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 inauguralnightmarket 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