Crane Bar and Restaurant, Darlinghurst

There's the new kid on the block who's just turned ONE. She can get quite loud, is well dressed and well groomed, charming and already the center of attention. Oddly enough even at the tender age of one, her taste buds are more mature than most with her lunch box being filled with all sorts of exotic Japanese goodies that have all the other kids envious. Boy her parents must be proud indeed. 

Crane Bar and Restaurant is that child's name and her parents decided to celebrate her 1st birthday in style. The motif of the night being the Golden Ages really typifies the sort of extravagance the place exudes. Everything is taken a notch up with this after hours bar and restaurant. The space is amazing, with the spot boasting several different rooms. With each step forward you're going from one world into the next. 

Start off the beginning of the night at the chill synthetic grassed front court for those keen to observe the outside world of Darlinghurst street... 

... gradually make your way back to the sprawling bar and granite sushi slicing bench tops complete with an extravagant floral arrangement... 

...and end your night dancing into the wee hours at their lush sprawling garden chamber.

The night starts off with some liquid courage. Pineapple cocktails get the heart pumping with the sweet and sour first followed by the delicious boozing kick afterwards. Party time. 

Tuna Karage

Tuna karage made its way into my stomach a lot more times than it should have (ehhh... what diet?). Little bite sized pieces of crisp tuna are simply deep fried with spices and come with a creamy lively wasabe mayo. Still, it was a little dry but their chicken karage was super tender and just plain utterly moreish. So good in-fact that there's a really good reason why it's dubbed Snoop's chicken but you're going to have to go in and find it out for yourself. Later on the night, we even manage to score ourselves a Western injection of some wickedly good arachini balls. 

Beef Tataki

You compare the beef skewers to the aforementioned fried goods on offer and they slightly pale in comparison. They've got a wonderfully sweet glaze going on but whilst it was wonderfully cooked the cut seems a tad dry and chewy.

There was a lot happening but we were quite content gouging ourselves on the impeccably fresh sashimi and nigiri on offer. We marvel about how eye-rollingly soft and remarkably clean the kingfish was, in contrast to the slightly chewier but still fresh salmon.

Expert Japanese chefs were slicing and dicing their way through a massive tuna at one stage, declared with a chorus of chants and ringing, delighting keen bystanders and observers of the fine arts. 

Their bald, wonderfully cheerful man Taichi carves up the beauty with expert precision, cutting closely to the bone and crowning the whole jewel with the larger tuna head. 

Howdy Tully from BB and dude from Bachelor

I'm still weirded out taking picture of food let alone people and the only celebrity that would reduce me to a snivelling ten year old fan girl is Jaime Oliver but nothing quite like a bout of celebrity spottin' to liven up my syntax filled writing.

Crane Bar really know how to host a cracking birthday party. Bringing in the cool crowd by the masses, they've got the whole theatre covered along with sweet vibes and some really top notch Japanese food. Bring on the good times and many more birthdays I say.

Petit4s attended Crane's 1st Birthday courtesy of Simon Hancock from Simon Says.


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Posted in: birthday, darlinghurst, japanese, nigiri, sashimi