Yayoi Japanese Teishoku Restaurant

There is a wonderful elegance to the brand new Yayoi Teishoku Japanese Restaurant, and it’s all about balance. Light wood panels divide up the space, surrounded by floor to ceiling windows, with iPads on every table. In a few design choices there’s a balance of privacy, snazzy modernity, and convenience of technology—it’s all really quite Japanese. And what do you know, that balance also extends to the food, delivered in a series of brooding, earthenware vessels. After all, Teishoku is about providing, amongst other things, rice, miso soup, and pickles, with your choice of protein, and all in the name of a nutritious and varied meal. The Wagyu Sukiyaki ($25) meal-set combines slippery udon noodles, shredded beef, cabbage and mushrooms in a sweet and umami rich broth. Miso Pork Loin Katsu ($18.80) is the sort of crispy deep fried and sweet-sauced action that is dangerously more-ish. It’s also a lot of fun to eat, picking across the various nibbles and deciding how best to utilise the 62 degree egg both dishes come with—as dipping sauce, or broth enhancer? Finish with some Matcha Anmitsu ($6) a.k.a. green tea ice cream and strange jelly bits, and you’ve uncovered one of the better ways to spend a CBD lunch hour.

Yayoi Japanese Teishoku Restaurant
Level 1, The Galeries, 500 George Street, Sydney
Ph: (02) 9283 4835 yayoi.com.au
Japanese $$