Sokyo - Bringing Tokyo in Sydney - Birthday Treats Part 2

Just one week ahead of my birthday I had a pleasurable problem to solve – to decide on a restaurant for the family birthday celebration dinner. After some vigorous research I found the perfect place to cater for the family’s love for Japanese food and my passion for trying something out of the ordinary.

The Star (aka former Star Casino) is shimmering with the addition of dazzling eateries such as Momofuku Seiobo, Black by ezard and Adriano Zumbo Patissier. After reading some exhilarating reviews, I set my eyes on Sokyo, where stylish Tokyo meets vibrant Sydney.

We surpassed the buzzing dining area on the top floor and headed to the more discrete dining area downstairs. The restaurant is fully occupied, the lighting is dim, the music is loud and food is ridiculously good! At a young age of 29, head chef Chase Kojim has led Nobu kitchens all over the world including Dubai, London, LA and Bahamas. With his experience and creativity, he’s changing the games for Japanese food in Sydney.

The menu is divided into several sections including sashimi, sushi, tempura, robata (meat, seafood and vegetables grilled on white charcoal) and “essential dishes”. Everything is beautiful but there are some exceptional standouts, like the enoki mushroom tempura (in fact all tempura items are brilliant – lightly battered so that they are crisp and flavoursome) and the beef short rib robata with caramelised eshallots that are so succulent, sweet and appetizing. They also serve fantastic cocktails - Miss J commented on her plum wine cocktail being the best she's ever had.

The waiting staffs are proficient and made good recommendations on what and how much to order. We ended up spending around $120 pp, which is how much it would be if we had gone for their degustation. Of course I much prefer having control of what will end up on our plates (ok, I'll admit again, yes I'm a picky eater :P) so I would encourage going in a big group so that you can try the variety of yummy dishes they have on offer. I won’t ramble on as I'm sure the pictures will speak for themselves.

Entrance to the bar-like restaurant

An extremely heavy teapot

Some good looking clay tea cups

Coffee Beer

Two-ended chopsticks – how ingenious! 

Sashimi Platter

24 pieces of mixed traditional sashimi

L Loves... Enoki Mushroom with Sokyo tempura sauce and

Pumpkin Tempura with Poblano, rocoto sauce

Tempura - Moreton Bay Bug with sambal mayo, grapefruit salsa, 

Sand Whiting with curry salt, apple aioli, layu and 

Cuttlefish with chilli de arbol, tarragon ponzu sauce

L Loves... Beef Robata

Short Rib, caramelized eshallots, BBQ teriyaki

L Loves... Beef Robata
A closer look at those delicious juicy beef short ribs

L Loves... Hokkaido Scallops

Wasabi shitake pepper sauce

L Loves... Baby Corn
Burnt sweet soy, shichimi pepper butter

King Prawn

Enoki, pancetta, green chili sauce

Crowd Pleaser: DengakuMan

Caramelised miso cod, Japanese salsa, celery croutons

Wagyu +5 T-BONE 610 grams

Sokyo dipping sauces

Wagyu +5 T-BONE 610 grams

Sokyo dipping sauces

Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice Nigiri

Crispy nigiri, truffle salt, spicy mayo

Crowd Pleaser: Salmon Belly Aburi, Ooma Maguro Toro (Premium Tuna Belly), 

Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice, Braised Sea Eel Nigiri

Goma Street

Caramelised white chocolate, sesame ice cream

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fondant

Vanilla ice cream 

Look at that gooey peanut butter centre!

Donatsu

Pineapple mascarpone filling, crème fraiche ice cream

Pouring that lovely berry sauce over the Donatsu

The discrete entrance inside The Darling
 in The Star - don't miss it!

L's Verdict:

·     Taste: 9/10

·     Ambience: 3.5/5 (trendy, but a bit too loud and dark for my liking)

·     Value: 3/5

·     Service: 3.5/5 (proficient, but had to ask repeatedly for our drinks order)

·     Creativity and other WOW factors: 4/5 

Overall rating: 23/30

Sokyo

Level G, The Darling, The Star

80 Pyrmont Street   

Pyrmont, NSW 2009

Ph: 1800 700 700

Lunch: Fri-Sat 12pm-2:30pm

Dinner: Mon-Thu 6pm-10:15pm

Fri & Sat 6pm-11:15pm

Visited June 2012

Friendly advice: Sokyo is all about the quality and not quantity, so expect to pay ~$100+ pp to walk away full. That being said the food is top notch. If you don’t want to overspend, after tasting some of those delicious food in Sokyo, you can hunt for more good food at Café Court inside The Star, including Flying Fish & Chips (inspired by Sydney’s iconic Flying Fish), Din Tai Fung (world famous dumplings from Taiwan), Adriano Zumbo Patissier (for yummy desserts & macarons) and Messina Gelato (for the ultimate gelato – believe me they are the best in Sydney!!). 








Updated photos from Din Tai Fung, Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier and Messina Gelato...

Entree, main and desserts from Din Tai Fung:
Xiao Long Bao (Steamed pork dumpling), Fried rice with shrimp,
Golden taro bread, golden red bean bread

Fried rice with egg topped with black pepper beef cubes

Shrimp & pork wonton tossed with spicy sauce

Xiao Long Bao (Steamed pork dumpling)

Din Tai Fung
Cafe Court 80 Pyrmont St   
Pyrmont, NSW 2009 
Ph: 02 9000 0000

L Loves... Delicious Zumbarons:  Watermelon & Orange, Salted Butter Caramel,
Peach Ice Tea, Popcorn, Pancake & Maple Syrup, Custard Crunch

L Loves... Delicious Zumbarons:  Watermelon & Orange, Salted Butter Caramel,
Peach Ice Tea, Popcorn, Pancake & Maple Syrup, Custard Crunch

  
Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier

Cafe Court 80 Pyrmont St   
Pyrmont, NSW 2009 

L Loves... Gelato takeaway tubs from Messina Gelato

Messina Gelato

Cafe Court 80 Pyrmont St   

Pyrmont, NSW 2009 

Monday to Thursday: 11am to 11pm
Friday and Saturday: 11am to 11.30pm
Sunday: 11am-11pm

WAQU - when East meet West

Continuing on the birthday theme from the previous few posts, two years ago, for the second year in a row, I went to one of my all time favourites to celebrate my birthday with my family. It was the first time in at least a decade that I got to celebrate my birthday with my entire family - Mum and Dad flew into Sydney from Auckland, and my sister K and brother in law J flew in from Taiwan. Also with us was my sister M and Mr M's family (who always warmly looked after me during Mr M's time in Japan). I was so touched!! 

WAQU is the perfect restaurant if you’re looking for somewhere semi-casual, with a “value for money” price tag, serving exquisite and delicious food. Waqu serves modern Japanese cuisine which fuses the best of “East and West” in a stylish intimate setting. Their tasting menu changes seasonally every three months, with a choice for entrée and mains. 

L Loves… Course 1. amuse

(clockwise from the left) Spicy soft shell crab taco,‘renkon’ chips, crystal bay prawn, peach, chorizo, cauliflower puree and tomato essence, creamy corn soup,  fresh tofu, sweet miso and soy flavoured ground beef 

This platter of bite size amuse was incredibly flavoursome and marked a wonderful start to the meal.

Course 2. sashimi

Ocean trout tartare, wasabi cream sauce

L Loves… Entree option #1: CALAMARI + ABALONE + RISOTTO
Lightly fried ground calamari cake, abalone and squid ink risotto. 

This was such a heavenly dish – it was sooooo creamy and the calamari was lightly battered and fried - the Japanese are real masters when it comes to deep frying!!

L Loves… Course 3. entree option #2: RACK OF LAMB

‘Panko’ and herb crusted rack of lamb, dry miso, ‘tamari’ garlic sauce
The lamb was so tasty, perfectly cooked and crispy on the outside.

Course 4. Main option #1: QUAIL

Roasted quail, ‘yuzu’ butter sauce, hoba leaf, ‘satsuma’ potato

A closer look at the quail

Main option #2: BEEF TENDERLOIN STEAK

Red wine sauce, ‘satoimo’ potato, baby carrot, ‘eringi’ mushroom

Course 5. dessert

Vanilla ice cream, glass tiramisu, green tea crème caramel 

Worthy to note the vanilla ice cream was hand-made with real vanilla bean pod. The Green tea crème caramel was my favourite dessert of the night – it was mellow, creamy and had a great green tea taste. Yummm!


Overall, this was one of the most memorable dinners I've had. Not only was the food fantastic, but having my whole family there meant the world to me!   

L's Verdict:

• Taste: 9.5/10 (everything I had was fabulously delicious!)
•  Ambience: 4/5
•  Value: 4/5
•  Service: 3.5/5 (not professional, but at least friendly)
• Creativity and other WOW factors: 3/5  

Overall rating: 24/30

WAQU

308 Pacific Highway

Crows Nest NSW 2065

Ph: (02) 9906 7736

Dinner only: Tuesday-Sunday from 6pm

Visited May 2009

Friendly advice: I had some difficulty in getting the waitress to understand I wanted my dressing on the side. So best to bring a Japanese speaking friend along, or speak s-l-o-w-l-y, or perhaps employ some Japanese accent Engrish if you have any special dietary requirements.

Sepia Restaurant - 2011 birthday dinner (part I)

Birthdays are always the perfect reason to gather and share good food with loved ones. Last year I was lucky enough to meet Restaurant Arras, this year I was spoiled by my bf Mr M and his family who treated me to one of the restaurants that had been on my “To Visit” list for a very long time... the double-hatted Sepia!

Sepia is led by two chefs that have worked at some of Sydney's most acclaimed restaurants - Martin Benn (ex Executive Chef at Tetsuya’s and The Boathouse) and Daniel Puskas (ex Head Chef of Oscillate Widly. Puskas also worked at Marque, Tetsuya’s and The Boathouse). To boost his profile even further, Benn won the Good Food Guide Chef of The Year Award for 2011. Now you see why I’ve been lured into choosing Sepia as the ideal venue to hold part I of my birthday dinner for 2011 (part I with my beloved family and part II with my dear friends @ Chophouse).

Similar to Testuya, Benn fuses modern French techniques with subtle Japanese flavour. Seasoning is kept to a minimum as the emphasis is placed on using quality, sustainable produce and enhancing their natural flavours.

Besides the highly prestigious team running the kitchen, the service at Sepia is also sleek and smart. Sepia has an elegant dining room which has an art deco feel with its dim lighting. Tonight we start off with a warm sourdough - warm (and complementary) bread always signals a good start to a meal.

Warm sourdough,
served with whipped truffle butter

Freshly shucked Oysters from
 NSW South Coast  with lime and 
rice vinegar dressing

Amuse Bouche – kingfish

Queensland spanner crab and buckwheat risotto, mustard butter, shellfish essence.

The idea is to fold in the foamy shellfish essence with the creamy, yet chewy buckwheat risotto. This is an interesting dish with a lot of textures and packed with flavours (somehow it reminded me of Taiwanese sticky rice - which is delicious in its own ways)!

Roasted pasture fed Angus beef tenderloin, braised short rib, buffalo milk “tofu” sansho roasted quinoa, garlic flowers.

The tenderloin was cooked beautifully and served on top of the tender short rib.The combination of the light, soft tofu and the extremely tasty beef created a great balance of flavours.

Roasted Aylesbury duck breast, smoked confit eggplant, yoghurt, native finger lime, licorice. On the plate are six artfully arranged slices of rare-cooked duck breast. However in terms of flavour, this was one of the least impressive dishes of the night.

Those who know me know that the desserts menu is the first thing I look at when I go to a restaurant. Sepia is recognised to have some of the best pastry chefs creating some of the prettiest desserts in Sydney. So you can imagine the excitement I felt as we progressed onto my favourite part of a meal. Moments after we ordered our desserts, the lovely waiters brought us each a lovely mandarin sorbet cheesecake, which was out-of-this world and by far exceeded our expectations of a pre-dessert!

L Loves... Mandarin sorbet cheesecake, arrived in a tiny glass, is absolutely delicious and a refreshing wakeup to the tastebuds preparing them for the sweetness to come :)

Vanilla ice cream and raspberry ripple “Weiss”, raspberry jelly,
dehydrated white chocolate mousse.

This is Sepia’s take on the famous Weiss bar, which is a more sophisticated and refined version of the original ice cream. There is a fine balance between the sourness of the fresh raspberries and the sweetness from the powdery, dehydrated white chocolate.

“Chocolate forest” 
Soft chocolate, chestnut, elderflower cream, mandarin and bergamot sorbet, blackberry candy, green tea, licorice, chocolate twigs, crystallised lemon thyme

This dessert was listed as one of Terry Durack's best dishes of 2010 and was agreed so by Mr & Miss J, who regarded this as one of their favourite desserts along with Quay’s eight layer chocolate cake.

Strawberry bavarois, blueberry sorbet, fresh berries, basil seeds and strawberry jelly

The strawberry bavarois is so delectable. The abundance of the berries not only accentuated the flavour, but also made the dessert seemingly healthier :P

Check out the yummy strawberry bavarois in the white chocolate log :P

Petits Four

Overall we had a really enjoyable night - with seamless service our exquisite dinner ended on a high note. 

However would I see myself going back there in the near future? 

Probably not. I had extremely high expectations of Sepia based on what I have read about the restaurant, its Chefs, and the awards they have won. Honestly speaking my expectations were not quite met until they brought out the desserts – then all is forgiven :)

L's Verdict:

• Taste: 7/10
• Ambience: 4/5
• Value: 3/5
• Service: 5/5
• Creativity and other WOW factors: 3/5 (we'd have to applaud Sepia's Pastry Chefs for the gorgeous desserts)

Overall rating: 22/30

Sepia Restaurant

Ground Floor, Darling Park

201 Sussex Street

Sydney NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9283 1990

Open:Tuesday to Friday lunch from 12pm

Tuesday to Saturday dinner from 6pm

Visited May 2011

Friendly advice: As I discovered after my visit, it is probably wiser to go for seafood rather than meat dishes as they have seafood wholesaler George Costi of De Costi Seafoods as a backer.