YAYOI Westfield Sydney — Restaurant in Sydney

We are very fond of Japanese culture and cuisine, so much so, that Japan is the country we chose to visit for our honeymoon a few years ago. We jumped at the opportunity when invited by FCBA for a different kind of wine tasting at the newly opened Yayoi Teishoku restaurant. Yayoi Teishoku has just opened on level 6 of Westfield Sydney and to celebrate, they put on an epic umeshu (plum wine) tasting and Japanese dining experience. The restaurant has a sophisticated design with light coloured wood tones reminding us of traditional tea rooms we visited in Japan. There is a semi open kitchen and extremely hospitable service on offer, something we are accustomed to at Japanese dining. This restaurant specialises in Teishoku which is a traditional set meal, with a combination of healthy balanced dishes served on a single tray.

With a unique selection of wine including sake and umeshu - Japanese plum wine, it makes for a great place to sample a variety that you may not have had before. They are all very different and created using many techniques. Some aged in oak, combined with yuzu, combing the fruit and leaves from the tree, organic, puree, combined with tea or sake. At $8 a glass, it is great value and perfect to accompany your meal, as you would with grape wine.

There are a number of great options on the a la carte menu. Price between $2-$10 are the smaller items and sides. Of course there is the Edamame soy beans, the norm to share these at the start of a Japanese meal or Tamago yaki a Japanese egg omelette roll, simplicity at its finest.

There are a range of larger plates, priced between $10-$24. The Salmon salad is a great healthy option, the Salmon teriyaki: a tasty dish with a sweet sauce. This is an approachable dish for those not familiar with Japanese cuisine. The Chicken Namban didn't last long at all, we loved this fried chicken served with house made tartare sauce.

The teishoku (set meals) were great value, all were of a high standard and the portions are large, consisting of a soup dish, a main and two sides. The Wagyu sukiyaki teishoku, a Japanese wagyu beef stew with a sweet flavoursome broth filled with noodles tofu, vegetables and an onsen egg will have us returning for more, as will the Unagi Hitsumabushi Teishoku. This is a beautiful BBQ fresh water eel dish with a sweet soy sauce. This is seved atop of a bed of rice with dried seaweed, grated leeks and a side of dashi broth. There are many ways to enjoy this meal, instructions also provided. Another favorable option was the Mix toji Teishoku, a meat lovers dream, a large bowl of rice topped with a pork cutlet, fried prawn, wagyu beef topped with egg. To sample all that Yayoi has to offer, try the Yayoi Gozen a set with pork cutlet, salmon salad, salmon teriyaki and sukiyaki.

If you have room, there were also traditional Japanese desserts on the menu. The mochi is a jelly like dessert made from braken starch. There is a matcha (green tea) warabi mochi and kinako warabi mochi topped with soy bean powder. We prefer the Matcha ice cream options.

Yayoi Teishoku restaurant is great new Japanese dining option in Westfield Sydney. We love the set menu concept providing a variety of nutritious dishes in the...

Yayoi is the best chain restaurant exported from Japan and usually available in many Asian countries and thankfully also in Sydney for quite a while now. Their menu is standard teishoku and donburi dishes consumed by office workers in Japan for lunch like curry, tonkatsu, etc.

Recently I visited its Pitt St Mall branch and ordered my favorite tonkatsu toji don and I think it was the best value and wholesome lunch option you can get in the mall area. You got fried pork cutlet which is juicy / tender on the inside and bit crispy on the surface, coated with saucy scrambled egg on top of the fluffy Japanese steam rice (go han). You also got a small bowl of warm and real miso soup (not fake instant one like in cheap Japanese stall) and a small bit of pickled veggies. It was all for only $18.80 in a big CBD mall - very good value. Yes, there was not much customer service and ambience to talk about since they employ standard but efficient tablet ordering system and the place is set up like food court area. However, if you want a quick, healthy yet not expensive lunch in the Mall then you'll be hard-pressed to find alternative to Yayoi.

You can pay by credit cards and not paying additional surcharge - another bonus point for customer services. The only thing that can be improved is probably my hope that the kitchen staff may be a bit more generous and give me more of those pickled...

The first time I came to this restaurant i thought it looked rally cool and the food looked great. It was empty that time my friend and I walked straight in and picked a table for ourselves. We were greeted by a nice lady but then told us off we shouldnt just walk in and that next time to wait to be seated. I thought it shouldnt matter if the restaurant was empty anyway...why tell off a customer? Anyway, food was good. Yesterday, i thought of giving this restaurant service another chance. I saw a sign out front that says " please wait to be seated" i did. After 15 mins standing with my toddler no one came to see us. I then later realized after seeing a couple approach the host that I had to sign my name up the front desk. I told the host (asian with long brown hair) we've been waiting out front because of the sign that said " please wait to be seated" she looked at me with a strange smirk said nothing and handed me the clipboard. Very rude indeed. She shouldn't be a host she's not very good at it. The service of this restaurant is inconsistent. And as a Japanese myself I find the customer service soooo far from the Japanese customer...