A few months ago I won a credit for Restaurant.com.au courtesy of Sara from Belly Rumbles. I had a hard time deciding which of the restaurants to book (and then finding the time to actually go there!) but finally I chose Ocean Room, which looked promising for the seafood + Japanese food lovers we are.

The restaurant is located in a premium spot in Circular Quay. That means it’s more pricey and fancy than the restaurants we usually visit.

To celebrate we were having a meal in a fine dining restaurant we ordered some drinks besides the usual tap water. I had a girly plum wine, Uguisu Tomari to be precise, and Al had an even more girly Nashi & Ginger Cosmo (Absolut pear vodka, nashi pear nectar, ginger liqueur, fresh lime juice, and cranberry juice). Both drinks were lovely and a sweet deviation from our routine.

Nashi & ginger cosmo ($18), plum wine ($12)

We shared all the courses. Sashimi classic, with the selection of the day, was not only beautifully presented, but very fresh. If only we had four slices of each fish instead of three!

Sashimi classic ($29)

Next came the ocean trout, five ways, five pieces of ocean trout nigiri sushi: raw with onion, mayonnaise and trout roe, poached with sour plum and baby shiso, soy marinated with sesame seeds and fresh ginger, seared with chilli daikon and chives, and vinegared with yuzu kosho and shiso. We thought about ordering a second set so that we could both sample each flavour, but Alvaro had a better idea: since he doesn’t like raw onions or chili (bizarre for a Peruvian, I know) I had the raw and the seared, he had the soy marinated and the poached, and we shared the vinegared. The two and a half nigiris I had were delicious. We made a mental note to order two trays next time.

Ocean trout five ways ($22)

Ocean trout five ways

Our chosen main was the kamo-rosu duck (for a change…), Japanese style triple cooked duck breast with soy mirin jus, eggplant and pickled beetroot. The duck was lovely (mental note to order two next time, too). Eggplant was good, and while the pickled beetroot and capsicum were not plentiful, that was not an issue because we had ordered a salad.

Kamo-rosu duck ($39)

The Nori lettuce salad was as simple as its name implied: iceberg lettuce and nori with soy and rice wine vinaigrette, and as good as it sounds (if you like nori like we do, that is).

Nori lettuce salad ($9)

Ocean Room
Ground Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay West
The Rocks NSW 2000
(02) 9252 9585
www.oceanroomsydney.com