I was pleasantly surprised during a business dinner. We were group and had a multi course pre…read morearranged menu. Everything was fantastic. The wagyu with an egg ponzu dipping sauce was unforgettable but multiple dishes were great. Surprisingly the only thing that was mediocre was the sushi, uninspired the fish was okay but not special but overall the meal was fantastic.

We made the mistake of ordering the Omakase at this nice looking trendy restaurant in the Star…read moreCasino. Most of the dishes were passable, although I personally don't care for mussels. However, the big disappointment was the wagyu filet, which had a tough rubbery texture, like it had been cut incorrectly. We sent it back and they brought out another cut which was marginally better, but not even close in quality to the A5 wagyu I've had elsewhere. The few pieces of sushi we were served were okay, but for the price, there should have been more. Overall, a fairly big disappointment for our big night out in Sydney at what is supposedly one of the premiere Japanese restaurants in the city.

This is definitely one for the go-to date spot list. It's small and charming, the decor is subtle,…read morethe lighting romantic and waitstaff are discerning. If you're in a twosome or onesome - perfect. Ask to sit up at the bar. Food : so so good. A good case to prove Japanese is so much more than sushi and bento. Definitely order the pork belly dumplings. Oh my! Even if you detest pork belly, like myself, get those dumplings. Trust me. Or you could ask the opinion of the young guy who sat next to me and took a trip to the heavens on a five course meal for one. 'Cos with food this good, who needs a date?

Located on a quiet street in the residential area of Surry Hills. A relatively small restaurant -…read morethere are about 8-10 tables. I tried their katsu fish burger, lotus root chips and regular chips. The fish burger was really good, i love the soft Hokkaido buns and it was not overly oily. The best part of the meal is probably the chips....no idea what's in it but it's so freaking good! No ketchup is needed! I wish there is more selection on the burger menu...but i will definitely be back to try the other burgers :)

Small suburban Japanese restaurant. The diners were mainly Japanese families…read more Had the udon hot pot lunch set - on the menu it said rice, miso soup, and a dessert would be included with all sets. But we weren't served the rice or miso (would have been too full anyway) but a little disappointed we didn't get what was promised. Udon tasted authentic, the prawn inside the tempura shell was fresh and cooked well, loved the runny egg yolk and large mushrooms. Soup base was light and tasted good. I ended up slurping all the soup, even though I don't normally eat the soup in noodle dishes. The dessert was one small scoop of black sesame ice cream. The ice cream was served inside a ramekin, and the ramekin and ice cream was frozen and ice cream had ice shavings around it. I'm pretty sure they made it more than a week ago and froze it. Didn't taste fresh, and was very dry and hard. I pierced my spoon into the ice cream and a small piece came out. Tasted very frozen, hard, and could taste the freezer taste. I didn't have any more.

Sometimes I forget that Japanese is so much more than just sushi…read more Don't get me wrong, I scoff sushi like the best of them, but come dinner time, I tend to search for a hot dinner instead of some delicate cold sashimi. Hence my wariness when a recent family diner was booked at HaNa Ju-Rin in Crows Nest. But I was oh so wrong. I'm sure it helped that my sister-in-law is an expert orderer, but I still managed to be dumbstruck by every dish. There was gyoza, there was udon, there was king fish salad. Then there were slightly more adventurous dishes like giblets, intestines and beef tongue. And finally there was the dish that rocked my world: okonomiyaki. Sweet mercy this fried pancake slice of savoury deliciousness canNOT be good for you, but you'll definitely find me hoeing into one next time I have hangover. In fact, hangover or no, you'll be sure find me hanging out in front of HaNa again soon.

Awhile back I was taken to Manmaruya in Campsie and really enjoyed my bowl of ramen but was quite…read moreshocked at the sub standard level of service we received there. This time we gave Manmaruya in Ashfield a try for lunch. Just across the road and a short walk up Liverpool St from Ashfield mall. FOOD I shared a large Teriyaki Chicken Ramen ($14.80) and a Soft Shell Crab roll ($9.80) whilst the others ordered a Chicken Katsu Curry ($12.80), Pork Karaage Ramen ($12.80) and a large Cha-syu Ramen ($14.80). http://www.yelp.com.au/biz_photos/1uWOnSumYcCFt4G_TRrptg?select=ZkxW7Oe3-KJbltrXYskPZw http://www.yelp.com.au/biz_photos/1uWOnSumYcCFt4G_TRrptg?select=WmpErIg4qfZEH3X78JIyyw http://www.yelp.com.au/biz_photos/1uWOnSumYcCFt4G_TRrptg?select=RVFg9jB6Ht0NJGKa9VnqRA http://www.yelp.com.au/biz_photos/1uWOnSumYcCFt4G_TRrptg?select=Qtjjn-psYhib8uvgaZl-AA http://www.yelp.com.au/biz_photos/1uWOnSumYcCFt4G_TRrptg?select=oRf113-NLeOlwA7FSkwoaQ Manmaruya's speciality is their ramen. For me the most important thing about ramen is the soup. Manmaruya has both pork and chicken soups. I personally always go for the more traditional pork based soup. I really enjoyed the one here as it is still tasty and flavoursome but at the same time not too salty unlike other ramen restaurants. The Soft Shell Crab roll was probably not the best tasting roll I've eaten but satisfied my craving for sushi that day. However it was well presented and I am definitely one to appreciate pretty looking food. Overall I thought the food is reasonably priced and the serving size was decent. SERVICE Unlike the Campsie branch this one was far less busy and so we did not have to wait to be served. The food came out within 10mins of ordering as well. VERDICT I think this is one of the better ramen places in Sydney and would recommend ramen lovers out there to give this place a try.

The staff feel under trained and kept forgetting to bring us drinks ans desert. The food was tasty…read moreand affordable.

Very nice Tempura Prawn Udon accompanied by a nice Cucumber salad with Bonito flakes…read more Washed down with a pot of green tea. Perfect light lunch break.

First time here and didn't really have much expectations except good food and good service due to…read morethe area it's in - hippy Surry Hills. Service wise not too shabby, although the waiter said it was a 5 course Omakase meal which turned out to be 6. Also couldn't really hear what they were saying when introducing the dishes. So here's what we had: 1. Trio Entree: Tofu with apple, mandarin and prawn, Chicken with sweet chilli sauce and (epic) seared scallop with raw salmon and teriyaki sauce 2. Mullet Sashimi with Fish Roe - Sashimi Trio: Tuna, Kingfish and Salmon - Prawn and Squid Salad with cucumber, carrot and bean sprout strips on sweet soy dressing - Grilled Swordfish - Sushi Platter The highlight was definitely the seared scallop and the rest are quite normal - something you can order elsewhere. There was also the option of having matching sake (it'll def overwhelm the plain flavours of the fish) but we choose the normal set. I did have the Kirin apple cider though @$14 .. so expensive! Will I do it again? Yepssss and this time will order dishes from the a la carte! p.s. Loved the interior design!

I had been searching for a more traditional and higher end Japanese restaurant for lunch and after…read morereading about Azuma, I thought I would give it a try. As I had not booked for lunch, the waiter struggled to find us a table for three. I asked if we could sit at the empty sushi bar but was told no. Eventually, the waiter said he would get the manager to try to sort something out for us which was nice of him. When the manager finally came out, she said we could sit at the sushi bar provided we only ordered from the bento box menu as the sushi chef was too busy. Interesting, I thought we couldn't sit at the sushi bar? And what's with not being able to order anything else apart from the Bento box menu because the sushi chef is too busy preparing orders? Hmmm... isn't that kind of the business and expectation that the sushi chef would be busy making/preparing sushi/sashimi? Anyway, we ordered our Bento boxes and they were nicely presented. But I think for $40 a bento box and the name Azuma, I was kind of expecting more in terms of quality and quantity. The tempura was not fantastic. It wasn't that light crispy tempura I was expecting. I can definitely get much better tempura at less fancy Japanese restaurants. There was no white radish with the tempura sauce which was disappointing and not not very traditional. The wagyu beef was quite tough and chewy. Didn't seem very wagyu to me. On the positive, the sashimi served were good in terms of freshness. Also, looking at the sushi bar, they didn't seem to have 'Uni' (sea urchins) at all. Overall, I had a higher expectation from Azuma given the price and what Azuma claims itself to be. According to the 'About Azuma' page, it says Kimitaka Azuma's "passion is to deliver new and dynamic Japanese cuisine that is both traditional and innovative drives him to expand his business, in the hope that all Sydneysiders will be able to enjoy the experience of 'real' Japan." Unfortunately, it was far from that experience and I definitely did not feel the 'real' Japan. It was also disappointing to be restricted to not being able to order off the sushi/sashimi menu given it was a Japanese restaurant.

Ate at Azuma last night. It was my third time dining here. As always the food was good, the sashimi…read morewas fresh and tasty. The soft shell crab hand rolls are wonderful! This is not the best Japanese ive ever had. I much prefer Toko in Surry hills. It is however not the worst Japanese i have had. And provided you dine with at least one asian you will receive decent service.

Good high end sushi. Would come back fire the oysters alone! You sit around a marble bar with the…read morechefs preparing your food in front of you. Would be ideal for smaller groups due to seating to make the most of your omakase menu. We ordered a la carte and had a variety of small nibbles that came fast fresh and delicious

My colleagues and I ate dinner here recently. The restaurant is in the back corner of a bar so its…read morea bit loud but the food is good. The have a regular sushi bar but we sat at a small table by the windows. It was hard to fit everything on the table but we managed. We had a variety of sashimi and nigiri. I specifically had the scallop hotate and prawn ebi. Both were very good. Seafood was cooked nicely. Tasty rice. We also had the soft shell crab uramaki - inside out roll - fried soft shell crab, spicy tobiko jalapeno mayonnaise. This was delicious. Nice crab flavor, tasty mayo, not too spicy. We finished with the king prawn tempura - saffron rouille, shellfish salt. Nice flavor batter, crispy but tender shrimp. Service was a bit spotty and the music was too loud but the food made up for that. Definitely an interesting dining experience.

Terrible food. I ordered take-away salmon sashimi which was inedible it had so many bones. I called…read moreto complain. All I got was an apology but they wouldn't refund. Disgusting. Since leaving this review the owner of Sakura has left a reply using our names. This is obviously an attempt to bully and intimidate us and other people not to leave negative reviews. She tried at the time to threaten us with the police if we left a bad review. Stay away from this restaurant. The food is not fit for human consumption and the owner engages in bullying and threatening behaviour towards anyone who challenges that.

I love this little authentic place, nestled in an old building with beautiful stained glass…read morewindows. The food is outstanding and very reasonably priced, the ramen is huge! Staff very extremely friendly and efficient. The place is quite small and turns over fast. I enjoyed my chicken ramen a lot and will go back for more!