Make Friends With Koda, Sydney’s Newest Japanese Grill Restaurant

Sydney isn’t short on Japanese restaurants. The CBD alone is stacked with options, from sleek, high-end omakase counters to student-budget bowls and quick eats. Somewhere in between sits the ever-popular izakaya-style venues – casual, flexible, fun. They’re spaces that suit how Sydney eats: after-work snacks, long lunches that stretch into dinner and nights out built around sharing. Koda, a bar and grill in the old Monopole site, fits neatly into that rhythm.

The CBD’s new 70-seater is Matt Yazbeck’s more relaxed follow-up to his long-running Japanese restaurant Toko. And Sunil Shrestha, Toko’s longtime head chef, is in the new space too.

“We wanted to showcase a different style of Japanese offering with a very peeled-back experience,” Yazbeck says. “[Something] more interactive, casual and accessible to everyone.”

Koda is built around a lively robata grill, sunk into the centre of the room like a conversation pit. Around it, produce hangs or lies chilled on ice – seafood glinting under lights, vegetables brushed with butter and waiting their turn on the fire. It’s busy without feeling chaotic, designed for movement and choice.

“The idea is that diners can choose their own style of experience,” Yazbek says.“It can be drinks and snacks [in the window seats], a long lunch by the grill or a fun night out with friends in a booth.”

Snacks arrive quickly: fancy chicken tenders with a side of Java curry and caviar; grilled shishito peppers tossed in sweet soy, with the zing of lime salt. The house tostada stacks salmon, avocado, wasabi and glossy tobiko pearls into a crunchy, neat bite.

Evidently, the menu isn’t strictly Japanese. It’s a loose interpretation, with playful takes given prime position in the menu’s opening section.

The lobster ramen is brothless, with al dente noodles – closer to pasta – coated in sweet miso and chilli. The lasagne gyoza combine Japanese Tajima Wagyu, bolognese and cheese, delivering a crisp-edged take on two familiar comfort dishes. And Sydney’s into the fusion: these two serves have become the restaurant’s most ordered dishes.

Beyond that, the grill does much of the heavy lifting. Tajima 9+ Wagyu, lamb backstrap, kurobuta pork belly and whole fish are kept simple: finished with dashi and saké or flavoured butters, then delivered to the table on long wooden boat paddles. Fired Moreton Bay bugs are seasoned with lemon and salt, king prawns come slick with garlic butter and individual scallops get a swipe of mentaiko butter.

Cocktails and highballs feature classic Japanese flavours, with some fun turns along the way. The cinnamon-rimmed Fuji on Fire highball is bold with Fireball whisky, apple cider and yuzu, and the vodka-spiked Oreo Chokoretto does the dessert-or-drink thing with chocolate, Baileys and Oreo crumbs. It’s all backed by a considered saké list, plus wine and beer.

After 25 years running Toko, Yazbeck says Koda is his stripped-back, more personal project. “Koda means friend [in Japanese],” he says. “And is also the name of my best friend, my dog.”

Koda
20 Curtin Place, CBD
(02) 8223 2601

Hours:
Tue & Wed 5.30pm–10.30pm
Thu & Fri midday–3pm, 5.30pm–10.30pm
Sat 5.30pm–10.30pm

kodasydney.com
@kodasydney