Toko: Sydney’s best Japanese restaurant dishes up a serving of culinary viagra
A STALWART in a city where restaurants can have the shelf life of warm milk, Toko has managed the rare feat of maintaining its hip reputation without ever slipping an inch writes Amy Harris.
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IT says something about Toko — arguably Sydney’s coolest restaurant and the undisputed pulse of Crown St — that it is rounding its 10th year and every night — the same.
The same procession of would-be diners, all smiles and fluttering eye lids, inquiring after a table with no reservation.
The same sympathetic but firm shake of the head from the maitre d’s, presiding over that heaving reservation list like the all-powerful gate keepers that they are.
Watching this scenario replay over and over again, it’s hard not to feel pangs of guilt when you’re ensconced at your own table, surrounded by plates of lush sashimi and Riedel glasses of chilled sake.
But the feeling passes. Toko is just too good to be anything other than blissfully happy, and just that little bit smug.
A stalwart in a city where restaurants can have the shelf life of warm milk, Toko has managed the rare feat of maintaining its hip reputation without ever slipping an inch.
Mention its name and the response among diehard Sydneysiders is always the same: “I looooove Toko.”
Because there is just so much to love, from the sexy dark interiors — all sweeping timber and black slate — to the gorgeous staff who all appear to be subsidising their modelling incomes.
The music, frisky European house pumping at just the right volume throughout the night, serves as just the right backdrop to the electric buzz of chatter that all truly great restaurants have.
And then there’s that other thing Toko has that so many other venues try — and fail — to capture. S.E.X. It is, quite literally, all around you. Table after table of glossy couples, first date, 50th date ... hands clamped together, arms entwined, stolen kisses in between sips of fig martinis which, as the night wears on, become unabashed pashes.
I can’t imagine the number of children walking around who were conceived after a lusty meal at Toko but I’m hazarding oodles. The place is restaurant viagra.
But of course, the crackling atmosphere of any great joint is only sustainable while the sex translates to the plate — and for that Toko is arguably the best Japanese restaurant in Sydney.
Deliciously messy spicy edamame in chilli sauce, sliced kingfish, swimming in tangy yuzu and truffle oil that sends your eyes rolling back (and not for the first time in the night, I hazard).
The signature Moreton Bay bug tempura is an absolute must — juicy, fat tail meat chunks piled high and served piping hot with a silky yuzu mayonnaise that puts the ‘o’ in, well, you know.
Then the king prawns fresh from the robata grill — split in two and slapped with lashings of kombu kimchi butter that, somehow, tastes even better being licked off your fingers.
And the “oh my God” cod. The undisputed signature of miso black cod — wonderfully glazed in heady sakyo miso — that falls away flake-by-flake and melts on the tongue.
Want more? A perfectly-cooked duck breast — well-caramelised on the outside while the inside is tender and pink — paired with pickled nashi pear and sasho pepper.
And the marinated lamb cutlets, which our cheeky waiter announces as “meat on a stick” as he plonks them down, are mouth-watering.
Desserts are many and varied but I can never go past the simple homemade ice cream and, maybe, the rhubarb and pink grapefruit cocktail with tequila and bitters.
Provided you have the right company, the whole sublime, ridiculous experience will soon have you screaming “bill please”. What you scream after that is none of my business.
TOKO
Where: 490 Crown St, Surry Hills
Phone: 9357-6100
Style: Japanese fusion
Open: Lunch and dinner, Tuesday-Friday. Dinner only on Saturday and Monday. Closed Sundays
Highlight: Tempura bugs
Lowlight: The prices don’t miss.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Like this, then try these:
● Sokyo, The Star
● Sake, The Rocks
● Paper Planes, Bondi
All meals are paid for and visits unannounced.
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