He’s taken the Crown

Not everyone is equipped to deal with the weight of expectation. It’s what separates the great from the merely good. For the great ones, you’ve earned the right for people to expect the world from you. You’re LeBron James every time you step on the basketball court, you’re Meryl Streep every time you step in front of the camera, you’re Dave Chappelle every time you step up on that stage.

You’re also Ryuichi Yoshii of Yoshii Omakase in the newly opened Crown Casino in Barangaroo, Sydney.

Located within Nobu; Yoshii Omakase is one of the most highly anticipated openings in Sydney restaurant history (on the same list as Momofuku Seiobo, Ippudo, the Noma popup and when Subway made its debut in Campsie).

To be honest; I’m still not sure if I was actually there or if it was all a dream but I thought I’d document it anyway. Since my dream journal is either at my parent’s house or in the hands of someone who intends to ruin my future career in politics; it was as good a time as any to make a return to iFat (not that I ever really left).

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Yoshii starts his signature omakase with beetroot. Not going to lie, did not expect this classic Australian ingredient to open the batting but here we are. The beetroot maybe the focus of my portrait but it’s the dashi that makes it art. Adding depth and an element that you just don’t get when beetroot is just added to your tuckshop burger. The caviar was also popping off in the same manner that I do when I beat all of the 8 year old kids in Fortnite.

You need a great reason to cook toro (fatty tuna). Naturally fatty and delicious without feeling the effect of flames; it’s one of those rare ingredients you don’t need to do anything to. It’s like buying a brand new Mercedes from the dealership; no need to add rims, change the leather or to call Xzibit to install a fish tank; just drive away and enjoy the ride.

In saying all of that; this was a great dish. The slight char infused by cooking the toro over charcoal and the presence of Japanese mustard added traits you wouldn’t normally get by just hoovering raw toro by the mouthful.

I’ve been lucky enough to go to quite a few different restaurants with an omakase offering and I enjoy it every time. Even if the food isn’t quite to my taste, watching masters of their craft show mastery of their craft whether its knife skills or the ability to manipulate flavours is a privilege.

Watching Chef Yoshii bust out every shimmy, shake and skill was amazing. It was a front row seat to decades of experience all wrapped up on a glass plate of ingredients I’d had before but not quite in this fashion.

The abalone is slow cooked for 5-6 hours. That’s more cooking than I do in a month and I feel like I cook a lot.

Feels weird to be describing a seafood dish as sweet but here we are. Just to clarify I am referring to a pleasant sugar sweet as opposed to getting 7 McNuggets in a 6 pack sweet.

Sweet, let’s move on.

If you look closely into what is housed in the bowl, you become privy to a unique setting that chef Yoshii has used his incomparable skill to create. I can confirm that he took time out to explain it to myself and I’m Still Hungry (oh yeah, he was the reason why I was able to sneak past security on the night) . The problem was that I was so distracted by the waft of chrysanthemum and yuzu in the bowl to pay proper attention.

Another confirmation from me: this soup was another soup-erb demonstration about how Yoshii Omakase is just built different,

The toothfish was placed in front of us with flames still licking the accompanying wood and smoke in the air as well. If that isn’t the best and most literal way of letting someone know that that the fish they’re about to consume is ‘lit’ then I don’t know what is.

I joked during dinner about how crazy it’d be if this turned out to be best course of the night.

It wasn’t but it was a massive surprise in terms of how much I enjoyed it on the same scale of Freddie Prince Jr realising that Laney was actually really hot as soon she took her glasses off in ”She’s All That.”

What do you mean you’ve never heard of the 1999 teen movie She’s All That and that my pop culture references are getting dated? I’m more offended than Anakin Skywalker when he was granted a seat on the council but not the rank of master in Revenge of the Sith.

…i’ll stop now.

Onto the nigiri section of the night and what a start it was. Sprinkled with a touch of salt made from crushed fish bones; the sheer umami on this bite was nothing if not satisfying.

One of the best looking pieces of the night; it was actually one I was quite nervous to eat as my distaste for silver fish (more on that later) was top of mind. Yet this garfish was really nice, soft and didn’t have any of the pungent traits that it’s bonito and mackerel cousins can’t help but excrete.

Considering the amount of fish in the sea, you have to be quite majestic to be awarded the title of king.

And how majestic this morsel was. A touch of freshness provided by the watermelon radish complementing the absurd quality of the kingfish made this one of my favourites of the night. Just paying my respects to royalty you know?

Full disclosure: I offered this piece to Í’m Still Hungry.’ I am that burnt from my previous experiences with bonito that I was more than willing to pass it onto someone who would enjoy it more.

Thank goodness I didn’t. In another display of Yoshii being able to tap into the matrix, this was the best piece of bonito nigiri I’ve ever had. I honestly don’t know how they were able to change the flavour profile of something so distinctive but still maintain the texture and turn it into something I actually like.

It’d be like remixing a death metal song into something I would be ok with making my ringtone. What a time to be alive.

As if he wanted to flex on me, Yoshii doubled down and hit us with a back to back bonito. In basketball, this is the equivalent of Steph Curry feeling it and deciding to shoot from the half court line because he doesn’t think he can miss.

Spoiler alert: nothing but net.

There’s only maybe 7 people in the world I like more than toro so I was very excited when this popped up.

It was barely on the slate before I transferred it into my mouth. I moved faster than the time I came 3rd in my school’s cross country race even though I was actually Star Wars at Burwood cinema.

One more time? We’re gonna celebrate.

A melt in your mouth portion that is more akin to butter than it is to seafood.

Wait, is that…

KEEP PLAYING THE HITS YOSHII!

I’ll have 17 more pieces of toro if you have more lying around this amazing restaurant.

I watched Yoshii turn a flat squid tube into this work of art that you see in the photo above. I could’ve sworn I heard him mutter ‘wingardium leviosa’ under his breath as the florets started to sprout up and take the collective breath out of everyone in the restaurant.

En garde!

This is a sword I’d happily take into my mouth and into my stomach. Smoky brought about by the tried and true aburi method, another one of my favourite pieces of what was quickly becoming one of the meals of the year (in January nonetheless).

A piece tied in knots that will have other omakase chefs across Sydney tied in knots as they try to figure out exactly how their offerings will be able to match up to Yoshii’s.

My favourite piece of the night doubled as the most extravagant. Not subtle at all featuring creamy scampi, toro making its return to the stage, smooth uni topped off by scampi caviar and crispy nori.

Texturally nuanced and bursting with flavour; this piece is rich as f*ck and I’m glad I got to sample its fortune.

Just another day in paradise for me when I’m being taken care of by Yoshii. Sorry to get all prawny but here’s my moment of reflection and my gratitude at what a great life I lead.

Saltwater eel is one of my favourites (I eely like all eel sushi to be honest) and Yoshii had a surprise in store. He busted out sauce that had been aged for 28 years.

Wait what? This led to a series of questions.

Why 28?

What’s special about 28?

Would this sauce be significantly worse if it was aged for 27 years…what about 29?

Was this a subtle jab at 28 being your prime year and that I was past it? Instead of focusing on how tasty the piece was, it led to me thinking back to 2019 and how great life was like pre-COVID and how great it was in my late 20s versus starting my 30th year on planet Earth.

Let’s move on before I start crying.

A vegetarian piece! What a way to cap off the nigiri section of this omakase menu.

This was a very refreshing piece but I couldn’t help feeling that this was a little like getting your girlfriend a gift voucher for her birthday. You know she loves you, that she’s not going to leave you and you just go through the motions to get through the occasion.

I like cucumber, shiso and ume but still.

At this point, you really shouldn’t be surprised about this piece being egg-cellent.

An experience unlike any other; it makes sense that it’s capped off with some gold as there is no doubt that Yoshii is the gold standard when it comes to omakase in Sydney.

You can include my quote on the eventual documentary poster. Go on.

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Here’s the TL;DR for everyone that was hoping that I’d cut back on puns and analogies for this post

• Yoshii is oceans apart from the competition outside of maybe Sokyo and Sushi E

Yoshii Omakase (bookings essential)

Located within Nobu

Level 2/1 Barangaroo Avenue