When Chase Kojima suddenly left Sokyo last year, everyone wondered where he’d go next. Maybe he’d double down on omakase, using the skills that made him and Sokyo so beloved. Or maybe he’d take the lessons learned from his casual, now-closed Senpai Ramen restaurants and give us crowd-pleasers with mass appeal?

Months passed. No news. Then in May he announces Tokyo Samba: a Brazilian and Peruvian Nikkei-inspired, fully halal steakhouse and sushi joint. No-one had that on their bingo cards.

“I’ve been relaxing, and being really picky about what I want to do,” Kojima says. “Then this opportunity came up, and I’ve always wanted to open up a steakhouse.”

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“After leaving [Sokyo], I was kind of burnt out, so I just took a break,” he says. “After three months, I still wasn’t recovered, and everyone was like ‘Dude, hurry up and start working’ – and then, after the fourth month, I was finally ready.”

One of the things that swayed him? Tokyo Samba’s owner promised Kojima a Josper charcoal grill in the kitchen. With that kind of firepower in the back-of-house, he could finally scratch his steakhouse itch. All mains spend some time in the grill, whether it’s lobster with kombu butter or big, hunky Wagyu tomahawks. Rather than standard steakhouse sides (sorry, mac’n’cheese), sides like udon noodle carbonara, and grilled Japanese mushrooms, are izakaya-esque. Grilled miso cod, perhaps a nod to Kojima’s formative cheffing years at various Nobus worldwide, is another highlight.

You can take the chef out of the sushi restaurant, but you can’t take the sushi restaurant out of the chef. So sushi and sashimi are a real highlight at Tokyo Samba. Kojima’s more than proved his ability to adhere to tradition, so the sushi here is clearly made by someone who’s learned all the rules before deciding to break them. California rolls; rolls with pineapple, asparagus, kingfish and salsa; nigiri with liquid gold, Wagyu and pomegranate teriyaki – this is sushi ungirdled from the tight strictures of omakase. And the influences from Peru, Brazil, and elsewhere are on abundant display. (Not least in the dedicated ceviche section of the menu.)

“Working at Nobu for a long time is how I know so much about Peruvian ingredients and flavours,” Kojima says. “It’s kind of my palette now – Japanese people don’t like coriander, for example, but my ceviche has a coriander base.”

To help cater to Bankstown’s sizable Muslim population, Tokyo Samba’s owners have made it completely halal. So that means there’s no booze (although there’s a seriously creative non-alcoholic line-up of drinks), and Kojima has had to rebuild some of his signature sauces and dishes, which depend on Japanese alcoholic ingredients such as sake and mirin, from the ground up.

Another unexpected byproduct of Kojima’s Bankstown move, and trading the city for the ’burbs? Lower prices and larger portion sizes. The chef’s sashimi platter, for instance, is $69 for 24 pieces. You just won’t find that kind of value anywhere close to the CBD.

“I’ve never worked in Bankstown before,” Kojima says. “And my customer base isn’t the same as before. The sizing and the presentation are different, so I’m having fun adjusting.”

Tokyo Samba
2a West Terrace, Bankstown
(02) 8780 1544

Hours
Tue to Sun 12pm–9pm

tokyosamba.com.au
@tokyosambasydney