lilotang japanese

amazingfoodand service !!!. we were really impressed by the quality of all the meals and the creativity of the chef. the service was perfect all night long and we had such a great time at lilotang.
we will definitely go back and recommend it !


-----31 may, 2015-----

amazingfoodand service !. having a japanesefooddesire, we went to lilotang after my partner and i had a quick look at the menu online and booked in a table. it was surprisingly quiet for a saturday night. we were warmly welcomed by po. after a look at the menu i was definitely tempted by the different tasting menus and my partner being vegetarian asked if there was any vege take on those tasting menus. po was really arranging and offered us a special shared tasting menu with a few meaty options for me. not knowing much about sake, we decided on a bottle of gewurtztraminer to go with our meals

best japanese restaurant in canberra :).foodwas fantastic, the bento box lunch set was so good. need to go back and try out the dinner menu soon!

a little hard to see from the road, but lilotang is quite busy even for a thursday night. we ordered the $65pp set menu for two so we could try out different aspects of the menu.

my favourites were the bbq squid, seared sirloin in herb miso and spicy miso sauces, and matcha ice cream with mochi tofu.

overall the service andfoodwas good. of noting was the hospitality of zack - one of the waiters - who knew we were just in from sydney and offered to give us tips on where to eat around the canberra area.

do give lilotang a try!

my friend and i came here because of its reputation and popularity. maybe we had too much expectations but it didn't surprised us. it doesn't mean thefoodwas bad. sashimi plate was very delicious and served in delicate way. the grilled fish was yummy with special sauce and the dessert was pretty good. anyway i will recommend it to whom has not tried ever. but i will look for much better janpanese restaurant which will be beyond expectation.

went here for a date night with the other half. it was amazing! beautifulfoodwith a modern twist on japanese. our absolute favourite was the black cod - perfectly cooked and set off wonderfully by the miso based sauce. the service was attentive but not overbearing. will go back!

if a sophisticated, intimate night out filled with delicious, flavoursomefoodand top service is what you’re after then, lilotang is the place for you. as soon as i heard about the opening of lilotang knew it was going to be up there with some of canberra’s best restaurants. but after spending two months overseas last year and a year filled with interstate travel, lots of working and a super busy year i still hadn’t made it there.

if a sophisticated, intimate night out filled with delicious, flavoursomefoodand top service is what you’re after then lilotang is the place for you. this fine-dining japanese restaurant is located in barton at the burbury hotel apartments. the atmosphere, decor,foodand service combined guarantees a great night. with fresh flavours yummy dishes on offer lilotang needs to go on your 'to eat' list while in canberra. we went with the tasting menu that included 8 dishes for $85. more photos and a few review can be found on eatcanberra.com.au

never again!
thefoodwas fine, although the portions were small. the service from the wait staff was fine.

our problem was with the manager. we sat down and ordered before my wife and her friend went looking for the bathroom. on the way, they stopped to ask the manager. his response? "are you eating at this restaurant?" rude? yes. confused? yes, so we're we. why else would someone look for a bathroom in a restaurant.

our second issue with the manager was when we were presented with the bill. rice on the menu was quoted "p.p." most people expect that this to mean "per person". on questioning the bill, the manager claimed it was "per piece". ridiculous when most items on a menu are charged per item by default! we eat at asian restaurants often and rice is often charged per person. after plenty of arguing, he agreed to fix the bill. customer service meant nothing to this restaurant manager!

i really did not expect to like lilotang this much. i always have doubts over restaurants that serve asianfoodin a "westernised" setting. especially japanese food, not everyone can get japfoodright, and usually "modern japanese"foodbasically taste so over the top that all you taste is the soy/miso/mirin. well, you get my point.
but tonight i had a really really great dinner there. first of all the hospitality by the waiter named shawn was really friendly and attentive. he's genuinely nice and made us feel welcome. we didn't want to order any drinks so we orderedfoodright away. before thefoodcame we were served edamame. it's not your regular edamame with salt, they put other spices or sauce on it, and it tasted really good.
our first entree was the kara age quail. it was really juicy with the right amount of sauce. they were right to use quail instead of chicken, because it made the best version of kara age dish.
our second entree was the pork belly robata. now, this is actually very tasty. but i'm the kind of person who just cannot get the taste of pork belly, but i'm always curious because everyone else seems to like pb. so i will definitely order other entree next time that doesn't contain pb in it.
our main is sukiyaki duck and kara age tempura rice, and umami roasted veggies as a side dish (those are 3 diff dishes btw), and they are all amazing. we asked for a well done duck because i'm not in a condition to eat raw meat at the moment, so understandably it was a bit dry, but it's not their fault and it was still more enjoyable that other duck dishes i've ever tried in other places.
the desserts sounds interesting so we couldn't pass that up. at first i wanted to try the mochi with green tea ice cream, but after hearing shawn the waiter's explanation about the tea pudding, we were intrigued, so we had that. it was so good! the pudding is really soft and it taste like milk tea with a little bit of sugar, so it was the perfect palate cleanser. in fact, it was the better and dessert version of "drinking tea after a meal", which a lot of chinese people like me like to do. if you have to end your meal with something sweet, then this dessert is not for you.
we spent $92 for 2 people for all of those dishes and we were definitely full (we're two women with decent appetite). i will definitely go back to lilotang again to try other dishes, and i can't wait to try the sashimis after i'm allowed to eat rawfoodagain.

sensational modern japanesefoodwith a bit more flavour and punch than traditional japanese food. had the 8 course tasting menu and the standouts were the black cod, duck sukiyaki and pork belly skewers. a welcoming atmosphere, not pretentious at all, and beautiful plating and ceramics.

lilotang has got a winning formula to become a big hit in barton. from the deco, food, drink to the service. this just reminds of maedaya in richmond melbourne but much more sleek. i particularly love how they present theirfoodon plates. it's just simply beautiful and also tastes great. our winning dishes would be those two pork dishes (pork belly skewers and pork spare ribs) the service is impeccable, genuine and attentive. although the price range is a little bit on high side, i guarantee you it's well worth it. highly recommended. we will return when we touch down to act next time.

simply amazing!. this restaurant is just perfect! beautiful aesthetics and thefoodwas amazing. staff were excellent. all round 100%!

lilotang is a hip new japanese eatery that has opened in canberra’s hotel burbury. although thefoodpays 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 japanesefoodbefore 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, thefoodwas 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.