Six To Try: Sydney’s Best New Japanese Restaurants and Cafes for Sushi, Onigiri and More

Fishnets, Bronte

When Sokyo’s long-time head sushi chef Sanghyeop Kim was searching for his next gig, he knew he wanted to go somewhere with a neighbourhood feel, to contrast with The Star. Fishnets, the sibling to Table Manners, made the lucky catch. He’s brought “omakase-grade” sushi and an obsessive eye for detail, including using a blend of two kinds of Japanese rice – one chewy and one soft – paired with a deep red seasoning vinegar made from saké lees that redresses his issue with most casual sushi places: the sushi vinegar not being sour enough.

This attention to detail underpins the nigiri list, which features akami, otoro and cuttlefish, mackerel, paradise prawn and bonito. Fishnets’ brief isn’t exclusively Japanese, though. It’s a dance between Australia, Japan and Europe, with other hits including pippies dressed in beurre blanc, and tomatoes pickled in yuzu juice and served atop a creamy scoop made with equal parts tofu, mascarpone and crème fraîche. Shop 1/118 Macpherson Street, Bronte.

Tera Bar, Surry Hills

Tera Bar chef Takahiro Teramoto and his wife, Wanaka Teramoto, previously owned Kuro in the CBD; before that, they spent time in exceptional venues around the world. Chef Taka in the Michelin-starred Restaurant Pages in Paris and Florilege in Tokyo, and Wanaka at Paris’s 116 Pages. Here, though, the dining room is smaller, and the vibe is more “them”.

Oysters are topped with house-made grapefruit shrub and deep green herb oil, while potato mochi comes with nori and tonburi, or “mountain caviar” (the seeds of the Japanese summer cypress). Main courses are meaty, with two dry-agers in-house. They’re being put to use on the opening menu with duck breast – an early favourite served with a red wine sauce – and a multi-cut steak program. Expect the menu to shift regularly, making use of the best produce on offer that day. 255 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills.

Aenza, Darlinghurst

There are no bad seats at Aenza, the Amuro team’s new sibling venue. The best, though, are along the bar that hugs the open kitchen. It’s where about half of Aenza’s 50 diners sit, underneath an impressive tiered light fixture held aloft by wooden posts, like the roof of a pagoda.

While Amuro focuses on saké, Aenza dives deep into wine, with 40 by the glass, including six affordable Japanese choices. 

The food menu is equally broad. Snacks include paradise prawns in pickled chilli and shiso; eggplant agebitashi (fried and soaked in dashi) with garlic stem and ginger; and bluefin tuna sashimi with tosa soy, nannygai with mandarin ponzu. Larger dishes include beef curry udon, hapuka poached in bonito butter, and twice-cooked sweet-and-sour lamb ribs. 7/90 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst.

Rorouni, Bondi Junction

Before opening Rorouni, an 18-seat kaisen restaurant in Bondi Junction, chef Tom Tse spent five years cooking for Josh Niland, including a brief stint at Saint Peter and two years as head chef at Charcoal Fish.

His menu is tight and deliberate: blistered mackerel, crisp-fried sides, and fluffy koshihikari rice piled into bowls for aged-fish donburi. Plus, a build-your-own kaisendon – typically a rice bowl topped with fresh sashimi, but here a showcase for Tse’s dry-aging technique. Bluefin tuna akami, otoro and mince – all coaxed tender by the two-day aging process – land with a deep savoury richness and gentle nuttiness. 

Everything’s made to order, with a self-service tablet keeping pace for the dual-level eatery. Shop 2A, 71–77 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction.

Mamuki, Glebe

At this cute cafe, a blond timber counter is lined with bags of Ona coffee, and a cabinet of house-baked banana-matcha muffins and generously filled onigiri. The young, matcha-loving clientele come for matcha clouds, “soft matcha”, matcha yuzu fizz, matcha with fresh orange, and classic hot serves.

On the food menu are brekkie staples – toast, eggs and a “granola garden” with seasonal fruits, yoghurt and roasted pistachio and signature items like avocado toast topped with green apple, feta and lotus root crisp. A tamago sando – a signature from Enmore – includes a one-two egg punch of scrambled and soy-marinated soft-boiled eggs.

The lunch menu is a set of onigiri served with dashi, soy-marinated egg and pickles; bara-chirashi (a sushi bowl); unagi don served with a side of seaweed salad and a dashi soup; gyudon (a Japanese beef bowl made with Wagyu and topped with a poached egg). Mamuki is also getting a reputation for its Japanese curries. 16 Glebe Point Road, Glebe.

Nana’s Green Tea, Haymarket

With more than 90 stores around the world, Nana’s Green Tea has earnt the nickname of Japanese Starbucks. The drinks list is lengthy: slow-brewed matcha and hojicha arriving as a traditional pour, or more extravagantly topped with a scoop of ice-cream or mochi. Icy pours join hot ones, and some are topped with cereal for crunch. Everything is straight off the Japan menu, with most of the ingredients imported from there, too. Basque cheesecakes and cream-filled rolled sponges are made in-house using the imported tea powders, joining the 30-plus savoury dishes on offer.

Egg, chicken katsu, tuna, and potato sandos can be levelled up to a set, and there are rice bowls, ochazuke bowls (rice topped with a protein, like grilled unagi, with a dashi stock poured over it all at the table), salads and a range of udon. But some of the most popular menu items are the parfait desserts, where a tall sundae glasses are layered with jelly and adzuki beans, wobbly warabi mochi and the Japanese matcha and hojicha pastes. 3/35, Ultimo Road, Haymarket.