Kobe Jones

Kobe Jones review

This week is another special week, because we are going to travel to one of the nice places in Sydney and it’s also a specially limited menu that they offered only for a day (maybe in the future they’ll do it again). Kobe Jones had this ‘Sentou’ banquet menu consisted of 12 dishes and a dessert platter. Minimum of three people must be present to enjoy this menu. Without further ado, here are the 13 of them, along with their formal descriptions. FYI, this 2 – 7 were served at exactly the same time, thus making our table looked like a total chaos. Then dishes 8 to 11 came at also the same time.

Number One Special – Crab salad with avocado wrapped in kingfish and baked with Kobe Jones’ secret sauce

I know the title might be a bit cheesy, but I think it opened the night with a bang. It resembled a big white chocolate with slightly burnt top.

Anago Scallops – Tempura Hokkaido scallops stuffed with crab salad and asparagus, drizzled with a bittersweet soy sauce glaze

This time, there was neither crab nor sweet taste, because of the overpowering bitterness of the sauce. It was really a dish to forget.

Sashimi Salad – Garden greens topped with fresh sashimi, crab salad and drizzled with ponzu dressing

They omitted seaweed from the list here. It’s a nice and refreshing salad with overabundance of greens.

Wagyu Tenderloin Tataki – Seared and chilled, served rare with garlice, ginger and ponzu sauce

I kinda dislike the combination of tataki and ponzu, it created a sense of uncooked beef satay.

Seafood Poke – Hawaiian-style sashimi cubes marinated in poke sauce

Another funnily named dish and intentionally left seaweed out of the description. This one was nice tho. There was a hint of sesame in the sauce and tasted kind of Yukke sauce, without the egg yolk and the beef.

Sizzled Scallop Carpaccio – Scallop sashimi, sizzled with heated extra virgin oil, and drizzled with wasabi pepper sauce

My favourite dish of the first wave of food!Fresh-tasting sashimi with a hint of wasabi were a great combination and a must for scallop lovers!

Hawaiian Roll – Prawns, cucumber, burdock root and pineapple chilli jam topped with tuna and avocado and drizzled with poke sauce

It was an ok dish without any visible ‘mistakes’

Volcano Roll – Oven-baked scallops layered on a crab salad and avocado roll, with our special cream sauce and a sesame seed and shallot sprinkle

Another crab salad in a sushi, but this time it was covered by baked scallops. This was more decent than any of the previous dishes.

Chicken Kara Age – Do I really need to explain??

Well, not the best kara age I’ve ever tasted… ‘nuff said…

Alaskan Crab – Grilled to highlight the sweetness, then chilled and served in the shell with fresh lime

Finally… A dish truly worth to mention! Described perfectly, the meat of this crab could pop out easily from its shell. It had a nice sweet taste and great to be served chilled.A little bit of advice for you: Do not use the sauce if you don’t want to lose the sweet taste.

Vegetable Tempura – Seasonal vegetables served with dipping sauce

We kinda feel full at this point and I reckon they were just another vegetable tempuras.

Wagyu Hot Rock – Self-cook your wagyu just the way you like it, served with seasoning and two dipping sauces

At this point we already lost hope of actually getting something special out of this place. Then came this solid and sizzling black rock (witha caution from the waiter: DO NOT TOUCH). He then demonstrated how to cook the meat ON the rock! For a real connoisseur, you should be well aware that wagyu beef is best served lightly grilled. The sauce just accentuated the great taste of Wagyu.

Ama Ozen – Kobe Jones’ famous selection of dessert samplers with chocolate chopsticks

The platter was served while the Brulee was still flaming. If we go clock wise from the top we had: Strawberry Cheesecakes, Dark Chocolate cake with Green Tea Ice cream, Berry Yoghurt, Mango Sago, Green Tea Brulee, Strawberry cream with fairy floss, Green Tea macaroons, and the Dark Chocolate Chopsticks. Most of them can be rated as better than the other dishes (except for the crab and Hot Rock)

The final verdict: I must admit that I was thinking of putting off writing this review, because for the first 7 meals, they were all pretty average. However, after the Alaskan Crab onwards, I was convinced that I needed to write this straight away. Highlight of the night at Kobe Jones was definitely the Wagyu Hot Rock. Best dish of the day (or maybe the Ama Ozen for the ladies).

Did you know?

King Street Wharf is located next to Darling Harbour. They have a big selection of upper-market restaurants. However, you might want to be careful not to be trapped in an overpriced-yet-not-tasty restaurant. Best way is to research these restaurants before you make the reservation.

Location:

King Street Wharf, 29 Lime Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Website:

http://kobejones.com.au/locations/sydney/