Happy Noms

Exec Chef: Nobuyuki Ura
My Sushi Chef: Jin
Website: http://merivale.com.au/sushie

Date: August 15, 2013

After eating as Yoshii the previous night, I spontaneously decided to get lunch at sushi e the next afternoon. I made reservations, but the restaurant wasn’t too crowded. I’m not sure how crowded it gets for dinners, but you could definitely make last-minute reservations for the lunch scene (at least on weekdays).

The restaurant’s located on the 4^th level of the Establishment Hotel, located in Sydney’s CBD. There are a bunch of sushi bar seats as well as some small, more intimate tables that are located near the windows. There’s a lot of sunlight (almost too much for photography!).

I was seated near a sushi chef named Jin, and he turned out to be a great guy—as well as a great sushi chef to pair with me. I generally like being able to talk with my chefs a lot when at sushi bars, and he was really friendly! We talked about where he worked in the past, why he’s in Sydney, what he wants to do in the future, and so on. I really should have gotten his card or something… Oh well!

Notes on the sushi:
1. The fish selection is MUCH better than Yoshii’s. I think the fish might be fresher, too.
2. There was a lot of fish in proportion to the amount of rice per piece. I personally would have preferred a more balanced proportion, but I can see that some people would like the proportions here. (Most of my friends generally complain about too much rice and rarely complain about too much fish—however, that might be because the former is much more common.)
3. The rice was a little grainy. The temperature was fine for the most part, though at times it was slightly cold.

Overall, I thought the sushi was better here than at Yoshii.

Sushi:

1. Madai (red snapper) with shiso leaf.

2. Hotate (scallop).

3. Cuttlefish.

4. Bluefin ōtoro (fatty tuna).

MERCURYYYYY. (It was delicious, though. Rich, fatty, melt-in-your-mouth goodness.)

5. Yellowfin ōtoro (fatty tuna).

And more high-mercury (and less endangered) goodness!

6. Hamachi (yellowtail) from the United States.

7. Tasmanian sake (salmon) with sesame, chives, and lime juice.

8. Seared sake (salmon).

9. Seared hotate (scallop).

10. Katsuo (bonito).

11. Uni (sea urchin) from Tasmania.

12. Scampi / langoustine (akaza-ebi).

13. Spicy maguro (tuna) with tobiko (flying fish roe).

14. Kuruzima crab. (That’s just what it sounded like he said, but the spelling is wrong.)

15. Seared ocean trout with seared spicy mayo, sea salt, and lemon juice.

16. Paradise prawn from New Caledonia.

17. Ikura (salmon roe).

18. Unagi (freshwater eel).

19. Seared uni (sea urchin) from Tasmania.

20. Aji (jack mackerel / horse mackerel).

21. Prawn tempura with tobiko (flying fish roe) hand roll.

He may have just been trying to get me to be full at this point hahaha. No matter. I was still going strong!

22. Sake (salmon) belly.

23. Seared sake (salmon) belly.

24. Hiramasa (kingfish) belly with spicy daikon radish and chives.

25. Dashimaki-style tamago (egg).

26. California roll.

I was still hungry and also told my friend I’d order California rolls because I was craving them, so… here they are hahaha. I love Edomae sushi and all, but I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for California rolls—just like some of my friends have soft spots in their hearts for McDonald’s!

Dessert:
Vanilla panna cotta with raspberry coulis.

This was a great end to the meal. It’s not as great of a dessert as tamago is for a sushi dessert; in my opinion, I think tamago’s the perfect way to end a sushi meal. It was silky and soft, and the raspberry coulis added just the right amount of sweetness—the panna cotta itself was good but not too sweet (fortunately).

Conclusion:
This was a really enjoyable meal, and I’m happy Jin was my sushi chef. I think that, if I lived in Sydney, sushi e would be my go-to sushi restaurant, with Jin as my go-to chef! I’ll definitely go back when I’m in Sydney again.