Hinata Cafe (Fremantle)
A boho styled Japanese cafe serving up Japanese home style cooking and Japanese favourites on the weekend, with a number of vegetarian and gluten free options.
Quick Links
Before reading โ๏ธ
Who is this suited for?
Guests after hearty and homey Japanese home style cooking (think Muji Cafe style food) with a number of vegetarian and gluten free options.
What type of food is available?
- Japanese home style cooking (brunch set)
- Obanzai (Japanese cuisine native to Kyoto)
- Weekend specials like pork katsu sando, tempura sando, okonomiyaki, matcha pancakes
- Sweets like anmitsu and matcha parfait
- A number of Japanese style pastries, mochi and wagashi (Japanese sweets)
- Japanese style drinks such as matcha, hojicha, melon soda and yuzu soda.
What should I order?
Their fortnightly changing, brunch set.
How much will it cost?
Most dishes range from $20 to $26.
Can I see the menu?
Click here for the menu.
Where is it?
Just outside of Fremantle.
What're their socials?
Hinata Cafe can be found on Instagram here.
The details ๐
As of early 2023, Hinata have opened for dinner service, offering obanzai cuisine. Click here to read more.
Hinata is a Japanese cafe that focusses predominantly on Japanese home style cooking. Previously, Hinata operated out of its sister cafe Coccolicco on Saturdays, where they would serve up Japanese deli-style brunches changing with the season. Their deli-style brunches remind us of Muji Cafe food (Japan's minimalistic version of IKEA).
The name hinata ใๆฅๅใcomes from the Japanese word which means "a sunny place". It's fitting given their new physical space located on the first floor of the Fremantle Fibonacci Centre, a hub for local artists, yoga enthusiasts, and a place that receives a decent dose of sunlight, year round. Those who remember their high school maths, might even recognise the Fibonacci spiral (or might remember the numerical sequence 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13... okay, I'll stop).
Take a couple stairs up and you'll find Hinata Cafe. The cafe exudes boho vibes and has its fair share of greenery. Taller folks be aware of the hanging pot plants.
With the exception of one large table inside, most tables are located outside, giving off an al fresco dining vibe.
All week dishes
As of May 2022, Hinata offer their brunch set and autumn hayashi set daily. A number of additional dishes are available on their weekend menu.
The star of the show at Hinata, undoubtedly is their brunch set. The brunch set changes every fortnight and offers guests a wide spread of different dishes. Each set includes a vegetable miso soup, brown rice, two protein dishes and 3 vegetable sides. Vegetarian and gluten free options are also available.
In addition to their brunch set, hayashi rice is also offered daily. Hayashi rice is a popular yoshoku (western influenced Japanese cooking) dish which mostly contains mushroom and onion in a thick demi-glace sauce. Hinata's interpretation of hayashi rice is filled with seasonal vegetables and assorted mushrooms in a tangy tomato-based roux. The serving of hayashi rice was quite filling - even with it being a vegetarian version.
A weekend special
On the weekend, Hinata offer a pork katsu sando, veggie tempura sando, okonomiyaki and a sweet matcha pancake (May 2022 menu). The katsu sando was sandwiched with fluffy shokupan and the fluffy and light pork. Two sides come with the katsu sando which change on a fortnightly basis.
Something sweet
Hinata also offer a range of sweets, like their seasonal fruits anmitsu, matcha parfait, mochi, cake and taiyaki. We found the Japanese creme caramel to have a balance of caramel and sweetness, but the texture was on the watery side for us. We do like the attention to detail with the beautiful spoon though.
We ordered the seasonal fruits anmitsu during our first visit and for us, we probably wouldn't reorder it. At the price point of around $14 (inclusive of ice-cream), we'd spend the extra $0.5 and try their matcha parfait instead.
A number of Japanese style drinks are also available such as matcha, yuzu soda, hojicha and melon cream soda to name a few.
Obanzai omakase
In addition to brunch / lunch service, Hinata Cafe started opening for dinner service on Wednesday - Friday nights, where they offer obanzai dinners. Obanzai is a traditional Japanese cuisine, native to Kyoto. Dinner is served omakase style (dishes are selected by the kitchen).
The venue was full house during our Friday night visit. Menus are changed daily and bookings are recommended. During our visit, we received 5 courses at a $40 price point*. Similar to Hinata Cafe's lunch offerings, expect dinner to be reminiscent of Japanese home style cooking.
*The bonito tataki appears to be an opening special.
One of our favourites for the night - a lightly seared bonito tataki.
Of the cold plate, the nasu dengaku and sesame tofu were some of our favourites. The sesame tofu had a borderline savoury-dessert-custard like quality to it.
We liked the combination of greens with potato salad. Maybe this is the way to win friends with salad.
The hot plate marked the final course before dessert.
After the hot course, the kind folks offer guests the option to order a complimentary round of "seconds". Yakitori and onigiri was my pick.
To finish up, a refreshing scoop of yuzu sorbet with jelly and yuzu shavings.
The dinner may leave bigger eaters a little peckish, as the majority of the dishes are vegetable focussed. For the pricepoint, we enjoyed the spread of the food offered.
Menu
Before visiting ๐
Anything else I should know before visiting?
The cafe is on the petite side, so best avoid peak lunch times (we last visited around 1 pm on the weekend and didn't have trouble finding a table).
What's the address?
Where do I park?
- Limited parking is available in front of the cafe
- There is plenty of street parking on and around Blinco Street.
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