There are Japanese restaurants to be found all over Melbourne, and the standard is as high in the Victorian capital as anywhere in Australia. There are chic joints in the city centre, of course, but the fun doesn’t stop there: if you’re in Ivanhoe up in the north, then Kanda Japanese Restaurant on Upper Heidelberg Road is the place for you. The cuisine is classically Japanese, with plenty of sushi and sashimi options, as well as warm main dishes such as katsu – pork or chicken – and gyoza dumplings, along with tempura, teppanyaki and vegetarian options. We’d recommend going for a meat lover's bento box combination: gyoza, spring roll, tempura seafood, sukiyaki beef and your choice of katsu, accompanied by miso and rice. Throw in a huge range of noodle and rice specialties – and even Japanese sodas to wash it all down – and you can have yourself a great night out at Kanda Japanese Restaurant in Ivanhoe (close to Ivanhoe railway station) in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.