OMU — Restaurant in Sydney

My partner and I have really been looking forward to visiting this place. We travelled all the way from New Zealand. There were so many restaurants we wanted to go to on our list yet we had very limited time, but we decided OMU was a must. We've watched so many kichi kichi videos and really wanted to witness the omelette cutting experience.

The restaurant was empty when we arrived, we were greeted pretty quickly and up to this point everything was pretty good. The QR code ordering system showed that we could request for text or drawing on the omelette, so we requested a heart shape and our initials. We also requested to view the omelette cutting process. (we saw online that it was something that could be requested)

Then the wait begins. We could kind of tell something wasn't going right. The atmosphere was pretty dense and It had been 40 minutes and we still hadn't gotten our meals, but neither of us minded the wait. Then we saw the chef cut the omelette, so I hurriedly stood up to ask if we could watch and video the process. The floor staff(the husband of the chef I assume) pulled me aside and apologised saying that we wouldn't get to see the process because the chef was in a bad mood, and that it was usually a service they offered but not when she was angry and maybe we could video the next one.

I looked over to the chef, and yep she was definitely not happy.

We got our meals. There was no writing or text on the omelette, which was fine.

I tried to get up to see the omelette cutting for other customers, but honestly the chef was really unapproachable, and looked...pretty mad.

Throughout the entire ordeal the floor staff was really apologetic and trying his best to rectify the situation. You're a champion.

In the end I finally got to see the omelette cutting, although it was actually my partner that really wanted to see it. But by this point his mood was pretty average.

The food was okay. The omelette was really nicely done and the jumbo prawns were decent.

The price is on the higher side, but we were paying for the experience and the experience was pretty sad.

The total came to around $70+ for two omurice, a drink and a serving of attitude.

The Instagram said 'smile with omurice' but it was more like omurice with some wrath.

We understand that everyone has good days and bad days, but for your bad days to cause your customer into having a bad day... That's pretty unprofessional.

Would have given 1 star for service but the waitstaff was really really nice and tried his best to diffuse the situation.

These are one of the experiences in Sydney we will always remember and unfortunately not for...

Omu can be best described as an 'experience'. The name is a shortening of 'Omurice', a popular Japanese dish comprised of a rice filling wrapped in a light omelette often served with demi-glace or tomato sauce. The variation offered by this establishment has the eggs cooked to a runny consistency (similar to British scrambled eggs) - a style pioneered and popularised by a restaurant in Kyoto called Kichi Kichi.

The inspiration is quite obvious and respectable - however there is room for improvement in the execution.

The review: the prices are quite incredible for what is considered comfort food - grabbing the signature omurice plus a protein will easily put you above $30. Though there is little I can fault with the omurice here, there feels like there is an x-factor missing from the dish to justify the high price - everything about the dish feels very homey which is not necessarily a bad thing but can be a sore point when contrasted with the price point. Service is fine - ordering is done through a QR code and paid for at your table. This is a modern approach but leaves something to be desired for those who crave the regular service orientated restaurant experience (it is possible to go into Omu, order, pay, and leave without speaking directly to any staff).

It is also worth mentioning that this is not the first establishment to offer Kyoto style omurice in Sydney - Devon Cafe includes this dish on its menu too.

Overall, this is a worthwhile experience for those wishing to try the famous Kyoto style omurice where travelling to Kyoto is not an option. As a final point, Omu definitely made the rounds on various social networks where many influencers had nothing but praise - many of the overly negative reviews are largely attributed to unrealistic expectations being set and largely not being met, not subjective evaluation of the service and food.

Would I recommend Omu as an experience to try? Definitely! Would it be a regular lunch / dinner spot for me? Not at this stage but I believe with improvements to the service offering, Omu could definitely head in...

Service was exceptional despite the large volume of orders, major kudos to the team for keeping calm and professional despite being very very busy. As mentioned by previous reviews the wait to get a seat here was quite long, in total it took 1.5 hours to get our food. If you want to avoid the wait I'd advise to wait a few weeks for the inital hype to settle down. Perhaps the team can consider taking reservations to avoid such long waiting times.

Overall the food here was delicious and well presented, my partner and I ordered the demi-glace omurice with the jumbo ebi fry and chicken katsu as well as the kaarage chicken. The fried rice was perfectly cooked with hints of demi-glace which in itself is made in house. The demi-glace sauce was a perfect balance of bitter and sweet providing a great flavour profile. The jumbo ebi fry and chicken katsu were also done really well, nothing special about that really just well done katsu dishes. The chicken karaage is well seasoned at the same time being juicy and tender.

My one caveat would be the pricing, expect to spend approximately $22 - $40 per omurice dish. Not the cheapest in my opinion. I'll definetly be coming back to try out other dishes but my bank account will be holding me back. The vibe of the restaruant was very dainty yet cute. I'd highly reccomend a seat in front of the kitchen so you can see the team work their magic.

Overall I would highly reccomend this place to anyone who enjoys a good omurice and japanese yoshuku food. I will definitly be coming back! (once the long queue's are gone haha)

TLDR: long wait (i waited 1.5 hours)(will probably settle in a few weeks) quite expensive (expect to spend approx. $22 - $40 on omurice) great food (the in house demi-glace is amazing) excellent service great vibes...