lilotang japanese

lilotang is a hip new japanese eatery that has opened in canberra’s hotel burbury. although the food pays homage to traditional japanese cuisine, the restaurant has a young vibe with lots of references to japanese anime and pop culture, an eight-metre bar and lounge seating. josiah li, who has opened lilotang with the help of po yang chia, already operates malamay in the hotel burbury, the chairman & yip in downtown canberra and the lanterne rooms in suburban campbell. li says lilotang has a younger vibe than the other chairman establishments, and indeed it does a great job of straddling the divide between casual and formal.

last friday, i headed down to barton after work to check out the newly opened lilotang restaurant. lilotang comes to us from the chairman group, which also looks after some other fantastic restaurants from around canberra, including chairman and yip, lanterne rooms and malamay. when i first heard that the chairman group was looking to open a japanese restaurant, i was super excited but also a little hesitant. i absolutely love japanese food, its probably my favourite cuisine and i’ve probably complained the ears off everyone about how i think canberra completely lacks in good japanese restaurants. there are a few decent ones, but we could definitely do with a couple more! so i was super excited to see another japanese restaurant come to town. however, at the same time, i wasn’t sure that the chairman group could pull it off, they’ve never done japanese food before as they seem to focus quite heavily on chinese food.

was excited to see that another japanese restaurant had been opened in canberra as there was a need for it.

completely disappointed.

the waiter we had was completely unhelpful, the food was stingy - way too small. after ordering 3 small plates and 2 'main' meals we were left wanting.

good was average at best.

save your money and go to ioki in civic instead.

don't waste your time.. i'm beginning to think there are no honest restaurant reviewers in canberra. considering the rave reviews i read, i was left wondering if we had the right place.
lunch was a let down. the usual immaculate presentation you see with japanese cuisine was completely absent. the flavours were no more interesting than your local mr sushi. the prawns were dreadfully over cooked and had not been deviened, which is just nasty. we did tell the waiter too and nothing was said.
one bad element can ruin a meal, and in this case it brought everything else, which wasn't that great to begin with, down.
i wont return there, especially given the lack of response from staff.
my excitement at hearing and reading about lilotang ended in disappointment, don't waste your time, pick up a terriaki chicken from the nearest chain food store, it will be on par with the fare at lilotang's..

very disappointed by this place despite the nice decor and good location! we ordered the pork belly and squid. pork belly was just ok and the squid came out so raw it was still slimy on the inside!! we then ordered the black cod and duck sukiyaki. the cod tasted delicious but there was barely any cod on the plate. the 2 pieces together were so small it was the size of my palm. for $35 you expect more.

we were left wanting and don't get me started on how dreadfully sweet the sukiyaki was. the waiter we had seemed defensive when we gave them the honest feedback. never again will we visit this place. avoid!! terrible food!!

delicious food and some fun dishes. the eggplant for me was a bit smoky for me but the wagu beef was a must re-order. it was so tender and beautifully cooked! other highlights was the avocado and tuna fish (although a little more tuna wouldn't go astray!) and the chicken meatballs. the pork belly kebabs were a bit of a letdown. overall good service and prompt delivery. the only slight flaw was getting delivered the wrong dishes 5 times! i really urge them to get some table numbers.

roast mushroom. $13.5 mushroom! button size! just plain mushroom


-----30 jan, 2015-----

disgusting place! don't know how it got so many good reviews. the food seems cooked by amateurs, no effort put in. and so over priced! four people paid for 200 dollars! and no one feel nearly full!! definitely not recommend for anyone! worst experience ever!

amazing food, sake and service. a new canberra favourite.

yes, canberra is inundated with new restaurants at the moment but there is definitely a place for lilo tang as the menu here is quite different to anything else in canberra. it may not be traditional japanese but the flavours are interesting and the dishes do push creative boundaries in the right way. i found the prices and portion sizes to be quite reasonable. the service was friendly and welcoming even though it came with a few hiccups but that’s hardly worth mentioning as this was the first day of trade and some staff had very obvious training wheels on and some way to go in learning the menu. overall, lilo tang was a very positive experience and i’m very much looking forward to returning for round two of my favourite dishes.

the latest venture by the chairman group (chairman & yip, malamay , lanterne rooms) is lilotang in barton, offering modern japanese cuisine. headed by chef shunsuke ota (formerly of nobu melbourne), there was much anticipation of this restaurant opening. i have been teased by photos on social media and had my first taste of binchotan (charcoal) skewers at the inaugural night market canberra in december. now that it’s birthday month (wooh!), i booked in birthday party #1 at lilotang with a group of friends. lilotang is located opposite hotel realm and next door to malamay. there’s an array of patterns and shapes that catches the eye and i didn’t know what to look at first. the criss-crossed ropes hanging just under the ceiling gives more contrast to the area. art prints and what looks like recycled wooden items line the grey wall. the kitchen is separated from the dining area to keep noise levels down. a robata grill is installed in the kitchen bringing in a centuries-old japanese style of grilling over binchotan. light coloured natural wooden panels with cut out patterns decorate the restaurant, serving as privacy screens between some tables. a cool feature about these panels is that they slide along the length of the restaurant – giving the restaurant flexible options to provide privacy for diners. last but not least, i couldn’t miss the brightly coloured splashes of manga print throughout the restaurant. as well as on the menus on each table. the sake list is sure to impress with 24 different types of sake. there’s also beer, wine, cider and scotch for those not into sake. my friends ordered beers and a bottle of the plum sake yamada iyuro. no mocktails on the drinks menu but staff can easily put something together. i got a mocktail of orange juice, passion fruit, and lemonade. as we were a group of 16, our waiter provided options of what we could do. the easiest option was to let the chefs decide on a few dishes to share, as long as there were plenty of various d

there were a few hiccups which is expected for the opening night but things ran seemingly smooth for most of the service. there were a few hit and misses between the dishes and between us there were mixed feelings about the restaurant. i personally thought there were enough ‘hits’ to warrant a return visit in the near future although it wouldn’t be cheap. at the end of the night it ended up being $70 pp without alcohol. that might sound expensive at first but i was reminded that we spent basically the same at akiba. i left content borderline full but i did enjoy the amount of variety that we got to experi

the latest venture by the people who run three other iconic canberra eateries (the chairman and yip , the lanterne rooms , and malamay), lilotang is in the burbury hotel in barton, and offers a modern twist on traditional japanese cuisine. as some of the earliest guests we were treated to a very personal experience: a degustation dinner comprising about twelve artistically-arranged courses, each explained by the very charming chef.