Kid Kyoto — Restaurant in Sydney

Unbelievable!

An absolute stand out in Sydney!

The food is creative and not your standard sushi and sashimi japanese restaurant. So much thought and care goes into each dish and is backed up by its deliciousness!

Dined here in 2 on Good Friday for dinner service, the set menus are mandatory on Fri-Sun, which I was not keen on as I prefer to choose my own dishes. However... the set menus on offer were so well curated and the right thought given into each preceding plate... and yes... we were very well feed and just got through our main. We made a few adjustments to the dishes, as my partner is pregnant, which was anything but a problem for the staff and options were presented to us.

THE FOOD

Watermelon sashimi - DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT TRYING THIS DISH, YOU WILL REGRET IT FOREVER - this seriously blew our minds, we were so intrigued by reading the description of the dish on the menu... but honestly were overwhelmed on how well executed it was... brilliant brilliant brilliant 11/10 Torched figs 10/10, Takoyaki 10/10, Grilled daikon mochi (WOW) 10/10 Pork belly yakitori 9/10 (a little too fatty, would have loved if it was rendered down a bit more, the smokiness of the meat was like eating in a bbq restaurant), Corn ribs - nice, but i just don't get corn ribs 6/10 Pork Hocks were exceptional, the sauce sticky and not too sweet and topped with crisp tart green apple - perfectly paired with the soba noodle salad which was generous in fresh herbs, which was a must with the rich fatty pork 11/10. Dessert - Liquorice mouuse, coconut sorbet, mochi and sake - not overly sweet and the perfect way to finish off the menu 10/10.

The manager (Laura I think) was fantastic, as we needed to change booking times from the night before, after Jetstar cancellations, shock!

I would agree with previous reviews though, the music was way to loud and slightly inappropriate, just wasn't necessary to be so loud and took away from the focus on the food... just saying

We booked 4 different restaurants over the course of our 4 night stay in Sydney... after Kid Kyoto, we cancelled the other 3... nothing was going to top this experience and would only have ended in disappointment.

Kid Kyoto...

they said "trust us" when it came to their special omakase menu, and they did not let us down! 🔥😍

at $62pp, we were served a total of 9 dishes to share. service was super fast, attentive, and the servers were so lovely and chatty! they definitely make you feel welcomed 🥺💕

keep reading for a detailed review of each dish!! ⬇️

📃 entrees honey & soy mixed nuts: great palate cleanser in between, we both loved the sweet salty combo! watermelon sashimi: the texture is like a fusion of fish and fruit! crunchy but soft and limp, it had a strong watermelon and ginger taste kingfish sashimi: loved this combo with the yukari kosho, everything was fresh and crisp corn ribs: loveeeeed this, the spicy salt on top was perfect with the juicy sweet corn chicken tsukune: this was so juicy and tender, lil ball of flavour! we preferred it on its own tho, the egg nest was a bit weird

📃 mains + dessert pork hock: pull apart tender, the teriyaki sauce is thick and smooth and perfect with the shaved apple chahan fried rice: it's fried rice 😂 it's good but not anything amazing burnt banana: the black sesame was nice but the banana flavours didn't really come thru unless the elements were eaten individually. together, the yoghurt (which tasted like cream cheese) and the ice cream completely overpowered the banana and instead left a strong smoked taste 🍌🥲

we also ordered 2 drinks, the "hello jenny" mocktail which tasted only of calpis and water (do not recommend) and the "suika suika" cocktail which was only okay, the watermelon flavour could def be stronger 🍹

check out my food instagram...

I booked way in advance for 15 people. I asked later down the track if 2 extra people could come, the restaurant said no problem.

Upon arrival no one greeted me or my guests. We were standing around the entrance bar for 20 minutes before someone came and seated us (30 minutes late as someone was sitting at our reserved table).

No one said “welcome everyone, this is how the menu works, would anyone like a drink?” For a large delux price set menu booking this service is appalling.

We had to drag a very unenthused waitress over to ask her to take our drinks order as we were seated for 30 minutes and no one had asked.

Another waitress said no we couldn’t do a drinks package because we didn’t book in advance. I didn’t accept this as you wil see from my emails below I had enquired and was told this could be confirmed on the day.

No one introduced the dishes as they were served.

Service was non existent.

There was an hour gap between entree and main dishes.

I felt like we were treated like walk in booking of 2 people who only ordered drinks and snacks. We did not feel valued at all.

It was really distressing and disappointing and it really put a damper on my whole birthday evening.

I understand there are staffing problems nation wide however that does not excuse most of the issues I had. One waitress in particular was particularly rude - rolling her eyes and totally unobliging. I thought maybe she was only a runner but she said she was indeed supposed to be our waitress.

I sent this feedback in an email to the restaurant with no response.

Very...