Masuya Japanese Seafood Restaurant, Sydney
When my husband asked me where I wanted to eat for my birthday dinner, I knew exactly what I wanted to eat, wagyu steak and southern Bluefin Tuna (currently in season). However that didn’t answer the where we were going. So after some research and after a phone call to the restaurant to confirm walk in, we headed out to Masuya Japanese Seafood Restaurant
Masuya is located on O’Connell Street in the CBD, and nicely tucked away. If you weren’t looking for it specifically, you would probably walk past without a second glance. It’s almost like a hidden basement gem in a 9-5 part of town. We arrived around 8pm, to find the restaurant still busy with groups of patrons laughing and eating away. The staff were friendly, and ushered us into a nice big table in the back corner for some peace and quiet. Not long after the menus were dropped off at our table, there was a standard menu, a Bluefin tuna specials menu and a menu dedicated to single servings of nigiri and sashimi.
As my husband flicked through the standard menu, I was tossing up between ordering a Bluefin tuna special platter or a few of the individual servings of nigiri and sashimi, knowing I could have gotten both chu-toro (fatty tuna) and otoro (very fatty tuna) in both options. Decisions, decisions, decisions, by this point, I had given up for the time being, and browsed through the standard menu, which resulted in more options that I wanted to try. By this time, the staff came over ready for our order, and after a quick chat, she recommended ordering one of the Bluefin Tuna Specials Platters as it would be more value for money, so that’s what I did, I ordered the Bluefin Tuna Sushi & Sashimi Platter (my husband doesn’t eat raw fish), for entrée, we ordered the chicken karrage, and for mains the Wagyu Beef Teriyaki steak, Wagyu Beef Miso steak and the Sweet Chilli Chicken.
As we chatted away, it didn’t take long for our Bluefin Tuna Sushi & Sashimi Platter to arrive, and it was just as pretty as its advertised picture. The platter consisted of 8 pieces of nigiri- 2 seared tuna, 2 lean tuna, 2 chu-toro tuna and 2 otoro tuna, there was also a lean tuna baby roll, 2 small bowls of rice topped with an assortment of diced tuna and sea urchin, a few slices of assorted tuna sashimi and some seaweed salad, wasabi and ginger. This was clearly a platter for 2, in which I devoured all by myself. This platter was absolutely delicious, everything was so fresh and tasty, and the tuna just literally melted in your mouth. Highly recommended that you come to Masuya and try before Bluefin Tuna Season is over!
Bluefin Tuna Sushi & Sashimi Platter ($68)
Close up of the delicious tuna
Whilst I was eating my way through the platter, the chicken karrage arrived, served with a sweet chili garlic sauce instead of Japanese mayonnaises. The verdict, this was delicious, the karrage was fried to a crispy perfection, crunchy with tasty morsels of chicken. The sweet chilli sauce worked well with the karrage and we didn’t miss the mayo with this one.
Karaage Chicken Entree Size ($12.80)
As we both started to finish off our entrees, our mains arrived, with the two steaks coming out together first. Both steaks are a wagyu sirloin weighing 230g and have a marble score no.7. They were served with a small heaping of mashed potato and some beans and broccoli. Let’s start with the Wagyu Beef Teriyaki steak, it was amazingly tasty, cooked to a perfect medium rare as requested, and slightly sweet with the teriyaki sauce and deliciously tender and soft. The Wagyu Beef Miso steak was even better than the teriyaki in our eyes, the steak was even more tender and soft than the teriyaki, and the miso added a nice flavour to the steak. The mash was creamy and smooth, whilst the vegetables were cooked well. Both steaks were mouth-watering delicious, but we both preferred the miso over the teriyaki.
Wagyu Beef Teriyaki (230g) ($34.80)
Wagyu Beef Miso (230g) ($34.80)
The Sweet Chilli Chicken main arrived not long after we started to eat our steaks and it was freaken amazing. I think we were both just expecting some small pieces of pan fried chicken covered in a bottle of sweet chilli sauce, but boy were we blown away. The chicken was pan fried chicken thigh and it had crispy skin!!! Delicious Moorish crispy skin, despite being covered in sweet chilli sauce. The chicken itself was tasty, soft and tender, the green beans were cooked well and the sweet chilli garlic sauce was delicious and not overly sweet. This is a highly recommended dish.
Sweet Chili Chicken ($19.80)
As we started to finish off all the food, and being quite full at this stage, we wondered if dessert was a good idea. However as you know, there is always room for desert, so we flagged down the staff for a dessert menu. There are actually only 6 options on the desert menu, and whilst trying to decide which ones to get, we opted to order three (as we figured the portions will be on the smaller side). We ordered the green tea cheesecake, green tea crème brulee and the black sugar pannacotta. When the deserts arrived, the staff had kindly put a candle into the green tea cheesecake to wish me a happy birthday, which we thought was a nice gesture.
Green Tea Cheesecake ($8.80)
All of the desserts were delicious, the green tea cheesecake was not overly bitter with green tea, and very tasty. The crème brulee has the glorious golden brulee cracking top, and the custard was smooth and delicious, this was also served with vanilla ice cream. Lastly the black sugar pannacotta, this was also a delicious desert, the pannacotta was creamy with a silky smooth texture.
Green Tea Creme Brulee ($7.80)
Black Sugar Panna Cotta ($7.90)
Overall, we had an amazing time at Masuya, the staff were very friendly, attentive and accommodating to our needs. The food itself was fresh, tasty and delicious, and we could not fault one dish here. We noticed when we arrived there were many groups eating hotpot along with sushi & sashimi boats, we have kept this in mind for our next visit. There is also a sushi bar, and I believe they also have serve omakase here as well. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Masuya and will be back for more delicious food.
Masuya Japanese Seafood Restaurant
Address: 12-14 O'Connell St, Sydney NSW 2000
Phone:(02) 9235 2717
http://www.masuyainternational.com.au/en/masuya/