Orizuru Sushi Bar

PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
Cray, tuna and squid boats, line fishermen, abalone divers and in-shore fish-punters tie up and deliver fresh to Chef Shige Hatano’s front door. They also provide those wonderful extra ingredients: the background sounds and salty smells of the fishing fleet that make dining here such an enjoyable experience. Freshness, simplicity and a delicate touch are the other essential ingredients in what is, by far, Tasmania’s best Japanese experience.

To call it a “Sushi Bar” is an understatement, for the menu runs well beyond nori maki and nigiri sushi, or even teriyaki, sashimi and tempura numbers; excellent and fresh though these always are. Blue-fin tuna from deep in the Great Southern Ocean appear in gyoza (dumplings) and tataki; beef comes sauteed as yakiniku; fresh oysters puddled in sanbaizu, and whole butterfish is butterflied, marinated and deep fried to mouth-watering crisp tenderness. Then there are soft-shell crabs and vegetarian dishes like tofu agedashi and inari. There’s a good local and Japanese beer selection, an adequate wine list, as well as a selection of sake just in case the food, the boats, seagulls and water are not intoxicating enough.