu is done scrap-book style, the images taken by the owner and stuck lovingly onto brown paper pages. The entire restaurant only seats a dozen people, yet they manage to have an entire wall feature of fan-mail.

Curry Salad Set ($9.5) – Beef Curry/Tofu Salad

BrimCC does one of my favourite curries ever, but what I love even more is the option to lighten things up with the Curry Salad Set ($9.5) – a half-sized curry with a side of salad. We’ve never dared order the full sized curry, as the half-serve is already a meal on its own. Though it’s not the most robustly flavoured, the beef curry with its thick, hearty sauce, mixed with rice, is as rib-sticking as comfort food gets. On the side we had a tofu salad, a simple mix of garden veggies and fried tofu given an Asian twist with crunchy shredded daikon, and a light soy dressing.

Yakitori Don ($10)

Though we usually stick to the soups and curries, I chose to have the Yakitori Don ($10) this time, in the spirit of adventure. Even before it reached our table, I could smell the chicken’s aroma wafting over, carrying with it the nuttiness of sesame seeds and the sharpness of scallions. The generous fillets of chicken were grilled with a rich, savoury marinade, mingling with sticky mouthfuls of rice and gently wilted spinach. It was a scrumptious yet nourishing meal.

BrimCC hasn’t changed at all in the last 3 years. The feel-good food, doled out generously into huggable bowls, never misses the mark; the chunky soups are especially fabulous. You can really taste the organic without paying the ridiculous premium most places demand. Be careful with BrimCC; visit once, and you’ll be roped in for life!

Rating: 14/20 – brimming with love
This rating reflects my personal experience at the time of visit.