Overview
One of the standout establishments of Darlinghurst's colourful cafe scene, Japanese spot Sandoitchi put itself on the city Sydney sandwich map when it opened in 2018 with a standout pork katsu sando on its menu. Succulent pork deep fried in panko served with cheese, nori, pickled carrot and tonkatsu mayo in between two crustless slices of white bread, the katsu sando was an immediate hit — and one of our favourite in the city.
You'll now find that same pork katsu atop koshihikari rice on the Oxford Street shop's new dinner menu. Combining fresh seafood and traditional Japanese flavours — such as umami-packed miso, tangy yuzu and spicy szechuan — the dinner offering is available from 5.30–9.30pm, Wednesday–Friday.
Seafood-lovers should look to the 'small' dishes, which include jumbo oysters, yellow fin tuna and a unique take on katsu made with Balmain bug. The mains focus on the traditional tonkatsu sets, all coming with house katsu sauce, koshihikari rice, miso soup, cabbage and white ginger dressing. Choose from the aforementioned signature pork sirloin katsu, or ones made with chicken, tofu, fish or prawns.
You can complement your meal with fruit sodas and four different Teacraft teas — and follow it up with a green tea panna cotta or yuzu sorbet served with honeycomb, strawberry and fried banana. Plus, everything — apart from the king prawn katsu ($21) — is under $20, too.
The cafe is only open for dinner four nights a week for now, but if you do end up swinging by during the day, you'll find another exciting new addition on the menu: truffle. Available for a limited time ('tis the season), the menu features extravagant truffled versions of the egg, prawn katsu and buttermilk fried chicken sandwiches. If you'd like to get a little creative, you can also add truffle to any dish for $15.
Sandoitchi is now open for dinner from Wednesday–Saturday from 5.30–9.30pm. It's also open for breakfast and lunch from 7am–3pm Monday–Friday and 8am–3pm Saturday–Sunday.