Sorenzo, Miranda

Hidden away underneath the food court at Westfield Miranda is a quiet achiever called Sorenzo, an upmarket Japanese restaurant that serves up some contemporary takes on traditional favourites.

It’s a little hard to find Sorenzo (located unexpectedly near the JB Hi-Fi and Lincraft), but the restaurant’s sleek wooden decor and clean lines quickly transport you away from the hustle and bustle of the shopping centre, once you find your way inside. We started off our lunch with a small bowl of Spicy Edamame, which had an interesting coating of salt flakes and spices (none of which were particularly spicy actually) that helped make the green beans more addictive than usual.

Spicy Edamame, $7

Then out came the most impressive platter of sashimi I’ve ever seen, resting on a bed of coloured ice cubes with liquid nitrogen smoke curling out from underneath it. The Omakase Sashimi platter comes in a number of different serving sizes – the one we got had 15 pieces which offered a good mix of different types of seafood to keep your tastebuds interested, including kingfish, snapper, garfish, cuttlefish and scampi, in addition to the mainstays of salmon (melt in your mouth) and two types of fatty bluefin tuna. Each piece of sashimi was quite generous as they were thickly sliced and was very fresh. The two types of tuna were the highlight – I preferred the rich, buttery texture of the otoro (pink fatty tuna) while the boy loved the more balanced taste of the chutoro (medium fatty tuna).

Omakase Sashimi – 15 pieces, $35

All that fresh seafood was followed by yet more seafood, this time in the form of beautifully plated up nigiri sushi, featuring more of that salmon (with a tiny dollop of onion and roe on top for extra flavour), fatty tuna topped with a deep-fried piece of crispy basil and kingfish topped with a mini mound of salsa. Despite each of the toppings being very small, they really elevated the flavour profile of the sushi.

Omakase Sushi – 9 pieces, $25

The modern plating continued with the delicately presented Chef’s Selection Tempura which evoked memories of cherry blossoms in Japan, with green tea soba noodles fried with pink coloured tempura batter surrounding the juicy tempura prawn and various tempura vegies that were lightly fried to perfection.

Chef’s Selection Tempura – 7 pieces, $23

We were definitely full by this stage, but somehow found some room to finish off the Spanner Crab and Tempura Prawn Rolls. The Spanner Crab Roll is a luxe take on the conventional California roll (with real crab for once!) and avocado, but was a little on the salty side for our palates. I loved the Tempura Prawn Roll, with its lashings of spicy mayo and crispy tempura batter on top creating a crunchy flavour explosion.

Spanner Crab Roll, $19

 Tempura Prawn Roll, $17 

Our experience at Sorenzo left us pleasantly surprised by the calibre of the food and inventiveness in their plating, which you wouldn’t expect from a restaurant inside a shopping centre. They punch well above their weight in terms of the quality of their dishes, and are relatively reasonably priced considering the level of the ingredients. A great restaurant for a family meal or group catch up with spacious areas.

Excuse Me Waiter dined as guests of Sorenzo

Sorenzo
Ground Level Shop 107
Westfield Miranda
600 Kingsway, Miranda NSW 2228