Now Open: Oborozuki, an Ultra-Luxe New Japanese Restaurant and Bar on Circular Quay
Words by Yumi Oba · Updated on 11 May 2023 · Published on 30 Nov 2022
Spread over two levels, with full-height windows capturing gorgeous views of Sydney Harbour, Oborozuki is a new kaiseki and teppanyaki restaurant and bar within the prestigious Opera Residence tower. Oborozuki seats 120 diners, and has a series of premium private teppanyaki rooms.
Kaiseki ryori, or kaiseki, is a traditional Japanese multi-course meal that is meticulously prepared with local, seasonal ingredients. Running in a sequence of cold to hot dishes, it showcases both the chef’s creativity, and the quality and flavours of premium ingredients.
Head chef Hank Fang tells Broadsheet , “Kaiseki is … like an art.”
“The richness of colour and the plain and heavy flavours in different dishes are interwoven to draw out each element’s essence at its peak, and to put them in harmony for the sublime moments.”
Fang says kaiseki requires the chef to “have a dialogue with nature and find the unique characteristic of each ingredient.”
Starting with appetisers of duck breast with mustard, clam with yamaimo (yam), and asparagus with walnut miso, the kaiseki journey steadily proceeds to a steamed dish, a grilled dish, and seasoned sashimi. Then, it moves on to a deep-fried dish: carefully selected 600- or 700-gram Tasmanian lobster, served with rice crackers and ebi (prawn) miso.
“We choose this size because only in this size [does] Tasmanian lobster have the most tender texture and the chewiest touch, and a natural sweetness,” says Fang.
The grilled Ozaki (a brand of beef raised on a single farm in Japan) A5 ribeye with mushroom, zucchini, and turnip needs a special mention. It is smoked and roasted with Japanese cherry wood, and is paired with cherry tomatoes from Queensland, which have been sun-dried for 12 hours. Another highlight is a luxurious soup of blacklip abalone made with a bonito stock and taro.
Meanwhile, the 10-course teppanyaki menu, led by chef Felix Zheng, includes chutoro (a fatty cut of tuna), mochi, A5 Ozaki Wagyu ribeye with miso-wasabi sauce, and Tasmanian lobster.
Teppanyaki, a style of Japanese cooking which translates as iron plate (teppan) and grilled (yaki), has evolved outside of Japan over time to include a bit of theatre – flipping food from the hot plate onto plates, or patrons catching airborne rice in their bowls. At Oborozuki, the chefs will not be throwing food and utensils up in the air – but you will be immersed in their skills as they work away in front of you.
Those experiences and premium ingredients are reflected in the price: the kaiseki menu is $380 and the teppanyaki menu is $450.
Oborozuki means “hazy moon” in Japanese, and this is given a nod in the restaurant’s mezzanine level from which a glowing bronze pendant moon hangs, a symbol repeated throughout the restaurant and bar.
The Oborozuki Bar features a range of sommelier-selected premium and boutique wines, as well as signature cocktails such as the Smoked Oborozuki which infuses Japanese green tea and whisky, and the Matcha Tea Grasshopper, made with matcha ice-cream, gin and sake.
Oborozuki
Level 3, 5/71 Macquarie Street, Sydney
Hours:
Tue to Sat 5.30pm-10pm
