Orizuru has been tarted up.
There is a beautiful counter of reclaimed timber, an open kitchen inviting you to peek in, a tiny sushi bar (which I missed when I arrived), and a cute (if confusing) cubby hole in which to pay one’s bill. Black ropes hang from the ceiling to demarcate a square section of the restaurant (why, I don’t know – perhaps to house non-existent couches??). Behind the counter is an intriguing piece of what I suspect to be reclaimed Japanese commercial visual merchandising – large squares of Japanese kanji alternating with squares of blackboard. Cool.
But …
Cleaning products, buckets, dirty tea-towels, a responsible service of alcohol poster, boxes piled to waist height, a dishwasher tray stacked with tumblers … Jarring against the attempt at a clean modern-Japanese design aesthetic.
And then …
My tempura was soggy. And service was sloppy … but they were understaffed.
Here’s the thing … when you take the plunge and tart up a well established eatery like Orizuru, the rest of the socks need to be pulled up too. The food needs to be spot on, the service needs to be tight, and for heaven’s sake at least some tidiness!
There was nothing wrong with the old Orizuru … the pine tables and paper screens had a 70s fishing wharf authenticity, and progress is a good thing, but loyal customers (like me) want to feel that despite the new surroundings, the place they loved hasn’t been lost.
But sadly, Orizuru is lost.
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6 comments:
Orizuru was always lost. Never had a decent meal in there.
Any curry puffs?
Never that good by Sydney or Melbourne standards (perhaps partly due to the bizarre difficulty the restaurant claims to have in getting sashimi quality fish) but there is little alternative in Hobart (aside from the lovely Moonah arcade). Standards fall or are not raised when there is a lack of competition - a problem that arise constantly in Tasmania
Any crepe? coz thats one of my favorite. hmp
That's sad. You would think if someone were to go to the trouble to 'tart' up their restaurant, they would go to the trouble up the anti of all the other facets aswell....
sydney or melbourne standards? their seafood standards don't come remotely close to tassie's. the majority of high quality seafood restaurants in sydney and melbourne will tend to source their seafood from tassie at any rate. so comparing it to sydney standards in typically a moot point.
it's strange that tassie's largest tourist base is japanese, based principally on the basis of tassie's incredible seafood industry. you don't have to talk to many japanese tourists for this to be come evidently clear.
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