Busshari

Busshari is at 119 Macleay St, Potts Point, Sydney. Mum took me there for a great dinner, straight off the plane from Brisbane. After the cramped too-bright, too-loud flight, this place was just what I needed. Still loud, but warm and dim, filled with paper lanterns, hip locals, and delicious. Sweet sashimi numbs the pain.

We ate trout sashimi, pieces of rare wagyu sizzling on a fiery cube of aromatic clay, white radish salad and a cold green tea and soba noodle salad. I loved all the dishes, but I especially loved the presentation of the noodle salad. Couldn't get a picture (forgot camera, of course, but also it probably would have been too dark) but before the noodles arrived, they brought us each a tall square glass vase of cold broth (possibly dashi, but quite tangy) and some dipping sauces and wasabi. Then the noodles were brought: imagine a low wide bowl, and sitting in the middle, an upside-down ice bowl, forming an island in the big bowl. Then there was a bamboo sushi mat, rolled up and placed across the ice, with one end resting on the bowl rim for balance. Arranged around the ice were fresh salad ingredients, cucumber, radish, wombok, spring onion, very finely chopped and sliced. Then draped across the bamboo mat and the ice were two huge hanks of cold cooked noodles: one green tea and one the malty-coloured soba. The whole thing looked amazing. We also had some beautiful green tea and champagne. Great dinner.