Kuro Bar & Dining — Restaurant in Sydney

Kuro is one of the most exciting dining experiences I've had in Sydney for quite some time!

From the moment we were greeted, the staff were all attentive and welcoming. They explained the menu and options very well so everything was clear.

The space is artistic and minimalist, with high ceilings and clean lines, with grantite and wood being a common theme. Even the serving plates meshed very well with the overall theme.

Ok, the main event. The food. The food is playful, creative and delicious. You can taste the Japanese infliences, and the fusion elements were subtle and well thought out. Nothing seemed too heavy handed or obvious. They serve well known dishes, but all with a twist that doesn't compromise the flavour.

All the starters were beautifully presented, with striking black food with contrasts of orange and green from the Salmon roe and herbs, all looking very appealing. The standouts with the starters were the KURO Chiffon cake with Salmon roe, as well as the fried chicken.

Both the fried chicken and the fried whiting, both covered in a black tempera coating was delicious, with the protein being the standout in flavours, and somehow accentuated with being well cooked and still very juicy.

Other standouts were the Otoro Tuna 4 ways (an additional item on the night). The sashimi tuna belly was so exquisite. So tender and fatty and lush. The duck breast was another standout, perfectly cooked and succulent. Duck breast can be difficult to master but they cooked it perfectly.

The desserts were also playful and fun. The banana ice-cream with mochi skin was inspired and delicious. My partner was very impressed and said was one of the best desserts they'd had in ages. The adding of pistachio also made it both textural and tasty. I personally loved the Creme D'anjou with strawberry and comte, an ingenious way of having the classic cheese and fruit ending, repurposed into a light, delicious and moreish dish.

The last standouts were the cocktails!! We love our cocktails and was delightfully surprised to see 4 dedicated pages to cocktails covering sour, bitter, fruity and other options. The grape martini was a light and refreshing play on a classic version, and all the sours were standouts.

A surprisingly delightful evening. As the menu is very seasonal, we will...

24/8/24 - 4 stars

Have been recommended Kuro by a couple of people and finally managed to come for lunch. Overall, this is a really nice Japanese fine dining and bar spot but my experience was certainly marred by the wagyu.

Though this may be skewed by the relative quietness of the venue at lunch, the staff were very attentive. Don't really need to explain much about the decor since its quite impressive. Definitely feel like you're in a fine dining establishment.

Cocktail omakase was genuinely the best part. The bartender showed us what fruits they had and let us pick before putting together some delicious drinks. At $22 per drink, it is a little steep but these were some of the best cocktails I've had.

We opted for the express lunch set for $50pp with the $10 upgrade for wagyu. This turned out to be a mistake as the wagyu was horribly difficult to cut and eat. We notified the staff who apologized but didn't offer to re-serve the dish. They did at least redact the surcharge.

Scallop sashimi Flavour: S+, 8.5/10. Very fresh and a bit sweet though wasn't very plump Texture: S+, 8.5/10. Nori sauce: SS, 9/10. Worked well to give a subtle roasted seaweed taste Value: B+, 6.5/10

Kuro-fried chicken Flavour: S, 8/10. Chicken was likely soy marinated and tasted ok but the sour plum didn't really mesh super well Texture: S+, 8.5/10. Quite juicy but not that crispy Value: A, 7/10.

Ocean trout tartare Flavour: SS, 9/10. My favourite starter. Very fresh and clean so worked well with the fried seaweed and quinoa Texture: SS+, 9.5/10. So many different pieces worked well together Value: S, 8/10. Definitely more worth than the other entrees

Sand whiting Flavour: S+, 8.5/10. Excellently cooked with a savoury and sweet profile Texture: SS+, 9.5/10. Might be the most crispy fish I've ever had Value: A, 7/10. Only two small (half?) fillets

Wagyu Flavour: S, 8/10. Of the parts that were edible, it was actually quite umami and tasty Texture: C, 5/10. Not sure what happened here but it seemed like we got a tendinous cut. Very difficult to cut and almost impossible to chew Value: C,...

Came for friend's 21st. Overall pretty decent place but not sure if I'll be coming back again for the price point ($90).

I'll be rating all the foods out of 5.

Entree was quite nice, the cucumber had a nice tart flavour 3.5/5, the Wagyu bread was super soft but it tasted quite average. The meat itself tasted like a strip of prosciutto 3.5/5. The best part was the fried chicken. It was such a nice explosion of flavours that we've never tried before and everyone liked that best out of the entree 4.5/5. The fried nori was very average and the going sauce tasted but strange for Asian flavours. 2/5

Then came the salmon with tofu chips. The tofu chips tasted like a wafer biscuit from the store but was still quite nice. The salmon with the sauce was quite average nothing special compared to other salmon I've had 3/5. I really like the kingfish though. It had such a nice sauce which was sweet and sour and quite umami 5/5. The soba we universally thought liked much better than it tasted 3/5.

The main I got the duck. The side sauce I had tasted super strange in a slightly bad way on it's own but together with the meat was good. The meat was super tender and skin was crispy I quite liked it 5/5. The pumpkin came with the main and I really liked how sweet the seeds were so yum. It tasted like honey roasted almonds but a lot smaller. Pumpkin was yummy too. 5/5

Dessert was hojicha tiramisu 4/5. It was nice and not too sweet and quite a unique flavour. My friends liked it a lot however I thought it was just slightly better than average since I've had much better tiramisu before from an Italian restaurant. Checkout my review for Pentolina Melbourne for that amazing tiramisu.

Overall very fun experience going with friends. The service was nice and professional and the place looked quite fancy. It looks much more...