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It’s my 5th attempt to get into the new Goryon-San in Surry Hills and we’ve finally secured a table so I’m pretty excited. The problem is that excitement also brings with it increased expectation and sadly in this case the expectation wasn’t met.
If you want to get in you’ll have to be patient. I tried walking in without a booking at 6pm on a Sunday night and a couple of times during the week and even when there was an empty single seat in the window I was told I couldn’t have it because it was deemed too uncomfortable (not quite sure why then the chair was there).
I was advised to book online but when I tried that the booking engine indicated they don’t take bookings for single diners. I then tried booking for 2 but the next available table was more than a week away. So I finally tried phoning and on about the 4th attempt got someone to answer the phone who advised there was a table available that night.
First up we ordered Zuke Salmon which according to the menu was marinated avocado and salmon sashimi. So we were a little surprised when what turned up was essentially 2 corn chips which 2 small pieces of salmon and a slice of avocado on each. It was lacking in flavour (definitely couldn’t taste any marinade on the avocado) and at $12 not exactly great value. The garnish of wilted watercress certainly didn’t add to the dish.
Perhaps we’ll fair better with some of the signature Kushiyaki we thought. But again this unfortunately wasn’t the case. The whole concept is meant to be modeled on restaurants in Tokyo where meat is grilled over hot coals. But surprisingly they use an electric grill rather than coals and so you get none of the smokey flavour.
The best way to describe the food is bland.
The chicken skewers were a small pieces of chicken thigh without any seasoning or accompanying sauce. Both my partner and I decided after the first bite the only way to eat it was to smother it in Togarashi seasoning (which they helpfully have on every table).
The signature dish of fresh lettuce and pork belly skewers which gets its own write-up on the menu is about 95% lettuce with a wafer thin layer of pork belly (see the image above) and again totally lacking in seasoning. Out comes the Togarashi again. At $7 a stick I’m starting to feel a little gouged.
The last of our order was billed as premium wagyu beef. At $25 I was expecting a reasonable sized piece of meat but the serve was tiny. It was accompanied by some more of the wilted watercress and a thin slice of lemon and wasabi. Consistent with the other dishes it was lacking in any form of seasoning.
At this stage we realise we’ve probably under ordered as we are both still hungry but decide that we’d rather go home and cook something ourselves.
At $100 for 2 for a very light meal, 1 beer and 1 glass of wine we definitely didn’t get good enough value to make up for the food. We leave wondering what all the fuss is about and just how busy it’s likely to be in a few weeks once the diner reviews start to appear online and the next newest thing arrives in Surry Hills. We won’t be back.