TenTo — Restaurant in Sydney

A very TikTok reviewed Cafe on the outskirts of Surry Hills sees TenTo, a low-key japanese cafe.

The Cafe has spectacular service with the staff always having a smile on their faces; greeting us as we entered & left , and look as if they are actually enjoying their work. Their cutlery and pottery are very unique setting it to be a trendy and aesthetic spot located in the Cafe hub of Sydney (Darlinghurst & Surry Hills).

However, this was about it.

The food was very disappointing, both in how it blends to create a harmony of flavours, but also texture wise and quality to some extent.

The Hotate Tantan Ochazuke, the dashi broth lacked richness, the flavour was very present of sesame and the use of specific ingredients flared the vibrancy of the dish. However, the flavours were very mute and did not harmonise well. This was particularly in the case of the Snapper Sashimi which was not fresh having a strong fishy odour and taste; on a high note however, the Aburi Scallops were sweet and nicely charred bringing out a great contract. Similarly, the outer coating of the rice had a nice crunch which was pleasantly different to other Ochazukes.

Next, The Yakibuta Tantan Udon, the charred pork was very well cooked and had a fatty and smoky flavour. Yet again, the soup lacks in richness and seems to "runny" for a Tonkotsu broth. The udon was very bland as the soup did not stick to the noodles and felt as if I was just eating plain noodles. The egg was perfectly runny though.

The Black Sesame Latte had a mediocre strength of black sesame and was well executed on a cold day; likewise with the Matcha which we opted for Honey to be used as the sweetener. Note, both drinks are not very creamy (just a personal preference).

I will be revisiting TenTo in the near future to see if such standards are raised however. So till then, this is my current stance on the...

Nice food and atmosphere but seems overhyped and overpriced.

We ordered the tantan udon, salmon ochazuke, breakfast setto, gogi chips and chicken sando. We also ordered green tea, seasame latte and a ice latte.

The ochazuke’s were clean in flavour and texture, however for the salmon there wasn’t much depth in flavour (I think it’s just that kind of dish). Personally not a fan but i can see the appeal for someone who wants something clean and very light. The sides on the breakfast setto, including the fried eggplant was nice, although the tofu was different in texture to what we anticipated (more paste like texture than jelly).

The sando was a lot of bread and the ratio of sauce to filling was limited which was a bit underwhelming. Also the sauce was just mayo rather than something unique which is a bit sad for $18.5

The udon was personally a favourite as it was reasonably spicy and had a clean yet rich flavour. Also generous serving of meat and veggies.

The matcha was very pure matcha which was bitter (which is personally not my preference) and hence hard to drink without vanilla syrup (although still tricky to finish). The ice sesame drink was very nice though and the gobo chips had a nice barbecued sauce on top and a wasabi mayo which was delicious.

The service was good and the staff were pleasant and helpful. Chairs are also wooden stools so our bums were sore after...

The food was delicious and very filling. They have a unique menu of ochazuke (tea on rice) that is rarely seen elsewhere, and some other things like cold udon and ramen. Definitely a cool experience to come here. However I think you should only come here if you're starving. I got the breakfast set thinking it would be like a typical breakfast but when it arrived, it was so big. I don't even remember how I finished it, but I appreciate the great value. I also noticed that everything on the menu seems very heavy. There isn't really anything light you could get if you weren't that hungry-- everything had some sort of meat or rich broth or was deep fried. Even the "smalls" were all deep fried or meat (except for the sashimi but that's still fish). I guess you could just get a drink or dessert, but there would be nothing savoury for you as a light meal. Nevertheless great food. They do close at 2:45 so they slowly kicked us out, and I'd recommend sitting outside bc the inside seating was actually so hot and stuffy, whereas there was a cool breeze outside.

On another note, my friend noted the iced matcha latte was very bitter; it doesn't come with sugar (you'd have to ask for that) but it should've been tempered by the milk since milk inherently has lactose (a sugar) in it, yet she was saying it tasted like she was drinking straight matcha tea. Iced chocolate was just like...