FRIDAY FLAVOUR

THERE’S no smoother way to ease into weekend mode than a Friday lunch at Yamagen.

The QT restaurant in Surfers Paradise is inviting diners to wind down the working week with a modern Japanese five-course sitting called Friday Lunch by Asahi.

Available from this week, it serves up sophisticated dishes to share and a glass of Asahi dry or wine for $49 per person.

After nibbling on a dish of warm edamame, the first course is thinly sliced truffle snapper fanned artistically around a plate. Seasoned with Japanese herbs and dressing, this refreshingly chilled dish demonstrates the expertise of head chef Adam Lane.

The main courses are panfried wagyu beef gyoza with white-soy mustard and negi, salt and pepper squid with chilli and wari ponzu, and crispy skin teriyaki chicken with warrigal greens, charcoal roasted spring onion and teriyaki glaze.

The final course challenges the chronological order of eating out in the Western world with a miso soup and steamed jasmine rice.

While Europeans have been sipping on soup as a starter for centuries, the Japanese traditionally drink miso towards the end of a meal, filling around the crevices of a content stomach with a flavoursome broth of tofu, seaweed and salt.