Came here for a birthday. The birthday girl ordered the yokubari 5
course set menu ($79) while the rest of us ordered the osusume 4 course
menu ($69). One of us wanted to order the 3 courses menu but the
waitress said because most of us ordered 4 courses one person can't
order 3 because they'll be waiting half an hour longer than everyone
else for their first dish. Okay then. Thanks for the lesson in up
selling.
First course was sashimi for everyone except
the birthday girl who had the eel soup. I didn't try the eel but I'm
told it was very nice (if there was more of it I would have).
The salmon
and tuna sashimi was fantastic. I especially loved the pieces that were
coated in sesame oil and sesame seeds. I love sesame oil!!!
Second
course was salmon and scallop. The scallop and the salmon were both
delicious, but overall this dish was just okay. The salmon was a little
too cooked for my tastes, but still good.
The birthday girl's dish of caviar angel hair pasta had a really nice flavour that made me wish I had ordered it for myself.
Oceans. It
took forever for this dish to come out. We were all making stupid,
hunger-induced comments about them draining the ocean and how we can't
wait for the flood of oceans to engulf us and choosing who would get the
Pacific Ocean and who gets the Indian Ocean etc. Anyway. There were a
lot of different elements in this dish, not all of them necessarily
good. I wasn't a fan of the bitter sprout things, they ruined it a
little. The prawns were too salty. The fish roe was annoying (I don't
like fish roe, the sensation of little balls of salt popping in my mouth
is unpleasant. That's what she said!!). The barramundi was alright
though. The best thing about this was the miso sauce on the barramundi.
The small smear of sriracha on the plate was a little strange, it didn't
seem to go with the flavours.
Dessert! The espresso
pannacotta with coffee "jerry" [sic] (I laughed a lot) was nice, but it
got a bit monotonous after a while. The jelly wasn't all that
flavourful.
The blood orange and coconut gelato was actually more like
sorbet than gelato to be honest, but it was still good. Everyone seemed
to think the blood orange flavour was really sour, but I found it quite
sweet. The coconut flavour was very subtle and sweet and creamier than
the blood orange but still kinda sorbet-like.
While I
did enjoy the prettiness of the plating and the (mostly) delicious food,
the price and the excessive time between courses makes me not want to
come back. Yes, it's fine dining, but it wasn't really worth it in this
case. Yes, it was a busy Wednesday night, but they were all bookings, so
they would have known in advance. There are a few fine dining
restaurants I would rather spend my money at instead, like Nobu or No4
Blake Street.
