Lantern by Wagaya

Lantern is the latest 'Izakaya' (type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks) styled restaurant by Wagaya. It features little booths with touch screen menus or you can book a karaoke room so you can sing and eat at the same time.

I was lucky enough to get sponsored by Food Morning and got a $200 coupon to spend at Lantern by Wagaya~ so off I go to get a feast on Japanese food.

We started off with some drinks.  The drink menu features drinks named with various gem stones for mocktails.

 

Garnet $5.90

Mango, kiwi, pineapple juice and grapefruit juice.  I thought garnets are red in colour but with a quick google, I soon realised they come in colours of the rainbow with red being the most common. The drink itself was quite sour due to the grapefruit juice but goes quite well with sushi/sashimi.

 

Blue Lemonade $5.90

Blue Curaco, lemon juice and soda. A drink is found commonly at Japanese restaurants and the taste resembles Ramune.

 

Amethyst $5.90

Strawberry, calpis, mint and milk.  The drink is like a strawberry milkshake with a refreshing tingle as it has a hint of mint.  I really liked this drink and it was finished quite quickly.

Renkon Chips $6.50

I can never go past a crispy renkon chip.  The menu had a little chili symbol next to this but I assure you it's not spicy at all.

 

Beef Tataki $9.90

Six slices of lightly seared beef tataki with a lemon soy on a bed of red onions. 

Salmon Skin Age $5.50

I'm not a great fan of oily deep fried stuff but my family munched it up in no time.  The salmon skin was earth shattering crunchy and a plate of it only costs $5.50.

 

Scampi $7.50

Scampi!! My favourite sashimi that's closely followed by cuttlefish. Too bad my brother is allergic to crustaceans so both of them are mineeeeeeee!!

 

Wagyu Beef $11.50

Charcoal grilled wagyu beef skewers with a shio (salt) base.

 

Ox Tongue $6.30

Thickly cut ox tongue was grilled to a perfect golden brown with the insides tender and succulent.  I wanted to order another serving but resisted since I want to cover as much variety of food as possible so I had to save room for others! :(

 

Lightly Grilled Salmon and Scallop Box Sushi $13.50

The sushi is topped half with salmon and half with scallop then drizzled with Japanese mayo and garnished with roe. 

Oyster with Mentaiko Gratin $15.50

One of the nicest grilled oysters I've tried. It may look ordinary on the outside but once you bite into the oozey cheese top, you'll find a generous scoop of mentaiko (marintated pollock roe) gratin along side with the oyster. For under $4 a pop, it's definitely worth your buck.

Assorted Sashimi and Sushi Roll (Large) $46.50

With $200 in hand and only 3 people to gobble, I went for the more expensive items on the menu.  The large sushi/sashimi box seemed like a nice option.  The box came out fairly quickly with super fresh ingredients.

The box had 2 tuna, 2 kingfish, 2 scallop, 2 prawn and 3 vegetarian sushi. Several slices of tuna, salmon, scallop sashimi, 2 prawns and egg rolls.

Assorted Sashimi and Sushi Roll (Large)

 

Green Tea Cheesecake and Green Tea Icecream $7.50

Home made green tea cheesecake was a bit dry and crumbly. I didn't really like it but the green tea ice cream was nice.

 

Creme Brulee and Ice Cream $7.50

The creme brulee had a slightly thicker glass than the average brulees' I've had.  It is accompanied with a scoop of vanilla icecream and a squirt of cream. 

It was an extremely difficult task to spend $200 between 3 people at Lantern.  The food was fresh, fast, tasty and value for money. I was eating till belly up and only managed to spend just under $170.

Sugarpuffi dine as a guest of Lantern by Wagaya courtesy of Food Morning.

Lantern by Wagaya

Location: Level 2 Sun Tower, 591 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Phone: 02 9283 8828

Website: http://lantern-wagaya.com/

Share

Tweet

Tokonoma Degustation

Thanks to Spreets, I was invited to dine at Tokonoma for their degustation.  I was given a voucher and it includes a 12 course Tasting Menu for 2 and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc for only $99 instead of the original $200!

I'm no stranger to voucher buying and could get quite obsessive with them. I've bought countless food/beauty vouchers and about 7~8 from Spreets. The quality of their vouchers seems to be quite consistently good.

 

Marlborough Catalina Sounds Sauvignon Blanc 2011

I was promptly seated and the bottle of wine quickly brought to our table.

The food came out really quickly and a bowl of edamame was placed at our table before the wine was even poured out.

Steamed Edamame with Maldon Sea Salt

 

Salmon Tartare

The salmon tartare came out with a canape like presentation.  The salmon is perfectly balanced with mayo, balls of roe and micro herbs to decorate.

Seared Beef

Four delicately sliced beef with pickled onions, mizuna and garlic chips was quick to disappear into our stomachs.  The meat was lightly seared with a slight sour taste from the pickled onions and a little crunch of the chips was just perfect.

 

Soft Shell Crab

Soft shell crab with wasabi mayonnaise was covered in a light batter and a generous amount of crab. My brother is allergic to most crustaceans so his was changed to a salad. Bwahahahaha!

Rocket Salad

A light salad of rocket, avocado, onion and cucumber drizzled with wafu sauce.

 

Nigiri Selection

A cooked 'fish' (sorry I couldn't make out what it was) on a bed of rice and wrapped in lettuce was very subtle and light.

Nigiri Selection

Two prettily wrapped rolls of tuna salad with micro herbs.

Sashimi Selection

Amazingly fresh slices of salmon and kingfish sashimi with white radish on bed of ice.  I loved the presentation on this dish! Everything looks so well balanced and 'zen'.

Grilled Scallop Mentaiko

A perfectly grilled scallop with mentaiko (marinated pollock roe).  I'm addicted to them and have it every time with my udon. To cater for my brother's allergies, it only came with one scallop.

Grilled Sticky Rice with Mushrooms Skewer

An replacement for the scallop. Poor thing. I actually quite enjoyed this skewer as the rice was soft on the inside with a crisp, golden brown outer. I have a thing for crispy shells and gooey insides...I'm really not that weird...

 

Grilled Beef Skewer

Another replacement dish? I'm quite lost now as we just had 3 single portioned dishes but oh well, I'm not complaining!

Squid Tempura

Grilled Zucchini Skewers

Grilled zucchini skewers with wafu sauce and sprinkled with sesame.  With vegetables presented this way, even my brother, the most carnivorous of carnivores ate some.

Scotch Fillet

Strips of tender and juicy scotch fillet stacked up like jenga then topped with smoked miso and a dab of wasabi on the side.  I really enjoyed this dish but was a tad sad that the portion looked a bit small for two.

Miso Soup

Dessert Tasting Plate

I say plate, but it was more of a box. The desserts were presented similarly to the sashimi, It had an apricot creme brulee, slices of fresh fruits and a ball of miso and raspberry sorbet served on a carved piece of ice.

The miso sorbet is not something you would see everyday.  I've tried it before at Momofuku Seibo but it was way too salty. I liked this version better.

Remember that bottle of wine? I drank like 80% of it and I was skipping and laughing all the way home. Oh the embarrassment!!

Overall, I'd say this is a great voucher by Spreets. The servings were small but there were many dishes so it evens out. I'm the type that likes to try a little bit of everything on the menu rather than big plates of one thing.

Sugarpuffi dined as a guest of Spreets.

Tokonoma

Location: 490 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Phone: 02 9357 6100

Opening Hours: Tue - Sat 6pm first seating, 8pm second seating

Website: http://www.toko.com.au/surry_hills/tokonoma_lounge.cfm

Share

Tweet

Subway's Moroccan Lamb Sub

Hai all! Subway Restaurants has invited me to have a taste of their new Limited Edition Moroccan Lamb Sub.  To celebrate the Moroccan theme, the event is held at Moroccan Feast.

In the sprit of Subway's 'doing it your own way' the chef has designed a special menu with each dish containing a component of the Moroccan Lamb Sub. Smart aye?

 

Moroccan Lamb Foot Long Sub

 

Subway White Bread, SUBlime Peach Cocktail

To start, we had some Moroccan dips on white bread. Everyone just loved the soft, fluffy bread and my stomach was half filled with them before the meal even started! I only knew much later on that the bread was from Subway! I used to be a honey oat person but I'll give the original white a go next time I visit Subway!

Moroccan Dips

From top:

Roasted aubergine with home made ailo.

Green olives in tomato and chilli jam.

Slow-roasted Matbouha.

 

Chardonnay

 

Vegetarian Pastiles

I really enjoyed the vegetarian pastiles as I loved the flakey pastry and the word 'vegetarian' made me feel less guilty but most people went against me and said the lamb cigars were better.  Maybe because I couldn't get past the idea of it looking like a spring roll.

Cigars with Moroccan Lamb Drizzled in Mint Yoghurt Dressing

Now don't get me wrong, I liked the lamb cigars as well (just not as much as the pastiles). I liked the filling with exotic Moroccan spiced lamb and it wasn't gamey at all which was great.

Belly Dancer

In between the entree and the main, music started and out comes a belly dancer! I've seen several belly dances before but she is one of the best.  She really know how to move her abs and also dangled a knife on her head while dancing to the music...insane!

**To those that have photo(s) of me, PLEASE DELETE! kthnxbai :) **

Moroccan Lamb Meatballs with Aubergine Tagine

The lamb meatballs were sandwiched between slices of spiced aubergine.  The lamb is the same lamb used in the Lamb Sub.  It is perfectly spiced, flavoursome and juicy. The whole thing reminds me of fried aubergine pastry '茄盒' my grandma used to make when I was small where you have mince between two slices of aubergine, coated with flour then fried...*drools*.

Moroccan style Barramundi fillet with chickpeas

I shared half a plate each with Tammi so we'll get maximum coverage on all the dishes.  The barramundi was moist with a thick spices reduction. The mint yoghurt was very smooth, minty and not too heavy.  It is the same dressing as the Moroccan Lamb Sub and was present throughout the entrees and the mains.

 

Mixed Herbs and Rocket with Hazelnuts and Citrus Vinigarette

With fried, meat dishes everywhere, it was nice to see a touch of greenery on our table.  The salad really helped to balance out the richness of the lamb.

Shredded Red Cabbage, Grilled Haloumi, Pomegranate and Coriander

A crispy and crunchy salad with a hint of popping pomegranate was adored by our table. I don't remember how many times I've scooped this into my bowl!

 Fresh Figs with Date Sauce

Figs is one of my favourite fruits but it is so hard to find in Sydney. I was so happy when they had a surplus supply of figs and once again, took more than my fair share. *oh the shame!*

 

Piscachio Icecream with Crushed Subway Cookies

No meal is complete without dessert! The pisachio icecream was very nutty, creamy and overall great! It sits ontop of a bed of crushed cookies from Subway, raw tahini and drizzled with honey.

I have to thank the nice people from Subway and Hills+Knowlton Strategies for inviting me to such an event.  It was definitely fun and unique in every way!

Sugarpuffi dined as a guest of Subway and Hills Knowlton Strategies.

Winners to the Cadbury's Marvellous Creations Giveaway on 29 May 2012.

Alicia, Michelle, Sophie, Vivian and Winston.

Congratulations all!

The winners will be notified by email.

Thank you all for participating and hope you could participate in future giveaways and events by Sugar's Sweet Blog.

Share

Tweet