The entire Gateway complex was heaving. Heaving. On a Monday night. That tells me how great the need was for reasonably priced food in Circular Quay, probably Sydney’s most dense tourist area. And we needed something to eat before the National concert at the Opera House (outdoors, a glorious night: it was a great concert). Chat Thai was packed, and so was the Italian place. In fact, Tokyo Laundry looked to be one of the only places that could seat us!
It was absolutely fine. There’s a lot of competition in this space in Sydney, with some really interesting modern Japanese eateries. The spicy chili garlic edamame ($7.50) was one of the more interesting versions that I’ve had (and did you know these are really easy to make at home…). The Chicken Gyoza Dumpling ($15) was fine: light and crisp. I don’t often meet a gyoza I don’t like.
We also tried a few dishes from the Robata Grill: broccolini ($13.50) and pork belly ($14.50), both rather nice. I think the highlight for me was the Agedashi Tofu, as it was an unusual rendition: a thick savoury sauce, quite yummy, and some nice textures with the mushrooms and spring onions. We started the meal with refreshing apple martinis. The service was nice but seemed a bit confused.
It seemed that there’s a reason why it’s not as crowded as the other places, but I don’t think it would be too difficult to lift the service and tweak the food so that it’s really, really good, instead of just pretty good.