Toko

Toko is amongst one of my favourite Japanese restaurants in Sydney (and although I acknowledge I have a very long list of favourites, this one does not appear on that list unjustified).

Situated in the heart of the one of Sydney's oldest suburbs, Surry Hills is now a thriving community of warehouse-converted apartments and restored Victorian architecture, housing some of Sydney's finest chefs and designers. This suburb screams attention.

Today I was here with a group of my girls. The restaurant has a very strict "first in best dressed type" seating policy which means they do not take bookings, and requires everyone to arrive prior to seating the table. The policy is highly un-female friendly given most females these days run on a "I like to be fashionably late" policy. I suppose the argument for this increasingly popular seating policy is to allow restaurants to better manage its seating turnarounds (and inevitably profitability) which is too commonly affected by late customers or worst even, no-shows! However despite this frustrating seating policy and having picked a very busy night, the staff at Toko clearly used their best endeavours to seat us swiftly.

The first thing you notice here is the buzz - the place is exploding with customers and the wait staff are constantly seen whizzing around. The place is decked out with a lot of wood, a very modern edge to the decor, but a lot of wood. The lighting is dim, very dim. Almost too dim to house such a buzz of an ambience. 

The buzz may also be attributed to their longer-than-the-food-menu drinks menu consisting a wide selection of cocktails, sake, shochu, Japanese whisky and non alcoholic cleansers. We all started with a round of cocktails to sip on while deciding on our orders. To the left of the main dining area is an open sushi bar to allow those lucky enough to score a bar seating to witness the sushi chef in action, and slightly further down is the open robata grill. Be sure to poke your head around and check these out - its quite a show!

Toko offers an izakaya style dining, where dishes are designed to be shared (a more detailed explanation of izakaya dining can be found in my earlier post by clicking here). The dishes lean more towards contemporary and modern, rather than traditional and classic, so if you like Japanese with a twist and a bit of fusion you would love this place.

Our first dish, Freshly Shucked Pacific Oysters in Tosazu (a very versatile Japanese vinegar dressing). The oysters were very fresh and chilled well - a great start to the meal.

Our next dish was the Thinly Sliced Wild Snapper with Truffle Oil and Pork Crackling. The delicately sliced snapper was dressed nicely in a truffle dressing and micro-herbs, while the crumbs of pork crackling gave the dish a bit of a modern kick.  

Then came the nigiri to share - we ordered Salmon Nigiri and Mackerel Nigiri. Something traditional we thought.

The star dish of the night was the Scampi Nigiri with Fois Gras and Truffle Oil from the Toko Signature Sushi collection. Above and beyond, this is my favourite nigiri, ever. The scampi is fresh and the flavours so well balanced - a foodgasmic experience not to be missed, so good, the table ordered two rounds (and nearly a third)!

Also from the Toko Signature Sushi collection, was the Chopped Scallop with Ponzu, Wasabi and Cucumber. Again a very well balanced dish in terms of texture and flavour, and not to be missed.

"Sake, often referred to as the 'drink of gods', is the quintessential Japanese drink, to the extent that the Japanese themselves call it 'nihonshu', meaning Japanese wine" - Toko

One simply cannot dine at an izakaya restaurant without ordering a bottle of sake, or maybe two!

Our following two selections were from the Toko Makimono menu, the Spicy Tuna and Chilli Mayonnaise Inside Out Roll and the Prawn Tempura, Avocado and Cucumber Inside Out Roll.

Next dish was the Moreton Bay Bug Tempura with Chilli Ponzu and Yuzu Koshou Mayonnaise, another Toko favourite. The tempura batter is very light and does not overpower the soft and delicate chunky pieces of bug meat.  Dip in the ponzu and then the mayonnaise - Yum!

As a side tempura dish, we also ordered the Seasonal Vegetable Tempura. A large serving a various vegetables dipped in the very light batter and fried golden - a simple yet popular dish amongst the girls.

Our final dish was the Duck Breast with Sansho Pepper and Pickled Nashi Pear. Very tender, juicy pieces of duck breast balanced with thinly sliced pear making the meat light and refreshing on the palate. 

Overall a pleasant meal again and the girls were impressed with most of the dishes. The service was a little bit of a miss with orders taken incorrectly, it was at times a little difficult to get the attention of our wait staff and orders being missed. However a great place to dine with a smaller group, enjoy a very lively and loud buzz, happy chatter. For a tamer environment with more attentive service (and which allows for dinner reservations), try Tokonoma next door.  They share the same kitchen and drinks menu as Toko too!

xx

Toko Surry Hills

490 Crown Street

Surry Hills  NSW  2010

(02) 9357 6100

4Fourteen

January is the perfect time to catch up with old friends.  Everyone is usually quite busy before Christmas and when the festive rush is finally over, often you look back and realise that there are quite a number of people you might not have had the chance to catch up with as often as you would like to.  This relatively quiet month is best for bringing those close to your heart, even closer.

Tonight I am here with my Twin, not by blood, but my exact double!

Arm in arm, we walk into the restaurant after a very long day at work and ready for a big fat feast!  The room is big and bright, the ceiling is high and the windows are extra large.  The walls are white washed exposing the underlying brick, the floor is laid out with timber (which click loudly at our heels as we are guided to our table by a very friendly host - we giggle), and the space lit with drop down green enamel light shades.  Very warehouse-converted looking, casual and full of character.

No drinks tonight, we decided - we both had a another long day of work ahead of us. We went straight to the serious stuff, food.  Twin and I have very similar taste so ordering was easy.  We suggested a few dishes each and it was always what the other had in mind!  Our wait staff for the night, with his big smile and warm sense of humour, assisted us with our choices and ensured we did not order too much (as we always do!).

First to arrive, freshly shucked Clair De Lune Oysters from Clyde River, New South Wales.  The oysters came shucked, flipped and served in their full shell with a wedge of lemon on top of a bed of pebbles.  The oysters had a very clean taste with a slight creaminess to it - started my meal off perfectly!

Our next dish was our favourite dish for the night, the Citrus Cured Kingfish, Frozen Fennel and Celery.  The kingfish was served very chilled and packed a citrus punch, with celery and topped with fennel granita.  I loved the flavours of this dish, it is very out of the ordinary, yet it was very well balanced - a must try!

We weren't too sure when ordering the Crab Roll with Spiced Avocado Puree because carbs usually fill me up to quickly, so as suggested by our wait staff we decided to order just one to share.  I probably should have mentioned earlier, everything on the menu here at 4Fourteen was designed to share - my favourite way of eating a meal because you get to try a lot more than eating in the conventional 3 course way (at which times you might still catch me secretly sharing!).  The little bun was filled with crab meat and a well seasoned avocado puree.  I found the bun a bit dense and dry for my liking and would prefer it to be light and fluffier. 

Our next fancy looking dish was the Smoked Eel Croquette and Horseradish Cream.  The deep fried croquette was shaped like an egg, served on a cut-out egg carton with a wedge of lemon and a dollop of horseradish cream.  Not too oily, but also a little dry and would have done better with a lighter dressing.

Then was the Roast Pork with Chargrilled Nectarines and Baby Leeks.  Tender and very juicy pieces of roast pork and crackling, which could crackle a bit more - we found it a little too chewy.

To finish the meal off, dessert and cheese!  The only difference between Twin and I, is that one would always choose savoury over sweet but the other would always choose sweet over savoury!  We ordered the White Chocolate Sandwich with Dulce de Leche and a cut of cheese selected from the cheese board (a gigantic cheese board brought to our table by our wait staff with the day's selection of cheese!).

Overall, our meal was very satisfying.  The ambience was very relaxed, the customers chirpy and very chatty, the music energetic - there was a real buzz to this place that was very encouraging.  This place is great to hang out with friends, I might even suggest it for first dates because it is so relaxed and the menu gives you plenty to talk about.  The food was quirky and different, the service was definitely 5 star, attentive and fun - arm in arm, Twin and I left with a full stomach, a warmed heart and big fat smile on our faces!  I cannot wait until our next foodventure Twin!

xx

4Fourteen

414 Bourke Street

Surry Hills  NSW  2010 

(02) 9331 5399

Fuku Restaurant Sake & Wine

For many reasons, Japanese cuisine is my favourite cuisine.  I am a big fan of seafood, I love the taste of freshly grounded wasabi (no, not the pasty packaged stuff), i love pickled ginger, and I get all worked up about fancy food presentation.  I was even recently told by a friend that my "facebook account consists 90% of food photos, of which 80% is Japanese cuisine, and mostly sashimi/sushi".  A very true statement made, I say.

Japanese meals are usually simple and very well presented.  A good Japanese chef would balance his flavours and textures well, and artfully arrange his meal of captivating colours on stunning tableware (usually a lot more expensive than they look - if you have ever tried to pick up one of those serving plates, the first thing you would notice is how heavy and solid it is!).

One mid-week night, I stumbled across Fuku Restaurant unplanned.  It is discretely nested up on Level 1 at World Square, Sydney just opposite Ding Tai Fung.  I must have walked past them many times and not noticed them? 

I was greeted by their friendly staff quickly on arrival and lead to a spacious 4 person table by the window (even though there was only 2 of us).  It was mid-week and the restaurant was obviously not at capacity.  I was impressed by their considerate service (some restaurants would put us on a smaller table despite there being plenty of larger available tables).  Big tick!

The restaurant is nicely furnished and dimly lit - my first impression was "Uh oh, it's mid-week and I just walked into a fine dining restaurant with a friend, who was working overtime and just stepped out to grab a quick bite with me! Fail."  However on opening the menu I was presented with, I quickly discovered I was very wrong (whilst the eye repetitively flicked over to the separate sake menu lying lazily on the table in front of me - it was mid-week and I do make an effort to avoid drinking on weeknights).  The menu was very fairly priced with a well-rounded sake menu - this was an izakaya restaurant (居酒屋) - perfect!

What is an izakaya restaurant?  The word 'izakaya' means 'to stay, in a sake shop'.  A typical izakaya restaurant offers a good sake menu and serves food on the side to accompany the drinks.  Therefore you may find that the portion size of food served in izakaya restaurants smaller than what you would find in your average Japanese restaurant.

Though I didn't plan to drink, I felt a little obliged to order a bottle of sake - nothing fancy just the chilled house sake.  The sake served was dry and had rich rice flavour, exactly as I like it, and very affordable.

Our first dish was the Kingfish Carpaccio.  Very fresh, served with a citrus dressing and baby herbs.  It was the perfect starter and very appetising indeed.

Next the Salmon Belly Aburi was served (note the salmon belly was not on the menu, but can be specially requested subject to availability).  I always prefer the fattier part of salmon and would go for the belly wherever possible.  After searing the belly, the salmon simply melts in the mouth. Yum!

Finally came the Smoked Miso Cod.  I was very unsure about this dish at the start because bar cod tastes awesome when cooked well, but can be a total fail if not cooked properly.  Before this dish was set on our table, the first thing we picked up was the smell - a tantalising smokey flavour.  The dish was set down and before us was two flat pieces of wood still burning (we think it may have been cedar wood but forgot to ask) tied together with cooking string.  The string was cut loose, the top piece of wood lifted off and there was the smoked cod, and it looked good!  The fish was tender, dressed in a sweet teriyaki-like sauce, and strongly smokey - it was truly divine!

What an unexpectedly and surprisingly wonderful experience this was.  This place is great for a casual date-night with your other half, or a girly catch up (did I mention the drop-dead gorgeous waiter?).

xx



Fuku Restaurant Sake & Wine
Level 1, Shop 1103 World Square
Sydney  NSW  2000
(02) 9261 8977