I must admit that for the first two weeks of January I was in an unnatural state. I was mostly at home and not travelling. Which meant that I was cooking furiously and frantically and testing out dishes but it also meant that I was feeling a bit stir crazy cooped up at home. And I feel sorry for anyone that has met up with me during this time because I may have talked your ear off in excitement about being out and socialising. Oops, sorry about that!

One outing that had me excited all week, actually for several weeks ever since the invitation was issued was the Sydney Festival. Now I know events are popular and many of the ones that you want to go to sell out quickly. This evening we are going to see the performer Meow Meow in the incredible Spiegeltent (Queen Viv adores it and has described it to me in luscious detail). And before that we are going to hit one of the relatively new restaurants Sokyo, where Californian Japanese chef Chase Kojima  creates modern Japanese food. Chase is the former worldwide chef of the Nobu restaurant chain.

Chase Kojima (left)

Part of The Darling hotel, the restaurant is dark, I was warned this although we are dining relatively early so that it isn’t pitch dark. There are lacquered surfaces, an expansive gleaming sushi bar where the freshest of fish glisten under the lights and ropes seem to be the predominant decorating theme. Service is very deferential as befits a Japanese restaurant and there is the requisite “Irasshaimase!!!” welcome greeting when we enter.

We’re dining from the festival menu and for $55 a head you get a choice of 2 courses out of a range of entree, main and dessert. A tip: desserts can be added for the a la carte price between $9-$12 each with the dessert platter at $25 so the best value is had by ordering the entree and main and adding on dessert if you want it. All come with a beverage, a wine from the festival sponsor McGuigan’s who are sponsoring the festival for the first time. The wine comes from their list of five premium limited release wines called “the Shortlist” or you get also get a bottle of still or sparkling Tasmanian rain water. The entree and main courses are from the regular menu whilst the dessert is created for the festival menu.

Tuna Umeshu served with McGuigan’s 2005 Riesling

The courses come out quickly to ensure that everyone makes their festival booking and we start with the tuna umeshu which has two parts to it-the tuna and a salad. The tuna has six luscious pieces of tuna sashimi topped with red vein sorrel and tiny cubes of lightly bitter choya umeshu. There is also “garlic soy umami” drizzled on top but the star is the tuna which is so lusciously good. I have an embarrassing time with the double ended chopsticks and struggle to pick up the jelly pieces. The simple mixed leaf salad with sesame salad dressing is another favourite at the table with many wondering how to make the dressing.

I always thought that everyone were red wine drinkers (or perhaps that’s just my friends) but here most people order the 2005 Eden Valley Riesling with the dark golden shade from the ageing process. So that we could try both, I ordered the McGuigan’s 2009 Barossa Valley GSM (grenache, shiraz and mourvedre) which is a popular Rhone Valley blend.

Lamb Chop Maple Miso 

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My father has an innate sense of borders. There is a certain perimeter he won’t breach in his car and it spans about 10 kilometres around their house. Outside of that makes him nervous and so when I suggested a Japanese restaurant for my mother’s birthday in Meadowbank which was in truth only about 30 minutes drive from us, I felt his jaw tighten and him tense up. Expecting this immediate rise in tension I quickly added “We’ll drive us all there!” and he visibly relaxed. Crisis averted!

Sorenzo, set amongst what look to be new apartment complex developments, was a Japanese restaurant recommended to us by Mr NQN’s sister Amaya and her husband Laporello. They live nearby and urged us several times to visit. A few checks on the internet confirmed that it was a hidden gem and many talked of their special deals. There are set lunch meals such as the ladies lunch set meal at $30 or a businessman’s lunch set meal at $37. Each weeknight has a theme to it whether it be a Romance Tuesday, Mother’s Wednesday, Food Tasting Thursday or Thanks Father Friday with little extras given away each night. We’re dining on a Saturday night and there isn’t any theme that evening.

Amuse bouche

We start with an amuse bouche which is a three parter plate to share given to all diners. It comprises of an avocado mousse with tiny watermelon cubes, kingfish sashimi with orange segments and a wagyu roll with cherry tomato. The squirt of avocado mousse with the watermelon has an orangey flavour to it and goes more towards the sweet than the savoury. The kingfish sashimi is fresh but perhaps has a bit too much orange as the orange overpowers the kingfish a little. The wagu roll served on a toothpick with a slice of cherry tomato is soft and a lovely little morsel.

Service is fine dining Japanese style and they’ve perfected that Japanese style of deferential service where they anticipate needs. Water glasses are filled readily and nothing is ever too much trouble and the courses come out in a timely manner without a long wait in between.

Foie Gras with Barramundi $22

The entrees come out first and the foie gras with barramundi is rich, slightly sweet and unctuous. It reminds me a bit of unagi (roasted eel) in the texture of the fish and the foie gras lends it that jellied, custardy quality. It sits on a round of sauteed daikon radish and the white powder is said to be teriyaki truffle powder but we try this by itself and it doesn’t add very much or taste very strong.

King prawn with wasabi aioli $16

At our request the king prawns were upsized to a portion of four rather than the standard three as there were four of us. They were sauteed rock prawn, shimeji mushroom, salmon caviar and pesto sauce. The prawns are cooked well and come with deep fried shimeji mushrooms in a very light batter, some pearls of salmon caviar on a paper thin radish slice and a pesto sauce and the whole plate is ringed with a thick, sweet teriyaki style sauce.

Dinner box $40

We ordered this dinner box mainly for my father as he doesn’t eat raw fish so this box gave him a good mix of cooked items such as fish, tofu, vegetables and the wagyu (all of their wagyu is rated 5) as well as salad, rice and some sushi and sashimi. It comes out as a two tiered box with a great variety of flavours and textures. The highlight is definitely the toothfish which if we visited again we would just have to order on its own. The toothfish or the black cod is known for it’s utterly ambrosial buttery texture and here it is wonderful and just melts easily in the mouth. The tofu is also a highlight with its slightly sweet sauce and the wagyu is tender and comes pre sliced into strips. The sashimi and sushi is generously portioned and fresh and there are also crunchy tempura vegetables.

Sashimi Zen $40

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