During my last weekend in Melbourne, I was able to catch up with my friend’s aunts and families over dinner. My friend introduced me to them when she visited me here and from then on, I always felt that they treat me as part of their family. 
So I made sure that before I go, I’ll meet them up for dinner or lunch. I was just glad that they were available that weekend so we can eat our meal in no rush. 
At first, we were supposed to go to a Thai place but on the last minute, they decided to change the venue to a Japanese restaurant in the CBD called Shoya. I wasn’t picky with the food to eat so anything is alright with me.
The ambiance at Shoya was really nice; reminded me of a Japanese restaurant in the Philippines called Seryna (which reminded me that it’s been na while since I was last there!). We ordered a lot for entree and even I was shocked by the amount of food that we ordered! One of my friend’s aunts was constantly raving about the kani ravioli so we had to give it a try. Other dishes that we ordered for the entree were sushi sashimi moriawase, ebi tenmaki and spicy tuna roll. I had one of the kani ravioli and I thought it was just ok. I mean, there was no standout flavour in the dish and there was no sauce to begin with. But I totally loooove the sushi, sashimi and maki samplers! 
I had a couple and everything was totally fresh! The raw tuna and salmon were so tender and it doesn’t have any fishy after taste. Good quality sashimi!
For mains, I ordered the maguro (tuna) steak. I had a hard time choosing which one to order because everything seemed so yummy! But I decided to give the tuna steak a try since I was intrigued with the sauce that comes with it. When our mains arrived, was really happy with my fish The sauce accompanied the fish real well and the added pine nuts gave it a different texture. Each piece of tuna was wrapped with nori sheets so it was like a sushi-steak meal The sauce gave it a light touch of sweet and sour taste which was pleasing to eat with the fish. I was pretty happy with my meal until the poached salmon. One of my friend’s aunt ordered the poached salmon (which I wasn’t able to table a photo of) but I tried it out and oh my! It literally melted in my mouth!! After trying the salmon, I wanted to trade plates with her! LOL Too bad I can’t go back to Shoya anymore so I can order the poached salmon for myself 
Once we finished with our mains, the hubbies were in a hurry as it was a bit late so we were ready to skip desserts. But the kids gave that long sad face, so who can say no to that? :p For dessert, I had the black sesame ice cream. It was a simple dessert but really yummy! The ice cream wasn’t too sweet so I enjoyed every spoonful. It was a good, light dessert after all the food we ate.
Had a blast with my dinner at Shoya! Food was lovely and everything was so fresh! Really worth your money. It’s a bit pricey but for that dining experience, I’d be happy to pay for that amount. Service was good, too. The waitress can’t speak too much english but I can see that she was reeaaallly trying her best to give her best service, so I’d commend her for that
