We booked RK San for NYE as we wanted a casual and enjoyable dinner without a crazy price tag. The booking process was seamless and they were good at accommodating my many requests to increase the size of my booking party.

The restaurant is among the strip of many restaurants on Cleveland Street in Surry Hills. It’s in a busy road, so you’ll have to park in the backstreets behind. The restaurant is casual and can probably accommodate about 30 diners. Chef RK San works at the sushi counter at the front of the restaurant and he is so kind and friendly, whilst also being super focused at the job at hand.

The menu looked superb with a range of sushi, sashimi, carpacchio, tempura, robata and some mains. We were dining in a party of five, so we decide to order a range of dishes to share. If you’re dining in a duo and want to try a range of dishes, you may wish to opt for their $35 of $55 tasting menu, or even the $75 omakase.

We begin with Agedashi tofu and are impressed by the humble edamame, which is on another level, it was smoked and combined with dancing fish (dried bonito flakes). This dish is so good we order a second serve. We also share a sashimi salad.

Both Carpaccio items on the menu utilsed quality ingredients. The Wagyu Beef carpaccio, served with a smoky sesame oil, yuzu dressing, ginger, chives and crispy garlic. It was so incredibly tasty, well marinated and a generous serve. The sliced seared salmon carpaccio also came seasoned with a smoky sesame oil and truffle ponzu with roe.

The must order dish of the restaurant is undoubtedly the cigars. Not the smoking type, but the raw seafood type. We tried the sashimi tuna and salmon cigars which are incredible. This dish is whimsical and fun, but also sophisticated and well thought out. We loved the presentation, with a heavy set crystal ashtray. The cigar is amazingly delicious with a crisp spring roll shell, the filling super tasty, as was the malto ash that you dipped the cigar in.

From the robata grill we have the grilled King Brown Mushrooms with truffle soy dressing and some chilli strings as well as their eggplant. A lovely little dish, and if you’re a fan of robata, they also do corn, beef & pork skewers, kingfish and snapper.

The Miso Butter Salmon main was lovely, quite a small serving, so a little hard to share, but would be good to order for yourself. Served with some seasonal vegetables and a miso butter sauce.

The sushi here is great and we thoroughly enjoyed the soft shell crab sushi and also the sushi platter with fresh tuna, kingfish and seared salmon. We were still hungry so ordered a spider roll with soft shell crab, cucumber wrap with nori and beetroot amazu daikon.

Drink wise, they have a license and serve wine and sake, but it is one of the few places these days where you can take BYO wine. Obviously there’s a corkage fee, but the BYO means you can bring your favourite wine.

We really liked our visit – the lighting was dim so our photos don’t do the food justice, but the taste is what it is all about, and that is incredible.

Thanks to the staff for the fab food and great service.

RkSan Contemporary Japanese Cuisine

462 Cleveland Street

Surry Hills, NSW