Ocean Room resurfaces (birthday dinner)

I’d always meant to return to Ocean Room at Circular Quay after last year’s visit. We finally made it for my birthday dinner, just in time to see the new renovations at this harbourfront diner.

The renovations seem to be confined to the roof area of the restaurant, with a spectacular canopy of wooden dowels dangling from a great height. They resemble stalks of bamboo, and they swing back and forth when a breeze blows through. The menu does not seem that different from before, though there are a couple of new dishes on the menu.

The bar area

The main dining area

As on our last visit, we went with the 11-course tasting menu ($90 per person), put together by executive chef Raita Noda. It contains dishes from each of the a la carte menu’s sections, ‘Oysters’, ‘sushi’, ‘land produce’, dessert, etc.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Though again (a pet gripe), the restaurant was very dim and I had to lighten the photos somewhat in order to see what we ate.

Top to bottom, left to right:
Oysters two ways; Chotto (appetisers) included Tuna cornet
Marinated anchovy with smoked tomato sorbet; sake jelly bar cod
Wasabi prawns with wasabi croquette (like a pomme noisette); sous-vide ocean trout (so creamy smooth) on avocado salsa

The tuna creation consists of 5 cubes of tuna with accompanying flavoured salts.

They were: oil-blanched toro with chilli salt, fresh raw chutoro with light soy salt, seared chutoro with 3-year aged soy salt, fresh raw akami with black salt, and marinated akami with truffle salt (the truffle salt was sublime).

Even if you don’t have the tasting menu, you should try and order the tuna creation from the a la carte menu.

Now we come to the mains from the ocean:

Prawn sizzle (pan-seared king prawns)

Miso code (miso-marinated cod fillet with ginger-scented risotto) – quite a sweet flavour

The mains from the land, and sushi:

Wagyu steak with mashed potato ball (again, the potato was strangely sweet) and watercress
Sushi nigri – tuna, kingfish and salmon

Surprise delivery of the Dessert plate with birthday sparkler!

Chocolate espresso layers, pink lady apple almond gateau, classic crème brulee

To finish, Kukicha tea, mild flavour with low caffeine.

I really enjoy eating at Ocean Room. The food is wonderful, with interesting flavours and treatment, and the service is not too professional, but keen and friendly. I must really try and get there more often, not just for birthdays.

Ocean Room is on Ground Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay West, Sydney
Ph: 02 9252 9585
Open Mon-Sat (dinner), Tue-Fri (lunch)