OKONOMI SUSHI RESTAURANT @PUBLIKA Mont Kiara – Malaysia First Custom Made Sushi Roll Review

There are many Japanese Sushi Restaurant in Malaysia, Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to review the first to offer; custom made sushi at OKONOMI PUBLIKA located A4-G2-02 Solaris, Dutamas, No.1 Jalan Dutamas, Publika, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

OKONOMI which stand for "as you like" in Japanese key selling point is to provide fresh & premium ingredients for you to create your own Sushi rolls.

First you decide on the type of rice i.e. the brown rice or the white rice. For the healthy freaks you might like to try the brown rice which we did. more of that later. 

Then, you decide the type of maki or Uramaki - Inverted maki where seaweed is inside. 

And lastly the type of wrap which is either the seaweed wrap or the soy wrap.

We first started the review with a salad which is the Salmon Salad.

The Salmon is the smoke salmon which; as usually have a tinge of salty taste and was perfect blend to the garden fresh salad and the mayo based dressing.

For our custom made sushi roll it was an Omakase i.e. we let the chef decide as to the best marriage of his ingredients to be used to make a super delicious sushi roll for us. 

The chef uses the brown rice, with soy warp and the filling of fried prawns, lobster meat and asparagus. According to Chef Alex, the best combination of a custom made sushi has to be a right combination of something firm, something crunchy so that, each bite of the sushi will experience the different texture and taste.

Next, we had the Mandarin Sushi Chinese New Year special which was laden with mini mandarin oranges.

Even the sauce is a special blend with the mandarin oranges and this sushi is only available for this 2015 Year Of Golden Goat Chinese New Year. If you like mandarin oranges in a sushi you better try this.

After the sushi, we took a breather and try a few matcha infused drinks which is Matcha Latte with Soft Serve Ice Cream.

and followed by Azuki with Soft Serve Latte.

and the Matcha Float.

We continued with a snack food named Crab Korokke, It is a tempura flour infused with  crab meat and fried to a crisp with a homemade tartar sauce for dipping.

Next, we had some pasta dishes; the first of which is the Spicy Seafood Pasta. The pasta that the chef uses was the Angel Hair pasta; which are of the fine type which looks like Vermicelli. The use of this pasta ensures that the sauce are easily coated to the pasta.

Please remind the chef on your spicy level as the standard is very spicy though even for me but it was very addicted with the fresh and bouncy prawns and scallop.

This is then followed by the soft shell crab pasta with a creamy sesame based sauce. I love the fried soft shell crab, which was very crisp and flavourful.

After a round of food, it is time for our second round of dessert, the first of which is the Matcha Lovers Parfait, which is elegantly decorated with Matcha IceCream, Matcha Chocolate, Azuki Beans, Corn Flakes, Glutinous Rice ball and etc. Very filling dessert.

and followed by the Chocolate Lava Cake; as a chocolate fan, I find the chocolate cake a little lacking in the true bitter cocoa taste which I adores. 

The Chef mention that he has at first uses a higher concentrates of cocoa but due to the strong taste, many customers find it hard to accept it, so he has since tone down the concoction of butter cocoa to make a milder version instead.

and the last of all the dessert is the Matcha Lava Cake – a truly love affair for Matcha Lover. the strong matcha lava essence was so rich, you almost drown in it. So, at OKONOMI @Publika, it is not just about SUSHI, for Matcha lover, this can be your haven for non stop and everything Matcha.

One of the food that I really enjoyed is the ice cream that are served at OKONOMI; which is in-house made and was very soft and creamy with the right level of sweetness. 

Next time, if you yearn for some specialty Sushi or Matcha desserts, head over to OKONOMI @ Publika Mont Kiara for your doses of this lovely dishes.

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Kurata Japanese Restaurant Park Royal Kuala Lumpur – Japanese Fine Dining With A Touch of French Review

 

Japanese food had always been one of my favourite food. Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to the newly open Kurata Japanese Restaurant located at Park Royal Hotel Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.

The concept at Kurata Japanese Restaurant is of modern Japanese with a French touch. Upon entering the restaurant, you are welcomed by the Japanese style décor and the French design chairs and tables. 

There are 4 private rooms, the largest private room can accommodate up to 20 guests.

At Kurata, it exudes a very elegant design while there is a mix of Japanese wares and Zen garden design around the main entrance that enhances the Japanese style.

Our dinner review started with the introduction of a special Seafood Shabu-Shabu – RM155 per set of 2 persons by the Chef.

For the Seafood Shabu-Shabu, the seafood includes the likes of the Snow and King Crab, Angle Shrimp which are freshly imported from Hokkaido every Tuesday and Friday.

The broth of the Shabu-Shabu was superb; we finish it up to the last drop of soup. According to the Chef, the seafood stock (dashi) are boiled from the combination of kelp(konbu) with sake and mirin which are essential condiment and provide a low alcohol content of rice wine and sugar.

Our host have graciously demonstrated on how each ingredient are carefully laid out on the pot of the boiling Shabu Shabu. After cooking it, the taste of all the fresh ingredient together with the fresh vegetable was enough to create a delicious soup that had us all finish up to the last drop. 

Next, we had the superbly prepared 8 Pieces “Suzu” Omakase Edomae Sushi- RM 110.00 with the first set comprising the Fatty Tuna (Otoro), Flounder (Hirame) and Botan Shrimp (Botan Ebi).

Botan Ebi is the authentic style with the tail folded over towards the shrimp meat.

The chef has arranged the sushi from low to high which should be the way we consume the sushi. The arrangement is such that we start off with the lighter taste to the heavier taste. This is to ensure that our taste-bud will have a rhythmic step to enjoy each and every piece of the sushi.

Followed by another set of 3 piece which was the Scallop (Hotate), Gizzard Shad (Kohada) and Salmon Roe (Ikura).

One of the things I like and enjoyed about Japanese food, is that the Chef takes great pains in serving the freshest possible seafood. You are unlikely to find any low quality seafood serves at authentic Japanese restaurant. 

The last set of sushi was the Egg (Tamago) and Minced Fatty Tuna (Negitoro-maki).

The Egg are homemade, using a copper saucepan. Before cooking, the saucepan is heated for 1 hour with pure 100% canola oil. This will help to create a soft texture for the egg. 

According to the Chef, all the fresh fish are imported on Monday, Tuesday and Friday from Kyushu- Island, Hokkaido and Tsukiji Fish market. 

To end our fine dining dinner, we had a touch of French in that we had the Earl Grey Tea Crème Brulee.

and the Cheese Cake.

and the Green Macha IceCream

If you yearn for some real authentic Japanese cuisine serves by Japanese chef with more than 20 years of experience, Kurata Japanese Restaurant Park Royal Kuala Lumpur will be a fine choice to start off with.

Read more about our other Japanese Cuisine below.

Yuzen Japanese Restaurant @Damansara Perdana– Omakase Japanese Fine Dining Review

Kampachi Japanese Restaurant @ Pavilion Kuala Lumpur  – Best Japanese Restaurant – All Kansai Festival Review

Puchong Setia Walk Sumptuous Traditional Japanese Food at Bonbori Japanese Cuisine Restaurant by Best Restaurant To Eat

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This food tasting session was organised by HungryGoWhere Malaysia – Discover, Eat, Share today!” 

Yuzen Japanese Restaurant @Damansara Perdana– Omakase Japanese Fine Dining Review

Malaysian can now enjoy top quality fully imported from Japan the Omakase style. Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to this special Japanese epicurean experience at Yuzen Japanese Restaurant located at LG03, Plaza Emerald North, Jalan Pju8/3A, Damansara Perdana, 47820 Petaling Jaya.

Omakase; is an expression that are widely used at Japanese restaurants particularly in sushi restaurant where one leaves the selection of what to eat entirely to the chef. It is the direct opposite to ala-carte. Customers ordering omakase style expect the chef to be innovative and surprising in the selection of dishes, and the meal can be likened to an artistic performance by the chef.

Ordering omakase can be a gamble for those that are choosy on the type of food that they like; however, the customer typically receives the highest-quality fish in stock at a less expensive cost than if it had been ordered à la carte. A little more of that later.

Yuzen Japanese Restaurant décor is of a minimalist simple Zen design. Its' ambience suits a casual Japanese dining experience while there are some private rooms that caters to more privacy for the guests.

The afternoon lunch started off with an Omakase Sashimi (market price)– it is a platter of raw fresh fish and seafood selection by the chef. Our platter of the Omakase Sashimi comes with variety of fish and seafood.

Although one can also order a normal Sashimi set, an Omakase Sashimi Platter allows the chef to mix with some top quality seasonal fishes into this platter.

According to the Chef, one can expect that the Omakase Sashimi Platter that you eat this week would not be identical at all to the following week.

One can also be surprised by this offering to taste some of these specialty Japanese fish which can be very costly to be ordered ala-carte.

At Yuzen, the Chef have concocted a special in-house made wasabi which is perfect for eating Sashimi, as you would not need any soya sauce added into it. In Japan specialty restaurant, Sashimi are most likely be served with this special wasabi concoction which will bring out the natural taste of the fresh fish and seafood.

Next, we had the Tuna Takaki Avocado Salad (RM22.00), the tuna are lightly pan fried on the outer layer and slice thinly and served with avocado, fresh green salad and rocket salad.

The dressing was a light sesame mayonnaise and blended perfectly with the salad greens.

This is then followed by the Omakase Nigiri Platter (market price) which has pieces of specialty sushi which include the Salmon Roe, Toro, Tuna, Salmon, Ankimo and others. Your order will definitely be different from the one we had.

We had another salad which is the Deep Fried Salmon Skin salad. The skin was very crisp and eaten with the salad, it gives the mouth a feels of crunchiness while the greens gives you a refresh feel.

After that, we had the Chawan Mushi (RM10.00). At Yuzen Japanese Restaurant you can order your Chawan Mushi with a Seafood topping

or a Crab Meat Topping. I find the eggs custard very smooth, where you can slurp it into your mouth. It also has a strong tinge of flavourful taste. Upon checking with the Chef, his Chawan mushi are made from a special clear broth that takes more than 6 hours to boil and mix with the eggs and steam at the right temperature to this perfect setting and texture.

Next, we had the Chicken Teriyaki – RM13.50 - the chicken was deep fried to a light crisp and topped with a special in-house blended teriyaki sauce that was not too sweet and was just nice for my taste. Usually, I am not a big fan of teriyaki but this one made me go for a second helping.

One of the most interesting dish for me which leaves me an unforgettable taste even after sometime as I write this post is the Surume Ika Teriyaki (Squid) – RM20.50. The squid was lightly grilled to a seared while retaining the squid, firm and bouncy texture.

 

What makes this dish an unforgettable taste is not the grilled squid but the accompanied squid sauce which the chef has used the squid roe, squid ink and the secret recipe to cook this sauce which has a very strong and smooth taste of the squid.

The after taste from eating this sauce with the grilled squid leaves one taste bud and senses highly satisfied. If Squid is one of your favourite, you gotta try this.

Little did we know as a food blogger, mostly we have already experience this Omakase experience as most of the time, we totally leave it to the chef to dish out their specialty dishes for us to try.

Our Other Japanese Cuisine Review
Kampachi Japanese Restaurant @ Pavilion Kuala Lumpur  – Best Japanese Restaurant – All Kansai Festival Review Puchong Setia Walk Sumptuous Traditional Japanese Food at Bonbori Japanese Cuisine Restaurant by Best Restaurant To EatKurata Japanese Restaurant Park Royal Kuala Lumpur – Japanese Fine Dining With A Touch of French Review

Drop a Like On our facebook page BestRestaurantToEat for our latest food adventure.