You might have noticed a new restaurant / cafe pop up on the corner of Oxford Street in Paddington. It’s right near Centennial Park! The house its in has gone through many different iterations, but it looks like SVEN-SAN is here to stay. We went to JOZO BY SVEN-SAN before the restaurant proper had opened. They serve a selection of Japanese and Scandinavian light meals and things to share. I’ve got to say though, it’s definitely not as fusion as EDITION COFFEE ROASTERS where every dish has elements of both culinary cultures. JOZO is more like, there’s a Japanese dish but also a Swedish dish! You’ll see what I mean in the dishes below…
We got the Gravlax (dill cured salmon) ($16) to share, even though we each had our own dishes already. But I love gravlax, and it seemed like such a classic Scandinavian dish that we thought we had to have it. Unfortunately it was a bit of a let-down. It didn’t taste as fresh as I expected, quite fishy in fact. I don’t think we even finished the dish! I would go for the other dishes instead.
Isn’t this the prettiest dish to look at?! I love all the bright coloured. CK absolutely loved the Swedish meatballs – mashed potatoes, pressed cucumber, dill and red currants ($18.90). To be honest, you can’t really go wrong ordering this. Definitely a step up from IKEA meatballs too! (Haha)
I was after something light so I went with the Poached chicken & buckwheat soba salad with kale, roasted walnut and edamame ($17.90). This I guess is the Japanese dish of our meal and I really enjoyed how light it was, yet filling. I didn’t enjoy the extra salad leaves and watercress, it added unnecessary flavours and the dish would’ve been better without them.
I head that SVEN-SAN the restaurant has now opened, so we might need to pop over for another try! All in all, JOZO BY SVEN-SAN was pretty good. There’s a nice atmosphere being able to sit outside, as well.
JOZO BY SVEN-SAN
495 OXFORD STREET (NEAR QUEEN STREET)
PADDINGTON, SYDNEY
