Calia - Melbourne

Calia is a great venue in Emporium to take a load off and experience high quality food with a fantastic ambience and customer service.<br/ The staff are willing to offer suggestions, prompt with service and the food speaks for itself. <br/ The bowls are great value and the sashimi is perfectly portioned, cut and served how it should be.<br/ <br/ The Boba cake is a must!

I’ve been wanting to go here for almost a year now and I finally had the opportunity to visit last night. Overall, the food is good but not “knock-your-socks-off” good. I had the XO ramen, which was interesting but surprisingly lacking in broth (I had to steal some from my boyfriend’s pot). It definitely wouldn’t have tasted as good without it. The pork floss was a nice touch. We also had rose cat paw lattes which were lovely and added an element of playfulness with our meals. Afterwards we checked out the retail section of the shop where they had a unique assortment of (fairly expensive) homewares. Definitely a good experience overall.

Insta: melbfoodie_mark<br/ YT: MelbFoodieMark<br/ <br/ Located on 3rd floor of Emporium modern Japanese venue with tons of beautiful decorations. Always busy so try to come early! The Marbled Sukiyaki Bowl Premium marbled wagyu beef were tender and juicy. Egg was perfectly cooked (exactly at 63 degrees according to them). Relatively small portion but it's definitely filling! Also highly recommend umami fries!

Overall rating: 4-4.5<br/ <br/ I've been to this Japanese Australian casual dining restaurant serving local Australian produce of premium quality and complex execution of gourmet food. <br/ <br/ The restaurant has a gastronomical theme with a modern elegant decor. We are welcomed by friendly staff who take us to our seats. The only issue is that you may be sitting on the same table as strangers due to the overcrowded space. <br/ <br/ We ordered my go-to rice dishes: Sukiyaki Bowl and Crispy Roast Pork Bowl. <br/ <br/ These rice dishes have never failed to satisfy me. The sauce is perfectly seasoned onto the fluffy rice and meats. I am always amazed about how consistent they are with their perfect and technical soft-boiled eggs, creating that creamy shiny glaze on top of the rice when broken into. <br/ <br/ The wagyu sliced of meat had the perfect amount of fattiness, and melted in my mouth. It is a wagyu bowl that aligns with the traditional dons in Japan at a fine dining level. <br/ <br/ The crispy roast pork was so juicy and fatty, and the skin was ever-so crispy while still intact with the pork. <br/ <br/ In my past experience, I've also had the Unagi Bowl and Aburi Salmon. Unagi is not my favourite, but the glaze and truffle egg was interesting and definitely worth the taste. <br/ <br/ I loved the Aburi Salmon and how juicy the perfectly cooked salmon was. Their secret Calia sauce added to the perfect balance of flavour, which I highly recommend to try. <br/ <br/ We shared a bowl of Umami Fries which were seasoned perfectly and had a nice slight crisp, not too oily and was rich in umami like its given name. The shredded nori was a tasty addition to the fries. <br/ <br/ In the past 3 years I've been here, it's sad to notice there may have been a declining portion of meat in the bowl, shrinkings its value. <br/ <br/ The desserts are quite average, especially with their Brown Sugar Milk Tea. An unpopular opinion from me since I did not quite enjoy the grainy texture of cake. <br/ <br/ The Matcha Lava cake, on the other hand, is delicious and rich in both matcha and chocolate. The ooze you get from the first cut won't always be what you get, but is so good and not to sweet, you have to try. <br/ <br/ Would love to come back to try their starters. Calia is the ultimate spot for luxury food at an affordable price. <br/ <br/ Food: 4<br/ Value: 4<br/ Ambience: 4<br/ Service: 5<br/

Had to wait 20 minutes for seating during lunchtime which is mostly due to covid which is understandable but the food was very tasty and the service was great and attentive! Definitely recommend the boba cake as it was delicious : <br/