Chaco Bar is Sydney’s pride when it comes to ramen and
yakitori. Keita Abe (owner and executive chef) and the rest of team Chaco has
impressed Sydney-siders since opening in 2014 with their Fukuoka-style yakitori
and modern take on ramen. They have recently announced that the yakitori side
of Chaco will be moved at a new location on Victoria Street in Potts Point
sometime in October 2019.
The current Chaco site will still be around but will
be become Chaco Ramen where they will be serving ramen for most likely 6 days a
week (good news for ramen geeks like me).
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| Fat soy ramen (available during ramen service hours) |
Here’s what we recently had at our last visit to Chaco:
Sashimi is normally available and we had
some beautiful Kingfish. The fish had a clean taste, firm texture and
accompanied by a ponzu-like sauce.
The gyozas ($18 for 6
pieces) here are plump and the pork filling is so damn flavoursome. It also
has that perfect crisped caramelised bottoms.
There’s a good range of yakitori
dishes on the menu (ranging from
$3-$7 each). This includes spicy
lamb, chicken thigh, chicken tail, gristle, chicken gizzard and even pork belly.
All skewered meats are laced and grilled with umami rich tare (seasoning
marinade). You’ll find nothing but smoky and deep flavoured meats with an array
of flavours. I particularly love the fatty chicken tail and crunchy gristle.
Chaco Bar does Fukuoka style yakitori, which means they offer
more than just skewered meats. They also have sharing plates and I recommend
looking at their “specials” board.
We tried 3 dishes from the Special menu:
The uni wagyu ($29)
had thinly buttery slices of +9 grade Wagyu. There were also bursts of umami from
the creamy uni (sea urchin gonads), parmesan cheese and lovely WA truffles. The
serving of egg yolk added a nice extra texture to the whole dish.
The baby corn dish
($13) with Chaco butter was also amazing! The corn was so smoky and the
butter sauce with squid ink added extra umami and sweetness.
The highlight for me was the M9 Wagyu steak with shiitake mushroom, housemade mustard and bone
marrow ($32). The beautiful marbled Wagyu steak slices was amazingly
tender, nicely seasoned and accompanied with a beautiful tare. I also loved the
buttery marrow.
Chaco bar never ceases to amaze me with every visit. It is
everything from the moody Japanese style tavern interior, the excellent service
and the amazing food on offer. It’s an authentic piece of Japan in the heart of
Sydney.
Chaco Bar
238 Crown Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Hours:
Yakitori
Tue-Sat 5:30-10:00pm
Ramen
Mon 5:30-9:00pm
Wed-Sat 11:30-2:30pm
Sun 11:30-2:30pm 5:00-8:30pm
Posts
How good is Chaco Bar?! Their yaki onigiri is unparalleled!
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