Wok and Wrap, a casual dining restaurant, is relatively new to Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT), having opened in its current location sometime in March this year. It is an Asian themed outlet serving Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisines. They recently added some new items to their menu and courtesy Style Code Media, I was given the opportunity to taste some amazing dishes from their existing and new menu.
They are well known for their customizable woks. Choose your base, sauce and protein and it’s prepared right in front of you. You also have the option to choose the serving size and quantity isn’t an issue here. Even the small size is big enough to fill your tummy. The latest addition to their menu is sushi (drum roll). Let me be honest – I’ve never tried sushi before. Having lived in Dubai almost all my life and Dubai being a melting pot of almost all cuisines from around the globe, I’ve never eaten nor even gone near a sushi. I’ve always been intimidated by raw fish. The sight of it would send me running a 100km. But here I was, in a restaurant in JLT, with cool, funky interiors with graffiti on the walls, friendly and courteous staff, and in the presence of some amazing food bloggers, all set to try their newly introduced sushi menu.
When the food was served, I first dived into the ‘safe zone’, Prawn crackers and Appetizer Galore – dim sums, spring rolls, breaded prawns and calamari, and potato wedges served with dynamite sauce, red chilli sauce and soy sauce. Also served was chicken Gyoza, these are half-moon shaped dumplings. I cannot point out a favourite one from this, only because each one was lip-smackingly delicious. Kept me going back for more. This platter is a little pricey but look at all the varied items on it and you’ll realise that it is reasonably prized.
Very slowly then, I mustered the courage to reach out and grab a sushi 😊. The sushi platter included California Maki, Blue rice Maki, Hema Nigiri, Tamago Nigiri, Seabass Nigiri, Salmon Nigiri, and Sashimi (seabass, tuna, salmon) and one for the beef lovers, Beef Leghorn Maki. I hope you all know your makis, temakis, nigiris and sashimis. 😊😊 If you are anything like me, then don’t be intimidated by this list. I’ll be putting up another blog on the different types of sushi and the do’s and don’t’s of eating sushi pretty soon. In the meantime, enjoy reading this one.
I tried everything except the sashimi and the nigiri, ‘coz as suggested by a fellow blogger and sushi expert, these need to be tried after I come to terms with the other types of sushi since it’s my first time. And I must say, I enjoyed the experience. I preferred the California Maki with the orange-coloured tobiko (flying fish eggs) over the Blue rice Maki. Tamago Nigiri is a pretty little omelette draped over a bed of sushi rice, wrapped in a ribbon of Nori (seaweed) which makes it look like a fun snack to have. And was it indeed!!! I wasn’t expecting egg on a sushi platter…. silly me 😊
We also tried their Bento Box, a typical Japanese lunchbox. It included sashimi, maki, nigiri, tamago, veggies, and a vegetarian sushi…. Yep, that’s right…. Rice, avocado & mango rolled in nori (seaweed). This one is amazing and a good one to start the sushi experience.
Tip: Don’t forget to cleanse the palate with pickled ginger in between and a small drop of wasabi goes a long way.
Next up, was Nasi Goreng….my all-time favourite. Nasi Goreng is an Indonesian fried-rice. This one came with thai-style beef and topped with sunny-side egg. The beef was sweet, spicy and crispy…. delicious. Double thumbs-up for the fried-rice.
We also had a go at the Make your own Wok. It’s customizable where we can choose the type of noodles, the sauce and the protein we want in it. We chose egg noodles, chicken with veggies and schezwan sauce. The whole combination was delish, I would have loved it even more if it were a little spicier because according to them, the schezwan sauce they have is their spiciest.
For drinks, I had KitKat smoothie. Should I say anything more….!!!!
For dessert, we had Triple Chocolate Cheesecake and Chocolate Lava Cake topped with ice-cream. The winner for me was the lava cake – smooth and melt-in-the-mouth chocolate cake dipped in ice-cream was an unbeatable combination. I love anything chocolate, but the triple chocolate cheese had an overdose of chocolate which turned me away.
Vegetarians, don’t depair…..they do have veg. options too…..in appetizers, sushi and choose your wok. Spicy Edamame is a must try.
Overall, great location, friendly staff and amazing food makes Wok and Wrap a must-visit place.
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Rating (out of 5):
| Ambience | 4.5 |
| Food | 4.5 |
| Service | 4.5 |
| Value for money | 4.5 |
| Overall | 4.5/5 |
Lizbethology 