A couple of weeks ago, 3 friends and i headed to Azuma for their version of Sugar Hit, which was part of the Crave Sydney Food Festival. We only managed to get a booking on the LAST ever night of Sugar Hit for the year, but boy was it worth it for the $20.
ET and I opted for the plum wine menu option, as the “East meet West – Dessert Bento Box” came with the option of a glass of Azuma’s Special Blend Japanese Green Tea or Hakutsuru Plum Wine.
We did have a sip of the others’ green tea too, and it tasted like the seaweed-y, traditional green tea made at Japanese tea ceremonies. I was happy i opted to go for the plum wine as it was sweet and rather refreshing. Definitely something i’d be happy to drink again.
The set also came with a shot of Yuzu Nigori Sake, which tasted a lot like Limoncello!
The 2 cookies next to it were Homemade Marbled Gateaux Cookies, which were meant to be chocolate and vanilla, but tasted nothing really like either, but just nice and delicately sugary. The Gateaux Chocolat next to that was served with fresh cream (yum!), seasonal fruits and CANDIED VIOLET. The candied violet was AMAZING because it tasted just like Wonka Nerds, and although the cream and fresh fruit were delicious, the Gateaux was nothing really that special. Tasty however.
Now for the real reason i wanted to go to Azuma for Sugar Hit – the Kawaii Panna Cotta! (Pictured top left) The panna cotta was made from soy and cow’s milk, and you could definitely taste soy milk in there, which was fine by me, considering i only ever drink soy milk anyway. Since it was named after the Japanese word for cute (Kawaii), the face was made up with seasonal fruit and had a “buckwheat soba noodle hairstyle” which i thought was rather ingenious. The base of the panna cotta was made from a brown sugar jelly (WHAT?!) which was a totally nice surprise, considering none of us had bothered to read the menu properly before we dug in.
Last, BUT DEFINITELY not least, was the Home-made Yuzu Sorbet which was definitely the highlight of the night. Yuzu is a hybrid of sour mandarin and ichang papeda – which wikipedia tells me is a slow growing species of citrus. Coolcoolcool. It was light, refreshing and just AMAZINGLY tasty AND it had pop-rocks inside it. WHAT?! Way to make an insanely good dish insanely better.
I enjoyed Azuma’s Sugar Hit offerings tremendously.
TWO THUMBS UP!
Opening hours: Lunch (Mon – Fri) 12pm – 2:30pm; Dinner (Mon – Sat) 6pm – 10pm
Telephone: (02) 9222 9960
Address: Level 1, Chifley Plaza, 2 Chifley Square
(Cnr. of Phillip & Hunter Street)
Sydney NSW 2000
Website: http://www.azuma.com.au
onenightkebabstand 