Cho Cho San serving up elegant re-interpretation of Japan’s eating and drinking culture
Take a journey through Japan’s food and drink culture, with sake-infused wine, raspberry highballs and the taste of Tokyo’s amazing tonkatsu restaurants, at Cho Cho San.
Wentworth Courier
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Japan’s rich eating and drinking culture is given a modern twist at Potts Point’s Cho Cho San that has made this year’s delicious.100 list of top NSW restaurants.
Jonathan Barthelmess (Manly Pavilion) and Sam Christie (Longrain), the names behind The Apollo Greek restaurant just down the road, are re-interpreting the rich heritage of Japanese food in a style that’s produce-driven, simple and elegant at Cho Cho San.
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Their interpretation of the Tokyo izakaya, think roudy Japanese gastropubs, is delivering delights like a sake-infused sparkling wine and raspberry and shisho highballs.
“We love the amazing drinking culture in Japan: the tiny bars, the buzzing izakayas and the huge variety of drinks with their deep traditions, paired with great quality produce that draws from the rich Japanese food culture but with a modern outlook to suit our local diners,” Barthelmess said.
Head chef Max Smith’s signature dishes, like his Tonkatsu, replicating the incredible texture of Tokyo’s tonkatsu restaurants, and Yuzukosho, stuffed calamari, koshikari rice dressed with yuzokoshu (a traditional yuzu ferment and chill dressing), are a product or passion and imagination.
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“Max has a Hibachi grill at home and each Sunday he drinks saké and experiments with yakitori (a Japanese type of skewered chicken) and food cooked over fire,” Barthelmess said.
“He loves using quality ingredients and likes to prepare them much like the Japanese, with respect and simplicity. Many of his menu ideas are birthed here.”
Barthelmess and Christie opened Cho Cho San, which was ranked 55 on thedelicious.100 list, in 2014 on Macleay St, two years after The Apollo.
Barthelmess has more recently expanded into Brisbane’s Howard Smith Wharves precinct with both the opening of GRECA, a modern Greek tavern, and the soon-to-open izakaya-style restaurant Yoko Dining.
FIND THEM
73 Macleay St, Potts Point, chochosan.com.au