One Tea Lounge and Grill - Sydney

Had high hopes for this place as it had great reviews but I was quite disappointed with the quality of the food. The price for each item was quite expensive and for the time we waited for each dish to come, it was definitely not worth the price. We ordered the matcha fries and the salmon dish as an entree and were expecting something more than just a bowl of fries sprinkled with some matcha powder on top, but that is what we got. The salmon however was quite nice with the sauce and a little bit of avocado on the side. The matcha hotpot was the most disappointing item. It took around an hour for the pot to come, which was filled with some sort of matcha soy milk, it did not taste of matcha at all, the meat, vegetables and udon that we ordered took an extra 20min to come. All in all, extremely let down by that dish and for the price we paid for it as well. On the bright side, the desserts were quite nice and both had their own show of fire and liquid being poured on top of the dessert.

Theatrical experience - flavours were nice but needs work on service One Tea Lounge and Grill established itself with the Ramen burger at the Night Noodle Markets in 2013 and now has a restaurant at Chatswood Westfield, Hawker Lane and York Street, Sydney. We decided to go to the City as it had a more extensive menu. I've been meaning to come here for a while as the menu is primarily infused with premium Japanese Green tea. Who doesn't love Matcha besides my husband??!! I had to try it and we were glad we did go as he actually enjoyed the food and experience (we deliberately drove here just to eat and we weren't disappointed). I was in Matcha heaven, from cocktails to hot pot and desserts, almost everything had some green tea component. Not only that, some dishes came with a theatrical experience, definitely worth taking the camera out. There were a few things we wanted to try so we decided on the #matchahotpot for 2 to get a small taste of the menu. There are 2 different prices, one for Wagyu and one for seafood for the hot pot, we decided on wagyu. The menu included kingfish carpaccio, ramen or Matcha slider (we chose one of each), 9+ wagyu beef on lava stone or flaming volcano (you have to go for the flaming volcano for the theatrical experience), Matcha hot pot with wagyu or seafood (we chose wagyu), ice cream baoger or cookie shots (we chose cookie shots - Matcha and red velvet filled with green tea latte), Matcha gold or Matcha heaven on fire (we chose the Matcha gold - both had a theatrical experience). The waitress who served us was ? a trainee as another waitress was with her. She didn't introduce herself, recommend any dishes and she didn't seem to have a clue or understand what we wanted. We also only saw her twice throughout our dinner experience, we had to ask different waitresses to assist. Most of the waitresses were clueless. There was however, a male staff member, ? manager as he seemed to be more organised, telling the waitresses what to do and followed through when we asked for something. He even said that there was a waitress in training, not really a good idea on a Saturday night as it was busy and he seemed to be running around like a 'headless chicken' at one point. He was pleasant and explained what we were going to eat. There was a long delay with our hot pot as apparently we were meant to tell the waitress that we were ready for it, but isn't that the waitress responsibility to check on the table and ask if the next meal would like to be served??!! (We also had empty plates on the table). The kingfish carpaccio was too pretty to eat. Slices of kingfish were topped with radish slices, baby beet leaves, edible flowers, yellow and red tomatoes and Matcha yuzu. It had a nice tangy, salty and sweet flavour but I preferred the kingfish to be sliced a bit thinner and only if it was more soft as in melt in your mouth. The ramen and Matcha slider both had a wagyu beef patty, Matcha mayo, siracha chilli sauce, sliced tomato and red onion. The ramen slider was nice, the noodles was slightly crispy but a bit messy to eat as the noodles came undone with each bite. The patty was soft, not salty and with the combination of sauce and mayo, it was nice. The Matcha bun was soft and good. Both sliders were a good starter but I preferred a bit more heat in the siracha​ sauce. The wagyu 9+ with the flaming volcano is definitely camera worthy. Cubed wagyu with shimeji mushrooms and teriyaki wasabi sauce was lit on fire in front of you. The wagyu was slightly tough with some nerve in the meat but flavours were nice. I wasn't sure if I was going to like the Matcha hot pot as it was a soy milk base but it was actually nice, it didn't taste like soy. It came with a large bowl of wagyu slices, wombok, bok choy, cabbage, carrot, mushrooms - shitake, shimeji, and enoki, chicken, and shallots. Three different sauces were served with the hot pot, one was chilli in oil, sesame oil creamy sauce, and soy. I liked the sesame oil sauce. The cookie shots were disappointing, the biscuit cup didn't taste fresh but it was crunchy and the Matcha latte tasted like water with the slightest hint of Matcha. It came with a small teapot of Matcha latte that you could refill yourself, more of a novelty. The Matcha gold was a nice experience. Warm matcha chocolate sauce was poured over the golden chocolate ball which revealed Matcha ice cream. It sat on top of Matcha castella cake, polenta crumble, chocolate crumble, strawberries and grapefruit. It tasted nice when combined together besides the grapefruit, too sour for my liking. We wanted to try the Matcha soft serve in a green tea waffle cone and I'm glad we did as it was good. It wasn't bitter and tasted like it had some coconut in it. Just yummy. For beverages, I tried the red velvet latte and it was creamy and yummy. It was served in a bowl. I asked for it to be piping hot but came out warm. We also ordered a mocktail in a tea pot. The tea cups were served with an edible flower. It was yummy. There was dry ice in the pot making it another interesting experience. Verdict: Nice flavours with some served with a theatrical experience. Definitely worth a try for Matcha and non-Matcha lovers, if not, camera-worthy.

Theatrical experience - flavours were nice but needs work on service One Tea Lounge and Grill established itself with the Ramen burger at the Night Noodle Markets in 2013 and now has a restaurant at Chatswood Westfield, Hawker Lane and York Street, Sydney. We decided to go to the City as it had a more extensive menu. I've been meaning to come here for a while as the menu is primarily infused with premium Japanese Green tea. Who doesn't love Matcha besides my husband??!! I had to try it and we were glad we did go as he actually enjoyed the food and experience (we deliberately drove here just to eat and we weren't disappointed). I was in Matcha heaven, from cocktails to hot pot and desserts, almost everything had some green tea component. Not only that, some dishes came with a theatrical experience, definitely worth taking the camera out. There were a few things we wanted to try so we decided on the #matchahotpot for 2 to get a small taste of the menu. There are... read more

My friend and I came here for her birthday and we were not disappointed. Yes, it's pricey, but the food is very delicious. The Korean/Japanese influence is obvious, and the taste is yum, yum, yum! From the Matcha fries, to the Poke Salmon salad, to the one-off dessert we ended our feast with (celebrating VIVID festival in Sydney), we were completely satisfied and happy with all dishes. Service was great, and the booking process was perfect. I will be back!

This matcha themed restaurant incorporates matcha into both savoury and sweet dishes. It is definitely very creative but my favourite items are the fried icecream burger (available in matcha and black sesame flavours) and the ramen burgers. This place can get busy during peak times so do book beforehand!