New Yamanishi — Restaurant in Sydney

New Yamanishi is a newly opened Japanese-Spanish fusion restaurant whose interior resembles a Tokyo izakaya. Whilst a seemingly unique combination of cuisines, one could imagine such a pairing being pulled off by a capable chef who has the ability to harmoniously blend the two tastes. Alas, New Yamanishi’s menu felt confused and disorientated by the disjointed tastes along with its other failings.

We began with an $8 plate of pickled vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, and capsicums) which had too much crunch and not the kind of tanginess you would want from pickles. The starters that followed, presumably attempting a delicate dance of ‘teriyaki’ and ‘tapas’ ended up lost in a confused identity crisis. The chicken wings were crispy and covered in a soy-sauce glaze whilst the garlic prawns were chewy and drowned out in a thick, rich tomato sauce. The dishes felt as though they had come from totally different restaurants and did not suit each other well at all.

Our next two dishes were the wagyu steak and oxtail ramen. One would expect wagyu steak to be impervious to culinary missteps (and although a high quality cut of beef was served), it simply did not suit the rest of the menu. As for the oxtail ramen, it felt heavy with a harsh-tasting stock that remained long on the palette. Thankfully, it was relatively small (accurately described as ‘mini’ on the menu) with only a sliver of oxtail - so the damage dealt was limited by the size of the portion.

If that lacklustre fare wasn’t enough to dissuade me from coming back, the interminable wait times and abysmal service will. A bottle of wine and an hour after ordering, we decided it was time to ask the servers to check on our orders. They apologised and gave us a token bowl of cold lotus chips to carry us through to the final arrival of our food. If anything, it seemed that they felt little more than inconvenienced by our presence. A strange impression to give to their patrons.

Adding insult to injury, the prices were high. You can expect to spend a few hundred dollars before walking out of here.

I’ve been to Japanese restaurant across the world - including in Japan and Australia. I’ve been to cheap joints, exclusive establishments, and everything in between. I have eaten traditional Japanese cuisine as well as more contemporary and audacious takes. Suffice to say, I am an avid fan of Japanese food. I have never had an experience anywhere near this poor in all my time. If you ever find yourself drawn to the song of Japanese Spanish fusion, heed my words and stay clear of...

The food was nice but very small portions with exorbitant prices. $18.80 for a mini ramen is certainly over priced. The most off putting part of the experience is bookings have to be made via link on instagram. I felt very unwelcome by waitress in glasses saying no you can’t come in without a booking when the staff could not adequately explain how or where I could book to eat a little latter or they could have taken my booking there and then for me to return in half an hour. Its quite pathetic customers are turned away due to a system not explained. Trying to be exclusive when it’s not really. Sure you can get sucked in by the Japanese ambience but it turns out to be another one of those japanese establishments with too many rules and poor service living off the cool cultural reputation of japanese cool small bars. Westerners may get sucked into this but I lived in Japan and this place would be dead if in Japan....

Two orders being cut off by staff. Not sure if that is short on time for preparation or what. They cook too slow！！！！ We came on time first table to order，we tried as fast as we can to finish food. Well you can improve that by confirming your order with their staff.

Do not order wagyu skewer. It‘s not worth it. Was using cheap part like a chewing gum. That is about $ 14.5 if I am correct. That‘s on the daily speicial menu.

Taco will feed you pretty full with that price as Oxtail ramen for dinner is children’s size for 18.8. Which I won‘t recommend. Full of oil floating on the soup. I do not recommend crab taco on the daily special menu.

Try roasted baby octopus，mushroom with bread. That‘s new ！

Most popular drink in Japan certainly has its reason. Lemon part in the drink should help you digest the oily oxtail ramen soup.

Creme Burle is nice. Freshly baked！I like the crushed ice...