Oborozuki — Restaurant in Sydney

(4.5 stars) Recreating the glowing briefcase scene from Pulp Fiction, a white-gloved waiter opens a suitcase to reveal a backlit collection of sake cups. It’s just one way Oborozuki endeavours to make your night special. Another way is with high staffing ratios: at one point there were four staff members fussing over our table. It certainly makes a four course menu ($220/head) feel like a degustation, especially when it includes all the fine dining bells and whistles—snacks, pre-dessert and petit fours—that seemed to become more scarce post-COVID. So hold strong through the upsells, as our waitress assured me, it’s plenty of food without needing add-ons. And if you’re chasing value in the drinks, choose wine rather than sake as the markups are lower, particularly on the excellent 2022 Mulline Portarlington Chardonnay ($90). Sommelier Donggeon Kim is knowledgeable and friendly.

Starting with a flurry of snacks bested by the negitoro temaki, the eats were more avant-garde than I was expecting. The coral trout, for example, teams the crisp-skinned wedge of fish with spanner crab, preserved kumquat, purple broccolini, saffron bisque, nori puree, and romanesco cauliflower. There are a lot of elements, so it confounds the palate and stretches the mind, as you try to process what you’re eating. To aid comprehension nearly every dish has elements presented at the table, from the seaweeds you’ll taste in the takikomi rice, to the standout Mareema duck that’s dry aged for ten days with its taut dimpled skin encrusted with shiso seeds, coriander seeds and Sichuan pepper. The end result is fireworks.

First course dishes start simpler, like beef tartare built over a fancy French hash brown (pomme paillasson), with earthy umami built using smoked eel (unagi), tamari and beetroot. Desserts look highbrow but play to more familiar flavours. ‘Mango’ reminded me of a Weiss bar, and banana chokoreto had a Choc Yogo edge. The pre-dessert of rice milk and vanilla sorbet under a sour gel with ribbons of nashi pear was extraordinary. While hectic in places, the dishes here don’t jangle. Maybe they don’t all reach harmonious, but experimentation should be praised. And while the floor team feel green in places, they try harder to make you feel important than some Sydney spots with more hats. The view and internal architecture is also...

Came here on a great sunny afternoon and was kindly greeted by staff! They asked if there was any special occasion for us which we didn’t have but i assume they do special writing and touches if it is!

The window seat was so nice, and a great spot to just look over the water and people. I like how they have the seating angled so that both people can see.

The decor was so pretty and sleek.

We got the three course set and found that we were quite full! Of course with some small additions of oysters, sashimi and potato sides. The dishes were spaced out quite nicely and in between dishes they would clean our plates and the table which was a very nice luxury experience!

The oysters were nice and the mignonette was very nice. The sashimi was played very nice and was just okay in my opinion. Maybe a skip from me!

The snacks were really great, the sushi roll was my least favourite, the flavour was just soso. The toro tart was really good and it was light and it had a good combination of the crunch texture and the soft sashimi. The warm octopus cruller was really nice and it was warm, I liked the white strawberry too.

The bread was nice and and the miso butter was so good, I wish there was more butter!!!

We got the kingfish which was nice with the cream but there were small pieces of jelly that were bursting with flavour!

The beef tartare nice, with the nori chips, i feel like it was just okay. I would maybe recommend trying another dish instead!

The toothfish was so good, it wasn’t too caramelised or sweet which I find some other places do. I liked the sauce with it as well. The fish was cooked well.

The stockyard chuck tail flap was really good too, just on its own, the additional things on the plate were okay though. The steak was so flavourful and buttery!

The potatoes were nice, quite crispy !!!

The pre dessert was a great fresh palate cleanser.

As for desserts, the forest berry saka was not that great in my opinion, it was nice but there was a strange flavour in between I can’t really describe.

I much preferred the yuzu mille feuille was was the perfect balance of fresh and creamy!!! The petit fours were nice, the fudge was my favourite!!

I like the mandarin spritz as a drink! Overall a great place with great food, love the service and vibes. Perfect for a...

One of the newest Japanese fine dining at Circular quay, Its 11 Course Kaiseki menu ($380pp)* brings Oborozuki to the upper echelon of fine dining in Sydney. With prices even higher than the tasting menus of Oncore ($340pp)* and Quay ($340pp)*, expectations of the food and services were high. Presentation of each dish was beautiful and immaculate. The ceramic and glass wares were delicate and elegant. Overall, the food was fine. Special mentions included the Chawanmushi and Somen noodles. None of the food were substandard yet at the same time, no dish really stood out. A core attraction of these fine-dining institutions is the careful cultivation of signature dishes that represented the philosophy of the culinary arts of both the chef and the restaurant. With Oncore, there was a beautiful floral motif with their signature kingfish, core apple dessert, and lamb. With Quay, there was a stronger emphasis on their unique take on seafood. Perhaps being a relatively new restaurant, Oborozuki’s core identity has not yet been truly established. Despite the claim on the menu that each dish is a unique reflection of its time and place, little explanations or stories were made during the serving of each dish. Furthermore, there was no one true dish that would allow me a full association with Oborozuki unlike the other restaurants of this tier. (E.g. Tetsuya’s confit of Ocean Trout, Oncore’s Kingfish, Gidley’s Spinalis etc) In terms of the environment, the interior design was aesthetically pleasing. However, despite the restaurant being at the harbour of Circular quay, both the view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera house were obscured. Being located at the new residential building next to the train station and wharf, both structures were just beyond the peripheral vision of the restaurant. Staff were polite but one could tell that they were inexperienced. The waitress who looked after our table could only provide the name of each dish served, without any extra information or backstory to the dishes Hence, although the food was nice, I really could not justify giving this restaurant a higher score solely due to its price point.

*As...