Who would believe that Taxi, the new ‘Japanese Inspired’ restaurant in Melbourne’s nouveau heartland of Fed’ Square would fail to impress?

First of all it’s not all bad. The service at Fed Square is phenomenal. You may have 3 or 4 waiters all night, but their communication is exceptional. Secondly their wine list is definitely up to par. Sure they didn’t have my favourite Chablis, but plenty of unwooded Chardonnays and organic wines. What did suck however was the food.

Second disclaimer for this blasting is, I love raw beef. Whether it’s Japanese Gyuu Tataki or French steak tartare, you know a good restaurant by their willingness to serve something raw. This was a stumbling block for Taxi.

For entree, we had some gyoza dumplings that were superb, and what I was hoping would be even better a wagyu beef teaser. Now bear in mind Wagyu is meant to be beef so tender that it will melt in your m0uth. Fat is so readily through the meat it looks like marble and is so fine it melts instantly in the pan and becomes very lean, easy to chew meat. Suffice it to say, their wagyu was rubbery! It was a bloody travesty. I’ve had better beef in Japanese cafes that didn’t even claim to be Wagyu.

One thing’s for certain, down the road at Movida’s their Wagyu beef was the real McCoy.

My girlfriend had a main of green tea Soba noodles and salmon which was indeed sublime. I had the special du jour of a rabbit leg with shitake mushrooms and a lumpy mash. It was described as very ‘gamey’ in flavour. I think Ladros had them licked. It was nice, but quite literally the mash was too lumpy (was this intentional I don’t know) and i’ve had far better rabbit at L’oustral. For a ‘Japanese inspired’ restaurant and the lay it might be interesting, but there’s far better out there. I expected far more.

In closing I also have one question for the staff. Why do they use such cheap, shitty, flimsy chopsticks? They give you these cheap, weightless, plasticy things that a Japanese would never dare serve food in their own house with.

Taxi gets 3.5 out of 5. Excellent service and staff, but the food’s just not that remarkable.