We missed you, Sano-san. For those out of the loop, Chef Sano was the head chef at Sokyo (2020 and 2021). He took a year break to travel back to Japan and hon his skills, and he’s finally returned to the Sydney omakase scene with a new take on Australian seafood. He is now at Azuma restaurant.
The menu was on the heftier side, with 19 dishes at $350 per person. Inflation sucks.
The menu was on the heftier side, with 19 dishes at $350 per person. Inflation sucks.
OMAKASE
We started our highly anticipated night with Sano’s signature “glassed bowl” dish. This has always been a showstopper with luxurious and/or extravagant ingredients. Tonight we were blessed with caviar, egg yolk, New Zealand snapper, chives. It was so creamy, with pockets of salt amongst the clean fishy taste.
Next was a unique black sesame tofu with white sesame oil and egg whites. The black sesame flavour was mild, well blended into the tofu texture. The added layer of sesame flavour from the white oil was subtle but oh so delicious, giving the bite dimension.
This was octopus, summer fish and brocolini. We are too used to Sano’s traditional 3rd kappo of crab or abalone so these different proteins caught us off guard.
The pacific saucy was really tender and flavourful, having been perfect simmered in Japanese mountain pepper. The octopus was also tender, with a nice soft bounce to the bite. Brocolini was average; there was nothing special but paired well with the seafood. The katsuobushi added a delicious umami to the vegetable.
The pacific saucy was really tender and flavourful, having been perfect simmered in Japanese mountain pepper. The octopus was also tender, with a nice soft bounce to the bite. Brocolini was average; there was nothing special but paired well with the seafood. The katsuobushi added a delicious umami to the vegetable.
We started the next phase strong with a bluefin otoro nigiri. Even though the tuna belly was not in season, it was still moist and flavourful. It almost disintegrated in our mouths as it touched our tongues.
This was one of the favourite of the night: a pearl fish, burnt butter soy, lemon zest. Think creamy, delectable, fattening in the mouth because the only way I can describe it is 🤤🤤🤤🤤. Pictures is a thousand words, right?
This was aori ika with ika gesou (tasmania squid + tenticales) and WOW! The fine craftsmanship to slice the octopus – I have no words. Just know from here onward, everything was delicious and I’m going to state what we had.
This was kobujime (cured scampi) with ankimo (monk fish liver) and was also amazingly delicious, with subtle sweetness.
This opulence cocktail was an uni parfait with uni rice, egg yolk sauce, Tasmania white sea urchin, egg white, wasabi, and nori. It was definitely too pretty to consume but it was hell worth it. We savoured every moment.
Next was a shabu shabu paradise prawn reduction with prawn head sauce and it was the most S-tier prawn we’ve taste.
This was crispy salmon belly taco. Another delicious banger, with tender fresh fatty-as-fuck salmon on top of a bed of Sano’s secret soy rice, with a dash of wasabi, pickled radish and green onion, laid upon a sheet of thinly crispy seaweed.
My phone died so we had to result to Mick’s old Samsung, so apologies for the poor quality photos. This was baby abalone tempura, with olive paste and curry sauce. The batter was crispy, the abalone was succulent and flavourful, and the condiments were mild.
Back to a classic, the delicious imperical fish with engawa and oroshi. It was an oily bite.
This was another traditional dish, the ikura spanner crab. Each pearl was immaculate and the creamy crab meat with chives and seaweed combination was soooo good.
Next was the zuke (marinated) tenmi with tuna belly and mustard.
This was the miso cod. It was cooked in 3 ways, one of them with smokey bark. There was not much else to gather from chef Sano due to his soft mannerism.
Mick’s favourite, the unagi, also known as sea eel.
Followed by Sano’s famous super toro maki, insert quote from last years:
Negitoro is the Japanese term for the leftover tuna pieces from the sashimi cutting or whatever was scraped off the bones. The tuna filling was an array of fattiness that brought back the memories of our earlier toro. It contrasted nicely between the layers of crunchy seaweed, warm vinegar rice, diced shallots and sliced scallions. We also thought the tuna serving was very generous.
Negitoro is the Japanese term for the leftover tuna pieces from the sashimi cutting or whatever was scraped off the bones. The tuna filling was an array of fattiness that brought back the memories of our earlier toro. It contrasted nicely between the layers of crunchy seaweed, warm vinegar rice, diced shallots and sliced scallions. We also thought the tuna serving was very generous.
This was followed by a nyumen of: yuzu kosho, and prawn tempura.
Tamago. 🤤. Enough said.
Dessert was a soymilk blancmange, candied kinkan (kumquat), and kuromitsu 🤤.
Service
Service was typical of a Japanese restaurant, especially in the omakase seating. Sano was the same happy self, but more talkative.
Review
It’s really hard to give a stellar review because you, the reader, would not understand how AMAZING this omakase is unless you try it for yourself. Everything was friggen’ delicious!! Even now while high, typing this review out, the photos are making me salivate again so you can image how good the food was on that night.
Do yourself a favour and get a booking.
ご馳走さま でした。Happy eating!
Do yourself a favour and get a booking.
ご馳走さま でした。Happy eating!
