fashion | Absolutely Ayana

Oops lack of updates here because frankly life has been getting in the way and getting me down. On a more happier note Bill and I celebrated our 8years(we thought it was 9 but we just miscalculated) together with dinner at the Ocean Room (Overseas Passenger Terminal Circular Quay). Though we had booked a few weeks earlier the restaurant was full with many functions going on, so we were seated towards the door so each time it opened, we were faced with a huge gust of wind… very unromantic. Anyhoo I kicked off dinner with a Peach Smash and perused the menu. The menu at Ocean Room consisted of a section of "chotto" Japanese tapas dishes which are bite size and single portions, which we were keen to try. So in order to try a a few of the chotto dishes and signature dishes, we opted for Raita’s Tasting Menu 11 courses for $90 per person.

We started the tasting menu with the freshly shucked Pacific Oysters with fresh chilli & lemon vinaigrette from Coffin Bay and Rock Oysters with shiso basil sorbet and konbu from Port Stephens. I love anything with shiso herb so naturally they were a hit with me. Following the oysters we were presented with the Japanese tapas chotto dishes. The Tuna Cornet marinated blue fin tuna tartare wrapped in nori rice cracker cornet was lip smacking delicious thought I didn’t taste much of the nori (seaweed). The very strange combination of marinated anchovy with smoked tomato sorbet was next, which suprised me as I’m not a fan of anchovies, but I loved the cooling sensation from the tomato sorbet – very cool. The Soft Shell Crab Taco with crispy spiced soft shell crab, pickled vegetables in a cripsy taco shell was messy to eat but well worth getting your fingers dirty – probably would order two each next time XP. The crispy king prawn with wasabi aioli, petit wasabi croquette was also one of my favourites, the wasabi wasn’t overpowering but still had a nice zing to it, the prawn was plump and crisp – I even ate the tail.

Onto the Starters we were presented with a red plate but the food was unrecognisable (also because the restaurant is really quite dark). It turned out to be the flame seared bar cod, sake and plum jelly wrapped in sheer konbu. Though it probably isn’t everyone’s cup of tea because of its weird texture, I thought it was really creative and I especially loved the ume jelly and konbu. Our next starter was THE Ocean Room Signature – Tuna Creation prepared in five styles with five condiments. Starting from left to right so you can appreciate the subtler tastes before the stronger flavours there were cubes of tuna each cooked differently with accompanying salt to match. This course was definitely my favourite course, I thought it was creative and I loved the concept though the sake jelly bar cod comes in a close second because of its depth.
The tuna done five ways were:
Oil blanched Fresh ginger & corriander with Chilli Salt
Fresh raw Wasabi & lemon zest with Soy salt (light)
Seared Five peppercorns & salmon roe with Soy salt (3yrs aged)
Fresh raw Jalopeno & yuzu zest with Black salt
Marinated Fried garlic & fresh chilli with Truffle Salt
My favourite by far was the Fresh raw Jalopeno & yuzu zest, which had a nice kick to it while the Truffle salt was way too salty for me and I preferred the tuna without it.

For mains we had one plate of ocean produce followed by our main land produce. For our ocean produce we had grilled, sweet miso marinated cod fillet where the cod was firm and sweet, I also loved loved loved the ginger scented risotto bed. We also had a Prawn Sizzle not on the a la carte menu which was a pan seared green king prawn with coriander citrus sauce, the prawn was so plump and juicy I wanted another one. For our main land produce the grain fed rib eye steak with sansho peppercorn jus came in a rather large portion and was cooked perfectly medium rare.

By now we were terribly full and thought desserts were next but before that we had a sushi collection to get through. It was a chefs daily recommendation but sadly it was the dissapointment of the night. the sashimi was nothing special and I felt like we got the left over cuts since all three nigiri had sinews. Also although traditional sushi nigiri is thin compared to western standards, the size of each nigiri was so thin, the size of my index finger!!

To finish off the night, the Ocean Room Assiette – they should propbably double these portions or at least give you two of eachdessert. The amazing creme brulee was very vanilla and delicious but sadly gone in one bite. the pink lady almond gateau was spongy and nice and the two chocolate ganache were moist ad rich. Our favourite was the apple sorbet which we literally fought over – definitely give us two scoops of this please!

Peach Smash

Oyster Duo

Tuna Cornet
Anchovy & Sorbet – Ocean Room Signature

Wasabi Prawn
Soft Shell Crab Taco – Ocean Room Signature

Sake Jelly Bar Cod – Ocean Room Signature

Tuna Creation – Ocean Room Signature

Saikyo Miso Cod – Ocean Room Signature
Prawn Sizzle

Sansho Pepper Beef Steak

Sushi Collection
can you see how thin it is?

Ocean Room Assiette
Chocolate ganache, pink lady almond gateau, apple sorbet and creme brulee

The staff were polite and lovely, we’ll definitely be back to dine from the a la carte menu and try a few more of the chotto dishes and the Tuna Wing. I’d love to get one of those comfy booths too instead of in front of the door haha.

THANK YOU for a lovely evening, happy anniversary baby and thank you for the super awesome thoughtful present everrr… I LOVE IT