Restaurant Ka — Restaurant in Sydney

Coasting over the line of dishes you can’t cook at home, Restaurant Ka, serves up paradise prawns pounded into paste and shaped into textural noodles. The eye-catching ribbons of orange and white—complemented by shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, and shaoxing wine—are just one of eight exciting courses ($180/person) at the tiny, 10-seater degustation-only restaurant. After a decade under Martin Benn at Sepia, followed by time in Golden Century’s XOPP kitchen, owner/chef Zachary Ng certainly has a unique vision, no doubt also influenced by spending the first 19 years of his life in Hong Kong. He toys with diner expectation in dishes like a bluefin tuna ‘spring roll’ where a dice of lean and fatty tuna is presented on crisp spring roll pastry under creamy horseradish with popping Yarra Valley roe he’s washed, marinated in his seasoned house soy, and smoked in applewood for a popping good time! Think of it as late night stoner food, well, if you happened to date a very talented chef.

The menu highlight is an elegant white-on-white mound of Port Lincoln calamari sliced into long, thin noodles seared in a pan for just 30 seconds. Give the pile a nudge to reveal a black sauce of squid ink, spring onion and garlic. They’re at once intense and delicate: magic against a slurp of Imayotsukasa Hitotoki Junmai ($155/720ml) sake. Before you’ve even thought to run your finger through the puddled remains, Ng arrives with pillowy milk buns and whipped butter spiked with condensed milk and soy to mop the plate. Ng’s company is a good part of the attraction at this darkened Darlo bunker. From presenting dishes to answering questions and mixing up a short but entertaining list of cocktails, including the Not Quite Old Fashioned ($28)with star anise and candied mandarin, Ng gives you a lot of time for your spend.

From the opening snacks, like sweetcorn and fluffy manchego on a short, buttery biscuit, to mains like a modestly presented bowl of four-hour smoked Stockyard full blood wagyu brisket cubes dotted with foraged pine mushrooms, chestnut and yuzu butter over rice, this menu does not skip a beat. Ng even coaxes celery into a credible pre-dessert with peppery bite cutting through Candy Hearts grapes and finger lime curbed by apple yoghurt. With the restaurant still being in its first eight months of operation, it’s mercifully easy to get a booking. I suspect that won’t always...

We enjoyed our visit to Restaurant Ka – many thanks to Zac and team for making our visit a memorable one.

Seating: Initially, we requested for a private table for 2, but changed our minds when we saw the actual seating arrangement – at the counter is definitely where the action is, and where you will want to be. You get to witness each dish being plated and listen to a short introduction to each dish as it is being served.

Food quality and presentation: The food is very fresh and presentation is simple yet elegant. The wine pairing was on point. We liked the layering of flavours of each dish, and especially enjoyed the Port Lincoln Calamari with squid ink – the extra touch provided by serving hot buns with soy sauce and condensed milk butter to mop up the ink lifted the dish to another level for us. (Zac, would you consider making the buns and butter available for separate purchase - would have loved to "da bao"!).

Ambience: The space is tiny, but instead of feeling restricted or claustrophobic, I felt it enhanced the intimacy and cosiness – almost like the feeling of home, and “home” is what “Ka” means in Cantonese – it is perfect for dining with loved ones, and I am glad I chose this restaurant over others to visit with my loved one.

Customer Service: Zac and his small team worked well together to make us all feel at home. The service was very personal, warm and friendly, and I appreciated the extra touches like Zac going round to chat with each group of diners, as well as the attentive touches like cutlery placement to cater to a...

"Ka" or Home as it is referred to in mandarin, is the concept behind this intimate restaurant tucked behind a no through quiet street in Darlinghurst. Seating for 10, the dishes will transform you to an alternative tasting reality yet in a relaxing cosy place.

The front of the house is the head chef himself Zac Ng, equally sommelier, welcoming the small cohort of curious culinary adventurers. There are 4 chefs working around the clock in the 2.5 hour degustation, serving 10 or more unique food wonders.

Everything is sourced from the best producers; Tasmanian oyster, dry aged Tuna from Japan, Wagyu from oldest cattle range in Qld and truffles from Manjimup. All are fresh, the best, and coocked and blended magically to create dishes you have never tasted in your life! The menu is modern but heavily inspired by Japanese cuisine with taste notes from Chinese.

They are so good I cannot put any words to them. Combinations are genius and the mastery makes the taste extraordinary. If you have been waiting for Sydney to have a Michelin star restaurant, then you may not have to wait much longer. You will not be disappointed despite...