• Barley Background
  • Farewell UK
  • Melbourne Magic
  • Restaurant Reviews
  • Guestbook

Wagaya

10/12/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
I was kindly invited to try the offerings at Wagaya so we went along this week one night after work.

Stef had previously introduced me to Hotari Sushi which is part of the same group and we enjoyed the sushi train one lunch time. I was interested to see how different Wagaya would be.

This link shows a short promotional video about the group that owns Wagaya and Sushi Hotari:

http://youtu.be/rX-z-9ixuVo
Located in Mid City Arcade above Sushi Hotari, Wagaya does not have obvious frontage so will naturally miss out on footfall and interest. However a decent social media campaign can remedy that!

I met Steve there and he was already seated in one of the booths. It's pretty dark in Wagaya, all dark wood with accents of hot pink from the fake cherry blossoms that are placed here and there. It's not too off putting though and the place is spacious and still shiny and new.

Ordering is done by touchscreen which is the same as Sushi Hotari and the menu is vast covering sushi, sashimi, hot entrees, rice and noodles, hot pots and yakitori. The table itself has a hot plate too for the hot pots. It was a warm day though so we didn't try that.

We did work our way through some entrees, a sushi / sashimi platter, tempura udon and some beef and chicken yakitori. That's the name for the meat on skewers.

Everything arrived promptly and the service was efficient. Given the presence of the touchscreen ordering it does mean wait staff can be hard to find as they only appear when delivering food so asking for some extra napkins or a bowl can be difficult. Having said that there is a "Call Waiter / Waitress" button on the touchscreen but I felt a bit bad for using it just for an extra spoon!

Onto the food. The sushi and sashimi was spankingly fresh and were of a generous cut. Lots of scallop, and then there was also raw prawn, cooked prawn, tuna, salmon and kingfish as well as thin slices of omelette.

The gyoza were also good and didn't taste premade. The filling was pleasant and not mushy and there was none of that mystery meat feel. The yakitori was also tasty. I had high hopes for the chicken wings but I didn't like the sweet glaze on it too much so probably not one for next time. Tempura udon was also good and I loved the bouncy texture of the noodles and the soup was not too sweet which sometimes it can be. There was only one prawn though but it was a good one!

Overall we really enjoyed the food, It's traditional back to basics Japanese cuisine and admittedly it covers the rudimentals very well.Price wise, it's more e.xpensive than little sister Sushi Hotari and I'm not 100% convinced food wise it's that much better but the seating is far more comfortable and feels a step above so the higher price point is acceptable. Compared to other restaurant prices it's mid range. Good Japanese food is all about the product and seafood needs to super fresh so it's never the cheapest cuisine but this is pretty affordable

Thank you for inviting us Wagaya. See you again!

Izakaya WAGAYA Melbourne on Urbanspoon
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Fine Print

    For those that know us, this section will probably come with no surprise! Steve and I love eating out so this is our record of our time in Australia.

    This is a blog that is 100% written and edited by Steve and I. All opinions expressed are our own and are not influenced by any third party.

    Any sponsored posts are easily identified as such.

    Thanks for reading barleyblog.

    Follow @mindabarley
    View my food journey on Zomato!

    Archives

    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010

    Categories

    All
    Albert Park
    American
    Argentinian
    Armadale
    Armenian
    Beaconsfield
    Beechworth
    Birragurra
    Box Hill
    Breakfast
    Bright
    Brighton
    British
    Brunswick
    Buffet
    Burgers And Pub Grub
    Burmese
    Busselton
    Camberwell
    Canberra
    Carlton
    Cbd
    Chinese
    Collingwood
    Daylesford
    Dessert
    Docklands
    Doncaster
    Elsternwick
    Eltham
    Elwood
    Ethiopian
    European
    Filipino
    Fitzroy
    Flemington
    Flinders
    Footscray
    Fremantle
    French
    Fusion
    Geelong
    German
    Glen Waverley
    Greek
    Hawthorn
    Hobart
    Indian
    Indonesian
    Italian
    Japanese
    Kew
    Korean
    Kyneton
    Launceston
    Malaysian
    Margaret River
    Mexican
    Middle Eastern
    Mildura
    Modern Australian
    Mornington Peninsula
    Northcote
    North Melbourne
    Port Fairy
    Port Melbourne
    Prahran
    Richmond
    Ripponlea
    Rutherglen
    Southbank
    South Melbourne
    South Yarra
    Spanish
    Steakhouse
    St Kilda
    Sydney
    Thai
    Thornbury
    Toorak
    Torquay
    Vietnamese
    Werribee
    Williamstown
    Windsor
    Yarra Valley
    Yum Cha

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.