Ocha Restaurant - Kew

Date: Wednesday 2nd December 2009

Restaurant: Ocha Restaurant

Address: 156 Pakington Street, Kew

Phone: 03 9853 6002

Commentary : Sarah Andrew

I feel lucky to have dined at Ocha before Christmas for two reasons: the first is that there is always a waiting list and the second is that they were fully booked until Christmas and so all I could do was hope being up on the waiting list would pay off. It did!

The waiting list is not surprising given that the current location seats a maximum of 35 guests. The main reason however is due to the fresh and modern style of Japanese cuisine which has been embraced by regular patrons enabling the repertoire of dishes to grow over the last few years.

With a hat and score of 15/20 in the new Age Good Food Guide 2010, I accepted the late vacancy with enthusiasm and proceeded to phone the other three guests in my party to inform them of the good news.

We arrived just after 8pm and were greeted by Wendy who works at Ocha one night a week. After reviewing the wine list we decided to commence our evening with Sake, and Wendy promptly suggested the Go Shu Tsunami Sparkling Sake! Having never tried a Sparkling Sake it was a journey to behold: an abundance of feijoa, lychees and Muscat grapes on the nose, mixed with floral notes, elderflower and rose petals on the palate, all wrapped in spritz!

Our first food experience was a complimentary green tea noodle salad served on a tiny porcelain square dish. To say this was light, delicate and refreshing does not give this appetiser the credit it was due. Our tastes buds were awake and ready for more!

We decided to start with a select number of small plate options from the menu and our selection consisted of the following:

Prawn dumplings with green tea salt
Special - seared kingfish belly
Tatsuta – chicken marinated in ginger, garlic, soy & deep fried
Beef Tataki – carpaccio of porterhouse served with ponzu sauce

The food was accompanied with a bottle of Gunderland Pinot Gris from the Rheinhessen region in Germany. One bottle does not go far between four, so this was followed up by a bottle of Curly Flat Chardonnay 2007 from the Macedon Ranges.

Our selection of mains was divided by the number of guests at the table all willing to share, and included:

Tempura – seafood & vegetables deep fried in a light tempura batter
Teppanyaki Style Eye Fillet – diced eye fillet served with vegetables & dipping sauce
Spicy Calamari Legs- spicy crunchy calamari ‘legs’ served on salad of fresh chilli & garlic
Teriyaki Duck – roasted duck breast served pink with bok choy

The lovely thing about sharing was the ability to experience many aspects of the menu. It also meant that service was staggered so that plates were delivered over a period of time. The common theme for me was balance of pure, fresh and clean flavours, with restraint shown through the accompanying sauce, dips and dressings. We did not want for anything but left the restaurant feeling content but not overly full, the best way to leave a restaurant in my opinion. I should make mention of the final bottle of wine we shared, the Winbirra Brigadier Pinot Noir 2007 from the Mornington Peninsula. Lucky for me I was not driving as I thoroughly enjoyed this Pinot Noir.

I would like to pass on thanks to Paul, and the owners Michelle Fong & Yasu Yoshida for a wonderful night out. I look forward to working my way through the menu in time, and hope that I am able to supply wine to this great venue well into the future!

Ocha restaurant are currently open for lunch Tuesday to Friday (12:00 – 2:30pm) and dinner Tuesday to Saturday (6:00 – 10:30pm). Watch this space however because at some point in the New Year there will be an address change to Hawthorn which may mean a change in openings but will definitely mean that the number of bookings will increase as the capacity of the new venue is significantly larger and will involve an outdoor space. As long as the quality of food continues this is definitely one to add to your ‘must’ list of places to dine.