Sushi and sashimi
The ever delightful Chocolatesuze is a veteran on the blogging scene and while most of us hide behind our screens, Suze, the perennial social Twitterfly, loves getting her face out there. A public poster-girl for Sydney Food Bloggers if you will. She’s also the social beacon amongst us so how fitting that it’s her birthday that was the drawcard for the largest gathering of Sydney bloggers?
Is she ever not photogenic?!
The location? Wagaya located in Chinatown, Sydney. Perfect as they have private rooms (for an extra fee) and the novelty of touchscreen ordering. In the private rooms, two screens are on hand to take your orders, which is convenient for separating the food and drink bills. The service epitomised robotic efficiency as each dish or drink appeared in our presence no more than five minutes after we ordered through the magical screen! I have never even received a Big Mac that quickly. McDonalds? Pfft! This is the real fast food! Overall the menu isn’t mind-blowing but it satisfied. But then again, I didn’t really concentrate on the food (revist? Why yes, of course!). Besides, that’s not why we’re here!
Crispy Fried Salmon
Wafu Pizza
Yep all 30 of us in one room that’s meant to fit 25. Umm snuggly. Cosy. And very up close and personal! Luckily we’ve turned out to be quite a cosy community that we don’t an eyelid at turning up to a birthday where you haven’t met half the guests (anyhow, aren’t we all just workmates in a strange way?!). I’ll tell you one thing…this is why god invented private rooms! Can you imagine the spectacle of 30 cameras whipped out and flashing? Rave party ahoy at Wagaya!
A flurry of cameras – ah…we’re such a funny bunch…
I didn’t know what this was but it tasted like Chicken cartilage? Either way it was like chewing on your own knuckles.
The food of Wagaya came in and out like a blur and I pretty much gave up on taking photos of food. With 30 mouths to feed, it was survival of the fittest if you wanted to gorge on the veritable feast of Japanese delights. If you really must know the details, head on over to Helen’s (who’s never off her game!).
Lotus Root Chips (Renkon) – give me these over potato crisps anyday!
Kimchee Fried Rice
Edamame Beans
In case you were wondering, yeah we had name tags. And one by one, we introduced ourselves to everyone as we did in school. Because we’re cool like that. Since Suze loves party themes, Masquerade was the order of the night and we came adorned with masks.
Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Colombaris akaRichard, BillyandHoward(who sports the same hairstyle as George!)
Because we’re such Masterchef Australia groupies, highlight of the night had to be Billy’s masks of the judges, complete with a Matt Preston inspired cravat of course! And bonus! Billy also made masks of all 20 contestants. My hopes of a Masterchef group shot were dashed as it was logistically impossible when we’re already too cosied with each other.
I think Matt Preston looks better in my mask than I did!
Birthday cake was an uber-cute sheep cake from 85°C Cafe (not so much once Suze hacked into its face), and so were her gifts! Think macaron jewellery and hamburger cushions. It was quite a present haul to transport on the streets to my car but we managed without getting mugged (well there were Lindt and Koko Black bags too…and did I mention the ultra cool hamburger cushion?). As for the cake, not many people liked the bland sponge and whipped cream, but I actually appreciated the lightness of it after the meal (but maybe that’s a one-off?).
Suze has the ‘sadistic with a knife’ look down pat!
And as if that wasn’t enough, big brownie points for the lovely Trish who made personalised cake pops for everybody. And let’s not forget Chocolatesuze’s birthday bombonnieres of candy necklaces and lollypop pacifiers! (Cue gratuitous tongue shots of Matt Preston and Kate-inspired dummy spits).
Seriously disturbing (photo courtesy of Grab Your Fork)
Wah-wah-wah! Howard perfects his Kate routine!
After nearly half the people left, we decided we had to grab a group shot and I thanked my lucky stars that I decided to bring a wide angle lens to go with another blogger’s tripod!
Can you spot your favourite blogger?
Much love to Chocolatesuze for gathering all us lost sheep to her flock and to everybody else for a wonderful night. To some, it was lovely to catch up as always and to the rest who I met for the first time…I didn’t get to chat to everybody but no doubt this wouldn’t be our last meeting.
So who’s birthday is next?
Wagaya
Level 1, 78-86 Harbour Street
Haymarket Chinatown, Sydney
(02) 9212 6068
Open 7 days 5pm to 2am
The complete blogger list (beware, it’s exhausting!):
Almost Bourdain
A Table For Two
Betty’s Bites
Chocolatesuze
Eat, Show & Tell
Food, Booze and Shoes
Foraging Otaku
Grab Your Fork
Here Comes The Food
I Am Obsessed With Food
Jenius
Kitchen Decanted
Not Quite Nigella
One Bite More
Ooh, Look…
Panda ‘n’ Cakes
Pigged Out
Pikelet and Pie
Put It In Your Mouth
Raspberri Cupcakes
Sugarlace
The Heart of Food
The Hungry Girl
The Way It Crumbles
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
hahaha woohoohoo i think the photo of the night is definitely the disturbing matt photo – winner!!!
great photos!
i gave up on taking photos & just ate. lols
Ah you did pretty well on the food shots, but yes it was a rather chaotic evening of food, camera flashes and deep-fried cheese for the lucky few! I didn't get to try any of the chicken cartilage – a shame as it sounds really good!
Great coverage ^^! but looking back we so should had gotten more foodd!
mmm wagaya is all about the fried cheese heh heh so much yummyness! thanks again for the lift dude!
Great coverage of the night. I never even saw those crispy fried salmon. damn! The food seriously came and went in a blur!
great to finally meet you! looks like i missed out on a few funny moments when i left early!
Haha great photos, thanks for sending around the group shots :) It was rather cosy and yep the flashes going off when the food came out made it very rave-like LOL! It was insane but awesome. Fantastic to see you again!
There was crispy fried salmon? What, what, what?! Never saw that at all, nor the fried cheese for that matter!
Thanks for taking the group photo and for taking the time to make up your own name list order. Not that I put the original one together. Just appreciated the effort! :)
Hi Trisha – haha yeah it was as seriously disturbing as it is!
Hi Betty – hehe yeah I think everybody did!
Hi Helen – Yes…the deep fried cheese! Now I know what happened to it all! (*cough* Suze *cough*)
Hi FFichiban – Omg we needed way more food…I wasn't even close to being full! I was literally hunting for food afterwards!
Hi chocolatesuze – no probs! So that's where all the fried cheese got to!
Hi Betty – maybe our end of the table stole all the crispy salmon? *evil laugh* :)
Hi Panda – nice to meet you too! Yeah you left early! I was wondering where you got to lol!
Hi Stephcookie – No worries at all! I wonder what the waiters thought of our rave party?
Hi Simon – oh why yes there was! I guess your end of the table missed out muahaha! And there was no fried cheese cos Suze took it all!
Write my own name list? You mean instead of cutting and pasting from the others? Hehe I was tempted but I thought alphabetising it was the fairest way.
Ha, yes – we're all sort of workmates….! I like that analogy, especially in that 'cosy' setting.
you did pretty well with the photos, some great shots. I was over it quick and just eat before all gone.
Laughing at other people's expense. Evil. Pure evil… :(
Hi Tina – lol I'm just glad we're all comfortable with each other!
Hi Billy – heh thanks. I think I took them all together in the beginning…then I gave up!
Simon – you said it…