Toko is a popular Japanese style tapas bar along the Crown St. strip of Surry Hills. If up for something authentic, and your pockets are running a bit low on cash… Toko is probably not a good idea unless you want to walk home and starve for the next couple of days LOL! On the other hand, if you want to impress a girl, sharing meals can be seen as romantic ^_^ (e.g. Disney’s cartoon: Lady & the Tramp [See photo]) LOL.

Toko is fancy restaurant/bar which is fairly expensive ((B) and i pitched in $150 for the two of us *gulps…drops jaw*). Nevertheless,  we all really enjoyed the different types of dishes we ordered – despite the expensive bill and the alcoholic beverages we accumulated till the end of the night (lychee mojito = $17) *ouch* I’d love to come back when I’m up for some good booze and food.

Unfortunately, my photos didn’t turn out as great which I knew from the beginning because its blardy dark in there. From memory, Toko has a no booking policy for dinner only, so I suggest you slum it to the restaurant a bit earlier to ignore the long and lengthy wait on a Saturday night… >> Especially if your dining with a big group. Overall it was a lovely night… “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINNIE” .. – Once your in… your in bay-bee!

Sushi Bar

Edamame beans
Deep down, I wanted to try the spicy ones but there were a few of us that were too soft to try =( DAMNIT!!!! original edamame beans it is!

Kingfish
Kingfish was sliced paper thin that it was a bit difficult to notice you were eating kingfish at all. I wish it was tad thicker especially since I love king fish sashimi. The flavouring was amazing what I loved most was the sprinkled bits of pork crackle!!! That’s one fusion combo right there.

Salmon & Avocado Sushi
Can’t go wrong with salmon sushi.. something about it tasted more premium than the usual salmon sushi’s at your local sushi bar like Makoto. Salmon was fresh and all made to perfection.. every single one of them was identical that I couldn’t find any faults!

Spider Maki – soft shell crab
I wanted to order another one as the soft-shell crab was amazing! Flavours were fresh that they all balanced out evenly. Nothing is worse than ordering a soft-shell crab sushi when the mayonnaise is dominant (thank god this one had no mayonnaise). Presentation was amazing with the classy fancy look. Definitely getting this this one again. ^_^

Kitchen

Scallops with Jalapeno, pickled apples, garlic mayo, tenkasa and baby coriander
Every time I walk past Toko, someone is always eating these scallops which means they must be bomb-ass! Bomb-ass it was. Scallops were cooked perfectly (not over cooked) and the flavours were divine. The jalapeno gave a little kick in your mouth, which was great. I have to admit these were expensive and they only come in 3! ($18 a pop) so if your dining with an even number chances are they’ll organise an extra one so nobody misses out… (I’m pretty sure they charge a couple of bucks for an extra scallop as nothing is for free).

Sweet potato with teriyaki sauce
Delicious but nothing fancy about this one. I didn’t really notice any particular flavours as the sauce was minor. The sweetness from the sweet potato was the dominant one in this dish.

Ebi Tempura
I’ve never been one to fancy prawn tempura mainly due to the prawn always being unnoticeable underneath the crunchy bits of fried batter. However this Ebi had to be one of the nicest I’ve tried. First time the prawn was more dominant than the batter. Felt great to know they’ve done this with a generous king prawn.

Robata Grill

Chicken Nom bom – Baked
I cant remember the name of this dish, the boys ordered it. It was sooo freaking good! Chicken was soft tender and had a teriyaki like glaze. Side condiment had sesame with the slight flame of chilli!!!! MmMmM!!!

Duck breast  with sansho pepper and marinated nashi pear
Duck was friggen AMAZING. The outside layer of the duck was caramalised and the center was soft and tender (not over cooked nor under). Totally recommend!

Scotch fillet
As scary as this may look it was soooooo good! At first I was a bit scared it was going to run off my plate after seeing how red it was. I thought after chewing it, I would get a mouthful of beef blood in my mouth.. Boy was i wrong!!! Turned out to be really soft and tender and the flavours of the ginger were gold!

Dessert

I now realise their desserts weren’t that crash hot. I think next time my focus would be aimed at their grills, sushi’s etc which were much more satisfying and you’ll be leaving completely satisfied. I was hoping the desserts would go off with a bang since we enjoyed everything we ate…unfortunately it left me unsatisfied that I felt incomplete =(

Dark Chocolate Fondant with vanilla miso icecream
Didn’t get to sample any which is good cos I really didn’t want to moan over chocolate cake. The sight of watching the middle ooze out of chocolate ahhhh made me think I chose the wrong dessert =(

Pear & White chocolate
Ever since Lisa made us poached pears, I’ve had this obsession with pears! As soon as I saw this on the menu I had to have it… unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of the pears stuffed in a fried spring roll. It felt like i was eating an apple pie instead of pear. =( Dipping the spring roll in white chocolate made me wish I was eating a churro instead =(

Fig & Ginger Cake
Dense cake with the golden treasure of fig hidden in the center. The sauce had a nice soothing taste of spicy ginger…if you love sticky date pudding, this is the asian equivalent. Birthday girl loved her pick and I’m pretty sure it was better than the  pear spring rolls I picked  *boo*.

Trio of Creme Brulee
After eying (B’s) trio of creme brulee I really did start to dislike my dessert LOL. It looked sooo good and thankfully (B) gave me a sample =P. I would have liked the flavour of green-tea to be a bit more prominent. The rest of them were really nice but not the best brulee I’ve had ^_^

Toko Restaurant & Bar
490 Crown Street
Surry Hills, 2010
P: (02) 9357 6100
W: toko.com.au

Waterfront grill have a cheapo Tuesday offer for penny savers who want to eat something different than the usual corner takeaway store. Unfortunately the ribs may not be something to rave on about like hurricanes, but it does the job and its something you cannot complain about especially when its dirt cheap and its all you can eat!!!

THE OFFER: All you can eat ribs for $29 + 1 free soft drink after 5:00pm. This offer is valid only if you mention the advert on their website (click to see promo).

Penguin Says Feed Us!

A while ago, the lovely Penguin Says Feed Me celebrated her 21st birthday. With the help of the mighty genius >>> A Table For Two, it was decided it would be a great idea to feed a bunch of foodies at an all you can eat rib pig-out! It was an offer none of us foodies could miss especially for such a special milestone and super cheap rib fiesta!!!

Chow-down

There was a mini competition going on in my head to see who could eat the most ribs. Richard was the favourite for the night as he’s always one to help when us girls are struggling with meals and my other favourite was Simon. Can’t remember who won, I think Richard ended up eating 4 racks? (correct me if i’m wrong i could have been deaf and possibly blind?!)

Ribs Verdict

We had issues with our waitress who didn’t believe us about the free drink deal. Our iphones straightened her out and we showed her who’s boss ^_^. As you compare the photo above and below, there were unfortunately some inconsistencies as some ribs were really tasty with BBQ sauce and some were dry with hardly any.

Gotta give credit to the chips for being really tasty though… my weakness for the night! Damn those gold and crunchy chips why did you have to tempt me with your deliciousness. – I admit I have one too many which made me full on eating half a rack and struggling to share one with Lisa =|

The general rule is: Where there’s ribs, there’s gotta be beer!

Waterfront Grill
Shop 289 Harbourside
Darling Harbour NSW 2000
P: (02) 9280 4994