About Chocolatesuze
i am susan thye. aka chocolatesuze. lives in sydney, australia. born 30.5.83. hitched to noods. started The Biscuit Tree. this is a food and lifestyle blog. i like cheeseburgers, ice cream, macarons and Reuben sandwiches :D
email: susan@chocolatesuze.com
twitter: @chocolatesuze
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PERSONAL DISCLAIMER. this is a foodblog; a personal journal where all opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions. Although it may claim otherwise, this blog does not offer legal, medical, psychiatric, veterinary, logical or any other kind of professional advice. all text+photos by me - S. Thye, unless otherwise noted. i will hunt you down if you steal or hotlink any of my images and/or text. have a nice day!
Ocean Room, Sydney
12 December 2011, 01:55
OH HAI! Omg you guys only 12 more days till Xmas! Who’s excited! I just love this time of year where there’s chubby Santas hohoho-ing and the smell of mangos fills the air. It’s the time to squish in dinner with friends and family, and Ocean Room (Ground Level of Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay West, The Rocks, Sydney) was the perfect place to celebrate the brother unit’s other half scoring a new job.
We squelched in from the rain and found ourselves lowering our voices when catching sight of the incredible bamboo arrangement hanging from the ceiling and its lowness forcing us to drop our heads and semi-bowing upon entering.
Uni Tamago ($7.50 each) is first off the ranks from the tapas section. BOOM hear ye hear ye I command you tastebuds to awaken! Awaken and enjoy the glory that is oozy soft egg and creamy sea urchin nubbins.
Oysters with champagne mignonette, fresh lemon ($4 each), oysters with with green shiso basil sorbet, salted konbu ($4.50 each). “Get the Pacific oysters,” whispered our waiter, “they’re plumper, juicier and well, BETTER.” Well now, how could we argue with that? Pacific it was! Generally I haz issues with giant sized oysters but these bivalve molluscs were true beauties esp doused with the accompanying dressings.
The Soft shell crab taco ($6 each) at Ocean Room puts all other tacos to shame, full of crunch thanks to the golden fried taco sandwiching crisp vegetable matter, glorious deep fried soft shell crab and topped with pops of briny roe. Genius.
Tuna cornet ($5 each). Oh how one cornet is not enough! The correct unit of measurement for my greedy stomach would have to be 10… The ruby red marinated blue fin tuna tartare was perfect but the nori rice cracker cornet was so freaking moreish I think I would’ve been happy sitting in the corner with a bag full of ‘em.
Calamari pops ($4 each), deep down in its guts was a smidgen of tastyness but it didn’t hold a candle against the deliciousness of the previous tapas. I guess for some reason we had expected the calamari to be on sticks and when we got over our disappointment we found the calamari to be pleasant enough, nubbins of calamari dusted in a green curry salt and flash fried.
“You won’t want to share the Tuna creation ($25),” our waiter warned and he was right. Each cube of tuna looked perfect, sitting on the insides of a piece of halved bamboo and balanced alongside the accompanying salt we raced each other to pick off the tuna that had jumped out on us on the description paper. I had zeroed in on the fresh raw tuna which had jalapeno and yuzu zest and Zing! The spicyness of the jalapeno matched perfectly with the citrusy yuzu dressing and the sweetness of the fresh tuna.
The Sashimi modern ($27) sure is impressive, 9 shotglasses filled with an assortment of fresh fish snuggled in a bowl filled with shaved ice. The seared ocean trout with finger lime was a favourite, along with the swordfish belly with soy salt and of course the seared scallop with yuzu gelee.
Moving onto mains and what’s this? Dinner and a show? Breaking open the salt crust to reveal…
Super tender and succulent Shiogama pork ($37). That was damn tasty pork!
The Fisherman’s tuna ($38) was ordered mainly because I love anything with cornflakes and the cornflake crust intrigued me. Sadly the tuna was one giant ass slab of fish that was pretty much cooked through and no amount of the tasty aioli could save it.
Of course we had to get the Aburiyaki Wagyu ($45) when we saw the miniature pot housing hot coals and a metal grill on other tables. The menu had said the wagyu would be served bleu so we were surprised to find the slices pre seared which I guess meant less time on our grill. Nevertheless the wagyu was freaking awesome and demolished in seconds.
Sadly thanks to my epic over ordering we couldn’t fit in dessert so we stumbled back out into the rain clutching our over-extended stomaches.
Back to home
OMG I want oozy soft egg & tender pork!
— Ramen Raff Dec 12, 08:10 AM #It all looks so good. I was about to say I want the egg, I want the taco… but I just want everything!
— Tina @ bitemeshowme Dec 12, 10:17 AM #I’ve still yet to try here, but those tuna cubes look worth the trip. They have that pot/grill at Sokyo too ;)
— Tina@foodboozeshoes Dec 12, 10:42 AM #Wow, how good does the tuna look? I love seafood and this looks amazingly fresh and light. I have long wondered what Ocean Room was like and now I think I may have to give it a shot based on your review!
— thesuzchef Dec 12, 10:42 AM #oh i love the ocean room! love the look of the tuna!
— gastronomous anonymous Dec 12, 11:19 AM #What a great reminder of this place. I love Ocean Room but sadly haven’t been back in way too long.
— Jen Dec 12, 12:22 PM #We must be sub-consciously stalking the same choice of restaurant. First Hayashi Teppanyaki, now Ocean Room – we had degustation though :)
— Shanks Dec 12, 02:35 PM #ooohh!! I’ve been wanting to go to this place for while to try their Tuna creation. That and the sashimi in shot glasses look really good, I think I need to make a booking soon =)
— Food is our religion Dec 12, 04:46 PM #It’s an absolute tragedy you couldn’t fit in dessert (in my opinion, you just weren’t trying hard enough!!)…. I looked at their menu, and my heart is squealing over the sweet potato mont blanc. Wowwww.
— Lizzi Dec 12, 05:05 PM #That tuna creation plate is totally on my hit list now!
— Nic@diningwithastud Dec 12, 05:28 PM #Soft shell crab taco! Why helloooooo……..
— Helen (grabyourfork) Dec 12, 05:59 PM #The food looked so good!
Better still, I love the first pic of you two! the light is just perfect! Beaming with happiness :>
— anh Dec 12, 10:45 PM #Great review, but I was concerned to see Bluefin Tuna there. You should be highlighting the fact that all Bluefin are critically endangered, and part of being a food lover is also showing responsibility in what we consume. :)
— JSM Dec 12, 11:45 PM #The food looks amazing! Love the photo with the uni tamago, sounds like something I’d love to eat. :)
— Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake Dec 13, 12:59 AM #Love the new take on sashimi. Never been even though I go to the place next door quite often. Definitely convinced now! :)
— champagnetwilight Dec 13, 01:03 AM #What a cute and yummy idea those calamari pops are. Must make my way here one of these days.
— Dumpling Girl Dec 13, 10:47 AM #I agree with the smell of mangoes in the air, so, ummm, mango-ey. :-)
— joey@FoodiePop Dec 13, 10:55 AM #That is a great looking restaurant. I guess being called the Ocean Room, it’s mostly seafood on the menu? I did see one pork dish!
— Hotly Spiced Dec 13, 03:20 PM #Why is tiny food so much more delicious? I wants de eggs.
— Hannah Dec 13, 04:58 PM #oh my what lovely long fingers you have :)
— muppy Dec 13, 11:01 PM #I love oysters but normally prefer sydney rock, i should reconsider the pacifics by the sound of this! all the food looks so fresh.
I was just thinking about Ocean Room. I do love it there. The view, the food and the atmosphere. The Shiogama Pork looks delicious. I have never tasted pork in a salt crust. I need to make my way back to Ocean Room soon..
— Katherine Dec 14, 12:12 AM #the tuna creation looks really perfect to me! oh and the shiogama pork! slurps…
— Melissa Dec 14, 07:56 PM #Such pretty presentation!
— Rita (mademoiselle délicieuse) Dec 15, 11:08 PM #oh wow everything looks so good.
— Sara @ Bellly Rumbles Dec 16, 12:49 AM #Oh man I want that pork for breakfast now!
— john@heneedsfood Dec 17, 08:26 AM #Soft shell crab tacos…they sound amazing!
— Miss Piggy Dec 19, 06:52 PM #Mmm… The Soft shell crab tacos look amazing! I’ll take 10 please!
— Eating in Sydney Dec 19, 11:35 PM #Uni tamago & oysters look amazing. I have a thing for cold dishes at the moment, must be “summer”. Tuna crumbed with corn flakes sounds gross to me, even more with aioli.
— Gaby Dec 20, 11:06 PM #ever since waqu stopped doing their soft shell taco i’ve been trying to find a replacement for them – ocean room it is! looks so mouthwatering.
— excusemewaiter Dec 26, 09:12 AM #