Tokonoma

To celebrate our 29th monthsary Josh and I dined at Tokonoma. I had actually bought a Groupon deal for $99 which included a 12-course degustation with wine for two. By the end of our meal I was able to appreciate how much of a good deal this really was. 

I checked the menu online and it appears that the degustation we were served was specially designed for the Groupon deal as it didn’t match either of the two tasting menus, though very close. 

After approximately a 10-minute uphill walk from Central, we walked into the dimly-lit restaurant. It was very romantic and cosy but spacious at the same time. I loved the ambience. 

We were greeted by a friendly and helpful waitress who started us off with our water and glasses of wine. Then out came our first course which was edamame - described in the menu as ‘soy beans, maldon sea salt’. It was a first time for me and I found them to be okay. Good to munch on. 

Soon after, two courses were brought out together - ‘sliced kingfish, yuzu, chives, pickled daikon’ and a meatballs dish. The kingfish was one of my favourite courses - it was tangy, tasty and left me wanting some more! The meatballs were also food and were paired with a nice, typical Japanese dipping sauce. 

Next, three courses of sushi and sashimi came out together. Everything was fresh, tasty and went down well. 

  
The scallop course was next which was absolutely delicious. I love scallop and this scallop was soft, tasty and creamy. Described as ‘robata grilled scallop, ume boshi guerre noisette, pork crackling’; I definitely wanted more!

The mains then came out together - ‘marinated lamb cutlets, chilli miso, pickled eggplant’ and ‘pork belly, apple-kizami wasabi relish, sweet soy’. I am a lamb lover and these chops were definitely good and very succulent. The pork belly was also a winner, though there was no crispy skin which I found to be a bummer. 

The miso soup came out an odd time and consisted just of the usual ‘white miso soup, spring onion, tofu, wakame’. There was also a zucchini dish - ‘zucchini, wafu sauce, sesame’ - which I don’t seem to have taken a photo of - probably because I didn’t want to eat it! Oops.

The final course was dessert and whilst it looks very simple, all the elements were delicious. The chocolate sorbet was creamy, the strawberry was fruity, and both were of a good consistency. I also really enjoyed the creme brule which cracked when I put my spoon through the top, just as it should have. 

Whilst the night felt like it went too fast and though we weren’t exactly full, we definitely enjoyed our dining experience at Tokonoma and we will definitely be back! We dined at Ocean Room a few weeks ago and Josh and I both agreed that we enjoyed and rated Tokonoma more.