Osaka Trading Co, Tramsheds
Osaka Trading Co is located in the wonderful newish Tramsheds food precinct, and specialises in modern Japanese dishes.
We had a booking for 6:30 pm on Saturday night, and although we arrived earlier, staff were very quick to accommodate us to our seats and introduce the menu to us. As we were in a group of 4, they recommended for us to select around 6-7 dishes to satisfy our appetites.
The menu is very similar to Japanese izakaya style but rather the focus is more on the food than the drinks. In saying this the menu was limited to a one page wonder but sufficient and spilt into categories making to easier to pick and select what we wanted to eat, based on the headings.
There is also a degustation menu for $55 per person, which we thought was quite reasonable, and however as we had a few people in our group with allergies, we figured it was easier to select our own menu.
From the snack – we choose the Edamame with kombi sat. Edamame is always a great way to start the meal, and the one at Osaka Trading Co was delicious, with the kombi salt making it morish.
Edamame, kombi salt ($6)
From the Raw- We choose the Kingfish sashimi with nori vinegar and the aburi salmon with jalapeno and pickled celery. Both raw dishes were fresh and vibrant when they arrived. The Kingfish sashimi was one of our highlights of the night, simple sashimi with the right balance of flavours. The aburi salmon was also great, however we found the pickled celery to be slightly overpowering on the dish.
Kingfish sashimi, nori vinegar ($18)
Aburi salmon, jalapeno, pickled celery ($18)
From the Fried – We chose the all-time favourite Karaage chicken, chilli mayo ($14). The Karaage was fried to a crispy perfection, and worked well with the chilli mayo, a simple but comforting dish
Karaage chicken, chilli mayo ($14)
From the Seafood – We had the famous Grilled Hokkaido Scallops, to be honest we actually ordered 3 portions of this, which was 6 in total, as they are that good. The Scallops are grilled perfectly, and the soy onion butter was so delicious, we keep digging out spoons back in just to lick the sauce. Highly recommended
Grilled Hokkaido Scallops, soy onion butter ($13 for 2 pieces)
From the Grill – We chose the pork belly. The pork was so juicy, soft and tender, that our knife just sliced right through with a small push. The crackling was only wafer thin but this worked well with the tender pork, whilst the balsamic ponzu, and yuzu apple puree accomplished the dish well. The menu doesn’t list it but there was also dehydrated apple slices on this dish adding a great sweet crispy texture.
Pork Belly, balsamic ponzu, yuzu apple puree ($23)
From the Vegetables & Sides, we choose the Crispy rice cakes, sticky sweet soy, furitake, bonito flakes.
We choose the crispy rice cakes, thinking that they were going to be rice moulded into somewhat of a shape and pan fried to a crispy perfection. However when they came out, we noticed the rice cakes were similar to a Korean tteok-bokki. The rice cakes were however crispy and chewy inside, but needed a good coating of the sticky sweet soy, that was sitting at the bottom of the bowl, the furitake and bonito flakes added a nice texture to the overall dish.
Crispy rice cakes, sticky sweet soy, furitake, bonito flakes ($12)
No desert for us, as we were quite full by this stage.
Overall, we had a great experience at Osaka Trading Co, the staff are friendly and efficient, and the ambience is great for a night out with friends. I am looking forward to heading back and trying their lunch menu.
Osaka Trading Co.  
Address: Shop 18, Tramsheds Harold Park, 1 Dalgal Way, Forest Lodge NSW 2037
Phone: (02) 8880 0717
http://www.osakatrading.com.au