The entrance foyer to the hotel is very welcoming. There is a large fireplace with occasional chairs as you walk in, the architecture has distinctive Crown touches to it, similar in ambience to Macau but more restrained. There are the obligatory retail shops on ground floor, Rolex – Paspaley – but interestingly there is also a magnificent work of our own world renowned artist, Lindy Lee, in the retail level entrance.
Crown Hotel Sydney Nobu – The Restaurant
The Nobu group are world famous for having high quality Japanese themed restaurants in many international locations. My favourite overseas Nobu is situated in Athens, at Vouliagmeni, near the Astir Palace Hotel. A sensational location overlooking a small bay.
The Sydney Nobu is equally impressive. It is in a large space on Level 2 of the Crown Hotel. The architectural elements of wood and high ceilings give the restaurant a premium feel. The service is very professional but friendly.
We had an early sitting, even so the room quickly filled up. The tables are well spaced so there was no major noise problem. The restaurant floorplate is comprised of two separate areas 1) Nobu and 2) Yoshi’s Omakase.
“Sydney is one of my favourite cities and the food scene has always impressed me—the quality of the produce is stand out,” chef Nobu said in a statement.
“I am looking forward to bringing Nobu to what is already one of the most interesting cities in the world!”
There is valet parking available – $100 per car.
Cocktails
I had a Negroni, as we waited for our daughter to join us. It was a delicious beverage, flavoursome with a slight kick to it. Excellent on a cold Sydney night.
There was hot salted edamame to salivate the taste buds and a cold bottle of still water.
The Menu
There is an extensive a la carte menu and two (2) set menus (Nobu Omakase) – the Signature ($185 pp for 7 courses) and the Sydney ($220 pp for 7 courses). When I say set, that is not quite the case as our waiter indicated that there was some variation. We were advised that the Sydney selection uses more local produce. Our waiter was very knowledgeable as to the menu and the wine list.
There is a large selection of Nigiri, Sushi and Sashimi selections. There were even some Kushiyaki options and Nobu Tacos!
There is an extensive selection of cold starters, soups, hot and cold main dishes.
The menu is divided into various categories – cold dishes Nobu Classic – Nobu Okamase – hot dishes Nobu Classic – Wagyu Beef – Nobu Now – Nigiri and Sushi – Sashimi – Tempura – Yakimono (grilled)_– Kushiyaki (skewers) and Nobu Tacos.
We decided to order a la carte as we were not in the mood for nigiri or sushi.
Entrees
We ordered miso soup as our first starter. Miso always gives you a quick lift if you are feeling a bit tired after a long day. The miso soup was full of flavour, fresh and hot.
We asked the waiter to make a selection of sashimi as our first starter. He provided fresh belly tuna, salmon, scallops, and whitefish. The tuna and salmon were melt in the mouth quality.
The cold dishes Nobu Classic has a variety of mostly sashimi – ceviche dishes, with oysters as an additional bivalve selection. However, there was also prawn and lobster in a lemon sauce, Peruvian Rib Eye steak, seafood, and beef Toban Yaki.
Our next choice came from the hot dishes Nobu Classic selection. Baby tiger prawns tempura with ponzu and seafood sauces. This was a fairly large dish and made for an excellent entrée. The tempura batter was fine and crispy and the prawns retained all of their flavour. Very tasty.
Main Course
All of our main dishes came from the hot dishes Nobu Classic menu. A number of dishes on this menu were the same as the cold dishes Nobu Classic selections, but hot! There was a squid pasta and a black cod butter lettuce dish as extras.
Our main course started with Chilean Sea Bass in black bean sauce. This was a large piece of white fish which flaked easily and was thus capable of being shared without two much fuss. The black bean sauce was light, and the fish was accompanied by enoki mushrooms.
The next selection was creamy spicy crab. This dish was probably the least successful. There was a good serving of crab meat over which was placed the creamy spicy sauce. A bit too creamy in our view. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with it. The sauce was a typical Japanese seafood sauce, but it was not to our palate.
The final dish was the lobster tail wasabi pepper. This was triumph. A good sized lobster tail cooked on the grill. Moist and served with the flesh whole but lightly removed from the shell. Once again, it made the dish easy to serve amongst three of us. The dish came with a variety of Japanese vegetables quickly sautéed and presented in a light sauce. The lobster was a decent size and was cooked perfectly. There was no room for improvement.
Dessert
After the entrees and mains, I was finding it hard to make a selection for a desert. There was Nobu cheesecake, chocolate bento box, Nobu pannacotta, gelato and ice cream.
I opted for a watermelon and passionfruit sorbet and a scoop of pistachio ice cream.
Mrs E and Ms opted for the bento box which comprises a chocolate fondant and wasabi ice cream, which they shared. It was exactly as describe which actually surprised us all.
Wine
There is an excellent wine list, the large portion of which is Australian. There is a large variety of wines from each of the wine producing states and covering most of the popular varietals.
The prices range from very reasonable to exorbitant – for the Puligny Montrachet and Granges for example. However, there are quite a few excellent reasonably priced wines to choose from.
I selected the one Chablis on the menu. It was perfect and at $140 a bottle a bit of a steal.
The Review – 5 Stars
This restaurant was that good I wanted to reserve a table for next week.
The décor is elegant, the service is as good as I have had, not officious and very informative. The food was sublime – it is Nobu style Japanese but that is fine. The lobster was a real stand out.
The wine list is extensive, but with a wide range such that it would suit most palates and budgets.
Our total bill was $600 incl GST – that included my cocktail, bottled water, starters, main course, and desert. For a restaurant of this quality – with the high-end selections we made – I thought it was a relative bargain.
During the day there must be good view over Darling Harbour, a good excuse for a Sunday lunch, I think.
