Sokyo

Before I start, I just want to apologize for the poor quality of the photos. In my defense, I couldn't bring my DSLR and the lighting was quite dim. Hope it doesn't detract from this post!

I wasn't planning on dining here, neither were the girls who were having dinner with me, but seeing as we were all running late for our booking at Black, we had to resort to our backup plan.

Sokyo at the Star (The Darling) is different to all the other modern Japanese restaurants that I've visited in that their menu is designed in "traditional Kaiseki style" to encourage diners to share. Having just visited another Japanese restaurant the night before, I was impressed by the atmosphere and aesthetics almost immediately upon entering The Darling.

After being seated, a staff member collected and stored our jackets in the cloak room (which I really appreciated because I had a coat on) and immediately after that, we were offered menus by our own waiter. I was somewhat disappointed that the waiter didn't explain the menu to us, but maybe that's just not their style. Flipping through the crisp white pages of the simple but expansive menu, it was obvious (already) that I was in for a huge treat. The courses and cooking styles were familiar: Sashimi, Tempura, Robata (grilled skewers), Sushi Rolls... nothing unusual; until you look at the individual descriptions. Every item sounded like a tempting combination of flavors that others would never dare to explore: "Tai sashimi, onion, capers, yuzu honey, crunchy miso", "Sirloin & Foie Gras in fig, plum wine soy" No wonder it took us so long to order. Finally, with the help of a menu designer, we ordered our long anticipated dinner and waited - with a "tokkuri" of apple and guava scented sake ;).

The service was surprisingly quick considering how full the restaurant was.
First up, the Pork Belly Sashimi...

Kurobuta Black Pork Sashimi. Thinly sliced pork belly, dashi jelly, salty caramel sauce - $16

Being the experimental foodie that I am, I was definitely looking forward to trying what I thought would be raw pork belly. To be honest I felt a little cheated when I realised that it was in fact cooked, despite being on the sashimi list. But the taste and texture of the pork definitely compensated for that. I've never had salted caramel with a savory dish before, but the slight stickiness of the rich sauce matches surprisingly well with the fatty pork and just melts in your mouth. This is definitely something I'd try (and no doubt fail) to make at home.

Lamb Chop Maple Miso, Maple miso, burnt baby eggplant - $31 (for 3)

Next up, lamb chops! Lamb chops are no doubt my favorite cut of meat, but looking at the description on the menu I wasn't completely sold. I've definitely learned a lesson though - never judge a dish by its description. I used to think that I could cook a pretty decent lamb chop but this is on a whole other level. The meant was thick and juicy, perfectly cooked to medium rare (just the way I like it) and well-rested. Mixed with the delicate sweetness of the maple miso and the smoky yet creamy baby eggplant, my mouth was in heaven! Who knew burnt food could taste so amazing. There was only one thing I think could be improved. I couldn't help but notice that the meat itself lacked the strong flavors of the mash under it - perhaps it wasn't marinated for long enough? Or maybe the chef wanted to give diners to opportunity to just taste natural flavor and quality of the meat on its own...

Somewhere between the lamb chops and our next course, our waiter noticed that my friend was struggling with her chopsticks, which made us all laugh because she probably uses them regularly at home (haha - but to be fair, the chopsticks were curved), and offered us each a cute chopstick clip.
The irony was harder to figure out how to use the clip then hold it correctly than it was to use the normal pair of chopsticks.

By the time we got over the chopstick clips (which wasn't very long) our salad had arrived.

Spicy Sashimi Salad, Cherry tomato, cucumber, mixed seafood - $22

We'd originally ordered the Crispy Skin Ocean Trout Salad but they ran out of the crispy skin! *mental note to order that next time* So this is what we substituted it with. On any other day, I would say that this was pretty good. But having just sampled two exemplar dishes, this was, in comparison, only mediocre. It didn't taste bad, but didn't stand out. The flavors weren't very exciting - the sauce actually tasted a bit like gochujang (Korean chilli paste). Moving on...

 Chicken Katsu, Potato foam, plum wine, grilled negi - $27

One of my friends was a bit reluctant about ordering this dish at the beginning because "Chicken Katsu" is usually just fried chicken and didn't sound very special. But it was evident the moment it arrived that this Katsu was anything but ordinary.  To start with, the potato foam! It's always exciting to see a new element on a dish. But presentation aside, the chicken breast was so moist and tender that I could literally slice it in half with the side of my fork. I've never had plum wine before, so I can only imagine that the pleasant eccentric taste was somehow related to that. Must find a bottle of Japanese plum wine one day. The chicken skin wasn't crumbed or fried so I'm not sure if "Katsu" is the right term for this dish (but then again, I'm no expert), maybe that's why it's called "Free Range Chicken Breast" on the online menu. I can understand from a marketing point of view why they changed it.
Again, I thought the center of the chicken was lacking a bit of flavor, but that's not going to stop me from having more haha.

At this point I was already starting to feel full. It's hard to stop eating when the food tastes so good, plus we were no where near the end.

Sokyo Spicy Tuna Roll, Cucumber, truffle chilli aioli - $14

This photo does not do justice to the flavor of the sushi. It might look like a simple, innocent piece of raw fish wrapped in rice and seaweed but the flavor of the truffle aioli really takes you to another world. I mistakenly underestimated the well balanced complexity of this sushi roll and  dipped my first piece in soy sauce before tasting it. I don't think any addition of any ingredient could have improved the enjoyment of this dish.

Tempura Roll, Prawn, cuttlefish tartar, squid ink tempura, shrimp oil - $19

As you can see, the quality of the photos are gradually deteriorating. I blame it on the Sake.
This is a familiar favorite for all Aussies I'm sure. Who doesn't love a good tempura roll? If such a person exists somewhere out there, they would love this one. The prawn was freshly fried and still warm but the rest of the roll was cool. The addition of the cuttlefish tartar and shrimp oil accentuated the beautiful flavor of the prawn and left a lingering sweetness (not literally sweet, I just can't describe it) in my mouth.

Queensland Roll, Spanner crab, spicy avocado, soy paper - $21

This roll was not what I expected. If you wrap up some lightly seasoned shredded spanner crab in a sheet of soy paper and top with mashed avocados and a sprinkle of crunchy beads, you should have the perfect combination of textures and flavors. It sound amazing on paper, but for me, it just didn't quite cut it. Like the salad, I'd gladly eat it for a casual lunch, but it just lacked something, another element. Maybe if there was a slice of crispy pork belly skin rolled in with the crab or a sweet soy glaze to go with the soy paper, it would have been better.

And with that, the meal was complete.
Well, no meal is complete without dessert.
With so many choices on the dessert menu, there was no doubt from the start that we'd order the tasting plates:

Chocolate Trio Fondant, Goma Street, Frangelico Bavarois - $24

Chocolate. Need I say more?
Starting with the Chocolate Peanut Butter Fondant (right of the candle). Cutting into a fondant with a clean spoon has to be one of my favorite 'dessert eating moments' (along with cracking the sugar on a creme brulee). I just love the way chocolate oozes out. The peanut butter really brings me back to America where I swear, there was a chocolate peanut butter item on the menu at every cafe and the peanut brittle and vanilla (really? tasted kind of strange to me) ice-cream served as great accompaniments.  For some reason though (must be this diet I'm on) I felt like it was a bit too heavy for me.

The Goma Street Caramelised white chocolate, sesame ice cream was my favorite on this plate. I love caramel (just in case I didn't make that clear enough above), and caramelised white chocolate tastes just like a creamy caramel with a hint of cocoa. The crunchy sesame candy and crisp sheets of chocolate shattered in my mouth and slowly melted and dissolved with the sesame ice-cream. So delicious! I can only fault this dessert on one thing - perhaps the sesame (tastes very similar to sesame snaps) was a little overpowering? But it was still orgasmic.

The Frangelico Bavarois looks like a simple cake, but it's filled with two thick and rich layers of cream. Frangelico is a hazelnut liquer and I guess it was used to flavor the bavarois with hazelnut cream. At this point I'm really running out of words to describe these items without repeating myself. I think you just have to try it to understand what I'm trying to say. I had maybe one bite of this and decided that I was too full to have any more. There was simply too much chocolate, and I think that's where the chef missed the mark. For me, any good sweet, creamy, rich dessert should come with something acidic to cut through it, a few raspberries or a strawberry, even something lemony?

Chef's Dessert Sampler - $26

 It's a bit too much to take in at one meal. But 3 desserts later, another 4 arrived. The Goma Street (which just occurred to me translates to 'Sesame Street' - how cute) was served in this set as well - not that I'm complaining.

At the top right hand corner, we had the Sokyo “Mochi Ice Cream” Yatsuhashi kyoto mochi, frozen strawberry milk shake. Of all the desserts this one looked the least impressive. But I personally think it tasted the best. Everything else was just too sweet, but this had that acidic component I was talking about. The milkshake was definitely made with fresh strawberries, and after having all that chocolate, the strawberry was what I needed. The stretchy mochi was soft and chewy, and the frozen milkshake just bursts in your mouth. I kind of wish I ordered another one now...

Miso Tapioca Red tea foam, coconut cream, miso caramel

Rotating clockwise, we had the Miso Tapioca Red tea foam, coconut cream, miso caramel. I didn't even realise the caramel was miso flavored, but I guess that's the beauty of fine dining. I don't know how these chefs come up with such beautiful combinations of flavors and manage to tame them to work harmoniously, but I'm so glad that they can do it because it's so inspiring. Normally when I have that much coconut cream (in the ice cream and the sago) I start feeling sick, but this was fine.

Finally, the Yamazaki Caramel Macchiato, Coffee ice cream, coco nibs, whisky foam. Even though I have a huge sweet tooth and usually lean towards sweet, creamy or tart flavors, the bitterness of the coffee, coco and whisky made a perfect end to the meal.

Hope this doesn't put you off

I don't think I've had enough of this place. I feel like I need to try everything before moving on. Yes there were elements that I wasn't quite satisfied with, but there were so many items on the menu that I wish I'd ordered. I totally understand why Chase Crawford dined at Sokyo when he was in Sydney.

Ratings:
Atmosphere: 8
Service: 8
Food: 8
Price/ Value: 8

Overall:8

I intended to give Sokyo a 7 because I'm sure there are plenty of fine dining restaurants that serve better food and provide better service, but looking back at my last review, which probably deserves a 4, I just had to scale it up to an 8.

Sokyo
1800 700 700

Level G, The Darling,
The Star,
80 Pyrmont Street,
Pyrmont NSW