Sushi E

Ph: 9240 3041; Level 4 The Establishment, 252 George St, SYDNEY 2000 www.merivale.com

Japanese, $$, * for Ambience
Open Lunch Mon-Fri noon-2.30pm Dinner Mon-Thu 6-10.30pm Fri-Sat 6.30-10.30pm; Licensed; AE DC MC V
Chef Nobuyuki Ura (29-11-08) Owner Merivale Group (29-11-08)

Mietta's Review
At one end of the Hemmesphere nightclub you'll find an Aussie sushi chef, Shaun Presland, putting out the raw fish to an admiring audience. The results are much better than you would expect both from a non-Japanese chef and the situation. As well as traditional dishes there are, of course, a number of more experimental efforts. It may be cheerful but its not cheap.

Other published opinions

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 14/20 "No, it's not a nightclub. Just the coolest sushi joint around - left of the sultry next-door bar spotlit out of the ambient dimness by copper mirror lights, with wide stool seating up at a thick marble counter"

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide "In the Establishment hotel, a magnet for Sydney's hip young crowd, Sushi E is the place to be seen. Given that you're basically dining in stylish bar Hemmesphere, there's plenty of talent on display, but the show you want takes place at the atmospherically lit sushi bar"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 14/20 "On frenetic Friday or Saturday nights, with the beat from the dimly lit 'hemmesphere' bar pulsating in the background and cool, mini-skirted waitresses slinking across the floor, sushi-e can make you feel like you're in Tokyo, New York or London"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 14/20 "On frenetic Friday or Saturday nights, with the beat from the dimly lit 'hemmesphere' bar pulsating in the background and cool, mini-skirted waitresses slinking across the floor, sushi-e can make you feel like you're in Tokyo, New York or London"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "Rub shoulders with beautiful young things (and that's just the floor staff) at this chic Japanese eatery in the suit-pleasing E $tablishment Hotel"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2007 Score: 14/20 "Nobuyuki Ura had big shoes to fill when he took over this year from Shaun Presland as head chef at sushi-e. The space remains unchanged - dimly lit and sexy, making you feel close to the buzz of the adjoining Hemmesphere Bar - with a similar steady- as-she-goes approach to the menu."

Gourmet Traveller 2007 Restaurant Guide "There are two faces to modern upmarket sushi. One celebrates tradition, subtlety and restraint, while the other takes a more bug-eyed Manga approach, the flavours neon-bright and the aesthetic bold and modern."

Sydney Morning Herald By Simon Thomsen, 9-5-2006 "Despite Shaun Presland's departure, there's not much to fix, but sushi-e needs to evolve further under new chef Ura to maintain its edge. It would be good to feel a little more loved by the floor team."

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2006 score 15/20, 1 Hat "Dining at sushi e is a wonderful combination of great food and great theatre. Perched on blond wood stools around a white marble sushi counter, the cool and beautiful enjoy the support act of observing each other and the main performance of three chefs (only one of whom is Japanese), intently and deftly scooping rice from large stainless steel rice cookers."

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide * "Order something other than the spider rolls. Yes, we know these little inside-out parcels of tempura soft-shell crab goodness are just the ticket after a schooner, a sake, or two, but they really are the French fries of the sushi world, and you can see a little flicker of pain flash across Shaun Presland's eyes as you order them"

Sydney Eats 2006 "Everyone knows the secret to great sashimi (the raw fish without the rice) and sushi (the raw fish with the rice) is the freshness of the fish and a very, very sharp knife in the hands of a skilled chef."

SMH Good Food Guide 2005 Score 15/20 One Hat Good Wine List "Despite its location at one end of the achingly au courant Hemmesphere nightclub, sushi-e, mercifully, hasn't fallen prey to the Asian-fusion trend. Gifted nigiri sushi chef Shaun Presland is a classicist who takes his culinary cues from Tokyo, not NYC."

Gourmet Traveller Australian Restaurant Guide 2005 "Shaun Presland must get sick of being told that he's pretty fly for a white guy, but it's unusual to see a Caucasian at work behind a sushi bar, let alone one doing such a damned fine job of it. The classics dance and sing in his care"

SMH GFG 2004,Score 15/20,Good wine list,Consistently very good,'the food at this super-stylish cubbyhole within Hemmesphere-one of the tres-hip bars of the moment-is exceptional...the best we've sampled.And the service is on the up'