Toriciya, Cammeray
Felt like I was in Japan again
So you think I’d be sick of Japanese food after a 3 weeks holidaying in Japan, but I was far from being turned off bowls of ramen, sushi or skewers. In fact, I came back and craved each of these foods nearly every day. After talking to a good friend of mine about how much sake I drank and how much I loved the izakayas, he suggested we go and try Toriciya, located in sleepy Cammeray (Sydney lower north shore). When he mentioned that the sake menu was more extensive than the food menu, I was very keen to try this place out.. so keen that we ventured there that night.
Since it was a friday night, we wanted to book just in case, but they were asking for a $50pp deposit? so we passed on the booking and took our chances. Luckily not many people were there that night. Also, being located at a quiet part of Cammeray (I didn’t even notice there was a restaurant within the row of shops) you wouldn’t expect the place to be overly full.
“yakitori” the sign reads. “ohhh no.” thinks the fake vegetarian…
On the outside, Toriciya looks like a modern-type restaurant but once inside, I feel like I just step into Japan. The interior displays an authentic izakaya look, with an open kitchen, bar seats around the kitchen and a few tables on the side.
We browse through the few pages of the menu, and whilst the sake list makes up the majority of the menu, the food menu still looks promising. They had give us the specials menu, which is wholy written in Japanese, so the waitress slowly runs through each item with us. There is at least 15 specials so good memory is a must.
The sake menu
The food menu
First, the sake is served. We start off with their recommended cold sake. What I found cool was the fact they colour coded the sake glass for males and females. The males received a blue glass, the female received an orange glass. The waiter overfilled the glass, which was conveniently captured by a wooden box that the sake glass was in. To my understanding, the remaining would be poured back into the glass later to be consumed. Neat idea!
The “Female” sake
The “male” sake
The sake was not too strong and went down quite smoothly. (Some sakes just burn the throat as it goes down)
The food list is two pages (short!) but Toriciya only serves food that compliments and suits the flavour of the sake and shochu, therefore, our meal was really to drink sake and not necessarily come for the food.
Raw Squid
For some reason, I have a fascination with eating raw squid. I really enjoy the crunchy texture of the squid. Most people don’t like raw squid because of how slimy it is, but this is one reason why I like it. It’s rather interesting!
Beef with wasabi
Grilled sticks of chicken skin, thigh, soft bone and quail egg
The yakitori was nicely marinated in teriyaki sauce and tasted like any other yakitori.
Stick of quail eggs
The quail egg was nicely grilled to perfection. It had a nice smokey flavour.
Dried whitebait with radish salad
Usually I like the flavour of whitebait but I wasn’t too sure about this dish. The dried whitebait was a little tasteless and mixed with radish made it even weirder. I didn’t enjoy this dish at all but I may understand why it would go well with sake.
Japanese risotto with okra – small
I was hoping this dish was a little more flavoursome but it was more similar to rice with a light wine stock. It was very simple and would go nicely with sake (as the dish was flavourless which would bring out the flavour of the sake)
Warm sake
Warm sake goes well when eating warm foods. I prefer the warm sake over the cold sake for the reason that both the sake and the food are the same temperature. We even got to choose our own small sake glasses! 
Japanese style omelette
The Japanese-style omelette was one of my favourites on my trip to Japan after the experience in Kanazawa. The omelette here was very similar, sweet, juicy and tasty! The layering of the egg as it gets rolled up is still a fascination to me. I must try making this at home one day!
Salmon sashimi
Tasty and fresh!
More yakitori!
Fried tofu
The tofu was nice and crunchy, complimented with a light soy dressing.
The Japanese experience at Toriciya is very authentic. The owner/chef and waiter/waitresses all speak Japanese. The interior of Toriciya makes me feel like I’m in Japan, and you step back into reality once you step one foot outside the door. Not sure if I would make the trip back too occasionally, because I woke up and had to drink at least a litre of water… too much sake!
Toriciya
18 Cammeray Road,
Cammeray, NSW 2062
Ph: (02) 9904 2277
Web: http://www.toriciya.com.au/en/index.html
Opens… Monday to Saturday from 6pm
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By teresa
Teresa lives in New York City. She's originally from Sydney, like the rest of the EST crew, but crossed the Pacific to explore the culinary delights of the United States. In a country known for artery-clogging, cholesterol-filled, join in on Teresa's culinary adventure!
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This article was written on 24 Apr 2009, and is filed under Dinner, Japanese, Sydney, North.
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Oohh yayyy!! My friends and I have been eyeing this place for agggess now but we’ve all been too lazy to organize but this will definitely push us to try it out ^^! Thhxxx the preview and incentive XD! How was pricing of the skewers cos we would be mass ordering those hee hee and I heard about their extensive sake selection
Ahh yeah traditionally ppl drank straight from the masu (and they overflowed the sake onto saucer) but its much easier from a glass haha and good places would fill the glass and the masu to the very top for maximum sakeage hee hee
FFichiban’s last blog post..The Malaya – King St Wharf, Sydney
good find!!
mmmm omelette
this looks wonderful (and would be a great izakaya intro course for a has-not-travelled-to-japan-yet like me).
shez’s last blog post..lindt cafe
Been meaning to get here for ages. Food looks great, and I agree, you can never get sick of Japanese food!
Helen’s last blog post..Markets, Mingara and mementoes at The Entrance
Oh, I read about this place, wanted to visit, then promptly forgot about it! Thanks for the reminder. The food looks rather nice. Shame about the deposit for bookings. Was it a really big group you were with?
Y’s last blog post..Pineapple and chamomile
looks like a really nice place to eat.
simon
Simon Food Favourites’s last blog post..Lee’s Malaysian, Sydney (23 April 2009)
A place where the food revolves the alcohol and not the other way around – I’m there. I like sake but sometimes the burn is just too much, would be interested to try the sake at this place:)
Miss Honey’s last blog post..Palace Chinese Restaurant Yum Cha
you are the japanese food KING!
if i ever felt like japanese food your blog would come to my mind first. The japanese risotto looks nice!!! I’m in a reall soup broth mood at the moment. I think its because of the darn cold.
smileona’s last blog post..Din Tai Fung
this looks like a nice hidden gem on the northside… something about north shore and Japanese cuisine
billy@ATFT’s last blog post..http://www.atablefortwo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/vegemite_poster.jpg
I used to love going here but I thought they changed it so you had to eat a minimum of $50pp so stopped going. But maybe I misheard – so you say that if you book you have to give a $50pp deposit? Okay..a bit strange. Did they ask you for a minimum spend when you ate there?