My girlfriend suggested we come to Crane Bar because we were catching up on a Wednesday night and they had "One Dollar Dumplings". I always get hesitant to try specials but I was pleasantly surprised! The place was quiet but it was good so we could talk. We sat in the front area which is a semi-outdoor area (had the windows closed as it was cold), with fake grass. It was cute. The dumplings come in 4 and here were the options: - Pork - Vegetable - Spicy Pork - Pork & Prawn Shumai The food came out quick and hot. We were given soy sauce and my friend asked for chilli sauce which also came out quickly. The dumplings came out in the bamboo steam baskets as you would expect. My favourite dumplings were the Pork & Prawn Shumai - oh so tasty and delicious! The vegetable was very flavoursome! The Spicy Pork was way too spicy for me, so I couldn't really eat more than one - but my girlfriend who love spice really liked it and didn't find it spicy at all. We ended up getting 8 orders of dumplings in total which was really good value. We were full as well. I would definitely come back to Crane Bar with a group of friends as it is a bar as well so it would be nice to have some drinks too. read more

Crane Bar Restaurant - Dumplings! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Potts Point, NSW

A Yelp event is always cool (well the two I did were) and I met nice people there! So I had a good time, which is important to point out. The venue doesn't look like much from the outside to be honest, but once you step in, the indoor area is well-lit and decorated and the outdoors areas is spacious and comfortable. The fake Renaissance-designed couch with the simple wooden coffee and dining table give a nice contrast to the ceiling of Japanese umbrellas, full of colour and beautifully set hanging under the high white veranda ceiling. Candles all over the place make for a beautiful dancy shadow play as it gets darker. I was disappointed with the food: I only had dumplings but there were slightly over-filled, lacking seasoning and just not very tasty. But then they are $1 so plenty to eat at least if you are starving. I was genuinely surprised by the signature cocktail which was a strawberry and lemon based drink: sweet but not enough to leave a sugary after-taste, not very strong but fine on a Wednesday night! The service was also great and the staff was friendly and funny! I would give it a fourth star, but there are too many venues of this genre with a little something on top to get there. I will try it once more and hopefully add a star to the place :-) Imagine a duck and orange dumpling fried in duck fat ... OOUUUUH YEAAAAAAAAAAAH, GROOVY BABY ! read more

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Ok I feel bad about giving a 2 star review since the waitresses messed up and accidentally gave us $20 worth of free dumplings anyway, but are $1 dumplings supposed to be a special? These aren't big, and you have to order them in plates of 4, and in chinatown you can get better for cheaper easily. Could be excused you're paying for the decor and service, which was mostly ok, except the greeter at the door seemed to be exasperated at the prospect of serving a large group such as mine, and rudely rushed us, demanding "Hello? Someone speak to me here?" before everyone had decided on eating here for sure or not. Keep in mind this was several months ago - hopefully by now the place has improved. read more

Crane Bar Restaurant - Dumpling Feast - Sushi Bars Near Me - Potts Point, NSW

My favourite part about Crane is the beautiful decor. Loved the Japanese umbrellas on the ceiling, the gorgeous random lounges, the flowers everywhere (even painted on the walls)! It's such an unexpected find, for an area that I mainly have memories of heading to late at night to dimly lit, dingy clubs. But, the Kings Cross end of Potts Point (I never know the dividing line!) is gentrifying these days. The drinks were also a standout. At the Yelp Elite event we had the Strawberry Sakerinha, that superbly melded sake and strawberry for the perfect tipple on a hot summery night - love your work Michael! I also experimented with different drops from the wine menu, with the sauvignon blanc coming out on top. To balance it out the drinks, we ordered a constant stream of the $1 dumplings, that come in 4 varieties in baskets of 4. The pork & prawn were my favourite, although I'll admit I was too much of a wuss to try the spicy pork ones, after hearing that deliver quite a kick. Definitely a great place to head to in the late afternoon or evening, whether you're after a quiet tipple (earlier on) or are part of a large group. Next time I'd love to taste out the food menu properly! read more

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Delicious Asian inspired dishes with a really hip feel. I went on the grand opening so had little tastes of everything from the menu. I don't remember disliking anything I tried. There were some mouthwatering sushi rolls and the freshly cut tuna sashimi was a little slice of heaven. The cocktails are beautiful and have unique Asian twists. This is definitely a trendy spot to see and be seen at. read more

Crane Bar Restaurant - Sushi Bars Near Me - Potts Point, NSW

Taichi's Sushi & Sashimi Masterclass - for my Xmas gift my flatmate got me a sushi making class and I can say it was literally the best. I've done a few cooking classes and you always leave hungry and probably a little confused on what you just learned but not here. We started with learning about Sashimi and how to eat the right cuts of fish and I. The correct order. Who knew I was eating fish all wrong? And then Taichi showed us how to cut fish for sashimi- I should mention this was not a knife skill masterclass so we did not do any of the filleting ourselves. After Sashimi we moved on to Nigiri and again I've been eating it wrong my whole life. And finally onto rolls. It was a lot of fun, the class is only 16 people it's pretty intimate and easy to listen and learn. I would definitely recommend and I'm sure I'll be back for another class with other friends or family when they come to town for a visit. read more

Crane Bar Restaurant - Taichi Ho - talking fish - Sushi Bars Near Me - Potts Point, NSW

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Y'all. Happy hour. Dumplings. The freaking best. This place is beautiful. The dumplings are superb. The lighting is transcendental. The seating is chill AF. The music is happening. The bathroom is hip as hell (and clean!). If I was in the area, I'd for sure go back, but get there earlier to take full advantage of every minute of their happy hour. read more

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Lovely little place. Went on a Sunday n had the $40pp degustation. SOOOOO MUCH FOOD. Hit n miss with some courses, like the dumplings, but others were amazing, like the sashimi, karage chicken w/ chilli mayo, n teriyaki beef :) cocktails were good too, had the Miyagi mule, which had a lovely gingery spiciness to it... Give it a go but pace urself! The only dish that was well portioned was dessert. A lovely kaluha pana cotta YUM Bit let down at the end when they didn't hv coffee. A meal that big needed a good strong coffee to finish. read more

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Come early on Wednesday for $1 dumplings because it gets pretty packed! The $5 happy hour Savignon Blanc was really, really good. The dumplings were surprisingly good for how cheap they were, with the spicy pork being the best! Awesome decor and good music. read more

Crane Bar Restaurant - $1 dumplings and $5 glass of wine - Sushi Bars Near Me - Potts Point, NSW

Okay. Okay okay okay. I barely know where to start with Crane. Ex-Bayswater Brasserie (Yep. It's seen some *history*, man) and newly refurbed mod-Japanese bar and restaurant . . actually, more bar than restaurant, and only subtly Japanese . . . just a real rad place to kick back and hang out with some seriously bad-ass cocktails and light and creative share plates with a heavy focus on seafood, which is never a bad thing. Disclosure: my English friend and I came on a famil . . . and I think I now know why they call it that, because the Crane family welcomed us into their home and made it damn near impossible to leave. Not even joking - Thiago the bar manager is one of the happiest, funniest, most energetic cats you'll ever come across, Lloyd the dapper barman took the time to show us his home-made ginger beer and insane home-made sherbet, Tai Chi the chef cruised over and hung out and told us about the dishes (for instance, did you know soy sauce gets weaker the darker it is? SO white soy is the most potent soy on the market), and Erin the waitress gave us a hug on the way out. A hug! No waitress has ever done that to me before. If I was capable of crying, I would have shed an actual tear. I'm not though. I like beer and football and tossing cabers and other such things. Here's what we got through (any by got through I mean just barely finished, we ate a ton but it was so light and the flavours so subtle, delicate and structured that every dish was a pleasure): - Edamame with truffle oil and chilli salt. So simple, but with such a creative garnish. Most delicious and moreish edamame I've ever tried, hands down. The truffle & chilli... whuf. Good. - Balmain bug with miso emulsion sauce (big chunks of succulent bug flesh smothered in sauce, my companion's favourite dish). - Sea barramundi with whit soy - Scallops ponzu - Daikon fettuccine with chili tomato sauce (a type of radish done up to look like Italian pasta) - Crane's take on Duck L'Orange, slathered with truffle honey and citrus salad. (Epic). - Kingfish sashimi with umame and jalapeno (this bad boy isn't on the menu but was my pick of the night, ask for it and they might whip it up for you if you're lucky). And the cocktails . . . dear lord, the cocktails. I hope I do justice to these as I don't have the menu descriptions for them all: - 'Geisha' with green tea and salted coconut syrup, lychee, kernel one citron. - A smashed-gin number - A big, ballsy whisky-based bad boy with yuzu (Jpanese lemon) - A cucumber-spiked take on the Mule Oh, and there was these tiny white things that expanded and turned into warm hand towels when hot water was poured on them. Oh, and they do huge $25 platters on Sundays. Oh, and you get to take home the 180ml sake cups decorated with ace artwork. Just, go. You'll be a regular in no time once you do. read more

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A group of 6 of us had reservations. When we showed up, the lady at the bar seemed really confused by this and disappeared in the back with the promise that she'd see about it. Umm, ok? Another lady showed and clearly knew what she was doing because she knew we were coming and seated us at the table that had been reserved for us. Our waitress seemed really frazzled by our group. She took about half of our drink orders before walking off. We had to ask for some of the drinks multiple times, otherwise I think we would have just been charged for them without ever receiving them. Between asking multiple times for the same drink, and trying to get each of us one ordered in the first place, we didn't even bother for a second round. The night we were there, they had a special on their dumplings (I think they were all half of or something along those lines). We ordered 2 orders of each of their 4 dumpling types. The plan was for the table to share these. The waitress was a little confused by this for some reason, especially since we all also ordered additional dishes for ourselves. The pork bun sliders in a steamed bun we were popular at the table and I was really glad I ordered one too. They were the best thing that night, and I wished I had ordered a couple more! The dumplings were so-so. The spicy pork definitely was spicy. The prawn one was pretty fishy, and I couldn't stomach more than one. I also had a cup of miso soup. Pretty hard to mess this up, and it was exactly what I expected it to be. The place has a "hip" atmosphere (not sure how else to really describe it). They obviously put a lot of thought into it. It would be nice if they had out a little more thought into their food and stepped up the service. read more

Crane bar is a pretty cool looking spot close to Kings Cross station. They do $1 dumplings on Wednesday. They also hold a dumpling competition which I was lucky enough to see one of my mates break the record. I'd probably only come on Wednesdays for that deal - the dumplings are OK but nothing special. Otherwise the staff are friendly and there's a chilled out vibe which makes for a good mid week tipple. read more

This experience could have been really, really awesome, but it was just OK. From the warm Sake on the menu that the bartender couldn't/wouldn't get warm ("its taking forever, that's as warm as I can get it" literally! and... not warm at all), spotty service overall, very pricey menu and especially tiny portions... it's just a "meh"... It's a really beautiful bar/restaurant though, might be worth just coming in for drinks only. Just don't try to order a warm sake! Tough ask here. read more

I go back and forth on what ratings I should be giving this place. Therefore, I thought I would break it down for you: 5 - cocktails. They have an amazing selection of cocktails and each and every cocktail is delicious. Great bar tenders that can help you with your selection too. 3-4 service. I've been here a few times and there were a couple of occassions where drinks took 30 minutes for a group of 10. This meant that we couldn't all drink together because by the time the last person got their cocktail the first person needed a new one. 4 food. The food is good. I haven't had anything that was jaw-dropping amazing at this point, but if you're with a large group the food is prety good. 5 - group bookings. I came here for a bachelorette party over the weekend and we had lots of great food and had an open bar tab which was pretty awesome! Overall, I would recommend. They do comedy on Thursday nights and $1 dumplings on Wednesdays so check out one of those! read more

I live in New York and bought my parents a living social voucher for all you can eat buffet for two for $75 as part of their Christmas present. I had reviewed the feedback from other patrons before purchasing and thought it would be a good choice, sadly the real life experience my parents had at this restaurant was horrific and did not live up to expectations. They went there on Saturday and had the worst experience of their lives. They were texting me photos of the food and commenting on the quality of the food which they thought was flavorless and they were given very small quantities. When they asked for more servings (it does explicitly advertise as all you can eat buffet) they were given the cold shoulder and given an attitude. When my parents questioned the quality of the food (specifically the sushi rice was not cooked yet) they said well that's how it is. Furthermore, instead of trying to please them, they made them feel belittled and unwanted at the establishment. I am so embarrassed for purchasing this voucher for my parents. I'm truly sorry for this negative review however I am confused why everyone but my parents had a contrary experience, but for $75 you are better off going to a different restaurant! read more

Great bar with excellent dumplings to munch on. I have been in Sydney for nearly a week and finally found a place that makes a proper martini. Michael the bartender is an excellent mixologist and great host. The whole staff is very friendly and accommodating. Highly recommend this establishment. read more

Well. I was quite hungover, hadn't eaten all day. Was then advised to try the cheeseburger spring rolls. My life changed today. In a good way. There was also an adequate amount of candles to sooth my soul and the chicken wings the size of terradactyls. Thank you crane bar. Xx. read more

Crane Bar Restaurant - Sushi Bars Near Me - Potts Point, NSW

This place is really trendy, has quick service, and has decent food. I like the front sun room and the general decor. The location is very convenient, and in the nicer part of the Kings Cross area. I would definitely come back again. read more

We purchased a 10 course Japanese degustation with a coupon. Worst coupon experience ever!. Firstly, I have been to many degustations and have never left feeling like I have eaten nothing. The full 10 course degustation for 2 people equated to the size of 1 kids main meal!. We were seated immediately, served in a rush and were out of there within the hour. They obviously needed the room to cater for people purchasing drinks!. Now to the actual food - the beef was overcooked, the Balmain bug was undercooked, the ocean trout was dry, sushi tasted like yesterdays leftovers and we had to ask for wine. We ended up going to the ever always fantastic Caffe Roma for pizza afterwards as after 10 tiny mouthfuls of the worst Japanese I have ever tasted, we were still starving. Do not recommend Crane Bar. Recommendations for good Japanese is Kobe Jones and Wasabi Bistro in Surry Hills. Have attended both restaurants with coupons, loved it and have been back paying full price ever since. read more