Pachinko – Introduction
Over the past decades we have seen many food venues come and go in the Quadrant Mall in Launceston. We were therefore delighted to find a Japanese-influenced restaurant called Pachinko had opened.
It is a pleasant venue and the staff are very welcoming. It is always great to be greeted with genuine warmth.
Since our first visits to Pachinko it has become our restaurant of choice in Launceston on our frequent visits to this town.
In fact, we think that the quality of the ingredients and the skill in the cooking and presentation here qualifies it to be ranked as one of the top restaurants in Tasmania – definitely in the top five based on the quality of the ingredients and the cooking.
There is outside seating at Pachinko but we opt for an inside table so that we can see more of the action. We have usually continued this choice on each of our subsequent visits, unless there is a Covid scare in which case the outside tables become more attractive.
Pachinko – The Food
There are two ways to order here. If it is your first visit, it might be an idea to order the “Feed Me” option. This way you will be served a selection of the items on the menu without having to make any choices. This will give you an understanding of the choices and the style of dish that you might want to order in future.
Alternatively you can choose from the menu. One hint here is to make sure you order some of the vegetable-based dishes. The chef here sources produce from some of the best sources including the truly excellent vegetables from Felds Farm which is in the Tamar Valley just north of Launceston.
Their salad vegetables are always strong and tasty and recently we have had dishes of their pink-eye potatoes which are amazing, with their strengths being highlighted by clever combinations of ingredients by the chefs.
On future visits we have eaten our way through the changing menu on a number of occasions. This is a first class venue with Pachinko being an excellent addition to the Launceston dining scene.
One meal that we enjoyed in February 2022 started with seasonal green beans cooked tempura-style. The batter was crisp and cooked perfectly as a foil to the texture of the beautiful, fresh green beans.
The following photo is also from a meal in February 2022 and is a dish of very fresh calamari and tomato that not only looks stunning – it also tasted amazing!
On these future visits we have experienced many stunning dishes. On our most recent visit we were blown away by a dish of prawns and another of alfonsino that had been caught off the West Coast. Both were cooked perfectly and were packed with flavour. These ingredients had been sourced from Tasmania’s best fresh fish shop, namely Kyeema, which you can find in the suburbs of Launceston and which has its own entry on this site.
You should try any of the dumpling dishes served here as they are made with a light hand and are always delicious.
We can unreservedly recommend Pachinko. We can also add that it is the perfect place to drop in to buy a bottle of wine as they now have a licence that allows you to buy bottles to take home.
Additional information
Street: 23 Quadrant Mall
Town/Suburb: Launceston, 7250
Opening hours: Dinner Tue – Sat
We have included Pachinko is our survey of restaurants and other food venues in Launceston. You can read this story here.
We should also mention the very varied music always thoughtfully selected here. Often there are African overtones and other times it just varies across many genres. On our most recent visit we were treated to Kill Dem by Jamie xx and Ice V by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard as examples of the musical diversity.