Kozy Restaurant

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Before reading ❗️

The details 📝

Visit 1

Many of you might have heard of Cherry & Grape - a cafe West Perth which arguably, is best known for their fluffy pancakes and Asian influenced brunch dishes. In fact, their souffle pancakes made it in our Best of 2020 eats.

In October 2022, the folks behind Cherry & Grape opened their sister restaurant - Kozy, a degustation restaurant that incorporates Korean and Japanese flavours with Modern Australian cuisine*.

*Note that Kozy will transition to an a la carte menu in November 2022.

Like their brunch cafe Cherry & Grapes, Kozy's kitchen is led by Chef James Park, who has an impressive CV. Born in Seoul, Chef James has spent a time working in both Seoul and Perth. In Seoul, he's spent time as R&D chef and experimenter at Molecular Gastronomy LAB before being sous chef at the two Michelin starred Alla Prima.

In Perth, he previously owned and operated Binchotan Grill and Tapas (arguably ahead of it's time), SKØL and Doric Street Cafe. More noticeably before joining the kitchen at Cherry & Grapes and Kozy, he also spent time working at heavy hitters in the Perth food scene like COMO Treasury's Wildflower and Crown's Nobu.

The front of house team is ran by Aron Wong - the same face responsible for leading the front of house team at Cherry & Grapes.

Course 1: Salted bread

To start - salted bread with ginseng butter. The bread was ever so slightly sweet and reminded us of pastries you'd find in Asian bakeries.

Course 2: Stracciatella

The next course was one of the favourites for the night. It was a wonderful play of textures and balance of flavours. Sweetness came from grape and tomato jelly, umami from the fragrant olive oil and crisp, from the thin sheet of wonderfully flavourful jamon. It also was presented on a rather beautiful (and likely expensive) plate.

Course 3: Kingfish

Course 3 was probably the least favourite of the dishes. The sliced kingfish had a seared, aburi quality to it and was met with a number of crunchy elements coated in a creamy dressing. Hints of sweetness came from the kiwi as well. There was also a bit of a herbaceous quality to the dish.

Course 4: Octopus

You could literally taste the beautiful char grilled, tender octopus!

Palette cleanser

I mean... You could probably call this half a course, right?

One of the favourites of the night came in the form of a palette cleanser, before the "mains". The celery ice-cream was deliciously savoury and contrasted well against the dried olives. Who knew celery would make for such a great ice-cream flavour. It reminded us of Prego's rocket and lime sorbet we had a couple years ago.

Course 5: Wagyu

Like the octopus, the wagyu had an excellent sear and was cooked to a juicy medium rare. The toasted edamame and pea puree reminded us of something we would have at Nobu. The toasted edamame particularly added nice textural contrast to the tender wagyu.

What we loved most about this dish was the heat from the chilli jangajji (Korean pickled chilli) which cut through the fatty, high grade wagyu.

Course 6: Spaghetti

Al dente spaghetti with a bit of heat from the shichimi and sancho pepper. The spaghetti soaked up all the flavourful, brothy clam base that added a nice salty punch to the dish. The cucumbers added an element of freshness to this dish.

Course 7: Monaka

Now this was an interactive course! The runner suggested eating this like a burger.

Course 8: Strawberry

The penultimate course was another savoury sweet combo. Notice the delicate maple leaf tulles made from yuba (dried tofu skin). We loved the coffee crumb which contrasted well against the strawberry and the tarty tasting yuzu.

Course 9: Petit fours

To finish - melt in your mouth, rich dark chocolate truffles and candied walnuts.

Bonus!

On the night of our visit, we got to take home a cute treat.

It comprised of a delicious choux pastry and in-house made gochujang sauce.

Visit 2

Disclaimer
Our second visit to Kozy was courtesy of Aron and Chef James. All opinions remain as our own!

Our first visit to Kozy was in October 2022. Kozy have since relaunched their degustation service after Chef James spent time back in Korea doing some menu R&D. Their relaunched degustation service will set you back $188 per person (10 courses)

Course 1: Scampi

To start - a sweet Shark Bay scampi with a beautiful consomme cream chive oil. The yuzu sorbet and consomme paired beautifully. Of the ten or so dishes served - this one was probably one of the most memorable ones. It made for a great palate opener.

Course 2: King crab

The next course - was beautifully presented in carved lemon. Notes of citrus from the mandarin and the croutons helped to cut through the rich, brown butter and add a dimension of texture. We would've loved to see a little more citrus, or lemon, as a nod back to the presentation.

Course 3: Squid

Course 3 was probably the least memorable course of the night. Like many of the dishes, it did have a great contrast of flavours (saltiness balanced by the corn puree) and textures contrast.

Course 4: Toothfish

We're starting to approach the last of the seafood dishes now. Next up was a toothfish, with a very punchy balsamic sauce.

Course 5: Gamtae

Course number 5 reminded me of Cantonese banquet favourite - lobster yee mein Spaghetti was served al dente and soaked up all the delicious, clam based sauce. Definitely a favourite for the night!

A serving of sourdough is also provided on the side, letting you soak up the juicy, umami goodness. Don't forget the quenelle of yuzu butter - it reminded me of the ever so slightly sweet Asian pastries.

Course 6: A5 wagyu

A generous portion of WA Futari A5 wagyu was up next. As you can imagine, this course was rich. Rich. Rich. Rich. I think it could've used a little bit more wasabi or a pinch of yuzu kosho, to help cut through the fatty goodness. Definitely a very indulgent course.

Course 7: Lamb

And the last for the mains - lamb. The mint yoghurt sauce kept things nice and light.

Course 8: Celery & lime ice-cream

After 8 courses, we start to approach the light at the end of the tunnel. The celery ice-cream from our last visit made a delicious re-appearance. This time, served in a lime with a kumquat which gave it some tartiness. This made for a great palate cleanser. It left me thinking - should this have been served after the wagyu?

Course 9: Dark chocolate & tonka tart

And after 9 or so courses, we finally made it to the final course for the evening. The 10th course - a buckwheat creme brulee was not served during the night as the recipe was still being finalised.

A common theme for the dishes tonight was balance - in terms of flavours and textures. This one was no exception. Each morsel was light and airy before biting into the biscuit base.

In summary

Aside from personal flavour preferences, we can't fault any of the dishes. All the dishes had a great balance of flavours and textures. The vibe at Kozy, aside from being cosy, is casual and friendly (they always have some juicy beats blasting on their speakers as well 😉). As said previously, the folks at Kozy are moving towards an a la carte style menu from November 2022.

Like our first visit to Kozy, we couldn't really fault the food during our second visit. The biggest elephant in the room is the nearly 40% increase in price from $138 per person to $188, though one could argue this justifies rising costs of living, not to mention, interest rate hikes. As a point of reference, Wildflower serves up an $180 per person 6 course menu, so perhaps $188 is reasonable after all.

With food more or less nailed, our feedback to the Kozy team is around service. Sharpening it towards a more fine dining level and having the Kozy team be able to hold a candle to the fine dining degustation giants in Perth.

In summary

Aside from personal flavour preferences, we can't fault any of the dishes. All the dishes had a great balance of flavours and textures. The vibe at Kozy, aside from being cosy, is casual and friendly (they always have some juicy beats blasting on their speakers as well 😉). As said previously, the folks at Kozy are moving towards an a la carte style menu from November 2022.

We're looking forward to dropping in again!

Before visiting 🚙