Azuma at Chifley

Two of my friends had arranged for their birthday dinner to take place at Azuma which is located in Chifley Square. We were taken to a private room on arrival which was decorated with various Japanese art work hanging on their walls.

As we all settled into our seats and had a look at their menu, we decided to go with the 7 course Omakase degustation menu. Each dish was presented beautifully and elegantly matching the atmosphere of the restaurant perfectly.

The dishes we had were a traditional style with a modern twist to create a well balanced menu. We also got a bottle of Ume or Plum sake to enjoy the occasion. There were two different ume sake on the menu and decided to go with the umenoyado ‘oubai umeshu’ as this one had plum pulp and would have a stronger flavour of the ume sourness and sweetness. This was my first time dining at Azuma and it has been on my to-eat-at list for a while and what better occasion than to celebrate my friends birthdays. It was a lovely evening where we got to enjoy good food and sake with friends. I would recommend coming here to try their dishes, however you might want to give the toro a miss here due to the pricing for one slice but the flavour and texture itself was beautiful.

The 7 course Omakase degustation menu included the:

Azuma style ‘amuse-bouche’ six selection of seasonal delicacies which included deep fried chicken karaage, braised kakuni pork belly, seared tuna salad with garlic chips and ponzu dressing, blanched spinach with sesame dressing, seared scallop with yuzu miso and king prawn in namban dressing. My favourite was definitely the prawn as it was succulent and went very well with the dressing.

Azuma style unique sashimi, soy sauce and fresh wasabi - we also ordered a slice of toro each and it was delicious. The texture of the toro was soft and melted into my mouth while the flavours covered my palette.

Grilled West Australian scampi with seared Azuma’s mayonnaise with grilled duck breast caramelised yuzu reduction.

Seared Tasmania salmon belly nigiri sushi caramelised soy sauce micro herbs.

Rangers valley wagyu sirloin steak with steamed vegetables - this was one of my favourite dishes of the night as the wagyu was well marinated and it was just so tender and juicy.

Azuma’s wafu sauce Traditional udon noodle in broth prawn & vegetable tempura. By the time we got to the udon I was getting really full.

Seasonal variety of desserts which was some sort of panacotta with a sweet sugar dressing.