Deep-fried sandos, fruit-filled daifuku and wobbly warambimochi – here are the Japanese street foods Sydney is lining up for right now.
Japanese street foods that you could once only find in a backstreet in Shibuya or Shinjuku are now cropping up all over Sydney. There are matcha cafes and sando spots, while onigiri rice ball shops are rolling out all over town – and that’s just the beginning. Here are three new places you may not have tried yet.
Deep-fried sandos at Age.3
We’ve come to associate Japanese sandwiches with their super-soft shokupan bread, so it’s a surprise to find them at Age.3 (pronounced ah-geh-san) with a golden deep-fried crust. Near the UTS Tower in Ultimo, students gather on Harris Street posing with toasty triangles slotted with slippery ginger noodles, Japanese egg salad and matcha ganache.
The idea originated from Fruits Sand Three, a fruit sando shop in Fukuoka, which created a deep-fried sandwich so popular the owners opened a spin-off store. The first Age.3 opened in Tokyo in 2023, but you can now find them in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sydney. The local franchisee confirmed that more Australian stores are on the way.
What to order: The creme brulee number is a cracker. A diagonal slice of deep-fried shokupan milk bread is sliced down the middle, loaded with vanilla custard, and blowtorched for a crunchy toffee lid.
Shop 92, 732 Harris Street, Ultimo, @age.3_sydney
Daifuku at Sydney Daifuku Store
Surrounded by flats on a leafy backstreet in Lane Cove, newcomer Daifuku Sydney Store specialises in its namesake snack, made from whole fruit enrobed in red or white bean paste, then swaddled in a mochi sheet.
Chef Chisato Nakayama can be seen mixing the mochigome rice flour on the counter, and carefully shaping it into plump, pastel pin-cushions, just as her grandmother taught her.
There are five flavours: strawberry, grape, blueberry, chocolate and matcha. Dine in, and they’ll cut them in half with a piece of string to preserve the delicate outer layer. Since opening last month, Daifuku has been selling out nearly every day.
What to order: We’re big on the blueberry which adds a hint of cream cheese to the white bean paste for a cheesecake-like flavour.
Shop 2, 72 Helen Street, Lane Cove North, instagram.com/sydney.daifuku.store
Warabimochi at Kamakura Warabimochi
There’s more than one way to mochi. Japanese chain Warabimochi Kamakura specialises in the loose, blobby kind known as warabimochi, made from bracken starch rather than the usual glutinous rice flour. The new Regent Place shop in the CBD is one of 50 stores worldwide and only the second to open in Australia, with the first landing in Perth last year.
Order at the counter, where soft mounds of mochi are tossed in bowls of powdered matcha, black sesame or kinako – a toasted soybean powder. Much of the mochi’s appeal lies in its soft, stretchy texture, which allows you to perform the mochi version of a cheese pull. It’s not particularly sweet, but you can dial up the caramel flavours with a drizzle of Okinawan dark molasses.
What to order: Go kinako. It tastes of malted milk powder and its light crumb makes a lovely contrast to the mochi’s jelly-like texture.
Shop 28, 501 George Street, Sydney, warabimochi-kamakura.com
Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.
Erina Starkey – Erina is the Good Food App Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously, Erina held a number of editing roles at delicious.com.au and writing roles at Broadsheet and Concrete Playground.
