Cho Cho San

Tasting menu is fantastic. Liked the atmosphere and had a good vibe.

My favourite Jap in Sydney! Service is fantastic, friendly and welcoming. Great atmosphere and food is phenomenal! I have been 3 times in 1 week. I would recommend to all that love Jap. !!!

The design of this restaurant is truly eye catching; pale tones blend so well with the lightly coloured marble top communal table. Intermingled are smaller and private tables that provide a good choice for all comers. There is a great feel when you take up your occupancy here.
The welcome is warm and this warmth continues throughout the whole experience. The whole team engages a real spirit of support and service.
The food is simply delicious. Our of what we dined on the Snow Crab Omelette is a ‘must have’ with it’s generous serving of crab, the Japanese Bolognese was tasty and so were the Prawns. We enjoyed the Edamame along with the miso coated eggplant… indeed nothing disappointed.
The wine list can accommodate all comers… it is wide ranging in variety, price and had some true stunners to select from. As one would expect it has been carefully considered to pair with the menu. And chef Jonathon Barthelemess is always so generous with his time to talk through anything but particularly his wonderful dishes.
A great dining experience which is also quite good value for money.

Finally ventured out to try this place.
It’s a modern Japanese joint that doesn’t do anything extremely innovating, so if you’ve been to one before then the menu won’t be anything too special, but they do old faithfuls really well.
Service was great, they’re really helpful and knowledgeable here and can give recommendations if asked. My one gripe is their booking system… I booked for a Monday at 6:30pm and they emailed back saying they might be able to do 6:15 but will confirm the day of. The day of I get a text saying we’re booked for 5:30pm and to verify… uhh WTF? Who eats at 5:30pm, especially when we asked for 6:30pm? We got it sorted without issue, but it was just strange… especially since when we arrived at 6:30pm it wasn’t packed at all, but maybe that was due to the weather.
We started with a pork katsu bun, then onto Chicken Karaage, then moved onto the XO Noodles, and finished with the Teriyaki Beef Short Rib.
The pork bun was pretty good, albeit expensive at $ 8.
The Chicken Karaage was alright at $ 15, I’ve had better at cheaper places but it was a light and fluffy batter.
The XO Noodles ($ 17) were on point, albeit portions on the small side… but the fried noodles were really chewy and tender.
The Teriyaki Beef Short Rib ($ 42) was the star of the show, absolutely delicious. I would come back just for this… tender, juicy, and umami party up in your mouth.
We ended with their dessert special, mochi black sesame ice cream which was really good.
Total without drinks was under $ 100 so really affordable, if you have a big appetite I’d probably order 1 more dish.
All in all a good experience.

There was nothing special about the food, the tables and chairs looked like something from the kids section at Ikea and the service was extremely disappointing. For a restaurant that featured on a top 10 good food guide list, my experience left much to be desired. The wait staff had zero etiquette — no ‘excuse me’s’ when putting food on the table. They just shove their hands between your faces with no warning whatsoever. To be honest, they all gave off the impression that they were very unhappy to be working on a Saturday night.
We got the $ 65 banquet menu but it was so not worth it. I think I would have got more value for money ordering a la carte. The edamame had way too much salt on, the miso and corn soup was pretty ordinary, the ocean trout was drowning in dressing and the Japanese bolognese was quite spicy but not very tasty. However, the beef short ribs were delicious. They were melt in your mouth, juicy and tender. The green tea ice cream was also quite good but could have been presented better.
Considering the fact that I had to make a reservation more than a month in advance, I expected the food and the service to be better. Really, the service was shit. I don’t think I’ll be returning.

Walked past this restaurant one day and thought the cute minimalistic stone themed décor looked extremely cute so I made a note to myself that I had to try it out (had never heard of Cho Cho San before I went but now noticed it’s in all the food guides and my friends had known about it for a while!)
The inside of the restaurant featured a long communal table and bar seats around the side of the restaurant. Sat on the bar seat facing the front floor to ceiling pane and did a lot of people watching.
Food was amazing! Having never heard of the restaurant before I had no expectations. Food is tapas style so maybe order 3 dishes per person. Loved the wasabi peas.

Not blown away.. .. I love Japanese food and had to give Cho Cho San a try over Easter.
Looking back at our experience there’s not a great deal to fault. Luck was on our side as we scored seats immediately although the restaurant was full they’re turnover is rather quick.
First glance at the menu It felt a little on the lite side, not a huge selection of food.. .. On the other hand, the drinks menu is comprehensive including sake.
Staff where friendly and got things moving quickly, yet didn’t feel rushed. The let down here I feel is either the ordering system, wait staff or the kitchen, dare I say it.
There was no order with our food coming out. First on the table was edamame and our salad, a side we expected out with our mains. Shortly followed was one of our mains and another entrée then late to the table was another main.. . This should be an easy fix however I’m not the first to call this out.
Food was good but not great. I say this as we felt the highlight of our meal was the wild rice with burnt butter and ginger sauce that comes with the beef tataki. I make this comment as I don’t think it should outshine the hero on the plate, the beef!
To sum it up we had a great night at cho cho and the food is good, just not blown away as you can tell from the above. Happy to recommend just can’t see myself coming back.

Firstly I arrived at the restaurant, hyped up about the one hat rating, had a mellow atmosphere and then was let down. Don’t get me wrong. The food’s fusion creativity I would give 5 stars and the menu changes so often which is good. The taste and flavour of some of the dishes need to be refined. It was either too sweet or a bit tasteless or too savoury. Most of the younger staff were friendly but the elder ones were rude. No apologies whatsoever. Normally I would tip the restaurant but I didn’t.

Creative Japanese inspired menu with very fresh ingredients and execution. The food took ages to arrive, but this is forgivable given it has recently opened and has to iron out their operational issues.

Alright this is the new spot in and around Sydney. But I was underwhelmed. Opening blues maybe? Time will tell.
Mostly Japanese inspired menu with some amazing highlights including the corn fritters and tofu in the most amazing broth. My favourite was the omelette! Everything else dish wise I’ve seen before. One awesome thing about this place was everything ordered into the kitchen is top notch so even when the dish is lacking the main ingredient was sublime.
Cho Cho need to sort out the kitchen timings. The restaurant was full which caused a bit of havoc. I don’t mind waiting for my main and side but I definitely do not want my main and side dish 20 minutes apart. They were very forgiving after we complained twice and it was deducted from our bill.
Overall go see it but I won’t be rushing back like some of my other favorite spots in Potts Point.