LuMi Dining — Restaurant in Sydney

This is my first restaurant review, and let’s just say I have a lot to write about... just nothing positive.

It’s a real shame because I’ve dined at LuMi several times and once considered it among Sydney's finest (granted, my last visit was four years ago). What I just ate, however, can only be described as a masterclass in mediocrity — and that’s being generous, because "mediocre" at least implies average. This was easily the most disappointing dining experience I’ve ever had in my life. Honestly, that’s quite an achievement in itself given I’m an avid diner — I’ve visited the vast majority of hatted restaurants in Sydney and regularly dine at Michelin-starred venues abroad. I don’t say this to toot my own horn, but simply to point out that I do have a fairly calibrated sense of what “good” looks like. I’ve had plenty of overpriced, forgettable meals, but this was my first encounter with what truly awful tastes like. Judging by the reactions from surrounding tables and the recent reviews online (some from long-time regulars), it’s clear I’m not alone.

The meal was a tale of two halves... except both shockingly awful, each trying to outdo the other in pure disaster. The entrees were an all-out assault of sodium and cholesterol, which was so overwhelming I had to stop eating at one point. Dishes arrived in random order — a clear sign of understaffing — and so rapidly that most tables were juggling multiple entrees at once. By the time the “potato and wagyu” arrived — a deep-fried hash brown with wagyu tartare and foie gras — I was already feeling ill from what was an incoherent amalgamation of luxury ingredients tossed together by a random number generator.

The mains, somehow, were even worse — bland to the point of baffling. The contrast was so extreme that the kitchen should've just averaged the seasoning across the meal. The toothfish was the undisputed star of the show — it redefined just how thoroughly a kitchen can butcher a dish from every conceivable angle. It was a gastronomical tragedy: overcooked to a chewy, bubblegum-like texture, drowning in a flavourless foam, and finished with a seasoning so incoherent it felt like someone had lost the recipe halfway through cooking. The “chilli” sauce was completely devoid of both chilli and flavour, and the mysterious macadamia blob did absolutely nothing. For a brief moment, I genuinely wondered if I’d lost my sense of taste, and instinctively took a sip of my cocktail to check. I'm no expert, but I’m fairly confident that foam-of-nothingness, oil-of-nothingness, and a drizzle of cumin on a sad, overcooked filet doesn’t scream “fusion".

Other standouts: the duck egg — described as chawanmushi, which honestly is an insult to the word; the crudo — thick, bland, and uninspired (nearly impossible to mess up yet somehow they've succeeded); and the quail — so irredeemable that one of the waiters agreed with my assessment.

A recurring theme throughout was the restaurant’s inexplicable obsession with foam. I’ve never seen foam used so liberally and pointlessly. It felt like the kitchen's motto was: "if we can't add flavour, let's just add bubbles instead". Then and again, maybe it’s all just a fitting metaphor for the whole experience: all show, no substance.

The irony is… I had a weirdly good time at LuMi. The food was so comically bad that the night morphed into sheer entertainment. It was bad in such a spectacular, memorable way that I started writing this review (because, frankly, what was there to eat) and joked about filing a complaint with the ACCC (I mean, it should be a violation of consumer law to pay $350 only to spend the entire night wondering when the madness will end). The only bright spot was Hugo, who was genuinely professional and eloquent, though even he forgot it was a birthday celebration.

Maybe this was all an elaborate April Fool’s joke that I missed the memo for. Whatever LuMi is attempting now isn’t Japanese, nor Italian, nor worth your time. It's a new genre altogether and I've frankly run out of words in the English dictionary to...

LuMi in Italian means small lights, which the restaurant is full of! LuMi serves modern Italian food with a Japanese twist. It has some of the best bread and pies so much so they opened their own bakery.

💥 LuMi feels like it is encased in a glass box, with the quote “You are confined only by the walls you create” etched on the glass.

💁🏼‍♀️ The service was exceptional! Our server made the night really special for our celebration. He was the one that encouraged me to upgrade my steak to an a5 and i’m so glad I trusted him.

🍷 We had a mix of wine and cocktails including S-THAI 20 Fruity and Herbal Spritz style. Peach Wine, Italian Aperitif, Gentian, Prosecco, delicious!

💥 We opted for the Chefs menu for $155pp and were full even after the snacks.

We started with Italian Gunkan which was Trout Roe which was fresh and delicious.

Served altogether as little snacks, the Pomme Dauphine potato mixed with choux pastry deep-fried to perfection. Was a little pop of delight in our mouths.

Tuna tartare with Shisho leaf sandwich style, look how beautifully wafer thin is the shisho leaf? This was a delicious fresh and tasty snack.

Our Tart was a Pumpkin tart with glazed pumpkin seeds, very light, the puffed pumpkin seeds that topped the tart were crunchy and glazy. The tart itself was filled with creamy, sweet pumpkin and a layer of smooth, blue cheese. So much texture in a few bites.

The Taco was salmon rilette and honey bug taco covered in chives which were not overpowering at all, it just worked.

Next up one of the highlights was the Pork and fermented shiitake Pie, wow! This is quite a heavy dish to have after light snacks and before more light dishes. The pastry was perfection and the filling was absolutely delicious.

Crab and macadamia. We received a stunning bowl that looked like white shell and it was cold, fresh from the fridge. Mud crab meat, prawn, lemon myrtle dashi, macadamia oil, and finger lime pearls sat atop a layer of smooth, firm custard, this time like a chawanmushi. This was one of my fav dishes, absolutely delicate, intricate and delicious!

Rye & spelt sourdough Brioche w/house-churned burnt butter mascarpone, how stunning is this bread!! It was as light and fluffy as it looks. Delicious!!

The Agnolotti was super silky and cooked al dent, melted in our mouths with the rich broth it was warm and scrumptious.

This was one of the best dishes of King George Whiting, Mussel, Lemongrass Ginger Foam, it melted in our mouths and was so light and delicious.

We were encouraged to get the Wagyu and were so glad we did. We didn’t both have to get it either, so I just upgraded mine. It was a5 graded and was my fav thing of the night. It came with a cabbage and green dollop of something. It was absolute perfection, completely melted in my mouth.

Dessert time! White Chocolate & Sudachi was so pretty, served on a cracker. White chocolate and Sudachi. Sudachi is made from the Japanese sudachi citrus fruit, this was the palate cleanser before dessert. It was served in another beautiful bowl, on the side of the dish to emphasise its size, a huge portion, probably too big. This was sudachi ice cream on frozen yoghurt, with a dusting of kaffir lime, and a sliver of caramelised white chocolate as the base. The sudachi ice cream had a texture like Dippin’ Dots. There were citrus flavours and tartness from both the sudachi and the kaffir lime. The tempered white chocolate was super sweet.

Buffalo milk ice cream, coffee caramel, popcorn, another light dish, creamy and nutty, foamy but crunchy. It was super milky and almost cheesy but not.

Pecan Frangipane & Szechuan Pepper stunning dish, I was worried about the pepper but it was very subtle.

✨ I’d love to sit at the bar next time to see the kitchen. I love the concept of the menu being just one word and then they an incorporate in anyway depending on what’s in season. “Taco” can change ingredients, “Tuna” can be served in a cone instead. Endless...

First time at LuMi. Had the limited truffle menu which consisted of a few “snacks,” entree, main and dessert. The snacks were definitely the highlights from the gravity defying potato stack to the crispiest croissant I’ve ever had. The extra Martin we ordered was definitely a weak point and I craved a bit of fresh acidity to go with it. I’d imagine that their usual omakase is a much better standout option.

Choose the truffle menu if you really want truffle, but you can get the standard menu with truffled added as well!

Looking forward to coming back and trying their standard offerings. I will update this review with additional photos then.

Edit: above is for June 2023, now updated below. July 2025.

So I’ve been coming to LuMi 3 years in a row now for my birthday. First it was the truffle lunch as originally reviewed, then last year, and now this year. Last year’s experience was good, but this year was so tragic.

The night first started with the table unprepared. It needed to be wiped down and the placemats were being warmed by residual derrière heat on the seats from the earlier seating.

The table spent most of the evening wet. Some of it was from the condensation, but some of it was spilt from overly eager waiters that seemed to change with every dish that came out. The table was only wiped… by me with the paper menu after being tired of eating off a wet, bum-essence table mat.

The saddest part of the evening was ordering a bottle of sake when the last snack of the omakase was served. The waiter said he would return to tell me if it was available. He never came back, and I don’t think I saw him again for the rest of the night. I had hoped that it would be out by the time the seafood dishes started it would be brought out, but it didn’t. Each time new dish came out and in between dishes we had asked about sake… by the fifth time, I had expressed that I should not have had to bring it up 5 times. By then, half of the main menu was already over — the sake was to accompany the seafood, which was well a truly finished.

We were later approached by the sommelier or floor manager — his exact role I was not sure. We were given wine pairings as an apology, but to be honest, the night was already dead and the mood was irrecoverable. It’s a terrible feeling to be repeatedly forgotten and ignored, particularly as waiters and chefs were at times talking to other patrons, providing a level of attention that we had gotten at the other times I had dined at LuMi.

It was odd that they brought out a dessert with “happy birthday” on it at the end. After the entire experience of that night, the message was just off.

No one checked in on us the entire night. That’s telling that the service was substandard.

In summary: -I can understand a busy night where the table wasn’t set, but I don’t like the idea of eating off a placement that was stored on the seats knowing that someone’s rear end was that seat moments before. -Being forgotten and needing 5 reminders for a bottle of sake. -having to be angry just to get the minimum standard of service. -watching every other table finish earlier because they got better service. We were there for more than 4hrs! -we never got the sake we ordered?? We straight up asked about it at the end. If it was out of stock, why not tell us? Rather being strung along after 5 reminders, we could have ordered something else. Again, no one came to check in — it was just food dumped on a table with a fancy explanation of ingredients and that was the service we got.

$350pp to be ignored to that extent for a special occasion is absolutely not worth it. Please review your cctv footage if there is any — I can assure you that there has been no embellishment in this...