We were walking towards a ramen restaurant in Crows Nest with N & A when we were met with disappointment after finding out it had closed. N said “I know a good sushi restaurant nearby” and off we went to @! restaurant, a small family-owned place nestled away along the busy street.
@! Restaurant is a modern and casual Japanese restaurant with a 4.4/5 star review on zomato. As usual, we ordered way too much food and had a great time 😆.
@! Restaurant is a modern and casual Japanese restaurant with a 4.4/5 star review on zomato. As usual, we ordered way too much food and had a great time 😆.
Entrée
We started with an agedashi tofu for $15. This was really good. The tofu pieces were thick, filling up all the space between its interior and the fried skin. The tofu was quite jiggly with a mildly sweet taste.
We also got some karaage to share for $14. These chicken fillets were juicy and savoury. The skin was fried dry with no oil residue. It had a nice crispy crunch.
Main Course
This was a large serving of assorted sashimi, 20 pieces for $36. Every piece was fresh with a rich, smooth taste. My favourite was the ika decorated in ikura (white squid with orange fish eggs) because of its milder and creamier meat.
This was the rainbow roll ($14) and dragon ash ($16) with 8 pieces of sushi each. Most of the pieces had a crab and avocado filling, surrounded by rice with a layer of raw fish and avocado. It was visually beautiful and tasty.
I was greedy and ordered a tempura soba because of cravings 😄. This was served warm. The tempura pieces were filling with a crispy exterior. The soba noodles were soft and full of flavour, having soaked up the umami soup.
This beautiful tray was a mix of individual nigiri. We had 6 salmon, 2 salmon belly, 1 tuna, 3 fatty tuna, 1 conger eel, 2 scampi and 2 salmon roe, all about $4 each. We were in love with the quality of the seafood and the portion of the nigiri 😍. It’s a bit difficult to find good otoro in Sydney so we were thrilled when we saw how affordable these pieces were.
Service
The staff were very friendly, chatting to us about Japanese beer. We found the ambience very cosy and welcoming, almost as if we were back in Japan.
Review
All the food was delicious. The restaurant was on the smaller side but was still able to fit us in on a Saturday night. We loved it and definitely recommend it 😚.
Happy eating!
Happy eating!
