Reynold Poernomo is an Australian-Indonesian chef who competed on MasterChef Australia (Season 7) and was titled ‘dessert king’. Two years ago, he and his two brothers opened up Koi in Sydney CBD, selling delicious and beautifully crafted desserts.
Last year, they expanded their business to introduce savoury dishes to their menu and opened up Monkey’s Corner (LINK). We finally had the opportunity to try their tasting menu in May 2019 with Ea and A.
For $88 per person, we left full and satisfied.
Please excuse these photos. They were taken on my Samsung S9+ with tipsy hands.
Last year, they expanded their business to introduce savoury dishes to their menu and opened up Monkey’s Corner (LINK). We finally had the opportunity to try their tasting menu in May 2019 with Ea and A.
For $88 per person, we left full and satisfied.
Please excuse these photos. They were taken on my Samsung S9+ with tipsy hands.
tasting menu
First to try were these bite sized crab pie tee of whipped kelp, roe and chive cigar. We really enjoyed the thin crispy outer layer which added a nice crunch to the smooth creaminess of the kelp. The salty roe added a refreshing balance to the bite.
I forgot to take these photos but we ordered the oysters for $4.50 each and received the bread with sambal butter. The oysters were good, just simple Sydney rock oysters with mignonette. To be honest, I don’t remember the bread and butter much but A said the sambal made her go “oooooooh 😲” so it must be good.
I forgot to take these photos but we ordered the oysters for $4.50 each and received the bread with sambal butter. The oysters were good, just simple Sydney rock oysters with mignonette. To be honest, I don’t remember the bread and butter much but A said the sambal made her go “oooooooh 😲” so it must be good.
Next was this pumpkin rendang. yoghurt, with spiced pumpkin seeds. The mild pumpkin rendang was a very interesting Malaysian twist but we’re not too sure how we feel about the drops of yoghurt. The pumpkin seeds added a crunch that separated the thick cream of the yoghurt, which made it easier to swallow. It’s very innovative and delicious but not our favourite dish choice.
A step closer to savoury, we have grilled hapuka fish, mussels, charred garlic puree, blush turnip, finger lime and roe dressing. The fish was very moist and soft, with the right amount of salt. It was a very Asian style way of seasoning the dish. The roe dressing was mild and delicious and really covered the savoriness of the fish.
This was the braised short rib, puffed grains, pumpkin puree, enoki mushroom, capsicum, sambal, beef jus. The beef was not as tender as we would have liked it. The sauce was very rich and thick, which did not help with swallowing the beef. It got exhausting to chew after a while. The puffed grains were great and helped cut through the richness, adding a light crunchy texture.
Moving on to their specialty: desserts, we have binchotan. This is Jasmine tea gelato, black sesame, bbq pineapple, coconut, yuzu, charcoal meringue. This was really good, with unique crunches, fruity freshness and mild, earthy creaminess from the sesame and tea flavours. We’re all Asian so we loved the flavours used.
The next dessert was called mon-yet. It composed of banana , dulce, palmyra sugar cake, Valrhona Itakuja sorbet and caramel. There was no aritificial flavouring of banana; it tasted really fresh and vibrant which helped break down the sugary thickness of the caramel. There was a lot of different textures in this dish and we honestly just loved it.
This was moss, an extra dessert for $22. It had pistachio monte, caramel, lime curd, matcha, lime yogurt, and apple goodness. The matcha was not overpowering and the apple was not sour. It was a very neutral, slightly sweet and a hint of acidic flavouring dessert. A said there was a perfect balance of chiffon cake, yogurt and yuzu. It was a bit hefty for a dish but it starred on MasterChef so it’s kind of a sweet celebrity 😉.
service
Service was great. We had a whole litre of sake between us and the staff put up with our rowdiness 🤣.
review
Overall, we really enjoyed our dining experience at Koi. It was a reasonable tasting menu. We booked a table for 4 at 8:30PM on a Friday night and almost had the entire upper floor to ourselves. We also walked away with a discounted bill, wooo!
Happy eating!
Happy eating!
