LOCATION
Elizabeth Bay Road, Elizabeth Bay, ten minutes from the CBD, close to Potts Point/Kings Cross. Parking station available nearby.
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
“It’s not the cuisine in your life, it’s the life in your cuisine,” as they so proudly say in Calais, France. A credo that also applies at Blanchuru, a fusion Japanese-French style restaurant, quietly and conveniently located just a short stroll from the hustle and bustle of Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross. Here award-winning chef and coveted owner of two chef's hats, Harunobu Inukai, or simply “Haru”, personally welcomes Sydneysiders into a relaxed, modern and sophisticated space that emanates eloquence on arrival. Haru first arrived on our shores in 1991 and has nurtured his passion for French cuisine alongside the likes of acclaimed French chefs, Maurice Guillouet and Joel Robuchon in Tokyo. From top Sydney restaurants including Bilson's, Ampersand VII and Galileo at the Observatory Hotel, Haru’s remarkably unpretentious heart came to rest at Blanchuru just two years ago.
From a menu that changes seasonally, sourdough baguettes arrived swiftly and were satisfyingly warm on a bleak mid-winter evening, as was a carafe of medium Saki. The entree was a soup du jour, naturally French onion. Then ocean trout gravlax with wakame and cucumber salad and a perfectly “gloopy” porcini mushroom risotto with roasted quail took the gastronomic Grand Prix up a gear. This was followed by the signature dish of spatchcock en croute de sel a la Haru (allow forty minutes for this). With a seductive chocolate fondant and a homemade vanilla pod ice-cream scoop taking us to the finishing line, it’s safe to say at Blanchuru there were “ne pas regrettes.”
Scott Winter
DETAILS
Charismatic Japanese born chef Harunobu Inukai has impressed Sydneysiders and visitors with his inventive French/Japanese cuisine for nearly ten years. Haru also has an impressive resume - he's trained under culinary legends like France's Joel Robuchon, Tony Bilson at Ampersand and has spent the last few years as Executive Chef at Galileo, the luxury Observatory Hotel's signature restaurant. Now with his own restaurant Blancharu in Elizabeth Bay, Haru is pleasing his clientele with exceptional French/Japanese cuisine served in a relaxed bistro style atmosphere.