After arriving in Sydney in 2019, I embarked on my unofficial big (and maybe even ambitious) plan to dine at as many sushi-yas as I could in Australia Sydney that offered omakase. I used the words ‘unofficial plan’ because it’s really my love for sushi that sent me on my hunt for good sushi. And of course, my other love to try new places. Keke.

And no thanks to COVID-19, my overseas stint in Sydney (2019 to 2021) could be categorised as ‘pre-COVID lockdown’ and ‘post-COVID lockdown’. Some of my ‘pre-COVID lockdown’ omakase meals included Jizakana, Osaka Bar, Sushi E and Harada. And my dinner reservation at Sushi E was done via Sushi E’s website. Sushi E offered table seats, and counter seats for both omakase and non-omakase menus. So one should make sure ‘omakase’ is indicated when making one’s reservation.

Located on the fourth floor of the building, I initially thought I was at the wrong place after stepping out of the lift because the restaurant signage that came into sight was for Hemmesphere. It was only as the receptionist led me to the sushi counter, then did I realise Sushi E shared the unit space with Hemmesphere.

The sushi counter was big and looked like it could cater to many people for the omakase course. However reality was that only a small section of the rectangular-shaped counter island was allocated for omakase. Upon seated, the staff confirmed my dietary restriction for no beef. For drinks, I chose not to go with the wine pairing, but stuck to my iced green tea. And it was nice that the waiting staff gave me a glass of water even though I mentioned I was good with just my green tea. :)

Once everyone arrived (there were 5 of us that night), chef Wai Ha Chuen introduced himself before going on to mention our omakase course comprised 5 entrees (from the kitchen), 10 sushi, a main course and 2 desserts. And with that, I commenced my omakase dinner, AUD150 with:-

  

1) Dish #1 (above) – Pommes soufflé with scallop (hotate) tartare and caviar, and choux puff with Tasmania sea urchin and creme fraiche. I really enjoyed these.

2) Dish #2 (above) – Aged alfonsino. And it’s interesting that 1 of the toppings was blood orange.

  

3) Dish #3 (above) – Cold dish of somen, (raw) scampi, salmon roe in scampi dashi and scampi oil. This was really good.

4) Dish #4 (above) – Dashi-flavoured steamed egg (chawanmushi) with spanner crab. And we were told the crab was boiled with salt water before the flesh was removed from the shell.

5) Dish #5 (above) – Scampi prawn grilled over binchotan charcoal, and served with seaweed butter.

  
  
  
  
  

6) Dish #6 (above) – Pink snapper with kombu, 7-days aged medium fatty tuna (chutoro), squid (ika) and urchin with shaved egg yolk and lime, John Dory with salt, aged alfonsino, salmon belly with spicy radish and shiso leaf, scallop with shaved sea urchin, scampi with burnt miso butter, kingfish belly with miso and finger lime, and slow cooked egg yolk with caviar. And yah, was slightly bummed that the yolk had burst when it was served. That said, chef Wai made all 5 pieces before serving them to us. I personally preferred sushi to be given/served after every piece was made. But that’s me… And unfortunately, I didn’t particularly like the sushi rice (shari) too. There was something about its seasoning. Hmm…

  

7) Dish #7 (above) – What’s on the omakase menu for the main was a beef donburi. However, mine was replaced with koji fish because of my dietary requirement. And my koji fish definitely paled in comparison when compared against the beef. So while I noticed from instagram that chef Wai usually presented the beef on the rice in the claypot… He presented the beef separately on a plate for the other 4 customers to take pictures that night. And I appreciated that because we were served mushroom rice from that one claypot.

9) Dish #8 (above) – Palette cleanser with raspberry sorbet being the key ingredient.

9) Dish #9 (above) – Mandarin, yuzu milk and yuzu marmalade sandwiched between wafer biscuits (monaka).

So what stood out from my meal at Sushi E was that dishes of our omakase course was prepared (and served) by 2 chefs. Dishes prepared at the sushi counter were by sushi chef Wai while dishes coming from the kitchen were by head chef Michael Fox. So yes, dinner felt like it was a collaboration between Japanese and European. Best of both worlds? Keke.

Dining experience was unfortunately slightly marred by the draggy bill process. But that of course had nothing to do with the chefs. And I usually make payment in cash, but I forgot to withdraw sufficient cash that night. So my bill came up to AUD159.65 (including credit card surcharge) instead of AUD158. Of which, AUD8 was for the iced green tea. And I know… The difference is just less than AUD2. But I don’t like the idea of upfront card surcharge. Hee.

Would I recommend Sushi E? Well… If one is looking for an authentic Japanese omakase dining experience, other sushi-yas would come to my mind. But if one is looking for a fun (ie, not strictly Japanese) meal, Sushi E would be an option! Cause I’ll be upfront honest… But going to Sushi E with the anticipation of a Japanese (omakase) meal, I left the restaurant enjoying the dishes that came out of the kitchen more. Oops.

Related posts:

Dinner @ Hachioji Willoughby (Sydney, Australia) Dinner @ Sushi Oe (Sydney, Australia) Dinner @ Gou Sushi (Sydney, Australia) Dinner @ Jizakana (Sydney, Australia) Dinner @ Osaka Bar (Sydney, Australia) // CLOSED