Yayoi Garden, Sydney CBD

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Japanese Famous Chef Yoji Obata at his restaurant Yayoi Garden which is located in Circular Quay in Sydney, CBD. 

Yayoi Garden is an elegant and upmarket Japanese restaurant. The decore is quite romantic and posh. It's a great venue if you are looking to impress. They currently have a lovely five course menu for $100. 

So what's on the menu? 

For entree, there are two to pleasure your taste buds. Firstly there is the Seafood Tartare Carpaccio (top photo) which includes Carpaccio of salmon, kingfish and wasabi-soy olive oil. It's garnished with seasonal vegetable and garlic chips. I really like the crispy addition of the fried garlic.

The highlight has to be the Yayoi Garden (above). this dish immediately caught my eye and was so lovely to look at. The Garden Platter is an assortment of delicately flavoured entrees including wagyu tataki, pork belly, spring roll, temari-sushi and oyster.

This is the dish that you'll be raving about to your friends because there is so much variety and such delicacy when it comes to the preparation of the dish.

The 3rd dish, you have one choice from the following two:

- Gindara Saikyo-yaki and Lobster tail with grilled black cod marinated in Kyoto-style miso paste and lobster tail (above)
- Premium Wagyu Steak with nasu dengaku which is a premium wagyu beef steak and eggplant dengaku with spicy miso (below).

I absolutely love lobster and that combination with that miso cod is AMAAZING!!! That miso cod is very much melt in your mouth and the lobster is well cooked.

If you don't like seafood then the premium wagyu steak will definitely be more for you. The quality of the meat is so delicious.

For the 4th dish, you have the choice from the two below dishes:
- Wagyu Hitsumabushi which is a premium wagyu beef with a dashi broth which you pour over via a teapot 
- Unagi Hitsumabushi which is an option with grilled beef

On this occasion, I try the Wagyu Hitsumabushi and enjoy adding in the dashi broth (below). The wagyu, rice and dashi combination make for a very homely touch to this 5 course meal.

The final dish is dessert! Dessert is the coconut milk matcha ice cream zenzai. There is a lentil bean coconut milk at the bottom of the dish. The dessert is creamy with subtle matcha flavours and I love the additional textures and depth from the beans.

Summary: So with the lovely xmas break coming up, why not treat your friends, family or loved ones with a posh dinner at Yayoi Garden? It's a really nice venue and the food is elegantly presented.

Price: $100 for the 5 course menu. Drinks additional

Location: 38 Bridge St, Sydney

Opening Hours: 
12pm to 3pm and 5:30pm to 10pm Mon - Friday
5:30pm to 10pm Saturday, 5:30pm to 9:30pm Sunday

Weekend Food Escapes dined as guests of Zomato. All words, photos and opinions are my own