Dugustation at Tokonoma

We walk through a curtained doorway into the honey coloured curved, sleek wood interior that is Tokonoma, situated next door to Toko. There is soft lighting and Reni Jung's shimmering 11-metre sculpture, Water, featuring 500,000 lentils set in resin. We are seated in an intimate booth beside this artwork (which we're pretty sure kept on making an electronic beeping noise... strange), on the other side of the bar. Architect Matt Darwon has done an an amazing job, which you realise in full on a trip to the bathroom. You can easily forget that there are other diners in the restaurant from our very roomy booth table.

It's only after we're seated that we notice the bottles of liquid lit up from underneath. It's not until after that I realise that these are bottles of Tokonoma's signature house-infused beverages, or “shochu." To be perfectly honest, I didn't realise that Tokonoma Shochu Bar and Lounge is Tokonoma's full name. And the levels of lighting in there are so low, that I couldn't really read the drinks menu to pick up on this. We had a bottle of wine included in the Team Spreets voucher that I had bought for my friend's birthday and we decided to take it easy on the alcohol. But I have heard very good things about the sochu at Tokonoma. I've heard that the gen awa cha (genmaicha-infused shiro shochu, orange flower bubble tea, lychee tea, ($17) in particular, is a must try. It'll have to wait till next time for me.

The staff are extremely competent, the service is efficient and fast and we always have at least 1 item of food on our table at all times. Within minutes of being seated we had two glasses of lovely cold white wine (perfect to combat the scorching temperatures of this week) and warm, salty edamame in front of us.

edamame

gyu niku no tataki seared beef, pickled onions, mizuna, garlic chips

Rare on the outside, melt in your mouth on this inside. The picked onions and crunch from the garlic chips complimented the seared beef extremely well. Although slightly difficult to eat (we kind of rolled in over with our chop sticks. Although my photo does not do it justice at all, this was a beautifully plated meal.

watari-gani kara-age crispy soft-shell crab, wasabi mayonnaise

Tokonoma's version of soft- shell crab was served with an amazing wasabi mayonnaise, with I personally think should be served with most meals, rather than just boring mayonnaise. There was a light batter and a lot of crab meat. Perfect. We could have eaten a lot more of this.

assorted selection of nigiri

I enjoyed each new vessel our meals were plated on, almost as much as the food. The nigiri was fresh and melted in your mouth. The tofu was delicate, yet layered in flavours and the the shreds of dehydrated chilli were a nice subtle touch. The grilled prok melted in your mouth and had a delicious grilled flavour (even though I don't normally order pork).

tofu with misu paste

grilled pork

lamb cutlets with purple eggplant and misu (above)  

zucchini no wafu yaki : zucchini, wafu sauce, sesame sauce (below)

Both the lamb and zuccini were simple, but the combination of their sauces and being grilled made them both amazingly delicious and were quickly eaten by my friend and I. The lamb in particular, melted in your mouth, we managed to lick the bones clean.

(more photos to come)...

We finished it all off with a palate cleansing misu and some more of our bottle of wine. We thought we were all done, but then the dessert came out. The icecream was served on ice, which was nice touch and the mango in particular was very tasty. The creme brulee had some mystery items at the bottom of it and was unlike any other creme brulee I've had before. This was accompanied with some tropical fruits: strawberry, kiwi fruit, lychee and dragon fruit: yum.

The ambience, food and beverages, service and the design of Tokonoma all combined to make our visit a memorable one. It's contemporary Japanese food (a fusion perhaps) was spot on. We had a great time having a look at all of the bottles of Sochu on the way out, as we re-entered the ridiculously hot summer night.

Sugarmill's 2nd Birthday, followed by lots of eating and drinking

Original idea: Attend Sugarmills' Birthday Party and get our cabana on. Idea that we ended up doing: Eat and drink our way through Kings Cross/ Darlo...

So, we were going to just check out the Sugarmill’s 2^nd Birthday cabana style party in Kings Cross. But it started with some vino at my friend’s house and some humus with carrot sticks and pita bread (as you do). Then we got our cabana on at Sugarmill. There were leis aplenty, quite a few captains, and some fab tacky anchors and other shrapnel. Sailor hats, nautical stripes, bright colours and bikinis were surrounding us. Of course there were also lots of blue and white balloons and a giant birthday cake. We were entertained by some random girls with grass skirts (read: plastic) and coconut bras doing some very “authentic” Hawaiian moves. There was Jamaican music. We missed out on the free Pina Colada, but enjoyed cheapo drinks and some free fish and chips in little containers. The perfect start to a night out, even if it's not a place that I frequent on a normal night. I’ll never say no to a free or very cheap drinks!

Next we headed to Time to Vino in its new location, near the Piano Room. From the second that we walked in, it was the perfect mood. The right light levels, cosy tables (although we opted for the bar seats), and some vino books scattered around. This would be the perfect date location. We had a look at the menu, and seeing as we were grazing all night, chose the last option of cheese on the menu, with our waiter’s help, served with sun ripened sultanas and lavosh. 

To call the cheese amazing would be an undersight. It was heaven. It disappeared very fast. For wine, we had the Sangiovese from Chianti with our cheese and soaked up the atmosphere. We easily could have spent the whole night here. Only after we had paid our bill and started to make moves did we realise that we hadn’t even seen the full menu. We both gasped. Our eyes soaked in the menu. My stomach began to get excited. Another time, another time, I kept telling it. The sundaes on the menu (all with some type of alcohol) the waiter told us were to die for. We decided to believe him. They looked great. We were told that you wouldn’t want to share them, and that it was a nice bit of alone time to have with your sundae. We had amazing service all night, great cheese and fab wine. Time to Vino is one of those few bars that just gets it right. It will be on my regulars list from now on. And I am going back to try out the rest of the food. And one of those sundaes. Hmmm…

We decided to keep walking in the direction away from the Harbour, and ended up at Mad Pizza. I’ve been here before, and it’s hard to resist. Again, we go for the bar stools, ending up with a charmingly (most of the time) bizarre English man telling us his life's story. We needed some wine to help us through his strange stories, so we ordered some Malbec. I love the quirky decorations in Mad Pizza, and I prefer this one, which is a bit bigger than the one down the road on William Street. 

I quite like Frank (in above piccy), the deer on the wall that overlooks us as we drink the night away. The shutters that open to reveal a dj are also a nice touch, with things written on the walls and some plants here and there. Our stomachs were starting to growl by this point, so we ordered the Alamfi pizza to share, as our new "friend" continued his story about his search for love.

The prawns were cooked perfectly, the soft, white cheese was delicious, and the chilli flakes just the right amount of hotness for me. I love how the pizzas come out on their own little stands, allowing more table (or in our case), bench space. The thin crust was also exactly how I like it. The stories flowed, the wine flowed and the pizza was gobbled up very fast. I was too scared to try the organic wine: "voice of the people," but maybe next time I will be brave enough. I also had, perhaps, by this point, had enough vino. A point proven by the mild hangover I had this morning.

Next door, my friend insisted that we get some Wow Cow into us. We choose the Volcano to share, which had frozen coffee yoghurt on the side, crushed Tim Tams, and some pancakey, chocolately richness with chocolatly hot sauce all over it. By this point, I was struggling and had to let my friend do most of the eating. My desert stomach just isn’t as large as my savoury stomach I’m afraid. And I thought that I might actually have exploded. Which could have been messy. Wow Cow, just like Mad Pizza, were both packed. You can tell that the locals love them both. I quite like the upside cow too...

We decided that we had eaten and drunk enough, being a bit tipsy and extremely full, and decided to call it a night. We had done a kind of progressive dinner and drinking session in Kings Cross/ Darlinghurst and we had done all that we could do. It was a school night after all and there was a long ferry ride ahead of me to get home.

Grasshopper!

Dinner in the kitchen @ Grasshopper open Monday – Friday lunch and dinner

Myself, plus one decided to brave the weather (I don’t think the sky got the memo that’s it’s November!) and headed out in search of a dodgy laneway. Temperance Lane to be precise. Yes, located between the R M Williams and Oakley stores on George Street is Grasshopper, a Melbourne style laneway bar that is one of Sydney’s bars of the moment.

Split into two sections, the bar and the restaurant, the only way of finding Grasshopper is by knowing where you’re going. You’re not really going to stumble across it accidentally. This adds to the appeal of Grasshopper, which has such a great vibe and is so different from other drinking holes in the heart of the city. Trashy bars or dingy pubs anyone? Not for this blogger. 

We decided to try out the bar section first, which by just a bit after 6pm when we arrive, was already completely packed. Not busy. But packed. You can tell that word of mouth spreads fast about new bars in Sydney. Although both the food menu and wine menu (by the glass) is quite limited, you can tell that they have carefully selected everything that appears on it. They also serve only one type of beer: Peroni. If you are a beer drinker and Peroni isn’t your thing, I might suggest heading elsewhere for an after work drink. We grabbed our glasses of wine, managed to quickly snap up a perch on a 70s style armchair and stool beneath a funky lampshade, and settled in to our black and white kung fu wall papered surrounds. 

Having only opened this year, Grasshopper has some great quirky touches like serving table water and cocktails in jam jars. There are old records as coasters, book-like menus and playing cards as business cards. These all combine to make Grasshopper an interesting drinking venue. Finally Sydney is getting some places with some character!

After our wine, we decide to head on up to the restaurant area. I was excited by the idea of the eating area that is essentially a large slab of stone on which you’re seated on one side, with the kitchen on the other. It’s an open kitchen, so we can happily chat away to the Head chef Richard Duff as we eat. We can see absolutely everything going on in the kitchen. I'm not sure how the chefs feel about being so watched. Richard explains every meal that we’ve been served, sometimes handing the meals straight to us, answering our questions, of um… “what’s that?” I’ve never eaten in such close proximity to the chef that has made my food before. We got to watch our soufflé rise in the oven, our herbs being expertly cut and the tempers sometimes rising in the kitchen (in a controlled way). I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun. You can't get this on tv. We were part of the action. It’s such a small kitchen (as the entire place is tiny), but so smoothly run.

The menu... hmm. I want it all!

From the specials board we ordered the grilled asparagus, balsamic vinegar reduction with parmasan cheese so share. The asparagus was amazingly grilled to perfection and served in such a simple but delicious way. 

Grilled asparagus with balsamic reduction and shaved parmasan

For my main I ordered the salmon with peas and broad beans, which was grilled and lightly smoked. This was perfection. The right sized portion, plated well and the Salmon wasn’t too overpowered by the other flavours on my plate. You were left with the feeling of having just eaten food that was not only tasty, but also good for you. This doesn't happen often in restaurants. It was just all so fresh.

Grilled salmon with peas

Plus one had the Steak au Poivre. Again: cooked perfectly. It was an extremely tender pepper crusted steak. The side of a hashbrowns with bone marrow in it (as strange as it sounds) was also extremely delicious. This side being one of our “what’s this” questions, which our chef was only too happy to answer. 

Steak au Poivre

It’s quite lucky that we didn’t have anything negative to say, as I feel that it wouldn’t have gone down too well (even if it had been whispered between the two of us, as I think he may have heard!) Our position also lead us to food envy, as every plate that zoomed past our noses had us perving on it. A habit of mine that I really must give up, but all the meals looked amazing. I just couldn't help myself. The prawn cocktail (quite different to how it sounds) is on my list for the next visit. Watching those prawns being grilled and then garnished had me drooling. We also watched quite a few of the raspberry soufflé’s rise in front of our eyes from inside the oven and then walk past our noses. We just had to have one of these. The soufflé, also from the specials board, was light and fluffy, as they should be, and had a great fresh raspberry coulee to serve with it. We demolished it in what felt like seconds.

Before the top is taken off

After the top has been taken off and the raspberry coulee has been poured on.

Is Grasshopper a place I would visit again? For sure! Miss Feathers is already planning her return visit. It didn't win best small bar this year for nothing! Richard told us that we just had to try the cheese plate on our next visit, as he began cutting them up, and I wouldn't want to make the chef angry!