When talking about Crane Bar, one can only think of the prodigious cocktail menu and Japanese food.
The location: Very convenient, and is just a 2 min walk from Kings Cross station.
The ambiance: A simple building outside, and upon entering you get slapped with colour, foliage, and cute parasoles on the ceiling. Not to mention comfy couches to knock out on, after one too many cocktails.
The food- Simple Japanese fusion finger foods, but bursting with flavor.
I loved their prawn roll, and beef tataki; and their cheeseburger spring rolls were addictive.
Although i must say, I've read negative reviews on their prawn suimai, and i must agree that it's definitely not the best.
The service: attentive and engaging.
We came to this place for Valentine’s Day and it was absolutely amazing. We had the 8 course Japanese degustation. The venue was beautiful and was very romantic. The waitress was wonderful - she explained all the dishes, and made us feel looked after. The food - AMAZING! The dishes were well thought out, creative and delicious. After the 8 courses, you are stuffed to the brim. Dessert was delicious! I would highly recommend this place to all my friends and family. Thank you for making Valentine’s Day a special day for us.
I’ve been here a few time for drinks and food. Crane Bar inside is super cute and really reminds me of something you would find in Melbourne. The cocktails are amazing and the staff are friendly. The food is priced well and taste great!
Great find on Zomato! This is tucked away in Potts Point, from the outside you wouldn't expect what you find inside, it's very Melbourne like. The decor is amazing and the food was really good. It's a must see and try
Does My Bomb Look Big In This
+4
From the outside looking in, Crane Bar reads as a youthful haunt, with sidewalk A-frame menu specials that shout bar snacks louder than dinner.However what you will find if you venture inside, is something else entirely… The building itself is owned by infamous Kings Cross identity, John Ibrahim. It’s the site of the former Bayswater Brasserie, a restaurant that really launched modern Australian cuisine when it opened back in 1982. Being here brings back memories of the onsite wedding of media identities and mates, Neil Mercer and Rebecca Le Tourneau, so we’re pleased to see the Miyagi Mule ($17) still gracing the cocktail menu. With Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka, wasabi, cucumber and house-made ginger beer, this classic drink is all memory taste, though the eye-catching presentation provides a stylish update. We also enjoy the Tommy’s Margarita (19), a popular margarita update that switches out Cointreau for agave syrup, and ends up better than the original. Here it's well-balanced, salty and appetite-inducing. Cocktails in hand, we...
Beautiful venue, cosy and elegant place for both weekdays nights and weekends . Great food and cocktails, friendly and very professional staff that know what true hospitality is. Highly recommended for all kind of nights and events .
This was a great find walking past last week. I checked on Zomato and could see some good reviews, so I wanted to check it out. I was surprised with the food, it was really good modern Japanese and well priced. The drinks were yummy and not too overpriced. What I loved most was the decor inside, totally cute.
Surprisingly good food happened while our visit. We went for a drink but felt the hunger,so decided to eat as well. Menu was surprising to my expectation; good variety of Japanese/Asian dishes. They have vegetarian options and can adjust some of the dishes to your needs! Service was fantastic as it was a bit quite that night, I am not sure on their busy time,but really friendly,helpful staff. Mushroom salad was yummy, steamed fish was excellent and the arancini was very well executed! We might be back to try their other dishes and sushi plates:)
Had Groupon deal. Food was average. I wouldn’t pay full price though....
I didn’t really like karage chicken, it was dry and below standard. I liked spicy prawn roll.
If you are a local and want to goto a pub, maybe it’s ok. But not worth going there for fine Japanese food.
Pleasantly surprised! We also had a red balloon voucher for $178 for 8 plates and a drink. For us they served the plates one by one and the cocktail was delicious. We were starving so we ordered on extra dish - the truffle fries $9. Everything was excellent except I’d say the tuna sushi was average. Balmain bugs and the steak were amazing and the matcha cheesecake was fab. I don’t think I wld have come here if not for the voucher and so I was glad I got to try the place. I’d say it’s a little overpriced but all in all was really fun and good was impressive. Arrived 6:40 left 830 - 2hour estimate was spot on
We decided to go there after playing Tennis and because it was the 1$ dumpling night.
We were 8 and they find us a table very quickly. The place is nice, a bit noisy but perfect to go out for drinks as well.
We ordered 160 dumplings that night !! We tried all of them. The veggie one were tasty bit a bit chewy bimut the fav of all the table were the pink ones which are the spicy pork.
They served us very quickly accordingnto the amount of food we asked. The only problem was that the dumplings were not very warm. But except that they were good for this price.
I got a Groupon voucher 7 course for 2.
Cozy outside decoration.
Great food and presentation.
Excellent customer service, we asked for lemon lime bitters which was not in the menu and they made it for us and it was free.
The Naked Food Addict
+3.5
Such a great selection of food! I love that they have so many things to try on their menu, and their cocktails are FANTASTIC! Massive selection of drinks which is really cool. I love that they do cheeseburger spring rolls (which I am so weak for) and they have heaps of cool menu items! We had the edamame (such an interesting twist having them with truggle oil), the pork gyoza (YUMMMMMMMM), the east arrancini, the prawn gems (which I realllly enjoyed), a few different types of dumplings, the crane sliders, the soft shell crab sliders, the snoop chicken, the salt and pepper squid, the nasu miso cheese, the dynamite tofu (yumm) and my personal favourite... the seaweed salad! SOOOO good! Also had the beef tataki which unfortunately came out alot later than everything else, and I was not a fan... silly me didn't realise it was raw meat, and I was so full from everything else, I didn't enjoy it. I love that they had such a great selection of dishes! It makes for a fun night out with friends, although the night we went it was a tad loud, and very crowded (understandable for a Friday night though).
Awesome selection of cocktails - the 'pineapple express' is one of the best I've had! Meal sizes are great for sharing with a group of people.
Sir And Mlady Dine Out
+4
We'd been prowling around the shops in Potts Point one afternoon and decided to have an early dinner. We'd heard about Crane Bar and walked past it before but never called in. The streetscape is low key although you can see a nice "outdoor" balcony area looking out onto the world. We were surprised at how many different areas there were inside, stretching back quite a distance. It's a really pretty place with plenty of style.
Crane bar is a pretty cool looking spot close to Kings Cross station. They do $1 dumplings on Wednesday. They also hold a dumpling competition which I was lucky enough to see one of my mates break the record.
I'd probably only come on Wednesdays for that deal - the dumplings are OK but nothing special. Otherwise the staff are friendly and there's a chilled out vibe.
Went in for the dumpling challenge on $1 dumpling night. Unfortunately too busy eating to get photos. Dumplings were average - prawn schumai probably least favorite. Service was friendly though.
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Came here on a Groupon with no issues/attitude using it. Located only a few minutes away from Kings Cross Station, it’s probably best to catch a train to get here as opposed to driving as I find parking is always a hassle/hurdle in the Potts Point/Kings Cross area. When we arrived at 6.30pm, it was relatively quiet, but it did fill up later on which was a good sign. Always awkward if you’re the only ones in a restaurant and the waiter is eyeing you constantly.
Started with some cocktails, and can I just say they are STRONG. This can be either a good or bad thing depending on your personal taste, but just saying.. they’re strong. For some reason I was thinking ‘Bring the boys to the yard’ would taste like a Malibu pineapple (my favourite!) which was partly my reason for choosing it. Along with the fact that it comes out in a coconut cup! I clearly didn’t read the ingredients properly (Pampero Blanco rum, Batida, coconut cream, pineapple juice, wild berry) and what came out couldn’t be further from my expectation. Its presentation was certainly a plus, but after my first sip I was struggling. The taste of alcohol was pretty much the only thing leaving an impact, with a tiny bit of the coconut and very minimal sweetness. The “manly” cocktail ‘Old Fashioned’ was actually more tolerable, and Crane Bar’s version was decent.
Onto the food… the conditions of the voucher were to choose one dish from each of the start it, roll it, try it, veg it, and side it categories.
From the start it menu we could only choose between the edamame or pork gyoza, which wasn’t really a problem as the gyoza sounded appealing enough. They were enjoyable, nothing outstanding, but the sauce was slight and complemented them nicely. The slightly crisp outer and warm filling made this dish a great accompaniment to the other dishes, as they actually didn’t come out first despite being a “starter”.
We went with ‘Dragon’ from roll it, and as much as I had no major problems with it, it was just… basic. I suppose that’s good enough but I wouldn’t have been too impressed if I went to an actual sushi restaurant, paid $18, and it was just okay. You could barely taste the eel, or prawn for that matter, and it was mostly the sauce taste. The sweet soy was still nice which was why it was still good enough, but it felt very much like avocado, rice, and sauce.
Not gonna lie, we chose the ocean trout from the try it menu as it was the most expensive, and by $11+ at that (why not take advantage of the voucher haha). Turned out to be a good choice as the fish was cooked well and the sauce it was covered in was delicious. The sweetness wasn’t overpowering and the side salt was great as we could adjust the seasoning ourselves. I will admit at first I was quite shocked because it was so TINY and priced at $30, it didn’t make a lot of sense. Probably wouldn’t choose it again at that price, however the dish is tasty and I can imagine it being incredibly enjoyable with a bowl of rice.
For veg it we ordered the udon noodle which was cooked with tomato and eggplant. It was slightly an odd combination for me, and the first few bites I didn’t know what to think. But it was strangely addictive and I gradually enjoyed it! Not a huge fan of eggplant, but here it was incorporated well and I didn’t mind it too much.
I wonder what it is that happens exactly when I’m reading a menu, because with our side it choice of the chef’s salad, I was thinking of something different again. Technically that IS the name of the dish, and I suppose the lotus root chips are secondary as they are written below. However there I was thinking it was going to be a bunch of lotus root chips with a few leaves to make up the salad part. What came out was a very normal looking salad with a few small, thin chips on top. $15? Definitely not. Just an average salad with TOO crispy lotus root.
Staff were great, explained the conditions of the voucher nicely with no attitude (some places can be quite short with you when they find out you are there on a deal). They were friendly and checked up on us every now and then just to see how everything was. One thing I hope they really do change is the lighting situation in the front room. It was perfectly fine inside, but there is a small room at the front where we were seated that is so ridiculously dark. I mean I can imagine it would be quite pretty in there if I could actually see, but it really was just TOO dark. Staff were bumping into tables, probably because they had trouble seeing as well!
A gorgeous place - I give more points to Crane Bar for it's awesome Japanese-themed decor than their food menu - the food is just a little bit pricey and quite average, but they do a great cocktails menu, which is why you should come here.
There's a beautiful courtyard room at the back - which we unfortunately couldn't sit at (we had a group of 5) that evening as it was hired out for a 21st birthday - which would be a great venue to host a party!! There's also a great sun-room at the front which is themed with a cherry blossom wall, and faux-grass so you really feel like you are eating outdoors, somewhere in Japan. Beautiful location again for a dinner party.
Fantastic location for some delicious Japanese fusion cuisine. The venue oozes ambiance and the staff are warm and friendly (especially the bubbly cocktail / bar staff). The menu is very well priced with generous serves & the cocktails are spot on!
The floral design around the bar is cool. The dumplings here great for $6 per serving of 4 and each dumpling a decent size. The cocktails here are also great and worth getting. Overall a nice little bar with good food and friendly service.
This place has a nice vibe to it, we came on a Sunday afternoon which wasn't too busy. Had their Sunday degustation which was really nice. Started off with sashimi then onto edamame, miso soup, fried chicken, pork sliders, dumplings, sushi and finally mushroom chicken. Food overall was pretty good, but I'm not a huge fan of the sushi and by the time the last meal came around we already had a load of the fried chicken. Overall pretty good, considering it's only $40pp.
Nice lounge space at the back for a casual lunch. Yummy gyoza, edamame and spider roll. Would have preferred less batter on the tender salt and pepper squid. Dynamite tofu pretty yummy with spicy sauce. On Sunday's they have a $40pp chef's banquet from 1 pm which is a pretty good deal considering they'll keep serving it until you're full.
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Chef Tai Chi Ito holds a laid back sushi cooking class on Sunday afternoons at Crane Bar. With 20 years of experience; he presents a lot of knowledge on how to prepare, arrange and how to eat sashimi and sushi. He provided some really useful etiquette such as Avoid mixing wasabi and soy; the proper way is to get the wasabi and put this on the sashimi then to gently dip this into the mix of soy sauce/evaporated sake/mirin. This ensures you get the full flavour of the sashimi. He noted that one should always cut a slight groove into the sashimi so that the soy fill into parts of the sashimi and the flavours can balance out the fat in the fish. Any presentation of sashimi with lemon is more fusion Japanese as it takes away the true flavour of the fish. He noted that some restaurants deliberately do this with kingfish as the flavours can be very fishy. He also gave some tips on how to slice the sashimi by cutting with the bottom of the very sharp knife and cutting the delicate fish in one swoop. Included in the cooking class is a drink and nibbles The above photo is an array of ocean trout, fresh water barramundi and tuna. Chef Ito prefers ingredients from the Fish Markets and the quality was definitely there as the sashimi was fresh, tasty and beautifully presented. Chef Ito also made some Ocean Trout Nigiri and showed real delicacy in handling the sushi vinegar rice. It’s best not to press or destroy the vinegar rice. He again showed a lot of skill in preparing original sushi rolls and inside out sushi rolls. The balance of correct amount of rice can be the make or break of your sushi roll. He then prepared some key ingredients such as cucumber, avocado, king prawns, a variety of tuna, ocean trout and barramundi to prep for the main feature where all the participants got to have a go at making sushi.
Taking up residency on the legendary Bayswater Road is Crane Bar, a popular eatery and bar. Cranking out a mouth watering Japanese fusion menu, with signature beverages all from a welcoming and uniquely decorated space.
Mademoiselle Mange A Sydney
+4.5
Monsieur and I got ourselves a 10 course degustation from Groupon for Crane bar and restaurant, a Japanese restaurant… and it was value for money! Well executed dishes with very delicate flavour left us craving for more!
Crane Bar is an interesting spot, mixing Japanese design with romantic Victorian decor. It features 2 bars, live music in the evenings, and cozy seating options (we shared a loveseat). The menu features small sharing-style plates and an impressive cocktail list. We started with the Spicy Edamame ($8). It was the best I’ve ever had. Perfectly steamed edamame with chili, black sesame seeds, salt and what I believed to be… truffle oil ?! That may sound odd, but I can assure you that it was absolutely delicious and I plan on replicating it at home very soon! Next up were the Vegetable Dumplings . While not the prettiest dumplings I’ve ever seen (they look kind of like brains, huh?), they were really tasty and good value at $6 for
Chef Taichi Ito is as meticulous as they come. Previously working his craft at Stamford Plaza, Sake and Zuri Lounge in Brisbane, he now shares his love of food with those that strut through the doors at Crane.
The set menu $40 was very yummy and had variety and you even got a drink.
Not many people for atmosphere on a Sunday tho
Drinks. Had a few quiets in the garden bar... Wicked decorating took me back to Nippon. Great service
Amazing food!. Amazing Venue, Great food, extensive drinks list & an ambience to match!
Good food, but not enough!. I really liked the food!! Only downside is that the portions were far too small :(
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Aerosmith,Miranda Kerr and why Chef Tai Chi's Sashimi is WOOOW!!!. After reading that Aerosmith was papparrazzi photographed eating @ Crane 2 weeks ago, I bought a Groupon for their 10 course Chef's Menu, and have been salivating voraciously over oft-revisited, brain-branded imagery of high-resolution nigiri, glistening with vinegar sheen ever since.
We just got back from dinner at Crane tonight, and if I could give Crane 11 stars, I would. This place is new, yet its cosy and intimate interiors make you feel like you’re in Tokyo – and I am telling you Crane is giving Tokonoma a run for its money.
I am a bona fide seafood-holic, and the minute I tried the Moreton Bay Bug and sashimi I felt this strange sensation of wanting to tuck my metaphorical tail between my legs and foodgasm.
I was humbled by the fact that I never truly knew what Moreton bay bug could taste like (until now, because it costs more than lobster and is superior to Balmain Bug), and orgasmic because of the way it tasted.
Believe it or not, the sashimi and ocean trout at Crane melts in your mouth like sweet butter. DROOLS. No soy sauce necessary. No wasabi necessary. Just straight, pure, raw, naughty, delicious goodness. I think we spent $200 on drinks after the meal and got smashed as the Crane Groupon promotion already included 2 drinks EACH, and the extra shots we had were worth every penny.
Enjoy!
**PS: we had our own celebrity sighting ourselves when we spotted Miranda Kerr @ Crane tonight see attached Iphone pix!
It's a winner. Could not have better words to say about this little gem. I had my birthday celebrations there this pass weekend and from the beginning of the organising stage right through until the end of the night I was impressed.
Every single dish I tried was amazing and the restaurant itself is designed beautifully.
Staff were welcoming and beyond helpful! I will be back for sure.
Crane Sydney. This place is awesome. An excellent blend of a place to eat out and night spot. I've been a few times now both for dinner and just to go chill in the courtyard for drinks. I highly recommend Crane - it is by far the best Japanese I have had in Sydney and the venue is host to a vibrant young Sydney crowd who both enjoy great food and love a good party.
Amazing Venue & Food. I hosted a dinner at Crane for a friend's birthday. We were in the front Dining Room facing Bayswater Road. The welcoming attitude of the staff, combined with the amazing food and atmosphere, made the night truly exceptional. The fresh plates of Sushi and Sashimi appeared in a very timely fashion as did any request for beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic alike!). The interiors have been finished amazingly - I found the AstroTurf in the front room a very nice touch. We attend on a very clear/warm night which enabled us to enjoy the gorgeous courtyard after dinner. The management ensured the dinner I organised went without a hitch. I definitely would go back without hesitation!
Impressive. UK. Just come over from uni at Cambridge in the UK and am very impressed. Not only was the meal top notch, but the atmosphere and bar afterwards make it dangerous; might not need to leave as my dinner AND night out were both way above par!
Amazing new venue. I was in Sydney on the weekend for business and was taken to Crane for a business dinner and the food was incredible! Amazing japanese
The back courtyard is such a good space as well
Definitely coming back!
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