Osaka Bar omakase, Potts Point

Is omakase the new black? I vote YES. In a world plagued with choice and decisions, telling a sushi chef "I leave it to you" or "omakase" is almost a luxury in, and of, itself. Sit back and let incredible food come to you. Win.

But omakase is more than just a suspension of menu responsibility. Inherent in every omakase is an exchange of trust in the chef's judgement and expertise, a transfer that is always taken on with deep-seated sincerity and wholehearted earnestness. No Japanese chef would do otherwise.

Which is how we find ourselves at Osaka Bar, one of the latest restaurants in Sydney to jump on board the omakase train shinkansen. Once a 40-seat a la carte restaurant - with a penchant for Osaka-style kushikatsu deep fried skewers - Osaka Bar packed up and moved across Llankelly Place laneway into a much smaller site. Now there are just five seats around the sushi counter. FIVE.


Bass grouper and saikou salmon sashimi

We strap ourselves in for the ride with sushi chef Kazu Nakatani and end up choosing the 12 piece nigiri sushi set for $80. Smaller sets ($55 for 5 pieces and $65 for 8 pieces) are available. In addition to nigiri, you'll also receive:

• a sashimi plate
• a simmered or cooked dish
• your choice of a three piece grilled dish or chawanmushi egg custard
• miso soup of the day. 

Our dinner kicks off with a plate of sashimi, thick slices of Indonesian bass grouper and saikou alpine salmon from New Zealand's Mount Cook that we relish with wasabi and only the faintest slick of soy.

Duck with chestnuts and Jap pumpkin

Our cooked dish is a nod to autumn - duck with Blue Mountains chestnuts and a wedge of sweet Jap pumpkin. It's not a tricked-up dish, but there's a honesty to its assembly, from the tender slices of rendered duck breast to the lashings of dijon mustard sauce to the tumble of cooked adzuki beans trying to escape from their skins.


Chef Kazu Nakatani seasoning the pork fillet on the grill

I lied. There are a couple of decisions to make. There are three choices for the third course: grilled pork, grilled beef or chawanmushi. Between our group, we're able to order and try every option. Phew.


Tender pork

The pork and beef cuts are cooked simply on an electric grill. Depending on your seat (and height) you should be able to watch Chef Kazu prepare everything before your eyes.


Pork and beef on the grill


Perfectly seared beef

The pork is good but the beef is better, cooked so a thin strip of pink flesh remains within. Season with fresh lemon and citrus pepper and chase each mouthful with a stray leaf or two of peppery watercress.


Chawanmushi in the steamer

My personal highlight is the chawanmushi, porcelain cups of egg custard cooked gently in the steamer.


Chawanmushi savoury egg custard with unagi eel

The chawanmushi theme changes regularly. Tonight it comes with unagi eel, hidden at the depths of the wobbly custard. It's fatty richness only amplifies the silky purity of the egg custard, studded with tender slices of okra, mushroom and corn.


Bass grouper nigiri sushi

Dinner then segues into nigiri sushi. It's a treat to watch Chef Kazu at work, first slicing each fish with precision and then shaping the sticky grains of sushi rice.


Chef Kazu slicing blue fin tuna


Blue fin tuna with katsuoboshi

The fish is served simply, garnished with waving tendrils of katsuoboshi smoked fish flakes here, a snowstorm of kinako soy bean powder there. Things get a little fancy when the gold leaf comes out, used to add bling to a shimmering slice of maguro zuke, deep red tuna marinated in soy.


Maguro zuke marinated tuna with gold leaf


Chef Kazu making nigiri sushi

I'm always mesmerised by the dance of sushi chefs, fingers and palm moving through the air with measured but modest grace. I can rarely get a shot in focus, as their hands fly at lightning speed. It's almost sensuous, too, the way that sushi chefs seem to caress, support and shape the fish and rice into a harmonious union.


Yellowtail nigiri sushi with soy bean powder

As each nigiri sushi is made, it's placed directly in front of each diner for immediate consumption. It's a world away from the garish convenience of the sushi train. Omakase means the fish is still cool and the rice has retained its warmth from the rice cooker.


Green king prawn nigiri sushi with kimizu sauce and egg yolk

We plow our way through bass grouper, blue fin tuna, yellowtail and green king prawns. The prawns are firm and sweet, dressed with kimizu sauce made from egg yolks and rice vinegar. It's like a Japanese version of mayonnaise, without the use of oil.


Chef Kazu seasoning the chutoro nigiri sushi


Chutoro nigiri sushi

Chutoro is a fatty treat, sourced from the tuna's back and belly area. Silver leaf adds a decadent touch.


Iwashi sardine nigiri sushi with plum sauce and Japanese ginger

The counter seat set-up mean there's a real sense of dining intimacy with Chef Kazu. He's remarkably chatty too, telling us about the way he prepares each fish, life in Osaka versus Sydney and how his restaurant and cooking has evolved over time.o

By the time the sardine nigiri sushi arrives, Chef Kazu is playing up for the camera. I haven't told him I have a food blog - I never volunteer this to restaurants - but he's happy to ham it up for yet another #asiantakingphotosoffood.


The dragon mural on the wall at Osaka Bar

We also learn about the dragon mural on the wall directly facing us. Dragon are believed to be Gods of Water in Japan, we learn. Water is vital for farmers, for life and for humankind. Chef Kazu (himself born in the year of the Dragon) hopes the dragon brings good luck to all those who look upon it.


Chef Kazu adding yuzukosho, made by his friend's mother and sent from Japan

On top of quivering petals of uni sea urchin, Chef Kazu adds delicate spoonfuls of yuzukosho, a fermented chilli and yuzu citrus paste. We're taken aback when he tells us the yuzukosho was a homemade gift from his friend's mother, sent over from Japan.


Longspine sea urchin with homemade yuzukosho

The yuzukosho adds a citrusy zing to the longspine sea urchin, plump and mouth-filling wonders of buttery briny bliss. Sigh.


Tasmanian pacific oyster nigiri sushi with homemade oyster sauce and finger lime

We move onto raw oysters. To marinated school prawns. To the pure luxury of lustrous salmon roe topped with black truffle sauce. Why would you stop at five nigiri sushi when you would miss out on all this?


Chef Kazu gently pressing school prawns onto sushi rice


Kombu marinated jimi school prawn nigiri sushi


Australian ikura salmon roe with black truffle sauce


Tamago rolled omelette

We're onto our final nigiri, tamago rolled omelette, when Chef Kazu realises he's forgotten to serve us ootoro, the fattiest part of the tuna belly that he promises will form part of every omakase.


Ootoro nigiri sushi

Easily fixed.


Fat-marbled ootoro tuna belly

Purists will argue that ootoro is over-rated (see also wagyu beef and truffle), but I'm still a sucker for the hedonistic pleasure of ridiculously marbled fatty tuna.


Saba mackerel nigiri sushi with kombu

And just for good measure, Chef Kazu offers another nigiri sushi for those of us that have room. Of course I do, especially for a precious slice of saba mackerel covered with a sheath of almost translucent kombu seaweed.


Aka red miso soup with giant grouper fish head

We finish with soup, made using aka or red miso paste. Red miso is fermented longer than white or yellow miso, resulting in a deeper, saltier and more pungent flavour. It's a lucky draw as to which part of today's fish (giant grouper on the night we dined) you'll score in your bowl.


Chef Kazu

Osaka Bar's omakase offers a uniquely casual but intimate experience with sushi chef Kazu Nakatani. There's plenty of technique evident but no sense of stiff formality or heady excess. Chef Kazu's a great conversationalist too. For maximum fun, grab four of your mates and settle in for one helluva oishii (delicious) private dinner party.






Osaka Bar
50 Llankelly Place, Potts Point, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9331 1367

Opening hours
Monday to Saturday 6pm-10pm
Bookings essential


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Fratelli Paradiso, Potts Point

It's barely 5.45pm on a Wednesday afternoon and Fratelli Paradiso is already pumping. The tables spilling out onto the street are the first to fill, its seats taken up by jovial locals chatting with each other, with the waiters, and anyone who happens to walk by. It's my first time here, but even so, there's a comfortable familiarity to the place, a sense that just sitting down at a table grants you automatic membership into a tight-knit fold.

The waitstaff have thick Italian accents. The food menu is one column of 12 dishes. The drinks list runs across six pages. Ciao bella!


Calamari Sant'Andrea $25
Squid fried, rocket, balsamic

If there's one dish that's not moving from the menu it's the calamari Sant'Andrea. And thank goodness. Deep fried squid might be a dime a dozen across Sydney, but few reach this level of perfect simplicity. There's just the right amount of crunch to the barely there batter, cloaked around extraordinarily fresh and tender squid.

The rocket isn't an afterthought either. Its peppery leaves, drizzled with balsamic, provide the gutsy counter you need between mouthfuls of deep-fried richness, and are so much more rewarding than the prolific but insipid baby rocket leaves that plague most restaurant plates.


Risotto with blue eye $25
Tarragon, caper, lemon

Today's risotto is with blue eye cod, cooked just like Nonna might make it. Forget over-the-top truckloads of butter. This is a hearty serve of al dente rice in an gently lemony stock, swollen with rough chunks of blue eye cod.


Lasagnetta ragu $24

For true artery clogging goodness, you'll want the lasagnetta ragu. Each serve is baked in its own ceramic dish, a molten cheesy tomato lava bubbling between silky sheets of spinach pasta and rich beef hunks. The caramelised bits along the edges are a treat, and easily prised off with a fork (guilty).


Scampi spaghetti $39 (half-portion pictured)

But if there's one dish you must order, it's the scampi spaghetti.


Scampi spaghetti 

The tangle of spaghetti is toothsome, smothered in a tomato sauce that's sweet and mellow with layers of flavour. The scampi is split in half and grilled so its sweetness is intensified. And when the waitstaff realise you're sharing all dishes between two, they'll wordlessly split your scampi spaghetti order between two plates for ease of eating.


Cannoli $5

Desserts are all classic offerings. The cannoli has a satisfying crunch to its shell, piped full with sweet ricotta and dipped in crushed pistachios at both ends.


Tiramisu $14

And then there's the tiramisu. I like mine with a little more savoiardi sponge and a stronger alcoholic kick, but if it's lashings of fluffy mascarpone cream you're after, this cloud of deliciousness will tick all your boxes.






Fratelli Paradiso
12-16 Challis Avenue, Potts Point, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9357 1744 (no reservations, walk-ins only)

Opening hours
Monday to Saturday 7am-11pm
Sunday 7am-10pm


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Ms G's, Potts Point

The humble Aussie jaffle. Two bits of bread sandwiched together to create a pocket for molten cheesy goodness. And then Dan Hong comes along and stuffs it with Korean Army stew. It's as though he's on a one man crusade to bring budae jigae to the masses.

But you know what? It works. This Korean American hybrid, a stew (jigae) invented from army (budae) rations during the Korean war, combines noodles with kimchi, gochujang pepper paste, Spam and American cheese. It's spicy, salty, carby cheesy goodness - just the kind of thing you want in a toasted pocket.

At Ms G's this jaffle will set you back $18 but surely that's quality kransky and mortadella buried in there amongst the ramyum noodles and mozzarella. And it's the kind of tongue-in-cheek quirkiness you can expect at Ms G's, a mash-up of all things Asian in the middle of Potts Point.


Burrata with strange flavour sesame sauce, chilli oil, spinach and peanuts $22

Take cheese for instance. Burrata is the last thing you'd expect to find in a Chinese restaurant but here it's freaking out every Nonna with the addition of crushed Sichuan peppercorns, sesame seeds, rice vinegar and peanuts. Guaiwei strange flavour sauce is straight outta Sichuan province, more commonly used with cold chicken, but oddly complementary against the cold creamy lusciousness of mozzarella filled with cream. It's a ballsy move (ahaha) and it works.


Ms G's falafel, green tomato salsa and black garlic aioli $4.50 each

In contrast, Ms G's take on falafel is much less exciting, not that there's anything amiss with the chickpea patties, but its topping of green tomato salsa and black garlic aioli seems to veer off the modern Asian path, even with the inclusion of black garlic.


Vietnamese steak tartare with prawn crackers $21

While some dishes change on the menu, others will always remain. And with good reason. The Vietnamese steak tartare is too good to ever remove, a hybrid between steak tartare and the Vietnamese bo tai chanh rare beef salad. Those thick crunchy prawn crackers are the perfect carriage for seasoned chopped beef, a glossy egg yolk and a mountain of deep fried shallots.


Mini banh mi with chicken katsu and spicy fish katsu $7.50 each

Mini banh mi are about as far removed from your Cabramatta favourite as you can get, but that includes the juiciness of both the chicken and fish fillets, each coated in panko crumbs and deep fried to an expert crunch.


Cheeseburger spring rolls $6 each

Cheeseburger spring rolls are always a winner. It's that sharpness of dill pickles against the tomato sauce, beef mince and cheese that make these so ridiculously addictive.


Fried sweetcorn, dashi brown butter, parsley and furikake $18

Fried sweetcorn involves some serious knifework with each corn cob split into four quarters straight through the core. Butter and cheese on corn is a no-brainer but the addition of dashi and furikake, the seaweed seasoning usually used for sushi rice, lifts the umami intensity to a plate-licking eleven.


Masala fried rice $24
with spiced chicken, curry leaf, crispy skin and garlic chilli toppping

The fried rice tends to change styles regularly. When we visited it was masala, a big hit of curry flavours with prized smithereens of chicken crackling and a bucketload of fried garlic.


Crispy fried chicken wings with tom yum mayonnaise $17

We've almost finished our second round of cocktails by the time the crispy fried chicken wings arrive. These are so crunchy I could weep, except I'm too busy dunking these brittle skinned mid-wings (and yes, they're ALL mid-wings) into a tub of tom yum mayonnaise.


Salt and vinegar eggplant tempura $17

And because you can never have too much fried, we finish with salt and vinegar eggplant tempura. These have only a light spray of vinegar on them, but the batter is insanely good. You'd hear the shatter of someone munching on these from the other side of the (noisy) dining room. The eggplant is perfectly squidgy in the middle too.


Hongo Bongo $16
Strawberry granita, yoghurt mousse, mochi, watermelon and Calpis sorbet

There are four desserts to choose from, including the calorific overload that is Stoner's Delight Part 3 - doughnut ice cream, crispy bacon, peanut and pretzel brittle, Mars bar brownie, potato chips, deep fried Nutella and more - but we go for the lightest one, the Hongo Bongo.

There are strong similarities between this dessert and the previous Namira's Dream, named after Dan's daughter. The Hongo Bongo swaps out fresh strawberries, lychee tapioca and mascarpone mousse for fresh watermelon, mochi and yoghurt mousse. The strawberry granita and the Calpis sorbet features in both.

It's just the palate cleanser you want to finish on, and the mix of textures and temperatures creates different combinations with every spoonful.

Why's it called Hong Bongo? I suspect it has something to do with this...

Hongo bongo

A post shared by Andrew Levins (@levdawg) on Feb 4, 2016 at 8:49pm PST

If you missed the full episode of Mitch Orr's Chef's Night Out on Munchies you can catch it here.






Ms G's
155 Victoria Street, Potts Point, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9240 3000

Opening hours
Monday to Thursday 5pm-12 midnight
Friday 12pm-3pm and 6pm-11pm
Saturday 12pm-11pm
Sunday 1pm-9pm


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