Raw fish fan

I was brought up in the land of meat and potatoes and the first time I tasted the delights of raw fish was when I came to Sydney eight years ago. But I am definitely making up for lost time, being lucky enough to have an excellent sushi takeaway, Asago, right beside where I work. I have sushi at least once a week for lunch. Incredibly tasty and good for you - what more could you ask for?

For years my favourite restaurant was a sushi place called Go-Bungai which was within walking distance of where we live. This was very handy when we got carried away with the sake. Sadly it closed down last year and ever since we've been on the search for another Japanese to call our favourite.

I will use any excuse to go out for a fancy meal but recently J and I haven't had any romantic meals due to visitors or other commitments. So, when we did eventually get around to organising a night out, I wanted it to be somewhere very special. Yoshii is an excellent little (only eight tables) Japanese fusion restaurant that does a fantastic degustation menu with ten different courses. I love this food - tiny little morsels that are a taste explosion on your mouth. Deep fried Japanese eggplant toped with chocolate flavoured miso, Scallop Carpaccio served with Ume, Truffle oil and grape seed oil, slow roasted wagyu beef with oriental butter and black vinegar sauce to mention but a few.

The dish pictured above is Yoshii's signature dish - Sea urchin egg cup. It is served at the start of the meal with a tiny little spoon. The presentation is fantastic with a tiny gold leaf on the top and it tasted great. It actually took a while to eat because the spoon was so small but this just meant that we savoured the flavour all the more.

The only negative thing I have to say about our night at Yoshii was that three waiters for eight tables was overkill. Especially as four of the tables were unoccupied for the first hour. The waiters were a little too eager to please and it became irritating when each time I took a sip of sake a waiter would appear and refill my cup. Like most people I love good service but, in my opinion, one of the requisites of good service is that it is transparent. While we really enjoyed the food at Yoshii we did come away feeling that we had shared the experience with the three waiters because they spent so much time at our table.