Zushi Barangaroo - Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but if I’m paying around $150 a head to eat in a restaurant, I expect a few things would go without saying. Firstly, if it’s winter and I book online to sit “inside” then I don’t expect to be in a quasi inside location screened only by ineffective clear plastic drop down blinds, with a cold wind blowing that means I’ll have my full outdoor clothes on throughout the meal. Overhead heaters do not compensate for this lack of relaxing environment, and no matter how good the food, it will be cold within a few minutes of hitting the table. Inside means inside! Secondly, I expect a proper chair to sit in, not a backless bench. Thirdly, I expect friendly service. Our primary waitress was the grumpiest I’ve had in a while, which did not help us in our efforts to make the best of this supposed birthday celebration. Never a smile, no eye contact, curt responses. Staff were casually dressed in all arrangements, including blue jeans, striped skirts with some in black shirts, others in branded t-shirts. Runners for shoes. Not very professional and an air of casual insouciance pervaded service.

Lastly, although the food was beautifully cooked and presented, it left us a little confused; I booked the restaurant expecting high end Japanese cuisine. The only dish that tasted or even looked Japanese was the sashimi and the tooth fish. We had the tasting menu and the dishes got progressively less Japanese as they came out. The menu was very sweet in general, which is atypical of Japanese food. Honey prawns? Sweet pumpkin mash? The beef and teriyaki duck dishes could have been served as is in any French restaurant. Beautifully cooked and presented, but neither tasted vaguely Japanese. So - for the price charged I felt that Zushi was very disappointing both in environment, comfort, service and authenticity or originality. I certainly would not eat there again; I never mind paying for a good restaurant experience when it’s done well, but I felt quite angry at myself for...

Good but room for improvement

Went there on sunday afternoon for lunch. We had the 77 dollars tasting menu. The food was good with some misses, in my opinion.

The entrees were good, the carpaccio was well designed with salmon roe and mango jelly cubes. Well balanced.

Following it, we had the sashimi. The assorted sashimi was good, but we got in one of them the same fish as the carpaccio. And one of the white fishes was very fishy flavour not pleasant. The salmon was good and the tuna as well.

The King prawns was the best dish of the tasting menu. Well executed an balanced, complements to the chef. The karage chicken, that wasn't but that is not karage, that is fried chicken. The sauce there is not bad, but as it came together with the prawns. Having the same flavour profile for the sauce with honey is just not a good choice. But to make justice, the choice of using lime with the chicken instead o lemon was a right choice there, just recommend another sauce with different base.

Tempura was ok, zucchini flowers is a good choice. But the execution was below average. There was flaky salt on it that I find unnecessary. And the batter could be better.

The salmon, good choice of sauce using yuzu, although very similar with the sauce of the prawns and chicken. The salmon was a little overcooked for my taste but good.

The duck, well designed dish, with a sauce, puree and a crunch element. The duck was pretty good.

The sides, where you get a rice bowl and broccolini. The only thing I found bad was adding nori to the broccolini making it very soggy. I understand the flavours profiles there. But I reckon the soggy nori was a miss.

In general good experience, the staff was a little lost at the beginning and at the end of the menu. But during the lunch was ok.

Recommend the place, although you might find better deals around the city for the same quality...

Had a nice dinner at Zushi. The staff were very friendly and attentive. They noted our dietary requirement carefully and made sure everything was gluten free. When they brought out the dishes they would confirm it was gluten free/coeliac safe.

To start we had some oysters and the sushi combo (nigiris). I have to be honest, the oysters did not taste as good as others I’ve tried. It left a very strong ‘fishy’ aftertaste in my mouth. The nigiris were also not as good as other Japanese restaurants I’ve been to around the same price point. The fish just did not taste as fresh as it should be.

But onto the good stuff which is everything else! The sushi rolls were incredible, never had wagyu beef in sushi before and it works so well together, truly tasted something I have never tried before and loved it. The spider roll was so yummy, the crab was crispy and the meat was soft on the inside.

The honey prawns were the highlight of the meal for me. That was some of the best prawns I’ve ever had, such a gentle sweet honey taste coated over some perfectly fried prawns, yum!! The scallop tempura was also fried quite nicely but lacked a bit of flavour. The agedashi tofu was also very crispy and soft on the inside. The yuzu miso salmon was delicious, absolutely loved the glaze on the salmon and the salmon itself was incredibly tender. We had a lychee sorbet for dessert which was quite a nice way to finish the meal.

Overall it was a very enjoyable experience, though having tried other Japanese restaurants in Sydney and given the price point of Zushi I would have expected some of the dishes to be more...