Onice in Mosman merges Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese flavours in an inviting space where service reigns supreme.
You may have looked at the name of this restaurant and thought, “Onice, what a lovely name for someone”, or, “I wonder where Onice is? Maybe in Provence”. I know I did. But, as explained by its owner, Alex Nguyen, Onice is pronounced “Oh nice”.
It’s what Nguyen wants diners to think while visiting this cosy corner restaurant, which opened in the heart of Mosman in February. Good food and fine hospitality are striven for equally here and, on a cold wet night amid Onice’s glowing glass wall lamps, sand-toned walls, wooden tables and padded banquette seating, service reigns supreme.
We’re seated with immediate aplomb – broad smiles, water served, swift menus. A staff member, noting the cool night air outside, waves his hand around the door to target any draught. When dishes are served, Nguyen and the staff member’s attentive nature is so unflinching you wonder if being best friends is on the cards post-dinner.
One of the most memorable things about Onice, which merges Vietnamese food with Thai and Japanese flavours, is in the entree section of the lunch and dinner menu. Served like glistening emerald cigars, five betel leaf-wrapped wagyu slices arrive sprinkled with crushed peanuts and a swerve of dark bronze peanut sauce. Tightly rolled and quickly char-grilled, the leaves’ bitter pungency, and flavours of lemongrass and Vietnamese coriander, are perfect with their tender cargo.
Equally excellent are “Auntie’s” marinated and grilled lamb cutlets, served with crisp lettuce, cucumber wedges and coriander leaves. Auntie is a reference to Nguyen’s mum, whose recipe for this rich, pull-apart meat on the bone comes with a house-made chilli oil of such mouth-smacking heat I gripped my dinner companion’s arm until able to spoon on some more.
Onice’s menu is a campaign of variety. Dishes swing from lemongrass-edged tuna tartare – delicate and plump, balanced on segments of vast undulating sesame rice cracker – to chubby sweet and sticky chicken wings dappled with chopped chives, and twice-cooked beef ribs panang curry with Thai basil.
We’re also beholden to the half-shell scallops sizzling in nam prik pao brown butter – rich with fishy, fermented, tamarind fragrances – and the king prawns in Thai sweet chilli paste with glossy slabs of onion, pineapple and green and red capsicum. There is a precise but generous approach to the cooking here, with every dish well portioned.
Nguyen has also assembled a good range of sides including burnt cabbage with miso vinaigrette, and for winter months, the addition of roast pork belly with Chinese broccoli, and charred corn salad with shrimp floss, radish, and tomato. Wine and beer is available, but no non-alcoholic offerings beyond one beer and soft drinks.
As the evening passes, and staff continue their comfort checking – “Are you warm enough? Is that seat comfortable?” – nearby tables chorus orders for the Vietnamese creme caramel, which we follow. It’s richer and sweeter than French versions of the form, served with a kicking coffee syrup, crumbled biscuit and pretty microgreens.
Nguyen, who has a background as a flight attendant, opened Onice as a daytime cafe, serving classic Australian breakfast and lunch dishes, and a South-East Asian restaurant at night. Customer love for the latter was so strong he recently did away with the brunch stuff and switched Onice to a modern Asian restaurant open for lunch and dinner daily. He was right to do so. Onice’s pungent and plentiful food, and strong hospitality, is very nice indeed.
Three more South-East Asian restaurants to try
Hello Auntie
Open for a decade in Marrickville and zinging with fans at its Darling Square outpost since 2019, Hello Auntie’s bold, fresh food dishes should always start with their green papaya salad, with cured beef, pickled mango, green papaya, carrot, peanut and basil.
16 Nicolle Walk Haymarket and 278 Illawarra Road, Marrickville, hello-auntie.com.au
Cafe Nho
Vietnamese dessert and sweet drinks, from boba teas to avocado ice-cream, coconut and black sesame smoothies, to condensed milk coffee. Slurp a pennywort and coconut number with mung bean foam and pandan jelly.
Stores in Cabramatta, Marrickville, Canley Vale and Bankstown, cafenho.com.au
Song Bird
Well, it’s not quite South-East Asian, but Neil Perry’s three-storey Double Bay drawcard is no longer purely Cantonese either. The chef recently announced he was incorporating more South-East Asian flavours across Song Bird’s menu, which means new dishes such as salt-and-pepper southern calamari with prik nam pla, and lobster tail with nam jim.
24 Bay Street, Double Bay, themargaretfamily.com/venue/songbird
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