Japanese cuisine has always been a number one favorite food for yours truly.
+BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to Sasagawa Authentic Japanese Restaurant located at Level 2 Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur Hotel Jalan Sultan Ismail 50250 Kuala Lumpur.
Sasagawa Authentic Japanese Restaurant offers a modernist Japanese setting restaurant which is elegantly decorated to welcome us for an authentic Japanese dining experience.
Sasagawa Japanese Restaurant offers the highest-quality of traditional and gourmet ingredient for the customer to savour the original taste, colours and texture of each of the dishes.
Our review is on the HANA Course Menu which is a "Kaiseki" meal priced at RM 350.00. The course set which is a typically Kaiseki meal consists of Appetiser, Sashimi, Simmered Dish, Main Dish, Deep Fried Dish, Rice with soup and Dessert. A Kaiseki menus typically consist of between 7 to 14 courses.
Our Hana Course set started with a simple and light appetizer; which consist of Fruit Tomato which is a seasonal fruit tomato from Kochi Prefecture served on a bed of ice, a Nanbanzuke Fish Cutlet served with Kikka flower & loofah marinated with vinegar and egg tofu which is topped with salmon egg, golden powder, radish and a tinge of wasabi.
Next on is the Ocean Fresh Platter Omakase Sashimi (Otsukuri) Set of Chef Sasagawa's daily special of 4 selection of freshly air-flown fish for the day. Our Omakase Sashimi set was a combination of Maguro (Tuna), Chutoro (Tuna belly), Shimaaji (Striped Jack) and Salmon Aburi. It was indeed a special premium selection as freshness of the fish really shone on its own.
Next is the Grilled Dish (Yakimono) which was the Kuroge Waygu Steak - the tender and soft steak was char grilled to perfection while the meat was medium done, extracting out the full flavour of the of these premium wagyu beef steak. The beef steak is served with grilled vegetables like zucchini, red & yellow peppers, mushroom and lotus root to complement the succulent and juicy beef.
After that is the Pot Stew (Nimono) - A Nimono is a dish made by boiling, simmering or stewing vegetable and meat or seafood, often in a mixture of soya sauce, sweet cooking sake and sugar; here the Chef uses the Kujo green onion based stewed for our Nimono; which has an extra sweet taste with a strong aroma and flavour of these premium onion. The fresh ingredient on our Nimono were the flamed Pike Conger, Sea Bass, Octopus together with Mizuna, rolled Chinese cabbage, Maitake mushroom and lime.
After that we had the special Steamed Dish (Mushimono). Our steamed dish is the Chawanmushi which was specially crafted to use, Goma (Sesame) Tofu together with the silky smooth egg custard and topped with thinly sliced winter melon and wolfberries, leaving you with a blend of different texture and taste to a plain Chawanmushi.
As for the tempura dish, we were in for a real surprised which is the Deep Fried Dish (Agemono) Tempura; the tempura is a wrap of soba sushi with seaweed, unagi, potatoes which is dipped in a special tempura batter and then fried. It is then served with the stock sauce mixed with Glazed Daikon Raddish; thereby giving you a texture of soft on the bottom and crisp on the top. According to the Chef; in the older days of Japan, tempura was served in this style and as time progresses and the popularity of tempura (as we see in most Japanese restaurant now) as just fried with tempura batter and the sauce are separately served.
For the rice dish, we were served Shokuji (Rice); the rice are cooked in small pot and topped with Salmon, Salmon Egg, Burdock and Shiso Leaf. A filling dish to end the night which was accompanied by Miso Soup and Arima-Ni pickles.
Our desserts is a light dessert that makes up the final course. Sasagawa serves 4 choices of ice cream which range from the tangy Yuzu Sorbet, Matcha Ice Cream, Black Sesame Ice cream and last but not least, the Yukimi Daifuku. We loved the Yukimi Daifuku which is a vanilla ice cream wrap in a thin layer of mochi skin; much like a snow skin with ice -cream. Simply delicious end to our hearty meal.
It was an indeed experience to savour this fine dining Hana Course Set from Sasagawa Japanese Authentic Restaurant which offers a procession of elegantly authentic Japanese dishes using the best seasonal ingredients. To enjoy this culinary delight; be prepared to expect the unexpected as the dishes in this Hana Course will be Omakase style.
