Koko at Crown

I am utterly blown away by Ko Ko. I admit I am not one who ventures to Crown Casino at all unless I have to. Parking, the crowd, the thought of people losing their life savings is not exactly my kind of scene. But Crown has done something right, and that is with Ko Ko. We were invited for dinner by a colleague of my husband, who is married to a Japanese man from Osaka. He picked the restaurant and all he said was that Ko Ko was "comparable to real Japanese cuisine."


We were seated at a table next to a shallow pond, which was central to the restaurant. Immediately, our Japanese friend started conversing with the hostess and our meals were ordered. During that time, I absorbed in the surroundings. If you ever want to plan a romantic evening, request for one of the only two couples table which are situated on the other side of the pond. You would have full view of the Yarra river, and what seems like a private viewing of the fire exhibition at Crown that runs every hour of every day after 9pm. The restaurant deco was modern but maintained Japanese aesthetics, very posh and sophisticated, but yet I felt very relaxed and at home.



The restaurant was full by the time we had our entrees. Despite the crowd, we did not have to raise our voices to have a conversation. Service was excellent, very prompt and efficient. My meal was preceded by having the smoothest Choya (plum) wine I have ever tasted. It was served in a martini glass, and an ume (sour plum) sat at the bottom of of the glass, intensifying further the taste.



And then the food arrived. Conversation halted, at least on our part, because we were too busy gawking at the art served on a plate and tasting the best Japanese food we have ever had. Apparently, the flow of the dishes was preconstructed by our Japanese friend. After a palate cleanser of seaweed salad, a bowl of steaming hot agedashi tofu arrived on the table.




What followed were individual plates containing four different mini morsels of food. Thinly sliced beef, prawn dumpling, chicken terrine and tuna maki topped with wasabi mayo. The next dish was four grilled hotate (scallop) topped with a cheesy champagne sauce (???) and as you got to the bottom of the shell, there were wilted baby spinach leaves that went really well with the sauce. I thought I was in a very good dream.... until all the other dishes arrived. I thought I'd died and gone to food heaven.





A large plate of sashimi (which included clams -Akigai and Hokigai, fish served were salmon, tuna, king fish, mackerel and snapper- all top grade quality) was polished off in no time. Can you believe all that were entrees???!!! And the mains arrived all at once with hot steaming rice. There were prawn and vegetable tempura, beef ishiyaki (grilled) and buri (fish) teriyaki with asparagus. What can I say, the photos are pretty self explanatory.



To top of an already fabulous dinner, we had dessert. Oh yes, a true foodie should always have a seperate space in their tummy for dessert. We had two orders of Yuzu creme brulee with plum sorbet, a white sesame mousse with mint sorbet and three scoops of ice-cream (black sesame, green tea and rice flavoured). It had to be the best black sesame ice-cream ever!


Ko Ko was beyond my expectation. It is the best Japanese restaurant I have ever been to. Close to a perfect ten, marred only by the fact that I was unable to step out of the restaurant into the streets of Japan.

To top this magical night off, we were given a box of Japanese rice crackers as a gift. My hubby and I have been spoilt to bits tonight. Domo arigato gozaimasu to our friends!