Toko

490 Crown Street, Surry Hills, Sydney. (02) 9357 6100.
Score: 27/40
Despite a few speedbumps, I had a great night at Toko – lovely food and a fantastic menu. They were the redeeming features in a night punctuated with crappy seating and uninterested waiting staff.

Toko doesn’t take bookings and is arse tighteningly cool. So we were prepared to join the extensive waiting list. We went in, put our names on the list and went down the road for a drink. When they were ready, they summoned us with a phonecall and back we headed.

Our first problem was the seats. We were seated in the very back corner, next to the grill, without the benefit of the screens to shield us from the smoke. Immediately we could see that we were going to experience a certain level of discomfort, as our eyes started to water. But it was bearable.

We ordered a bottle of sake – a cloudy, not at all dry variety, served cold. We tucked in heartily. Then the food started to arrive.

We started with moriawase tempura – mixed tempura. It was fresh and delicious, with some slightly unexpected additions thrown in for surprise value. They included a vine of cherry tomatoes and a piece of avocado, among more traditional offerings. The cherry tomatoes were little bundles of lava-like joy. The avocado got a serious thumbs-down and was spawn of satan.

The next dish was soft-shell crab sushi. The little rolls were surrounded by a thin layer of daikon, outside the seaweed, which was a really interesting touch and overall the balance was great. Not too much rice compared to fillings and the crab was lightly fried and crunchy.

The next dish was horenso, spinach with sesame and soy. It was disappointing. It’s a very simple dish and easy to do well. But instead of the more traditional paste made by toasting the sesame and grinding it into a paste, there was just the thin soy and some sesame over the top. It was thin and salty and lacked flavour.

It was at this point that, with tears streaming down our faces, we asked to be move and were shifted to the middle of the restaurant. The smoke had become unbearable. We were moved into the centre of the restaurant, to our great relief, but at that point, having had some uninterested service, we appeared to become complete invisible. It was hard to get anyone’s attention for just about anything. But the dishes continued to emerge.

Next one up was probably the dish of the night; robata grilled scallops with sweet pickled apple and jalapeno garlic. They were absolutely divine and the scallops weren’t overdone, with a ‘pink’ centre. The final dish was grilled wheels of courgette topped with some sesame which were simple and tasty. We also partook in a dessert.

The total cost of the bill was $120. Not bad for the amount of food we had.

Atmosphere: 8/10
Service: 4/10
Value for money: 7/10
Food: 8/10