We visited Lilotang last weekend with Suba and Dorian. This is our third time at Lilotang, and the food never disappoints. I knew Suba and Dorian love japanese food, which is why I recommended this restaurant. Lilotang is a modern japanese fusion restaurant. The food is always so beautifully presented, and their staff are very attentive and well-trained.
This time, we had the Seafood Tasting menu. It was $95 per person. Yes, it was on the pricey side, but it was a special occasion 🙂
Our first dish was the sashimi plate of:
Kombu Umami Cured Snapper, black tiger prawn and chilli tosazu
Yuzu Soy Marinated Scallop, wasabi octopus relish
Squid sashimi
The snapper sashimi was really beautiful, but I found it a bit challenging to collect it and the diced up prawn in one bite. It sort of fell apart, and I had to go back and collect some deviant prawn bits.
The scallop was also really lovely and fresh, but it had a similar problem with the octopus falling off.
The squid was really nice, just on its own.
Chargrilled Lobster and Egg Tofu
I really enjoyed this one. The tofu was so silky smooth, and was clearly not store-bought. There was a nice piece of lobster and prawn too.
A sushi plate came next with:
Tuna crunchy shushi, sea urchin egg sauce, crispy nori
Kingfish nigiri sushi, sakura, dried plum, grated daikon
Braised sea eel sushi, yakitori sauce, shitake mushroom reduction, sansho pepper
I loved all the sushis, especially the tuna. The fried and crunchy rice underneath was really different, it added some interest to your standard sushi.
Seaweed Oyster Tempura, oyster ice cream, seaweed salad, grape ponzu
Look, I am not sure I really liked this one. I feel like it was quite risky of them to have put such a high oyster content dish on their tasting menu, considering not everyone is an oyster fan. I managed to consume mine, but Suba had one bite and donated the rest to us. The fried oyster was alright, I was intrigued by the oyster ice-cream, but I really did not enjoy the seaweed salad. Seaweed is just weird unless it is fried, that’s all I can say.
Poached ocean trout salad with wasabi mascarpone, almond and radicchio
This dish was one of my favourites. The trout was poached to perfection, and the wasabi mascarpone adds a wonderful point of interest for the dish. For a salad, this dish was actually quite substantial.
The mains came next:
Chargrilled Scotch Fillet with herb miso, spicy dried plum, and japanese 7 spices
The beef was so tender, I think it had just been fried for a second on both sides and then put on the plate, it was pretty rare. It’s a good thing that I like rare beef, but could have been an issue for people who like theirs well done.
Grilled Cauliflower with shitake mushroom, walnut and anchovy garlic dressing
The cauliflower was the highlight for everyone at the table though. I think they must sprinkle on some kind of black magic MSG powder on their cauliflower florets, I think I have become addicted!
Now for dessert, it was a wasabi ice cream, seaweed jelly, apple sheep yoghurt, yuzu gel, wasabi stem. First of all, the dessert looked beautiful. I just found myself wishing for more of it. The quinelle of wasabi ice cream was really small, and I know it was really spicy, but I still wanted more! I think once I have moved all the bits around and got it all onto my spoon, there was only a spoon-full worth of dessert on that plate, and for $95 per head, I expect a more generous dessert.
All in all, I would rate this tasting menu at about a 7 out of 10.
The service was really great though – let’s call it an 8 out of 10.
The Sausage Dog 