right here in Australia we’re truly spoiled for option in terms of Japanese restaurants. We’ve got sushi bars, saki lounges, ramen shops, Japanese barbeque houses. however the most recent thing to hit our streets is the long awaited izakaya craze.

Unfortunately this location no longer exists. Please inspect out our other Sydney restaurant evaluations here.

An izakaya is a bit like a Japanese pub. They’re typically extremely little – the ones we explored in Kyoto, one of Japan’s oldest cities, were extremely small. Some had sufficient space for half a lots people no more.

But huge or small, old or new, izakaya in Japan are always such awesome locations to sit, take a drink as well as possibly have a bite to eat. We’ve got so numerous funny stories of when we were in Japan a while ago, of sitting in an izakaya speaking to the locals – us without any Japanese skills, the locals without any English, however everybody having a great laugh.

Sharak Izakaya, Sydney’s newest response to this uniquely Japanese experience, is best in the city’s burgeoning Oriental food district of world Square.

Typically Japanese, this location doesn’t look like much from the outside at street level, however inside is tardis-like as well as performs in truth take up three stories.

We went as much as the top floor in the glass lift (no Wonka comments, say thanks to you) as well as took our seats in our personal bamboo-clad booth.

Every table on every floor is equipped with a touchscreen menu where you can purchase as much as you like as well as the wait personnel bring it to you quicker than you can tap you requests! You can likewise request the expense on these screens, which is an outstanding idea.

It’s an comprehensive menu at Sharak. true to its izakaya roots, many of the food right here is tapas style in that you get great deals of bit plates to share.

We were right here for dinner so we purchased five or six dishes:

The slow-braised pork tummy cooked in a soy as well as mirin broth

Perfectly pull-apart tender, this was a tasty dish. I was impressed I might eat this with chopsticks. I ended up drinking the broth with a spoon the waiter had thoughtfully supplied.

The deep-fried eggplant pieces served with a wonderful blueberry miso

Crisp on the outside, gooey as well as tender in the middle this was an outstanding dish. The blueberry miso was surprisingly savoury, as well as worked well with the eggplant.

The slow-cooked ox tongue in a tomato paste, hachyo miso as well as soy broth

Potentially confronting, this is served in 3mm slices as well as is the most tender meat you’ll eat. The broth is thick as well as hearty, as well as makes for a generously portioned dish.

The deep-fried prawns with wasabi mayo

These are like institution prawns, so you eat the whole thing. You get rather a few too, so this is a good-value dish. as well as yes, extremely tasty too!

The unagi nigiri eel sushi

Juicy marinated grilled eel pieces on beds of sushi rice. If you don’t like the noise of eel, its genuine name is unagi. much much better isn’t it. You only get three pieces of this, however it’s so tasty, as well as you get a great sized piece of fish on each serving.

The Hokkaido scallop as well as the volcano sushi

The scallop are seared as well as served with a Japanese sauce as well as the volcano sushi is much more of an avalanche of fish, roe, sauce as well as flavour. However, though these were tasty, we most likely wouldn’t purchase them once again for the price.

The food right here is a bit costly – as it is in many izakaya in Japan – however my god it’s good!

The drinks lists, however, are full of savings. particularly the cocktails. Mrs romance had an Umenoyado Yuzushu citrus benefit drink that was tasty as well as only $8.

I went for a Japanese craft rice beer (rice beer?) as well as absolutely liked it. If you ever see an Echigo Koshihikari beer on the menu anywhere, purchase it.

I likewise tried the restaurant’s special benefit ‘Mellowed Kozuru’. It’s aged in oak casks for 10 years as well as comes out tasting like a extremely fine scotch. It’s $25 a (large) measure, however it’s extremely very good.

This is a fantastic date night place for somewhere different to eat. I’d eat whatever we purchased tonight once again in a heartbeat, as well as I’m sure the other things on the menu are fantastic too.

Our hot tip: ask to sit on the top floor when you book; the booths are good as well as private.

Sharak Izakaya

Open: Mon-Fri: 11.30am – 3.00pm then 5.30pm – 1.00am; Sat: 5.30pm – 1.00am; Sun: 5.30pm – 10.00pm

371 Pitt Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
T: 02 8084 3341
W: Sharak.com.au
Fb: @sharakizakaya

What’s your preferred Japanese dish? Do you have a preferred Japanese restaurant? tell us in the comments!

Images by Mrs Romance.