Koko: Oishii desu!

Koko

Level 3, Crown Towers

8 Whiteman Street

Southbank, VIC

www.kokoatcrown.com.au

Though Miss P's birthday has passed and we had celebrated it with Burch & Purchese's cakes , we still have a proper meal to do (of course, birthday celebration cannot be satisfied with just birthday cake!).

Since it is for Miss P's birthday, I let her choose the restaurant that we should go.  We picked Koko as we haven't had Japanese food for a while. 

Koko is a fine dining Japanese restaurant, which serve both a la carte and teppanyaki at Crown Towers.  It is a hidden gem since it is situated on the third floor not the ground floor like other renowned restaurants.  Once we walked through the door, it was as if we stepped into a different world since the decor gave out a warm & welcoming feeling.  We were navigated through to our table which was right next to the "zen" pond.  The interior were decorated with wood, including many large wooden beams.  Quite interesting to look at since we don't really see it in any other restaurants.

We were lost in the moment for a while until our waiter came to us with a wine & sake list.  We decided to go with sake since we want to enjoy the Japanese experience to the utmost.  Our waiter recommended Asabiraki Daiginjo sake, with medium bodied, fragrance with a dry crisp finish, served either chilled or warm (we went with warm since it was cold outside).  It was a small bottle (300 ml) with a price tag of $65.00.  I had to say the sake was so good!  The aroma was sweet and smooth with a little bit of vinegar smell.  The taste - it was fantastic - smooth and easy to drink but still give you the crisp after taste and our mouths were filled with the aroma.  


For our lunch, we decided to go with the three-courses set ($57.00 per person) - but in the end, it was two-courses set ($46.50 per person), due to the kitchen close.  Not long after we ordered our lunch, the appetiser came - it was a small portion of seaweed salad.  The entrees followed not long after. 

We chose Hotate Misoyaki and Tokobushi Umani for our entrees.  The Hotate Misoyaki was the grilled scallops with miso mustard sauce, topped with micro herbs.  There were three scallops on the plate of rock salt.  The scallops cooked to perfection, they weren't tough at all and still contained the sweetness inside them.  The sauce was interesting, very smooth but yet complex with sweet, sour and creamy.  Next on the tasting entree list was Tokobushi Umani - Braised baby abalone in light mirin soy sauce.  The serving was similar to the Hotate misoyaki, three baby abalones served on the bamboo tube lookalike plate on the bed of rock salt.  Abalone is difficult to cook, can be tough if the chef does not know how to cook it properly.  At Koko, the baby abalones were cooked perfectly, they weren't chewy nor tough at all. The mirin soy sauce was a just a little salty, but with the sweetness of the baby abalones, the saltiness was not that apparent.

We also ordered Hotate piri karai maki ($24.00) as an extra from the lunch course.  It was inside-out Nori roll, fried crispy Hokkaido scallops & salad with spicy mayonnaise.  The roll came with fried tempura flakes which added crunchiness to the dish, along with pickled ginger and freshly grated wasabi.  The rice to me was first class sushi rice, sticky yet soft and sweet, it bound the roll very well.  The scallops were a little bit tough, I guess it due to the scallops were deep-fried.  The spicy mayonnaise did a great job, it gave a final kick to the dish after you reached the center of the roll.  Very nice and well arranged dish, especially when having it with the freshly grated wasabi.  

After we finished the entrees, our first main dish arrived.  It was the Gindara sakamushi - steamed black cod fillet and seasonal mushrooms in Japanese seaweed broth topped with caviar, served with momiji oroshi and ponzu sauce.  Our waiter informed us that they did not have the black cod, and whether I would like to have the Patagonian toothfish done in the same way instead, I said OK to the option and I was glad I chose this dish.  The dish was perfect in every component, the fish was nicely cooked, the broth was sweet and heart-warming, the flavour came out bursting even more when having it with the ponzu sauce.  It went so well with the mushrooms and seaweed served as they enhnaced the sweetness of the broth and fish extremely well.

Soon after the second main arrived, it was Kurobuta hobayaki - grilled pork loin infused with hoba leaf miso sauce.  It was a very tasty dish as the pork was tender and nicely coated with the miso sauce and yet it wasn't salty.  Miss P found that the sauce was a little bit sweet to her liking, but for me, I found it was just right when having it with rice. Unfortunately we could not detect the hoba leaf that was infused in the sauce, may be the miso was overpowering the scent of the hoba leaf.

After the main, now it was time for dessert that we were very much looking forward to.  Very unfortunate that the kitchen closed by the time we finished the main, but the assistant manager was kindly offered us with ice-cream to have on the house.  

The ice-cream came in three flavours, Black sesame, Hazelnut and Raspberry sorbet.  They served on the edamame lookalike plate (very lovely plate indeed!).  We fell in love with the Black sesame flavour as the black sesame wasn't over powering the taste of the ice-cream.  It was nutty, sweet and creamy and the aroma left linger in our mouths.  Hazelnut was nutty, I was glad they put heaps of crushed hazelnuts in the ice-cream.  Gotta love the nutty and creamy flavour that it gave, very satisfying.  The last scoop was the raspberry sorbet, very berry indeed for the ice-cream.  This place truly shown that ingredients play a major part in the final taste of the ice-cream.  I was glad that they were generous in putting in the ingredients, otherwise, the flavour of ice-cream would not turn out this great and enjoyable.


We left with tummy full and great impression on both food and service provided.  Very satisfying with this restaurant.  I found the experience and taste worth the price I paid.  Definitely would not mind going back for Summer menu.

 

+Disclaimer: The commentary contained in this blog is purely based on my own opinion and experience at the time of visit. Taste is a subjective and yours and mine can be differed.