Happy hours in every country is different; for the British, they will go to a pub after work to enjoy a cold glass of beers with some snacks while for the Japanese they will normally head over to a Yakitori joint where they can have their drinks together with freshly grilled yakitori.
Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to a special Japanese small meal; Yakitori at Ri Yakitori Bar located at the 7th Floor, Gardens Hotel, Mid Valley.
The decor and ambiance of the restaurant is a simple design with minimal traditional Japanese setting which you find it most Japanese joint; This is so as a Yakitori setup is normally one of a casual dining where the main theme is on the liquor.
This is the first time, we had the experience of how Yakitori meals are served. To start our meal, we had the complimentary chilled cabbage served with sesame and wasabi sauce.
The chilled thinly sliced cabbage is mix with sesame and wasabi sauce which gives out a refreshing treat to start off the dinner with.
We then had an appetizer; which is Fried Garlic Mussel (RM29.00) with steamed sake served with Baguette.
The mussel was very fresh and with the accompanied baguette, all the garlic sauce with sake are wiped off clean from the bowl.
For the Yakitori, the first on the table was the Assorted Grilled Chicken (combo chicken set) (RM42.00) which has the chicken meat ball, chicken thigh meal, followed by chicken breast, chicken skin and chicken wings.
Japanese like to eat all the different parts of the chicken Yakitori style, there are also the liver, gizzard and other parts of the chicken that are served at Ri Yakitori.
The success of a yakitori is in the technique of the marination of the meat and the second one is the BBQ skill; here they use a special Charcoal Brisque which does not have much flame; this is to ensure that the meat does not easily charred.
After that we had the Wagyu Beef on Skewer (RM41.00); the meat was perfectly grilled and retains the full flavours of the premium meat while the meat was still very juicy and succulent.
The next beef dish is the Gyutan Beef Tongue (RM41.00). The beef tongue meat are thinly sliced and BBQ. It has that bouncy, springy texture when eaten. As most of the Yakitori tends to be a little salty, a cold sake would be the best to be taken with it.
After the Yakitori, we had the Tempura Moriawase (RM58.00) which is an assorted tempura set; we had the prawn, sweet potato, pumpkin, brinjal and the mushroom tempura. The accompanied tempura dip sauce was well balance and exudes the flavours of the tempura offering.
After that, we had a Japanese Shake Ochazuke which is Salmon Rice Soup (RM17.00). This is the first time, we had tasted a Japanese Rice soup. The Salmon are cooked and mince to flaky texture and added into the rice plus soup. Added with some wasabi, it has a very special warm feel when it was eaten.
The next rice dish is the Japanese Garlic Fried Rice (RM 17.00). It is served with spring onions and shredded seaweed.
For dessert, we had the Chef Special Matcha Ice Cream (RM20.00). The green tea ice cream is served with Mochi with strawberry, kiwi and grapes all line in. It is then topped with a thinly strip of cotton candy that makes this simple dessert into an elegant eye pleasing dessert to end our Yakitori experience.
Ri Yakitori Bar @ Gardens Hotel Mid Valley kitchen is currently helmed by Chef Isao Hasegawa which has more than 35 years and specializes in Japanese Appetizer, Meat Dishes and Dessert. Have a date with Chef Isao to enjoy his specialities dishes at Ri Yakitori.
If you are in Mid Valley and like to experience and savour the Japanese style happy hour, head over to Ri Yakitori Bar @ Gardens Hotel Mid Valley.
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