Kani & Hotate Filo Age $10ea

The shredded filo pastry was an ingenious move. Crunchy at first, it then melts in the mouth, revealing the scallop inside. The scallop roe added a touch of creaminess and the shiso leaf hidden inside added another dimension to the dish. We also enjoyed the monk fish liver sauce, too bad there wasn't enough to go around. If we had to be picky - admittedly this is a tricky dish to execute - the filo was a bit greasy, and 2 out of the 3 scallops were slightly overcooked.

Unagi Canape $12ea

"Grilled eel with miso topped with wasabi crab meat mayo, salmon caviar and black truffle" - for a foodie you practically can't put more buzzwords in one sentence. The chef's creativity should be applauded. However, while the combination of ingredients was fancy and unique, the dish didn't work for us. The flavours were confusing, and the truffle was pre-mature (as can be seen by the lack of any marbling) and we couldn't really taste it.  The eel had a tough chew, and we were also distracted by the scales and crab bones - easy mistakes that should've been avoided. 

Hokkaido Crab Tempura $33ea

This giant crab leg needs little description. It was tender and plump, and not rubbery at all. There was a good amount of batter, which wasn't too thick, although it could've been more crunchy. The only downside was that the leg wasn't deshelled all the way through and the utensils provided didn't help. A messy dish to eat, although looking clumsy eating it is a worthy price to pay.

Grilled Swordfish Cheek $105

Knowing swordfish isn't a small fish, when the dish arrived we were still shocked by the scale of it. It was a true team effort as we carved the fish. It was so meaty it felt like we were sharing a steak as opposed to fish. The meaty bits were surprisingly tender as the fish oil had completely rendered into the meat. But the best part was the skin which had a charred smokiness. 



The grilled fish cheek of the day is on the menu for $30+. We thought the Swordfish cheek was likely to be quite a bit higher than the entry price, but felt the waitress still should've confirmed with us the portion and price before placing the order. Whilst we enjoyed it, we wouldn't have ordered this dish had we known.

For a lunch at $90pp, we were expecting the restaurant to change the plates, particularly when they had become full with bones. It wasn't a particularly busy day and the waitresses made no attempt to check how we were going. We were also served a smelly hot towel, the smell could've been picked up from feet away.

In conclusion, we had a mixed bag of feelings towards this place. The good was the overall creative menu, the bad was the food was hit-and-miss, with certain areas poorly executed. The worst was the poor and inattentive service, certainly not a good match for the price.

Food: 6/10
Service: 3/10
Atmosphere: 5/10

Highlight:

• Swordfish collar was impressive
• Crab legs

Lowlight:

• Eel was comprehensively underwhelming
• Bill shock from the Swordfish cheek
• Service and atmosphere didn't live up to the price

Website: http://www.shoya.com.au/