When you Google ‘best Japanese in Cairns’, Ochacha is the first place to come up on the listing, and for good reason. I went on a Monday, which is lucky because they are closed on Tuesdays, for both lunch and dinner. I dined alone at lunch, and had a lovely chat in Japanese with the waitress who was visiting on a working holiday. It was a particularly hot day, so I opted for the zaru udon, cold udon noodles in a dipping sauce. The meal was so refreshing – the noodles were beautifully chewy and the flavour of the sauce took me right back to Japan. Having had such a nice lunch, I took my friend back there for dinner, and we feasted on sushi and sashimi. The aburi salmon nigiri sushi was the highlight, although I was impressed by the relatively large pieces of salmon and tuna sashimi on the two plates I ordered. The miso soup was hot, flavoursome and not too salty. My friend also ordered the chicken katsudon and we were both stuffed full of delicious Japanese food by the end. A must-visit for Japanese food fans.
Ochaha Modern Japanese Dining, 34 Lake Street, Cairns QLD, no website
