Sydney's explosion of pint-sized Japanese restaurants isn't showing any signs of waning. Hot on the heels of the relaunch of Darlinghurst's Gagu Robata Grill as an omakase, Irori Kuon has opened at Darling Square.
Irori Kuon has a couple of differences from most of Sydney's posse of omakase restaurants. With 10 seats at the counter and another 12 in its private dining room, it is the sprawling beast of the usually diminutive genre.
And don't expect sushi, the food is centred around an elevated, glass-encased version of the traditional Japanese sunken fireplace.
The interior layers more shades of black than Karl Lagerfield, drawing focus on the glow of Irori Kuon's fire.
"We use apple tree, olive and bark," co-owner Kenny Lee says of Irori's choice of firewood. "But it has been so wet the last few weeks we've had trouble drying it."
Lee's business partner, chef Hideaki Fukada, is using the irori to cook bass grouper and slabs of waygu on skewers that look like giant Paddle Pops wedged near the hot coals.
Ox tongue, a Japanese specialty, also gets the campfire cooking treatment from the Yokohama native. There's even a roasted marshmallow-encased strawberry at the tail-end of the menu.
Fukada doesn't overdo the flame theme, with a kangaroo tartare and a shabu shabu. The rice cake comes with a chef warning – it causes annual deaths in Japan, not because of any puffer fish-like poisoning, but its extremely chewy texture needs to be, well, properly chewed before swallowing.
The rise of the omakase in Sydney has added a rash of new venues, includingBesuto at Circular QuayandHacoat the southern end of the city. Operators maintain Sydneysiders emerged from two years of rolling lockdowns ready to indulge, prepared to pay a premium for the intimate experience of a chef's menu.
Lee and Fukada are quickly earning reputations as local kings of the omakase. Fresh fromscoring 15.5/20for their first venue, Kuon Omakase, from Good Food reviewer Callan Boys, they'll add to their growing stable with a new omakase, on Wynyard Lane, near the Shell House entrance. It'll open next March.
Open Tue-Sat dinner (two sittings from November), $230pp.
8 Steam Mill Lane, Darling Square,kuon.com.au