Wakana - Artarmon, Sydney.

Hidden away amongst the twists and turns of the often neglected dining suburb of Artarmon can be found a predominantly Japanese-cuisine focussed eateries; separated by the railway tracks we have Sushi Tei and Rahmen Genki on one side; and our restaurant being reviewed on the other side: Wakana. It’s predominantly a yakiniku (Japanese BBQ) eatery, however also offers other dishes including a range of dishes that would satisfy any palette. Perhaps the biggest claim that Wakana boasts is stated on the front page of their menus: “There is no use of MSG in any of our dishes. We personally hand select all of our ingredients to make you receive only the best qualify of food possible”.

On entering, the charisma and enthusiasm of the owner is infectious – he’s loud and doubles as the sushi chef as well as regularly checking on his diners. With our BBQ grill greased and looking lonely, the food is ordered.

Salmon Sushi ($10): This is simple yet outstanding. I would rate the quality and freshness as well as the fattiness of the salmon close to the high end Sushi bars in Sydney. The salmon is wickedly plump and is not flawed. I’d highly recommend it to any of our salmon-loving readers. In fact, I’m craving it right now just writing about it.

Complimentary Salad: The only vegetables we ate the entire meal (it’s yakiniku after all!)

Beef Tongue ($11): As opposed to the mesh grills that would cause the meat to unrelentlessly stick to it, the greased grill allowed the beef tongue to slide freely and be taken off the grill with ease.

Springy and well cooked just at the right amount of time, Wakana’s beef tongue is great.

Wagyu Beef ($22): look at the marbling goodness. Didn’t really ‘melt’ in your mouth, but it had the great oozing of fat and beefy goodness. Alas, if only it were thicker, it would have make this serving of wagyu even better.

Wagyu Beef Premium ($28): to be honest, it was hard to distinguish between the normal wagyu beef and the premium. Both were equally matched and lacked any clear disparity.

Kimchi Fried Rice ($10): Pretty standard, nothing special about it. It's just good to have a rice and yakiniku meat combination to soak up the yummy flavours haha.

California Roll ($10): It seems like there is just a bit too much rice, the ingredients are not compacted and fall apart too easily; it’s quirky that they did it as a ‘inside-out’ roll when the menu assumes otherwise, I would have preferred it to be done the normal way.

Salmon and Avocado Roll ($10): As per the comment with the California Roll, this roll also has too much rice, however the salmon that was used in your previously eaten sushi made another welcomed appearance…mmm….so good.!

Wakana
2A Broughton Road
Artarmon, NSW 2064
Closed on Monday; Tues-Saturday: 12pm-3pm, 6pm till 9:30pm (till late Fri & Sat); Sunday: 6pm - 9:30pm

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