- Gold Plate Awards finalist 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
- Tucker Seabrook Wine List Award 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008
- Restaurant & Catering WA ~ Awards for Excellence 2006, 2007
- Entertainment Gold Award Winner 2007/2008
Excerpts from food review edited by Rob Broadfield, as published in "The Western Australian GOOD FOOD GUIDE 2011".
"Tsunami makes the finest sushi in town...".
The pioneering contemporary Japanese restaurant has long been the go-to place for those who know their Kanto from their Kansai. For the record, Tsunami's distinct flavours sit in the Kanto tradition.
Nigiri sushi in particular requires a deep understanding of fish species as well as knife skills, and chef Tetsuya Sakamoto's Nigiri re-defines flavour as does his sashimi cut in the traditional thick Tokujyou style. Even the wasabi, grated fresh on to your plate, has a flavour miles away from the packaged variety.
This is a highly individual, unpretentious establishment that delivers delicious food with genuine care.
Excerpts from food review written by Rob Broadfield, as published in "Business News" Perth Western Australia.
The food deserves to be raved about. This is especially so when Tsunami's food is placed in the context of the recent proliferation of sushi bars and Japanese restaurants, many of which serve sub-standard food.
Both the sushi and sashimi dishes were extraordinarily fresh. The raw fish was served (as it should be) at room temperature. The rice in the ngiri and under the fish had crisp starchy flavours - as opposed to the dense, floury characters that old rice displays - and just the right amount of 'stickiness'. The fish, especially the tuna, was of the highest order. However, as any sushi chef will tell you, it is knife skills that turn great fish into extra-ordinary fish.
At Tsunami, one very quickly realises that much of the sushi, sashimi and ngiri one has eaten over the years is just barely OK. For a western palate, unschooled in the finer points of Japanese cuisine, it's not until one eats the best that one realises so much of what has gone before has been rubbish.
The food is excellent, probably the best Japanese I've had in Perth in at least a decade. The experience is decidedly un-Japanese and that's the secret of Tsunami's success. Carboni and his partners have gone for a décor and style of service which quite deliberately eschews the standard theme park style one expects in a Japanese restaurant.
And it's fun.
The star at Tsunami is the food.
All the dishes are numbered, which reminded our dinner chum Charlie of a game he used to play with mates, where they would pick a number at random prior to going to the local Chinese and then have to eat whatever dish corresponded, come what may.
There's the laksa in Singapore and Malaysia, the pho in Vietnam and the literally hundreds of noodle dishes in regional Chinese cuisine. They are all meals in a bowl. The suki-udon was based on a light soy-flavoured broth and filled to overflowing with fresh bean shoots, cubes of tofu, spinach leaves supermodel thin slices of grilled beef and a huge mound of thick, lustrous fresh udon noodles. It was authentic and absolutely superb.
Likewise, the sukiyaki delivered a similar impact. Brought to the table in a large cast iron nabe (cooking pot), the sukiyaki broth held sliced chicken, a mixture of vegetables and handfuls of very fine noodles. As with most Japanese cooking the flavours were subtle, but once the palate became accustom-ed to the delicacy and fineness of the dish, its complexities begin to show themselves.
The sukiyaki was served with a dish of steamed rice on the side. At the price, both these dishes represented good value for money.
Tsunami's food helped. It was magnificent -plated-up with the precision of a Swiss watch and made on produce so fresh it was bracing.
The X factor though was front-of-house man, Brett Carboni. He weaved magic with his perfectly pitched service - solicitous, jolly, not overbearing, playful, informative and sincere in a way that the "have a nice day" crowd just don't get.