@chocolatesuze Eating all the yakitori #surryhills #sydney #goryonsan #sydneyjapaneserestaurants #sydneyrestaurants #yakitori ♬ original sound – ChocolateSuze

It feels like everyone’s visiting Japan lately so to make myself less sad I visited Goryon-san in Surry Hills, an izakaya serving yakitori.

We started off with grilled Hokkaido jumbo scallops with the most delicious konbu butter and a spicy potato salad.

We ordered a whole bunch of skewers from chicken skin with beautifully charred edges, Bangalow pork belly and Wagyu beef.

The tender chicken thigh with shallot was a highlight, as were the scallops wrapped in bacon with an anchovy butter. The prawn and pork belly was ok but I absolutely loved the quail eggs with pork belly.

Onto the wagyu sukiyaki, beef tongue and the week’s special of Miyazaki A5 Wagyu sirloin was incredible buuuuut was $35 for the skewer.

We also ordered the salt & soy corn and the brown mushrooms with ponzu and butter.

The yuzu miso marinated black cod was cooked so perfectly and went so well with the roasted leeks.

And finally the soul warming Hakata Taki Nabe, a rich tonkotsu soup that has been stewed for 3 days and 3 nights and is filled with noodles, gyoza and cabbage.

@chocolatesuze The Roe in Melbourne is hectic and a must visit for all sea urchin lovers #theroe #melbourne #seaurchin #uni #melbournerestaurants ♬ original sound – ChocolateSuze

A quick weekend trip down to Melbourne saw me finally visiting The Roe, a sea urchin focused restaurant with a pretty hectic fitout. We start off with complimentary sea urchin kombucha and then the sea urchin dumplings arrive. The dumplings have a great thin skin though cooked sea urchin doesn’t really taste like much.

The signature sea urchin chawanmushi is a must order though, it’s silky, smooth and intensely flavorful with the sea urchin.

I was so glad I preordered The Roe’s Family Mini Don set, the bowls of rice are piled with salmon roe, Bluefin tuna, spicy salmon, surf clams, grilled unagi and tempura prawns. Also who doesn’t love the wow factor of dry ice? The presentation is just immaculate and everything tasted fresh and delicious.

We were feeling ambitious and thought we might as well order more sea urchin so ordered the Sea Urchin Kingdom which happened to have a 10% discount that day. The platter is impressive and comes with half a kilo of 10A grade of sea urchin and salmon roe. Scoop a bit of everything onto the crisp seaweed sheets and prepare to have your mind blown. This was definitely an incredible experience if you love sea urchin.

@chocolatesuze The toothfish claypot rice and the fried sweet potato dessert are outstanding #souldining #sydney #sydneyrestaurants #sydneykoreanrestaurants #sydneykoreanfood ♬ original sound – ChocolateSuze

Soul Dining has moved near Wynyard and it’s a gorgeous light filled space. Their famed fermented rice wine bread are still on the menu and are as squishy and delicious as ever.

From the snacks menu, I absolutely loved the texture of the sticky rice dough donut with braised ox tongue in ‘jangjorim’ soy sauce. On another visit we ordered the wagyu tartare with bulgogi dressing and sweet pickled Singo pear and the tuna carpaccio in gochugaru sauce.

Must orders are the soul comforting hand cut chicken noodles which reminds me of kalguksu and the prawn tteokbokki with Yamba prawns visits me constantly in my dreams.

Onto the mains, the Ssamjang marinated pork cutlet is super juicy, the Angus beef short rib is tender and the charcoal chicken is deliciously smoky.

Last but not least is the clay pot rice which is cooked to order with a beautiful piece of Glacier 51 toothfish with truffle butter and enoki.

For desserts the sweet potato pastry is out of this world, it arrives looking like a perfect replica of a yam fresh from the farm. The pastry is fried sticky rice dough and filled with purple sweet potato.

@chocolatesuze Check out Restaurant Moon if you love Thai food and a bit of theatrics with your meal #darlinghurst #sydney #sydneythaifood #sydneythairestaurants #sydneyrestaurants ♬ original sound – ChocolateSuze

If you love a bit of theatrics with your dinner then you’ve got to visit Restaurant Moon in Darlinghurst for a Thai European fusion degustation.

The fun kicks off with the house smoked ocean trout pate with duck fat that’s presented as a candle and mixed at the table.

The cornfed chicken tartlet with crispy Chinese broccoli, capers and anchovy aioli is good but made much better with the addition of sea urchin for an extra $14

Steamed egg custard with an intense Thai tom kha broth is smooth and has just the right amount of jiggle.

Then there was the scallops with a chilled spicy tom yum soup.

We added on the king prawns which was beautifully grilled over charcoal with an incredible Thai chilli relish.

And finally the Jacks Creek black angus striploin steak arrives and we are in awe at how generous the serving size is. The steak is tender and fatty which I loved buyut a bit overkill with the café de Paris butter and bone marrow.

The dessert is an incredibly presented garden of apple, ginger, chocolate, vanilla, charcoal and mixed berry