That’s how we roll: Kosho, North Adelaide | SA Weekend restaurant review

The owners of Japanese restaurant Kosho have form in playing with tradition and embracing the unconventional. This time they’re doing it with fusion sushi, writes Simon Wilkinson.

While the repertoire on offer in our food halls may suggest otherwise, the seaweed-wrapped cylinders of rice and salmon/tuna/chicken/pumpkin are only one of the types of sushi. These rolls are properly known as maki. Then there are nagiri, a hand-formed mound of seasoned rice draped with slices of mostly raw fish.

At Kosho, a Japanese restaurant in O’Connell St that isn’t too fussed with tradition, they have found a way to bring together the best parts of both varieties.

Their sushi starts with a square of lightly toasted nori seaweed laid flat like a green handkerchief. The rice, loosely pressed into a rectangular brick, is in the middle, with the seafood or vegetable compositions placed on top.

A blast of the blowtorch scorches the delicate edges of fan-cut scallops. Crab and avocado are dotted with flying fish roe.

Prawn dumplings.

Kingfish and apple sushi.

Best of all, slices of freshly cut kingfish, blushing like a love-struck teenager, are finished with sake-marinated apple. Fold in the sides of the crisp, seaweed wafer to form a loose bundle, pick it up carefully and munch. If you think you knew sushi … well think again.

It takes a measure of bravado to play with tradition like this but the people behind Kosho, and its predecessor Cliché, have form in embracing the unconventional.

Cliché, you might remember, opened as a temporary “exhibition” notable for its collection of French-themed artworks and dishes with tongue-in-chique names like “Bardot’s Rack”.

The switch to Kosho in 2020, just before the arrival of the pandemic, saw the paintings and the in-jokes disappear.

Striking linocut-style graphics of mountain ranges now cover the walls. The brasserie-style copper-wrapped tables have survived but are set with beautifully glazed plates and bowls. The raucous front room and matey service has been toned down a little.

That’s not to say Kosho is traditional or demure. A revolutionary spirit clearly lives on in the kitchen of Jae Hyun Park, a Korean chef who moved from New York to Nobu in Melbourne and then Adelaide’s Bae Long Store.

It’s not just the sushi. Steamed prawn dumpings and fried gyoza stuffed with shredded duck are both plopped on to a dressing that takes a ponzu base (salty, tangy) and spikes it with chilli heat.

Supplied Editorial Dining room at Kosho, North Adelaide

Matcha tiramisu.

The prawn tempura includes not only the peeled midriff in an excellent snap-and-crackle batter but also the fried head and the undercarriage with its tangle of legs which, if you can stomach such things, are full of glorious crustacean gloop.

Building in size, two glazed collars of kingfish reward some picking and prodding. Taken from the section alongside the gills, the cut is a complicated arrangement of bone, cartilage
and meat, the most luscious, buttery flesh to be found hidden away among the structural parts.

“Whole” squid doesn’t quite match its description, the tube and tentacles already dissected and tossed with a fermented chilli sauce that, given its grunt, might have been better served separately to add as required.

And, talking presentation, I’d ditch the lotus root chips used to decorate an OK piece of sirloin steak, grilled to medium rare as requested, and finished with an unctuous miso and garlic butter.

Miso also features in a crème brulee that needs to be three times as deep and half the circumference to get the balance between the custard and its toffee lid about right.

Matcha (green tea powder) makes a surprisingly good substitute for coffee in a dessert that is very loosely based on tiramisu. While the wafers, sponge and cream are a mossy colour, the flavour is only mildly grassy, and a splash of strawberry puree provides a winning contrast.

Kosho is building up to full speed as Covid impacts recede. Seafood is a clear strength. The sashimi – delivered daily, cut to order – looks spectacular, as do specials including abalone and unagi (sea urchin). Call by for sushi and you might be surprised.