Junk Lounge, Lunar New Year Menu

Happy Lunar New Year!! I wanted a relaxing weekend to celebrate Lunar New Year, so I head to Junk Lounge. Junk Lounge is located above Cruise Bar in Circular Quay so it has gorgeous water views. So what's on? 

The Lunar New Year Banquet at Junk Lounge is available 25th Jan to 9th Feb. I decide to go with this menu as there's a lot of variety however there's also a la cart menu if you are keen.

There's a three course menu  is $59 pp which includes

• Entree choice of Kingfish or Mapo Hommus
• Main choice of Pork Char Siu or Crispy Eggplant
• Dessert choice of deep fried ice cream or Mango pudding

There's also special Lunar cocktails for $15 each with your choice of "Kiss from a Rose" or "Jack's Apple". 

Junk Lounge has a really relaxing vibe, I get here early at 5pm and take some snaps before people arrive.  There are large windows so you can look out into the water.

I am tempted by the cocktails at Junk Lounge and I start off with the Kiss from a Rose which is made of tanqueray gin, shaken with lychee puree, rose syrup, lemon juice ($15 - special price for Lunar New Year) and Sensei Sam  Ketel one vodka, frangelico, shaken muddled  pears, lemon juice, pear and vanilla syrup. It's topped with cranberry juice ($19). The Kiss from a Rose is quite a sweet cocktail but I quite enjoy the bright pink colour while the Sensei Sam has more complexity in flavour and is quite refreshing.

So for the LNY Junk Lounge banquet, Mr Weekend Food Escapes and I decide to get one of each dish so we have more variety and we share all the dishes. Firstly there's the Kingfish with salty black bean vinaigrette, yuzu and pickles. I really enjoy this dish as I love kingfish, the vinaigrette is light in texture but heavy in flavour from the black bean. The pickles and cucumber bright out the lighter tones.

The other entree is the Mapo Hommus which has spicy chickpeas, crispy wonton skin and lettuce wrap. The chickpeas are mild and not spicy at all. I break into the wonton skins and use this to dip into the creamy dip which holds the chickpeas together. Mr Weekend Food Escapes prefers the Mapo Hommus as he finds the black bean sauce on the kingfish dish a little heavy - it comes down to preference and on this instance - it works out well so we can both enjoy our dishes.

For the mains at Junk Lounge, there's the Pork Char Siu with plum glazed, shiso chimichurri, fresh herb salad with roti bread. There's also the Crispy Eggplant with a sticky sauce, fragrant crumbs and is served with jasmine rice. 

The Pork Char Siu is flavoursome and I can't resist eating the pork with the fluffy roti. The coriander, carrot and cucumber salad has a light vinegar dressing which brings for contrast with tangy lingering flavours. I love me some roti so I also dip the roti into the chimichurri sauce. Nice one.

The eggplant is light, fluffy and well crumbed. The sticky sauce is only slightly drizzled so it's mostly the crumbed eggplant that you taste. I enjoy the eggplant with the rice and make sure I eat some of the chilli for additional heat.

I decide to order another round of drinks given the cocktails were so tasty first time round. I order the Ruby Dragon which has tanqueray gin, cointreau shaken with lime, juice, thyme syrup, blackberry puree. The menu says it's finished with a toffee lid but I couldn't see anything toffee like in the cocktail. The cocktail is fruity, heavy with mild bitterness from the blackberries. I enjoy the bitterness.

I also order the "Jack's Apple" which is the other Lunar New Year Cocktail. This cocktail is made from Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire Whiskey, apple, liqueur, lemon, apple juice with a hint of vanilla. This cocktail is sweet, light and refreshing. I really like both cocktails and slurp away.

For dessert, there's the Deep Fried Ice Cream with strawberry consomme, mint and mix berries. There's also the Mango Pudding with ruby grapefruit granita, sago and coconut. Mr Weekend Food Escapes loves desserts and is excited at the prospect of devouring both. This means I need to get in quick to get a taste. I like the deep fried ice cream, the ice cream has been able to retain it's solid texture - the creamy vanilla with the crumbed coating, mixed in with the berries is a nice hit of sweetness to the palette. The Mango Pudding looks so delicate, I dig into this beautiful dessert and enjoy the smooth mango pudding. I recommend both desserts. I'm glad we ordered one of each so I could taste both.

There's also lion dancing and I manage to get a great view. I smile and light up with joy as the dragon does it's thing. Happy Lunar New Year to all. 

Summary: Overall I really enjoyed my experience at Junk Lounge. I thought the staff were really friendly, helpful and timely. The Lunar New Year Banquet is delicious - well thought out in terms of texture, flavour... My favourite dish was Kingfish and the Char Siu Pork. The desserts and cocktails were also flawless. I had a great time!!! I recommend.

Price: $59 pp for banquet + drinks

Location: Above Cruise Bar, level 2, overseas passenger terminal, Circular Quay. 

Opening Hours: 
Closed Monday and Tuesday
Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday 5pm to 12am
Friday and Saturday 4pm to 12am

Weekend Food Escapes dined as guests of the venue or their representatives. All photos, opinions and words are my own.