I really enjoyed Izakaya style dining especially its skewers (Yakitori ) offering. Recently +BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to Izakaya Kushi Raku Japanese Restaurant located at 28, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 2 Taman Tun Dr Ismail TTDI 60000 Kuala Lumpur to taste out these special offering.
Izakaya Kushi Raku Japanese Restaurant has opened for business less than one year ago with a theme of Japanese grilled bar concept.
The interior is a modern and fun setup with a lots of Japanese inspired peripheral. Sake bottles can be seen adorned on top of the rack. Even the furniture which is custom made to foster the ambience of a casual dining.
Izakaya Kushi Raku offers chicken, beef and pork skewers. There are also vegetables and seafood skewers too. Izakaya Kushi Raku now have some very special signature dishes for customer to enjoy it with a cold sake or a cold beer.
Our food review started with 2 appetizers; the first of which is the Skate Fish (Eihire) – RM10. For those that are not familiar with what a skate fish is; it is actually a Stingray fish (Ikan Pari). The fish meat are cut and grilled. It has a sweet salty taste. Nice to eat with the some sake.
Next is the Snail Meat (Chuaka Sazae Niku) – RM9. I love the chewy and bouncy texture of this snail meat. The sauce was just right and was served chilled.
For the skewers (yakitori) we started with the Chicken Wing Salt (Teba Shio) – RM7 per skewer. The chicken wing are slightly seasoned with table salt and put to the griller. During the grilling process the chef, sprinkle some sake to add in the wine flavour to the chicken wings. Loves the crisp, and sake taste in the chicken wing.
Next on is the Chicken Thigh meat with Wasabi Mayo (Momo Wasabi Mayone-zu) – RM5 per skewer. As with the chicken wings this thigh meat is also seasoned with salt and during the grilling process, the special wasabi mayo sauce are applied on the meat. This ensures the flavours are locked into the meat when you bite into it.
After which we had the Beef Ribeye with Miso Sauce (Gyumiso) – RM11 per skewer. This is another sauce enhance grilling. This time, the chef uses the miso sauce. I like it as the miso sauce was not too overwhelming, as if he has applied too much of the miso, it will be salty and would not have tasted the flavour of the beef meat. Love the medium done texture which leave the meat still tender and juicy.
The second last skewers is the Pork Belly Special (Bara Yaku to Age) – RM7 per skewer. For this skewers, the chef uses the teriyaki sauce to apply to the skewers. It has a sweet and salty taste and with the use of pork belly meat (oil mix with the sauce); gives a nice texture and taste to this slight crunch skewers.
The last skewer is the Cherry Tomato (Cheri Tomato) – RM4 per skewer. Lightly seasoned with salt and sent to the griller.
For the main course we had the Squid Stuffed Rice (Ikasaki Raisu Zume) – RM27. Using seaweed, sesame seed, bonito flakes and mix with Japanese Grain rice; it is then stuffed into the squid before being grilled. Using Teriyaki sauce to spread on the squid while grilling; the chewy texture squid gives you a sweet taste.
The final dish is the Grilled Riceball with Salmon (Salmon Yakionigiri) – RM7. The Salmon meat are moulded into the rice and then send to the griller. Before serving, it is topped with seaweed. I am really not a fan of grilled rice as I find the rice to be a little hard and have a slight crunch; but for those that loves this kind of texture, they will probably find it tasty.
Whether to hang out with friends or to have some good food while enjoying a nice beer or just plainly stayed chill for the evening, Izakaya Kushi Raku is definitely a nice pick.
