1 / 10Seasonal smoked sashimi at Uchi Lounge.Janie Barrett
2 / 10Seasonal smoked sashimi.Janie Barrett
3 / 10Cosy house-party vibes at Uchi Lounge.Janie Barrett
4 / 10Miso eggplant from the Uchi legends menu.Janie Barrett
5 / 10Beef-rib ramen.Janie Barrett
6 / 10 Uchi Lounge showrunners Ryota Kumasaka (left) and Sarah Tram.Janie Barrett
7 / 10The full house remains a feature of Uchi Lounge.Janie Barrett
8 / 10Tea-smoked duck.Janie Barrett
9 / 10Yuzu chilli chicken ramen.Janie Barrett
10 / 10Friday lunch is packed to the gunwales.Janie Barrett
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There’s a special place in the world of restaurants where history and comfort override everything else. They’re like an incredibly well-loved piece of furniture, or a favourite pair of vintage jeans. Uchi Lounge is one of those places.
Some readers out there might have happy memories of visiting the snug izakaya in its original location on Brisbane Street in Surry Hills. In its heyday of the late ’90s and mid-oughts, the dinky Japanese restaurant and bar was a well-known music industry haunt. A place that hosted album launch parties one night, rowdy groups of friends for sake and plum wine the next.
In 2014, the restaurant (owned at the time by chef Takashi Ohuchi) moved to Clarence Street in the CBD and is still there. As much as some things change (the city site is undeniably smaller, accessing the loo now requires a security pass to the building next door, and the restaurant is now owned by chef Ryota Kumasaka), others stay the same.
Uchi Lounge showrunners Ryota Kumasaka (left) and Sarah Tram.Janie Barrett
Chef Kumasaka (see also Shinmachi in Newtown and Tento in Surry Hills), has a whole section of the menu dedicated to Uchi Lounge legends – dishes that have been on the menu since the beginning. There’s nasu dengaku – an eggplant half slathered in miso and parmesan cheese, then roasted until it becomes a semi-sweet, umami-rich confection.
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Hojicha-smoked duck arrives at the table in a little wooden box. When the lid is removed, I’m hit with the sweet, earthy smell of green tea smoke mingled with duck fat. Dip the pink slices of meat in the accompanying spring onion oil and matcha salt served in a little ceramic dish made by the chef himself.
An omakase sashimi platter (today, plump raw slices of salmon, tuna and kingfish) with wasabi, ginger, lime and radish slices is a nice little cleanser before the (less than exciting) beef tataki. There’s something about the bitterness of the yuzu, ponzu and soy dressing over the thin slices of confit beef that doesn’t quite blow my hair back. The agedashi tofu – fried silken bean curd bathed in a shiitake soy broth – is just as delicate as I remember from Brisbane Street. But where are the bonito flakes?
Cosy house-party vibes at Uchi Lounge.Janie Barrett
The soundtrack of Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and early Coltrane is still a feature, as is the full house. On an otherwise subdued Tuesday evening, every seat in the house is taken with diners. Crowded tables socialise over big Japanese beers (they have Sapporo on tap here), and the room is buzzing. It’s a real izakaya vibe, where people are crammed up at the bar, on high tables, and a few choice banquettes reserved for bigger groups. The two floor staff dash from the bar to the shoebox kitchen and back onto the floor. It’s like a cosy house-party.
The biggest difference is the dedicated lunch service. During the day, express bentos (karaage chicken, seared salmon, beef and teriyaki eggplant) are available to grab and go from the hotboxes out the front for $13.50, along with beef and tuna onigiri. If you choose to sit in (and once again, many people do, Friday lunch is packed to the gunwales), there’s an entire ramen menu on offer along with Japanese rice bowls and curries.
Beef-rib ramen.Janie Barrett
The signature ramen features slow-cooked beef ribs cooked for 12 hours in an aromatic beef stock, rich with star anise and cinnamon. Bouncy noodles, made specially for the restaurant, are topped with spring onion oil, spinach and slices of raw radish for a bit of crunch, all served in an organic-shaped ceramic bowl, also handmade by Kumasaka.
If that sounds a little too hearty for a quick lunch, consider the yuzu chicken ramen. It’s slightly lighter with a bit more zing, and noodles are served on a chicken broth base, with slices of poached chicken. Everything is lifted with a slick of yuzu chilli oil.
This is a no-frills restaurant when it comes to service. Don’t expect your water glasses to be refilled or for orders to land on the table in a timely manner, but do expect a great vibe, a lot of fun and easy company. In Japanese, “uchi” means “home”, and that’s precisely how it feels.
The low-down
Atmosphere: A low-key restaurant for low-key catch-ups
Go-to dishes: Nasu dengaku ($25); hojicha-smoked duck ($28); agedashi tofu ($18); beef-rib ramen ($32)
Drinks: A short list of sakes, Japanese beers, plum wines and softies
Cost: About $140 for two, excluding drinks
Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.
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Myffy Rigby is the former editor of the Good Food Guide.