
Score 15.5/20
115 Harrington Street, Sydney
Tel 9247 2566
Japanese

Yoshii

Review

It’s a shrine to the art of the sushi master, and to the purity of kaiseki – a series of seasonal dishes, designed for both the palate and the eye. So the arrival of Yoshii’s exquisite sushi course (arguably the best in Sydney), after a cheek-puckering lemongrass sorbet, is at once jarring and revolutionary. This is just one assault on the senses chef Ryuichi Yoshii delivers during either of his two set menus (Yoshii or Saqura, changed just once a year) at his tiny lacquered bolthole at the back of the Shangri-La Hotel. Beautifully crafted ceramics arrive bearing a brittle zucchini flower filled with cuttlefish mousse, then slices of milk-fed veal adorned with jewels of forest mushrooms. Abalone, sporting a salt crust and swimming in its own juices, is a sensuous taste of the sea. Service, and communication, can be cumbersome, and the wine list needed an overhaul at the time of review (too many vintages past their use-by date, for example), but there’s no faulting Yoshii-san’s devotion to his craft and origins.

Awards

Favourite Sushi