All over Japan there are many Izakaya which are Japanese informal drinking establishment that serves snack type food to accompany the drinks. Izakaya are casual places for after-work jamming.
+BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to one of these new establishment which is Shinjiro Izakaya Yakitori Restaurant located at Lot G-06, Ground Floor, Tropicana City Mall, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
The decor of Shinjiro is brightly lit with Japanese motif and Hokusai design all over the restaurant. It gives you a sense of vibrancy and charm of a Japanese inspired Izakaya just like those that are commonly found in Japan.
Shinjiro offers not only a wide varieties of Japanese BBQ snack food in particular the yakitori but also a marriage of some of the western fusion dishes like pasta and salad with a Japanese twist.
We started our review with 2 salad, the first of which is the Mixed Seaweed with Baby Shrimp. Laden at the bottom are leafy salad with cherries tomatoes and are topped with 3 varieties of seaweed that has a different texture. With a vinaigrette type dressing and the extra fried shrimp added to it, it gives you a crunchy, crispy feel to the salad.
The second salad has more Japanese influence in it; which is the Salmon Avocado - Using fresh Salmon with fresh rocket salad, asparagus, red dates and feta cheese topped with a special avocado sauce; it was a real experience to our tastebud which has many different texture in one salad dish.
This is then followed by a Shrimp Bisque soup, the soup based has a strong shrimp taste and added with a white cream makes it a creamy affair. It would have been ideal if a piece of toasted bread/ baguette was to accompany this soup.
After that, we had a special Japanese soup which is the Bincho Rice with Seaweed and Tofu soup. The Bincho rice are first grill and laid into the soup; this gives the soup, a smoky taste which are then paired with the seaweed and tofu.
At Shinjiro, you can have your choice yakitori with 7 different sauces i.e. the popular Shio (Sea Salt and Pepper), Sweet & Sour, Chilli, Garlic Chili, Salsa, Teriyaki and Sesame Pistachio.
We then started off with our first Yakitori which is the Chicken Wings with Shio sauce. The Chicken wings was grilled to a crackling crisp to the skin; The skills of the chef is sprinkling the right amount of sea salt is very important as this will determine the final result of the yakitori.
Next, is the sweet potato yakitori which was BBQ with a butter spread.
Followed by the Squid Yakitori with a special Pesto sauce. The thick squid meat was very firm and have a nice texture which are nicely matched with the sauce.
After that we had the Minced Beef Ball with Teriyaki sauce, the beef meat was still succulent and the sweet Teriyaki was of the right balance in terms of sweetness level.
The next yakitori will be a challenge to many as not many people know how to enjoy this delicacy which is the Beef Lung on a Salsa sauce based. The lungs meat were very chewy and the slightly sourish taste of the salsa kills off the slight gamey taste of the lungs.
The next one is the Sirloin meat with Shio sauce, we love the texture and the perfectly grill time of meat which was medium done; the meat still retains the juiciness flavour.
After that we had the Fillet with Asparagus; we love the different texture of the asparagus which was rolled in the fillet meat.
The last yakitori we had is the Fillet with Enoki. Like the earlier one that we had with asparagus, the enoki has a more watery soft texture which makes the fillet texture a little softer and juicier.
Besides Yakitori, Shinjiro also serves some rice(don) dishes, the first of which was the Salmon Sashimi With Ebiko. This is quite similar in taste like eating a sushi but in a bowl. Fresh salmon sashimi are used with Ebiko at the side, while the shredded seaweed are intertwined with the ebiko; giving you a special bite to each spoonful.
The next rice dish is the Shinjiro Fried Rice. Ingredient such as cube capsicum, celery and carrot are used to fried the rice, with a topping of thinly sliced fried lotus root and a poached eggs. Mixed them all; and your taste buds will be bursting with a different flavour and taste all in one.
We also had the opportunity to taste the fusion fettuccine pasta with Seared Salmon. The pasta is cooked with an in-house made special beef sauce.
and the other which is topped with Crispy Chicken,
Another fusion dish is the Oven Baked Oysters with generous portion of cheese and added with ebiko, it gives a real nice texture and taste; when eaten as the ebiko start to burst with every bite of the cheese infused oyster.
The next dish is another special creation at Shinjiro which is the mix Tempura. Instead of the normal tempura flour that are used, the chef have added chopped beancurd skin to the outer layer of the batter. This gives a different texture and taste to this fusion tempura dish. It is served with a special peanut sauce.
The final fusion dish we tried is the Reverse Seafood Roll With Baked Miso.
For desserts we had the Mochi, a combination of the different mochi which has its taste ranging from sesame, strawberry and so forth with sprinkles of freshly cut fruits that is laden in between each of the mochi.
The final dessert is the Nutty Chocolate fingers. We love the rich chocolate cake which has a bed of nut at the bottom and some fresh fruits at the side to gives you a refreshing taste to the cakes.
At the end of the review, Shinjiro will definitely be a nice place for a casual meetup with friends and associates as you will be able to dine slowly with small orders of snack sharing dishes as you drink and chat along the night away.
