Spring Drinks at Ocean Room

Time Out catapulted Ocean Room into a bold new era last night as a crowd of more than 500 witnessed the harbourside diner's unveiling as an uber-cool Japanese sushi-sake palace.

In a world-first collaboration, Japanese high-end hospitality group Zetton Inc has partnered with internationally acclaimed designer Yasumichi Morita - the man who once wallpapered an entire bar in crocodile skin - to create a stunning interior design for Ocean Room in which the worlds of ancient Japan and modern Sydney collide.

Time Out editor-in-chief Angus Fontaine's opening address spoke of Zetton as "a 60-metre giant horned humanoid beetle weighing 3,000 tonnes shooting one trillion degree fireballs out of his mouth". But Zetton CEO Kenichi Inamoto set him straight, reminding the crowd that of their 40+ restaurants, Ocean Room was Zetton's first outside Japan.

Ocean Room's relaunch wowed on many levels, not least via the room's centrepiece - a colossal chandelier made from 42,458 beads of Asiatic timber which shimmered over the party like a weightless, wondrous wooden tsunami symbolising wind and water.

Mixologist Andy Penney told Time Out his cocktails for the night were inspired by Japan's seven gods of fortune and, to all lucky enough to taste them, both godhood and fortune was bestowed (with Japanese basil along for the ride).

Food is foremost at the new Ocean Room and executive chef Raita Noda's innovative dishes included ‘chotto' (small plates) of sake jelly bar cod, crispy lemongrass-skewered uzura quail and a lightly marinated anchovy with smoked tomato sorbet. Other highlights include hot and cold canapés of prawn, trout, wagyu beef and kingfish.

Exquisite as these creations were, all paled before the majestic 60kg tuna Noda expertly sliced, diced and skewered at the point of a gleaming steel sword, a spectacle that drew a crowd five-deep. The tuna was then presented to guests seared and as studs of sashimi.

The party raged long into the night, as the Japanese drummers that kicked off proceedings gave way to DJs and dancing, both traditional and contemporary. And as the sun rose on the new Ocean Room, Sydney's own form of swordplay came to the fore.

Although the portent of the next day's red-dirt apocalypse was in the air, so was a new era for Ocean Room and the Sydney dining scene that embraced it.

Time Out and Ocean Room thank the following sponsors for making the evening an enormous success: Moet Henessy Australia, Pernod-Ricard Australia, Lion Nathan/Kirin Holdings, Wellstone Seafood, Japan Food Corporation, Tyrrell's Wine, Teracole Wine, Cleanseas Seafood, Fishead Seafood, havericks Meat, Seafarm-Crystal Bay Prawn.

The following photos, and many more, are also available on Time Out Sydney's Facebook.

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