Garaku

Good Food hatGood Food hat16/20Updated October 26, 2026,first published October 13, 2025Good Food hatGood Food hat16/20GarakuJapanese$$$$Kaiseki counter that’s a temple of calm, considered cooking.With a kitchen led by Derek Kim, who spent almost a decade at Tetsuya’s, you would expect nothing less than precise plating and refined flavours at Garaku. But then the reality of eating Kim’s food reveals something more: fiercely seasonal cooking that’s artful and intensely thoughtful, but also full of lightness and whimsy.Take the opening hassun arrangement, presented as a Zen garden of snacks, complete with a tiny rake (non-edible) and delicately steamed zucchini flower filled with prawn shinjo paste and topped with caviar (very edible). For the suimono course, there’s gently braised abalone perched on sweet chestnuts and spaghetti squash in a clam dashi of clean, streamlined flavour. Come winter, you may encounter charred marron finished with shellfish koji butter, and chawanmushi boasting truffles and king crab.Service is relaxed and confident, Hiroto Yoshizoe’s pixel-panel artwork reflects the flow of the kitchen, and the wine list is full of pleasant surprises, including no less than 16 Domaine de la Romanee-Contis. Good to know: The whisky bar downstairs at Prefecture 48 is worth your time for post-dinner Old Fashioned.Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.Sign upLast visited: June 2026More:SydneyGarakuJapaneseSeparate barLicensedPrix fixeGluten-free optionsWheelchair accessAccepts bookingsRestaurantReviewsGood Food GuideFrom our partners