Situated close to Darling Habour and right next door to PWC, Sepia offers a series of Japanese-inspired dishes across a five or nine course lunch/dinner:
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| Outside of Restaurant | Bathroom | Hand Towels |
Most of internal decor is brown, black... and more brown, and the dining area is dimly lit. I thought the table lighting (miniature brown shades) was rather redundant since the shades were opaque and gave off minimal light onto the dining table. Following on from the dark colour scheme, the bathroom was also done up to match with nice-smelling hand care products and tray of hand towels.
When we first arrived at opening time, we faced what felt like a revolving door of waiters, each with their own purpose - e.g. taking us to our table, asking whether we wanted still or sparkling water, taking drink orders, and then presenting us with our menus.
After much musing between ourselves and (re)confirming which course dinner we wanted to pick, we waved down a waiter... only to find out he was the drinks waiter and that we'd need to advise our choice to the table waiter (she was busy with other customers at another table). Anyway, all was good in the end and we eventually put in our choice of the nine course dinner ($205pp).
Before commencing dinner, there is an option to start with an additional entree of oyster(s) but we passed.
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| Saikou Salmon, Smoked Roe, Sudachi Smoked Ama Ebi, Pickled Daikon, Shiso Bonito, Water chestnut, Nori, Dashi Jelly |
The first course started off with three bite-sized pieces (resembling sushi and a Chinese prawn wonton) that were placed on elevated concave stands. This was an unusual choice for presentation - I guess this way, the individual pieces wouldn't roll around as it would on a plate. My favourite would have to be the salmon one, which covered a ball of smoked roe.
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| Spanner Crab, Sake Vinegar Jelly, Salted Cucumber and Green Apple, Brown Butter Emulsion |
The next dish was sprinkled with what I believe to be freeze-dried cucumber and apple, giving off a dramatic smoky effect across the table. Unfortunately my jelly/crab roll wasn't quite rolled properly and therefore whenever I tried to cut it into bite-sized pieces, the pieces quickly unraveled. SissyG had much better luck in cutting hers, which maintaining its shape. I'm still not sure why there was rosemary on the dish though.
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| Sea Scallop, Macadamia Nut Cream, Quail Egg, Umeboshi, Scallop Crackling, Linaria | Close-Up of Deconstructed Dish |
Next came the sea scallops and quail egg dish, which looked pretty and delicate with the linaria scattered on top of the pale 'crackling' (similar to udon that had been deep-fried to a prawn cracker texture). Underneath the decoration, the quail egg and scallop was arranged to resemble a flower on top of dollop of nut cream.
Above: Bread and Butter served with dish
Top Right: Charcoal Grilled Black Lip Abalone, Bamboo, Sea Vegetables, Dashi Cream, Lardo, Wakame Oil | 
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 Ball of Butter |
With our next course, we were offered bread roll along with a ball of butter, which was the size of a golf ball, topped with salt (?) droplets. It seemed a bit of a waste since we only used about 1/4 of it between the two of us. The abalone and lardo (reminded me of prosciutto) were thinly sliced and stacked on top of bamboo, vegetables and a dollop of cream.
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| Potato, Dashi, Kombu, Yuzu, Caviar |
The next dish was cream-based (flavoured from the dashi and yuzu), covered with a crumbed potato coating, and then topped with a spoonful of caviar.
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| Seared Sea Urchin, Smoked Bone Marrow, Cauliflower, Yuzu Koshu, Toasted Milk Bread, Citrus Soy, Sobacha |
Along came another sushi-wannabe dish, topped with seared sea urchin. but its looks were deceptive as the nori hid layers of bone marrow, cauliflower and toasted bread.
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| Roasted Aylesbury Duck Breast, Lemon Aspen, Sheep Yoghurt, Mulberry Vinegar, Fennel |
Sadly, the duck skin wasn't crispy in this dish. Also, I never really understood why Westerners like their duck to be served pink... and still don't - yes, the meat is soft and tender but so does the (fully cooked) meat in a Peking duck. A fennel leaf was placed on the plate but we weren't sure if it was edible.
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| Chargrilled David Blackmore Wagyu Karubi, Roasted Onion and Mustard, Chestnut Mushrooms, Ice Plant |
The next dish was presented with large vein shards, along with mushrooms, onions and ice plant strategically placed on top of the thick slice of wagyu beef. The wagyu literally melted in my mouth and its flavours were absorbed by the mushrooms and onions. Surprisingly, the ice plant had a bubbling exterior texture and somewhat reminded me of some succulent plants around my neighbourhood.
There is an optional course (with comte, pear jelly, roasted endive, fried walnuts, plum, and celery) before dessert but we passed again.
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| Alpine Strawberries, Salted White Chocolate Chantilly, Frozen Strawberry Sherbet, Shiso |
For special effects, the frozen strawberry sherbet was sprinkled on top of the dish, giving off another smoke effect. This was probably our favourite dish of the night - the salted white chocolate chantilly was divine (although SissyG's one tasted saltier than mine) and was absolute perfection in combination with the alpine strawberries. SissyG was totally addicted to the chantilly and I had to swap my (empty) plate with hers, given her lactose intolerance (all the better for me =D).
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Top Left: Desserts
Above: Milks (Milk Chocolate, Coconut Yoghurt, Rice Milk Pudding, Goat Milk Dulce De Leche, Sheep Milk Sorbet, Milk Cake, Milk Crisp, Yuba)
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 Autumn Chocolate Forest (Soft Chocolate, Hazelnut and Almond, Violet Crumble Cream, Blackberry Sorbet, Rose Jellies, Green Tea, Licorice, Chocolate Twigs, Bronze Fennel) |
Out of the two desserts, I probably preferred their signature Autumn Choc Forest, which provided an combination of textures based on chocolate, jelly and cream. I thought it was rather clever how they used green tea to imitate moss in the Autumn Choc Forest. Another fennel leaf made an appearance (although dusted this time round) and was promptly set aside.
As for the Milks, the combination of flavours from the various 'milks' just blended together to form a milky taste but it was interesting how milk could be presented in different forms, e.g. the milk crisp melted in my mouth and tasted exactly like milk powder. Peculiarly, yuba (tofu skin) was included in this dish, despite it not being made from a 'milk' product, and was the only element that SissyG could consume.
The food was top-notch, as expected from a three-hatted restaurant.. but is it worth the money? SissyG commented that she felt like she hadn't eaten much all night and was still slightly hungry by the dessert course (she even considered requesting for an additional bread roll). However, this could have been because she didn't eat most of the dairy-based elements across the multiple courses, whilst I ate everything (and some more from her serving) and therefore I was full by the end of the dinner. I personally think dining here is something better suited for special occasions - definitely not for everyday dining.
In order to eat at Sepia, it is recommended to book in advance as they have limited seating and dining time slots (Sepia is open for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday, and lunch on Friday and Saturday). Be sure to get table water in order to avoid the $9 surcharge for (San Pellegrino?) still/sparkling water. Also there is a 1.65% surcharge for all credit card transactions.
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