We don’t venture over to Cremorne much despite it being fairly close by, but there are some excellent eateries out that way including Restaurant Plage, which is an unassuming modern Japanese fusion restaurant run by Tomoyuki Usui, former chef at the now closed Waqu and S’Age Bistronomy in Crows Nest.

The menu is full of modern Japanese as well as French influences, from Chef Usui’s training in both types of restaurants before opening the stylish Restaurant Plage himself. You can choose from a la carte or degustation menus at Restaurant Plage, but since we were dining at lunchtime on a weekend, we opted for the a la carte option rather than degustation as we didn’t feel like a set number of dishes.

Fortunately for us, Restaurant Plage has quite a few blackboard specials which supplement their regular a la carte menu at lunchtime and one of the specials on offer while we were there was the Crab Miso Ramen. This luxe ramen lived up to all our high expectations with the umami rich flavours in the broth enhanced by the essence of the shredded crab meat and miso, springy noodles and seaweed for an exceptional blend of aromas and textures. One of the best ramens we have ever had – well worth the visit for this alone and worth the premium pricing too considering the price creep on regular tonkotsu ramens around Sydney lately.

Crab Miso Ramen, $23

Another one of their specials was the Aburi Scallops, served with a rich sea urchin and truffle butter. It would be easy for these strongly flavoured ingredients to overwhelm the delicate flavour of the seared scallops, but here the sauce was executed with a deft touch to ensure all the elements were balanced.

Aburi Scallops, $12 for 2 pieces

We also tried their 12 Hours Cooked Wagyu Beef Curry and Rice which is on their regular menu and was melt in your mouth tender and fantastic value for the quality of ingredients and calibre of the cooking. We enjoyed the sprinkle of fried shallots and garlic on top for that crunch factor.

12 Hours Cooked Wagyu Beef Curry, $15

For dessert, we went with their Dark Chocolate x Cherry which was a contemporary, deconstructed interpretation of the ingredients with dehydrated beetroot shards, white chocolate powder and pink peppercorn amongst the dark chocolate mousse, dark chocolate powder and soft cherry pieces. The beetroot brought an unexpected savoury element to the otherwise sweet dessert, although colour-wise we can see how it fitted in with the theme.

Dark Chocolate x Cherry, $11

We were impressed by the brilliant execution and high calibre of the dishes at Restaurant Plage, which is well beyond what we would usually see at lunchtime for this price point on the lower North Shore – we will definitely be back to try their degustation menu for dinner to see what other fusion delights are on offer at this quiet achiever of a restaurant.

Restaurant Plage
 8/255 Military Road, Cremorne NSW 2090
Phone:  (02) 8384 9043