MELBOURNE | A new Japanese cafe has popped up around the corner from the University of Melbourne in Carlton. It’s called Nijuusan, and I recently went in to grab some shots for What’s on Melbourne.
The owners hail from Japan and opened Nijuusan with the aim of offering Melburnians a taste of some of the things that they miss most from the cafes back home. The casual space is filled with Japanese artwork, photos, and pop culture references, eschewing the sleek architecture and interior design focused aesthetic of similar Melbourne spots, for something a more “real”.
The star of the menu is the water based Japanese shaved ice dessert, kakigori. A pile of finely shaved ice is filled with different ingredients, and topped with assorted toppings. It’s a light, and refreshing treat, that’s become popular in Melbourne over the past year, but still isn’t super common, especially compared to its milk-based Korean cousin, bingsu.
Flavours include things like black sesame, tiramisu, and chinpi azuki matcha. The latter sees whisked to order matcha, combined with sun-dried mandarin peel, and red beans. It’s a unique flavour for those looking for something that’s purposefully bitter and not particularly sweet. My favourite is the black sesame, with red dates and black sesame ice-cream.
You’ll also find a Japanese take on the Basque cheesecake, Basuku cheesecake, with your choice of an original, matcha, or black sesame molten filling. You can also get an assortment of milk-based alternative lattes, tea-based drinks, and smoothies. An imported Japanese vending machine at the front offers an assortment of canned Japanese drinks. Just like in Japan, part of the vending machine will hold hot drinks when the weather cools down.
Currently, the menu is all about desserts, but you can expect to find a selection of savoury noodle dishes, and things like oden as Nijuusan settles into its groove, and winter approaches. The dessert menu continues to evolve too. a new toast selection just launched and it’s proving to be a hit.
Nijuusan
237 Faraday Street
Carlton
Victoria 3053
Australia
Telephone: n/a
E-mail: n/a
Website
Open
Sun – Thu: 12:00pm to 10:30pm
Fri – Sat: 12:00pm to 11:00pm