Tetsuya's Restaurant

Tetsuya's is reputed to be both Sydney's and Australia's top ranked restaurant. Indeed, at least by all critical accounts, it is one of the top five restaurants in the entire world. Tetsuya's more than lives up to its robustly impeccable reputation. In addition to utilizing natural resources, Sydney's chefs have appropriated the variety of ethnic influences found across the country and Tetsuya’s has been at the very forefront of this cultural diversity.

Before the 1970’s, most of the food served in Sydney’s restaurants reflected the early English presence in Australia. Fine dining meant surf and turf and a baked potato (just as it did in the United States). But by the early 1980's, relaxed immigration laws allowed Vietnamese, Malaysian, Korean, Thai, Chinese and Indians to start their lives over again in Australia. These “new” Australians infused neighborhoods throughout Sydney with all of their native cuisine. As a result, one can easily acquire far better Asian produce in Sydney than in Hong Kong.

Tetsuya Wakuda (the illustrious owner and master chef of Tetsuya's Restaurant) is a veritable artist. Inspired by the ingredients native to his adopted country of Australia and the techniques and flavors of his birthplace of Japan, Tetsuya combines them to compliment and highlight each other in the simplest ways to bring out the most complicated flavors. Tetsuya's presentation is pure perfection. Details like minute brunoise and matchstick julienne are beautiful to behold, but it's his ethereal marinades and his thoughtful use of ingredients like fresh ginger, garlic, soy, mirin, and wasabi that make his dishes so memorable, and that allows us mere mortals to adore his recipes with such passion.

At Tetsuya's Restaurant, all meals are presented as numerous small dishes, but you can multiply any of his recipes to work as main courses. Linguine with a Ragout of Oriental Mushrooms is simple to prepare and bursts with the rich, earthy flavor of exotic mushrooms brightened by hints of garlic, sake, mirin, tomato, and chile. Tartare of Tuna with Goat Cheese requires sushi-quality tuna, so if you can get it, this dish is quick and easy and luscious with fresh, creamy goat cheese and lively with cayenne, garlic, ginger, white pepper, and anchovies. Not all of Tetsuya's creations are Asian influenced. There are many magnificent European-style dishes, like a Salad of Sea Scallops with Asparagus and Beans, Venison with Roasted Shallots and Morels, and Granny Smith Apple Sorbet with Sauternes Jelly.

It's worth getting on the waiting list— and there's always a waiting list— to sample the unique blend of Western techniques and Japanese-French flavors crafted by Sydney's most applauded chef. The serene, expansive dining room's unobtrusive Japanese aesthetic leaves the food as the true highlight. Scallop Sashimi with Duck Foie Gras and Tartare of Tuna with Olive Oil and Wasabi Jelly are typical items from a pricey set menu that never fails to intrigue as much as it dazzles. The setting is lovely, a free-standing building built in a contemporary style with a serene Japanese garden at its heart. Views of this rather intricate Japanese garden complete with bonsai and a waterfall make this place seem miles from the city center.

There's usually just one menu a night at Tetsuya's Restaurant and the food just keeps on coming... like an endless wave of flavorful fascination. It is all delicate and interesting from a chef billed as one of the true "originals" of innovative cuisine. He is all of that and so much more, and so many people have passed through Tetsuya Wakuda's kitchen that his style has literally penetrated the entire world both far and wide. The quality of his Grain-fed Wagyu (Kobe-style Beef) is positively phenomenal, delightful against the dusky flavor of Chestnut Mushroom. Like many Australian chefs, Tetsuya's palate registers subtle contrasts, and that is its true sophistication. It demands your attention.