Lotus Barangaroo comes to Sydney’s new waterfront dining promenade on Friday 30 September. Expect to find many of the Lotus modern Chinese favourites as well as some new Shanghainese-inspired dishes at this flavourful new addition to Wulugul Walk.
Shanghai-born head chef Chris Yan (Lotus Galeries, ex-Billy Kwong and China Doll) adds a touch of modern Australia to the Chinese menu. There’s a sprinkling of native Australian ingredients such as lemon aspen, cassia bark, butterfly pea flower and crystal ice plant. Yan has enlisted the help of a local horticulturist to plant an array of herbs and some native ingredients around the mostly outdoor restaurant.
“While my food is based on traditional Chinese recipes, many inspired by my grandma, I like to add a little bit of Australia where I can,” says Chris Yan. “We use native ingredients such as finger limes to make lime caviar, tea tree mushrooms, we pickle bamboo shoots and make noodles from mung beans. Our oysters are served with butterfly pea flower to create a vivid blue colour for something a little different.”
Given the harbour front location, seafood is a star on the menu. Southern rock lobster, green lobster, Queensland mud crab and Western Australian snow crab are fished from the live tanks and on to the plate.
The crispy garfish with sticky soy sauce; and spring bay mussels braised with Tsing Tao beer are exclusively available at Lotus Barangaroo. A new range of dumplings – spanner crabmeat and prawn dumpling; chicken siu mai dumplings; and steamed pork wontons with sesame paste and black mushrooms are there to be devoured by dumpling fans.
Pastry chef Tiffany Jones (The Pastry Project) infuses traditional desserts with Asian inspired flavours. ‘Ma fleur de Lotus’ is a yuzu and chrysanthemum cheesecake with coconut ice cream and coconut meringue crisps. ‘Passionfruit picked from the vine’ is a sweet tooth’s dream – passionfruit ice cream with a salted vanilla marshmallow centre and passionfruit skin glaze. Both are twists on Lotus signatures.
Head Sommelier Annette Lacey’s (ex-Marque, Claude’s) wine list is heavy on aromatics from local and overseas producers to complement the Chinese flavours. Cocktail artist Kate McGraw’s cocktail list includes the ‘boardwalk spritz’ with Cocchi Rosa, plum, jasmine infused honey, and grapefruit soda and perfect for a summer day at Wulugul Walk. Then there’s the Napoleon with sesame washed Cognac, Laphroaig, Carpano Antica, wattle seed, and house made black sesame bitters for those days you need something stronger.
The 160-seater Lotus Barangaroo waterfront restaurant is fresh and modern and the second largest of the groups three Lotus venues. The white timber double-frontage venue has a mostly neutral colour palette of cane, white, navy with a splash of black designed by Paul Papadopoulos of DS17 (Alpha, Beta Bar, Bel + Brio). The all-weather outdoor seating takes advantage of a prime waterfront location. Diners wanting the laneway eatery vibe can nab one of the eight stools at the dumpling kitchen inside.
Open seven days for lunch and dinner, Lotus Barangaroo opens on Friday 30 September.