wagaya @ harbour st., haymarket

Jo invited a bunch of us to celebrate her b'day at Wagaya this year - I'd read about the place on a couple of other blogs and knew about the touch screen ordering system. To actually be there was a completely different thing, especially with a group of 20+ of us.

My friend A and I were the first to arrive. We nervously sat down at the end of the table that stretched far far away.

A&I.

The touchscreen menu. A&I had been on time and it looked like everyone else (b'day girl included) were running late. We decided to 'touch' through the menu and ended up getting drinks. Strangely enough, you do get a little hesitant pressing the buttons when they ask you to confirm the order.

Our Iced Green Tea Lattes. They were a little on the small side (the glasses aren't very big). These were quickly gobbled up as the others started to arrive.With the table consisting of a quite a mixed group of Jo's friends, people decided to order amongst themselves, in pairs and others even just ordered their own meal. A&I decided to order together and now that I look back at photos, we managed to eat quite a bit! Below is the Seared Salmon Roll + Soft Shell Crab Agedashi Tofu.

The Wagaya Salad with Renkon Chips at the back, Cooked Squid with a Peanut Sauce and hmm...I can't remember if that was another roll we ate?

The b'day girl sitting across from us. Happy Birthday Jo! Hope you enjoyed the day!

Very fortunately, the food we ordered came very quickly. For others, it was a slightly different story. One table, 2 touchscreens, it wasn't before long that food came to the table, it got yelled out for someone to claim and someone ended up eating someone else's meal. Poor person ended up sitting there for awhile and ended up having to order again. Added to that was that people looked at the screen and chose things based on what they looked like and you could see the frustration when the waiter/waitress had the meal in their hand and no one claimed to have ordered it. So as convenient as the screens are, they're probably not the best for big tables where you have lots of people ordering lots of things.

Tantan Noodles - A&I couldn't help ordering more food :D
And who can forget dessert?! A&I shared the mixed dessert plate with Sesame icecream, Green Tea Pannacotta (which unfortunately tasted too much of gelatine) and the Strawberry & Red Bean Daifuku. See all the green tea ice creams people ordered at the back.

I'll sheepishly admit that out of everyone on our side of the table, A&I probably had to pay the most for all the food we ordered. It wasn't that expensive though - worked out to be about $3o each for the two of us. To be honest, I'd say the prices are actually very reasonable and the serving sizes are decent. Probably recommend going in a smaller group though cause it can get a little hectic with too many people. Love the decor and service is friendly. The place attracts quite a young crowd so expect a noisy evening out if you're choosing to have dinner here.