As the weather in Sydney takes a chilly turn, we start to crave warm spaces and comforting food, and what more perfect way to treat yourself than taking advantage of Monkey Magic’s mid-week winter special?

You’ll find the subtle glass door leading upstairs to the converted warehouse space on Crown street, refurbished beautifully into a warm and inviting restaurant, floating with the gentle scent of fresh oriental lilies at the entrance. The cold rainy weather outside instantaneously became a distant memory.

It doesn’t take much to convince myself that Monday night is never too early for a cocktail, as it was only appropriate to start off with an Edo Garden Tea – a mix of jasmine and rose tea, shaken with Hendricks gin (my all time favorite) and cucumber, stirred with dried rose petals. My partner was only too eager to follow my lead with a Komeshi Bon Bon (Kome-shochu with lemon and tangy marmalade).

We ordered the night’s special – deep fried kushiyaki (skewers) of lotus root, haloumi, prawn, shitake mushroom and scallop with a trio of condiments to accompany our drinks, Izakaya style.

The exposed brick and polished wooden surfaces and deep chillout beats brings us back to the lounges in Tribeca with modern Japanese undertones. The Japanese couple nearby confusingly tries to eat the crab leaves, and after much careful discussion, decides that the betal leaves we not edible. It was a small shame that the waitress didn’t explain the wonders of the betal leaf to them.

It was not long after that we felt food envy from the other Japanese couple behind us and decided to order our own plate of Monkey magic style sushi selection. Melt in your mouth sushi, jazzed up with refreshing flavours of yuzu cream, anticucho (a Peruvian marinade), basil sauce and soy glazes, I chose not to use the accompanying soy sauce so I could savour each garnish.

The legacy of the late Ivy Teppanyaki still lives on in Monkey Magic menu, with many dishes still available since the departure of Chef Adam Lane. I trusted our waitress to recommend the new dishes on the menu to try.

The slow cooked pork belly was braised in a rich soy, dolloped with seeded mustard and served with puy lentils and wilted English spinach; the braised beef cheeks – so decadently soft the meat falls apart with with a single touch next to the pan fried (goat’s cheese?) gnocchi resting by the red wine sauce. The yuzu citrus notes from the Monkey magic salad of mizuna, radish and baby beetroot was a perfect compliment to cut the fat. We also couldn’t miss the much loved wok tossed mushrooms with lettuce hearts, where the sweet and sour notes from the citrus miso added that extra pizazz.

I couldn’t end our dinner without the legendary Banana Harumaki, a dessert style spring roll with banana, white chocolate and shiso – another favorite from the Teppanyaki days. Dip the harumaki into the warm raspberry coulis or the melting green tea ice cream to finish things off with a sweet note.

Monkey Magic

The special winter offer runs Monday to Wednesdays during the Sydney winter months and you get an awesome 20% everything on the menu (even the cocktails!).

Shop 3, 406 Crown St
Surry Hills, 2010
Telephone: 02 9358 4444
www.monkeymagic.com.au

Many thanks to George at Wasamedia for comping my meal for this entry.

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