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Shoya

Nouvelle wafu... Shoya.
Nouvelle wafu... Shoya.Peter SCHOFIELD

Good Food hat15/20

Japanese$$

Little natural light but infinite amounts of culinary virtuosity find their way into this exquisite haunt. Chef and co-owner Shigeo Nonaka plays in a different league from most local Japanese chefs: he’s master of his arcane craft, as you will discover by embarking on one of his ‘nouvelle wafu’ banquets. It may begin with a salmon belly tartare with black plum vinegar, potato and mentaiko (cod roe) mash and taro chips. And then veer into a lightly flame-grilled nugget of perch with, improbably, tomato mousse, foie gras and sun-dried mullet roe. Black truffle fragments and a shard of tempura scampi lurk inside an egg shell as part of a steamed omelette, all curtain-raisers to Nonaka’s incomparable sashimi served, fetchingly, inside a globe of ice with fresh wasabi grated at your table. On sharkskin, of course. And there’s more: applewood-smoked kingfish, truffled wagyu and sweet-poached tomato to close. Ambitious but flawless. Never overblown, but often other-worldly.

And … More casual dining experiences offered in zones beyond the formal dining area.

THE LOW-DOWN
Vibe In food terms, deadly serious.
Best bit The heart-stopping originality of the food.
Worst bit The fact that you only get to eat it once a visit.

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