Ume Restaurant

Open with an extreme close-up of tiny, scarlet finger-lime pearls. Pull the camera back slowly to reveal a flower with petals made of finely sliced sashimi-grade scallop, lightly seared with brown butter and dressed with rich soy, wood sorrel and organic nori seaweed.

Like the opening scene of a feature film, the first dish to hit the table sets the tone for the drama to come. As beginnings go, this one is up there with the mesmerising introduction to Orson Welles's Citizen Kane.

With its texture of lush bone marrow and its clean, fresh ocean flavours, Ume's seared scallop carpaccio ($19) is a long, long way from the gutsy nose-to-tail offerings this white-tiled former butcher shop saw in the seven years it was home to Jeremy and Jane Strode's Bistrode. The ox tongue, calf's liver and corned beef of yore have been replaced by the high-precision and Japanese-driven cooking of Kerby Craig, who trained at the original Tetsuya's in Rozelle and worked overseas before making a name for himself as head chef of the one-hat Koi restaurant in Woolwich.

The Japanisation of the long, narrow and never particularly comfortable dining room is minimal, in the form of a few Japanese artefacts and a plum blossom mural by graffiti artist Mr Perso. The Japanisation of the menu is total, running from a selection of sashimi to Mayura Station 9+ wagyu with sesame emulsion, barramundi with shiro dashi butter, and a modern eel, cucumber and cream cheese sushi roll.

The promise made by the opening scene is sustained by a cute little tangle of crisp but tender octopus ($18), cooked sous vide in seawater then grilled and served with simmered daikon, fresh cucumber and salad burnet leaves.

Next, heirloom vegetables are ready for their close-up, Mr DeMille. An almost fossilised-looking salad of gnarly, slow-roasted baby black and white heirloom carrots with fried brussels sprouts and a bright purple viola ($17) loll about on a loose, light dashi custard. Earthy, leafy and highly autumnal.

As a fish, barramundi is so often disappointing, the flesh muddy and mushy. This, from Cone Bay in the Buccaneer Archipelago off Broome, is like a different species altogether. The muscular, thick fillets have been vacuum-packed with shiro dashi butter and poached at 56 degrees for 35 minutes, then seared; served with a flotsam and jetsam tumble of sea flora including sea blight, sea parsley, konbu and aonori (dried sea lettuce), with baby turnips that anchor them back to earth.

Former Blancharu manager P.J. Choroomi and Craig's wife, Hiroko Muranishi, manage the floor between them with benign professionalism. Choroomi doubles as sommelier, his short list journeying through shochu and sake to lighter Australian wines, such as a fresh, aromatic Crooked Road 2009 Arneis ($9/$40). Special mention must go to Ume's sushi chef, Yang Wu, who trained under Kenji Nishinakagawa at Koi. His skills shine in an elegant sashimi platter of kingfish belly, salmon belly and tuna ($21). Credit also to fish supplier Narito Ishi of Wellstone Seafoods, because every piece of fish I have had at Ume has been fabulously fresh.

Sushi is served at the end of the meal, in line with Japanese tradition, which won't suit everyone. Nor will the pacing, which is measured and unhurried; more kaiseki-style as opposed to the hustle and bustle of izakaya-style small plates.

I suspect slow food, in all its ambiguous glory, is something we are probably going to have to get used to, as kitchen and floor staff numbers are trimmed across the industry in a response to rising costs and falling spends. Here, at least, good things come to those who wait.

While dessert is rarely thought of as a Japanese concept, it's hard to go past the autumnal pleasures of slow-roasted persimmon, that mad orange fruit in the shops right now. It's just plain lovely, with not a hint of the usual astringency in the soft, toasty, roasty fruit, bathed in Christmas bush honey and served with capsules of roast tea jelly, a creamy rice-milk ice-cream, native violets and kinako, a sweetened soybean powder ($14).

Given the chef has had a Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide hat tattooed on his neck after helping achieve that status for Koi - and given the difficulties in removing indelible ink from human skin - I'm pleased to suggest Ume is worthy of a score of 15 out of 20.

tdurack@smh.com.au

The low-down

Best bit Refined and graceful cooking.

Worst bit Slow pacing of dishes.

Go-to dish Seared scallop carpaccio, soy brown butter, finger lime, wood sorrel, organic nori, $19.

Ume

Address 478 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, 9380 7333, umerestaurant.com.au.
Open Lunch, Fri-Sun; dinner, Wed-Sat.
Licensed Yes. BYO at lunch and Wed-Thurs dinner (corkage $10 a bottle).
Cost About $110 for two, plus drinks.

Terry Durack is co-editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide.