Masuya, Sydney

Mulloway jewfish Masuya's way $23

Masuya's signature dish of jewfish fillet with a carefully rolled potato net,

oven baked till crispy and served with dill lime butter sauce and soy infusion

Do you remember French Fries? Those crinkly red packets you'd get from the corner shop that held a mountain of potato straws? Those chips would last you forever if you nibbled on them, as I did as a kid, one by one.

The potato net around Masuya's signature jewfish dish takes me straight back to my childhood. A circle of chips surround a squat column of fish fillet, a Japanese twist on fish and chips. The delicate sweet flesh of the jewfish (mulloway) contrasts with the crunch of potato batons, the entire dish basted with soy and dill lime butter.

Salmon belly aburi $3.80 per piece

Despite its hidden location in the basement level of a Sydney CBD office block, Masuya has no problem filling its dining room with eager customers. Its reputation for fresh sashimi and sushi has much to do with it, as well as its comprehensive menu that runs from oysters to tempura, and tonkatsu to hotpot.

Tonight the dining room is buzzing with people. A sushi chef at the back of the dining room works behind a station laden with fresh fish and seafood. I'm dining with Suze and Dave, and a helpful place card on our table tells us exactly who our server will be tonight - she is all smiles with a deferential demeanour.

We start the night with salmon belly aburi, orangey-pink slices that have been blowtorched on the surface, that adds a smoky dimension to its buttery richness. The salmon, we're told, comes from the Tasmania Huon region, although at $3.80 per piece it's a mouthful to be savoured slowly.

Blue fin tuna belly sashimi 8-piece combo $50

Ootoro fatty belly and chutoro medium fatty belly

Blue fin tuna belly sashimi arrives as eight precious slices resting on perilla leaves. Ootoro is prized as the fattiest part of the tuna belly, so intricately marbled that it almost resembles beef.

Ootoro fatty tuna belly sashimi

To our surprise, we find the ootoro strangely fibrous and chewy. The medium fatty chutoro is much more tender, the melt-in-the-mouth flesh graduating in colour from peachy pink to a deep crimson hue.

Nasu miso $8.80

Deep-fried eggplant with Masuya's original miso paste

Eggplant with miso is a must-order dish on all of our agendas. I never tire of eggplant done in this style, the pulp unfailingly cooked to a creamy softness, heightened by the basting of sweet and salty miso paste. After everyone has scooped out the insides, I perform my usual disappearing trick by eating the remaining eggplant skin - it is too good to be wasted.

Beef tataki $13.80

Subtly grilled rare grain-fed beef sliced sashimi style

served with ponzu-soy citrus dipping sauce

Beef tataki is another dish that is afflicted by a disappointing chewiness. Even the accompanying ponzu-soy dipping sauce can do little to save it, the paper-thin shavings of beef needing more of a gulp to swallow it down.

Misoyaki oyster $18.80

with oven-baked creamy miso sauce

Topping oysters with miso sauce is not how I'd normally appreciate these briny bivalves but I'm keen to go along for the gastronomic ride. Broiled under the grill, these shells perched on mounds of sea salt are tongue-scorching molten lava pits in disguise. David discovers this as soon as the whole oyster is deposited into his mouth, his eyes widening in silent pain.

I find the miso completely overwhelms the oyster, the sticky sweetness of miso dominating the palate.

Wagyu beef miso (230g) $32.80

Marble score no. 6 sirloin with miso paste sauce

Wagyu beef miso is plated in a Western style that looks a little out of place compared to the rest of our dishes. Here, the miso sauce is subdued slightly, and better counterbalanced by the boldness of beef. Despite the marble score of 6, we find the steak a little on the chewy side as well.

Kingfish wing nitsuke $16.80

Cooked with mirin, soy, ginger and served with tofu

Much more of a hit is the kingfish wing nitsuke, two enormous portions of fish that hold a lot more flesh than you'd expect. The kingfish flakes easily, and the marinade of mirin, soy and ginger is comforting and sweet.

Green tea ice cream $4.50

Full bellies do not stop us from ordering dessert, and after some deliberation and negotiation, we end up ordering four desserts to share amongst us.

Suze only has eyes for the green tea ice cream, a parfait glass filled with two icy cold scoops, accompanied by a dollop of sweet red bean paste and garnishes of strawberry and orange.

Zenzai $4.80

Sweet red bean with rice cakes

Zenzai is a heartier dessert, a thick soup of sweetened red beans bobbing with five balls of starchy chewy rice cakes.

Tofu and cream cheese cake $6.80

Curiosity had drawn us to the tofu and cream cheese cake and we're rewarded with a dessert that is light and fluffy with only a hint of a yoghurty tang. The taste of tofu cannot be detected at all - if anything it seems to have given the cheesecake a silkier consistency.

Homemade green tea brulee $6.80

But its the homemade green tea brulee that has everyone leaning forward with anticipation. We crack through the rink of toffee and revel in the smooth and elegant custard that is generous with matcha green tea. Even as the tables empty around us, our spoons end up duelling each other, furtively seeking the final scrapes at the bottom of the ramekin.

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Masuya Japanese Seafood Restaurant
Lower level, 12-14 O’Connell Street, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9235 2717 / 9231 0038

Opening hours:
Lunch Monday to Friday 12pm - 2.30pm (last order)

Dinner Monday to Saturday 6pm – 10 pm (last order)

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