One Tea Lounge & Grill, Sydney CBD

All things green tea flavoured are celebrated at One Tea Lounge on York Street in the city. Owner David Yip is responsible for bringing the ramen burger to Sydney a couple of years ago and here, he has opened an Asian fusion restaurant with a hint of the theatrics.

My friend and I started with the Tea smoked octopus with avocado. It came to our table with a cloche over the top, surrounded by a mysterious white fog. Once it dissipated, we dug into the dish and it was one of my favourites of the night with a great intensity of flavours. The creaminess of the avocado went really well with the smokey, tender cubes of octopus.

Gyokuro smoked octopus avocado $15

The popcorn curry chicken had a good crispy coating and were the perfect snacks to go with our drinks. The curry powder was not spicy at all, more like a Japanese style which I enjoy. 

Popcorn curry chicken with green tea lime mayo sauce $10

The Salmon Tartare came in a glass served on a bed of dry ice which kept the dish very cool. The fish was very fresh and went well with the avocado, cucumber and tobiko.

Salmon tartare, with avocado, cucumber & tobiko $13

With the sliders, we had the option to mix and match the bun and filling. We had the Ramen Burger with the wagyu beef - the patty was juicy and the ramen burger was crunchy enough. The Rice Burger lacked flavour and the use of Matcha Boager, whilst tasty, didn't really wow me. I still prefer a good quality brioche bun any day.

3 sliders - Ramen burger with Wagyu beef, Rice burger with Braised pork rib, Matcha Baoger with Teriyaki Chicken $20

Onto baorgers of a different kind - Ice Cream Baogers! We opted for the Green Tea and Black Sesame varieties (sadly they were out of the lychee flavour). Both the ice creams had excellent rich flavours and the boagers reminded me of having a deep fried ice cream. Sadly, I was a little too full to fully appreciate it.

Ice Cream Baoger - 2 x fried Baogers with Green tea and Black sesame ice cream $13

One Tea Lounge is definitely worth a visit. The way they incorporate matcha is quite creative and I love the theatre of some of the dishes as well. Be sure to try their cocktails too, which also heavily features green tea!