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