The Rocks Teppanyaki — Restaurant in Sydney

Kobe Jones is where it's at if you want a Japanese banquet, and if you want added theatre to the meal, visit their their restaurant located at the Rocks, "The Rocks Teppanyaki". This is not what you may experience at an American style Teppanyaki, where you spend half your evening dodging food all night, or trying to catch rice in your bowl, this is traditional Teppanyaki at its finest, where the talented Chef prepares the meal right in front of you at the grill with care and precision. We enjoyed one of their 9 course banquet menus that can be picked up for a good price on Groupon. All menu items were impeccably prepared on the grill and served straight from grill to plate. Not only a visual experience, the smells and flavours were great, with plenty of umami instilled into every dish. The chef also took her time to converse with us and make it a brilliant dining experience. To start the degustation style banquet, we were brought out a short sip of Creamy cauliflower soup, with a velvety texture and plenty of flavour. With many more courses ahead, it was appropriately served in an espresso glass. Following this was a delicious bite, maybe two, of the crab salad and avocado roll, wrapped in kingfish smothered in their rich creamy secret sauce and finished on the grill. We watched the chef as she purposely brought the grill plate to flames to nicely sear the outer layer of the dish.

Poke bowls are all the the rage at the moment, and were used as a palate cleanser in this instance. A fresh dish to mix it up it a little, more of a sashimi salad. With a mix of salad leaf, seaweed, raw kingfish and salmon, this was a nice touch before we got into the main courses. Next, it is taken up a knotch with the superbly high quality lobster tail, served in half shell, with the chef's skill evidently on display, busily working to perfectly grill and season this tasty dish, served in a sesame mornay sauce. Absolutely lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed this.

The Japanese are known to cook a good steak and are famouse for their Wagyu, with this restaurant seving many grades of wagyu from 5+ to 9+. The banquet includes the sirloin cooked at high heat on the grill. Chef cooks it to your preference. This steak full of good oils, so juicy and full of umami, no sauce needed, but it is there if want; a vinegar, miso and teriyaki. The fat from the sirloin is cooked into little crip pieces, to savour if you wish. The dish is also accompanied with rice crisps for added texture. This is served with the obligatory bowl of miso soup, to cleanse the palate.

The meal is finished with their sapporo beer Crepe Suzette, a nice light desert to finish the banquet, flambeed in Grand Marinier the flames certainly provide some excitement, as does the orange caramel glaze served with the crepe. This was a great interactive dining experience in the Rocks. At full price it is $169 for the degustation, but the food served uses premium ingredients and it is expertly prepared in front of you. If this is out of your price range, or you're not in need of so many courses, A la carte is also available. Staff were lovely, very friendly and hospitable. The restaurant is located in the heritage area of the rocks in what was once an 1800's butchery. There is so much history here and they've done a great job to keep with the outdoor heritage and indoors, a modern homely...

A pleasant visit on a special occasion day that drives us to visit this really nice restaurant. To begin with I will talk about the food, an artistic and beautiful selection of ingredients makes the restaurant top visit for fine dining dinners that aim to try the best of the best on food. We happen to order the set menu of wagyu and barramundi with an upgrade of AA5 wagyu and I should say this meat is what can be narrated as perfection. The barramundi and 2 entres are an amazing recommendation, really great cooked and presented as well as beautiful add ons of vegetables, rices and sauces. Drinks are definitely beautiful and full of flavour, they compensate their price with the right amount of components. Yes they are expensive, but you don’t need more than one cocktail to celebrate the night.

Next is service, the waitress that served us last night was attentive and careful with all the orders, certainly from the moment that a waiter asks about your allergies you know you are in the right hands. From top to bottom she was attentive and I feel bad I didn’t ask her name. The chef, who’s name is William, did an amazing job, we could notice resistance to interaction but by half the meal he asked questions and made jokes around with us which we appreciate. Certainly is not a teppanyaki that entertain you as much as you see in other places, but the food is really worth it. Unfortunately at the end of the service, with the dessert served, we got lack of cutlery to eat it, the ice cream was melting and leaving a lake of sugar over the table and it was a bit unfortunate we couldn’t enjoy it. I don’t blame the waitress cause she was attending us with other request, but a second waitress in the room saw us and didn’t do anything about it.

About the place set up, the whole restaurant is a piece of art, the first time you walk around the house adapted venue you feel claustrophobic but the seats are actually comfortable enough for everybody. However do not look to the ceiling, you might get a surprise of bad proportions. Unfortunately I didn’t notice any wheelchair availability but I cant ensure there is.

To finish I will like to recall on the cake experience, we decided to call a day before to make a cake request since we were celebrating my birthday. After knowing that the menu was not updated and we had to look for another cake; we set the service and were told that this cake could not be available since we were giving a really late notice. By the day of the dinner we received a cake of an extra size and different flavour, being honest the cake looked amazing and does taste more than great and since we knew it was a late notice complaining wouldn’t have been a right choice. However by the time I got the bill I notice the cake price was the original cake order and not the one we received, I gently made the observation and turn out the cake was ten dollars extra; it is not a complain but there can be a window of improvement here that you could take constructively.

Thanks to everybody for an amazing...

We came to this restaurant to celebrate my boyfriends 24th birthday and the experience varied throughout the night. Upon arrival, we were greeted and escorted to our seats upstairs. We shared the room with two other families and the room felt a bit cramped, but overall was a nice atmosphere. We were again greeted by a waitress and asked about our dietary requirements and what water we would like which was nice and attentive. We ordered the wagyu and barramundi combo with the premium wagyu upgrade which was around $150 pp. The first entrée came which was the salmon which had a nice acidic touch that was well balanced. Then the chef (william) cooked us the second dish which was crab filled roll with kewpie mayo; the mayo was a bit overwhelming and made the rest of the meal feel quite heavy due to how much mayo was put on top (the flavour was amazing though). Next we were introduced to the scallops with wasabi pepper sauce which was a nice fit for the menu; light and refreshing. We were then given the wagyu meat with rice, the meat was cooked to perfect and juicy; if the price point does not affect you, I highly recommend the upgrade. Finally, we were given the dessert. The dessert was quite disappointing, as the alcohol was overpowering and we were not given cutlery to eat the dish, so the ice cream melted all over the table. Overall, William was a lovely chef who was quiet and reserved, but it fitted with the night perfectly, so thankyou William!

Overall, for the price point, the dishes needed to be above and beyond, but the only thing that shined for me personally was the wagyu meat and the scallops; the other dishes lacked for such a high price point. I probably would not go back again, as I feel there are other places that stand out that are half the price, with a greater theatrical experience; it just depends what you value with a teppanyaki restaurant, but for me, the show makes it worth the money, and this restaurant had no in depth...