Kissaten has an interesting variety of meals available on their menu. From sandwiches and salads to Chicken Kway Teow Soup to Char Siew Pizzas. An interesting combination isn’t it?

In Japanese, a  Kissaten is a Japanese style coffee shop. In Japan there is a distinct difference between cafes (kaafe) and kissaten. The design and atmosphere of kaafe is usually aimed at younger people or women, whereas kissaten are small, older establishments.

Here in Kissaten, you find both young and old enjoying the food and drink.

We decided to go with the Teriyaki Pork Buger which was oozing with sauce and dripping all over. This was a mouthful and we had to chop it in half to somehow squeeze this tower of a burger in. It would have been nice to have it with a side of french fries.

A recommended dish that the staff suggested was the Char Siew pizza. Yes, I did say Char Siew pizza. From the picture you can see that it is drizzled doused in mayonnaise and it rather sweet too. There was a subtle hint of char siew  which seemed to be overpowered by the mayonnaise. I thought it was an interesting pizza which one should try at least once.

Rich Choco Pudding. Need I say more? I would recommend that you share this dessert as it really is rich, as the name suggests.

Kissaten Coffee and Restaurant

L12A-1-1, Palm Square,

Jaya One,

Jalan Universiti,

Petaling Jaya

Tel: +60 3 7954 1990

Opening Hours: 11am – 11pm, Closed on Monday

Shuraku is a very interesting little Japanese restaurant. Knowing how I love my Japanese food, I really enjoy the food and the ambience in this place. Reminds me of home… if my home was in a small little village in Japan.

They’ve managed to decorate the place with awesome finds. There’s even a Hello Kitty artwork framed up along with other figurines and decorations.

Well, if I was an interior decorator I would stop at that. But I’m not. So let’s move on to the food! The sashimi (I always must have mine) is a fresh as it gets and you can see how I like it, nice and thick.

The Tori Garlic (garlic chicken) is another dish that is not only value for money, it is also really yummy. The tender chicken has a slightly sweet taste to it and spread across the dish are little slices of fried garlic.

This is he Gyu Soboro Salada. An interesting take on a beef salad that has the perfect balance of flavour and decoration. You can definitely see the effort put into making the meal more appetizing.

I will definitely be back to this cozy place in the near future.

Shuraku

13-2 Jalan Solaris Mont Kiara 1

Solaris Mont Kiara

Tel: +60 3 6203 0561

Opening Hours: Daily, 630pm – 1230am

As we were driving by lunch one day, we decided to drop by Akane to fulfill our Japanese food craving (seem to have Japanese food cravings quite a lot). Note to all, this is not your typical Japanese restaurant that serves the conventional sushi rolls and such. This is modern Japanese fare. The menu was extensive and flipping through the pages were intriguing with how many different sorts of food you can fit into a menu.

Finally, after much time and debate, we decided on two dishes for lunch: their creamy Mentaiko pasta (spicy cod roe pasta)

and their hamburger! Yes, you heard right, they serve hamburgers at this Japanese restaurant.

The Mentaiko pasta was very delicious, not too creamy either. If you are in the mood to try something different then this could be on your menu. The hamburger patty was very simple but filling. It was accompanied with a bowl of rice and some sweet sauce to drown the patty in. Overall it is slightly on the pricey side, but with the quality ingredients you are getting, in my opinion its worth it.

Akane

7-G, Jalan 19/70A

Desa Sri Hartamas

Tel: +60 3 6201 1677

Pork free

Opening Hours: 12pm-230pm, 630pm-1030pm

Ogawa, no this is not a massage chair, it’s a restaurant that is tucked in a little corner in Plaza Mont’ Kiara.

As we were scanning through the menu, this caught our eye, Maguro Misokatu. It is fried tuna served with special soya bean paste on top of a bed of salad. The crisp outer layer is fried to perfection with the soft tuna that is delightfully complimented by the sauce.

The Zaru udon, a cold wheat noodle which has a dipping sauce and a quail egg is a simple dish that is tastefully done.

This is one of the set menu items for the day, the Sashimi Gozen. The freshly cut sashimi is well presented, but being the greedy one, it could have been better with a few more slices. As with other set dinner items, it came accompanied with a bowl of steamed rice, chawan mushi, miso soup, pickled vegetables and fresh fruits.

Ogawa Japanese Kitchen

A-0G-03 Plaza Mont’ Kiara 2

Jalan Kiara Mont’ Kiara

Tel: +60 3 6201 0221

Fax: +60 3 6201 0212

This restaurant is one of Stan’s recommendations that he suggested for Japanese food. Itamae-Sushi has a few outlets strewn across Hong Kong such as in Hong Kong International Airport, Granville Road in Tsim Sha Shui, Mongkok or Kowloon. We were walking around in Causeway Bay and the timing was just right for lunch.

Itamae-Sushi Restaurant

They’ve even prepared a step-by-step guide on how to eat sushi! It’s easy as 1-2-3 and I would think that the third step isn’t too hard to follow:

Easy as 1-2-3

If you’re sitting at the sushi train, these are the prices for each of the colour coded plates.

Colour coded

To start things off, we decided to go with the California rolls. As usual, you can’t go too wrong with it, especially if they use fresh ingredients. We also had the egg sushi.

California Rolls

Egg Sushi

Of course, we had to try some of the wide variety of sushi that was available. From the pictures below, you can see that they were very generous with the fresh slices of salmon and tuna (unlike a lot of the sushi places that we see here in Kuala Lumpur). You can’t even see much of the rice under the long strips of salmon! The plate of tuna sushi was about HK$25.

Salmon Sushi

Tuna Sushi

The Eel Spring Roll (HK$25) was labelled under the “Creative Sushi”  and dressed with mayonnaise sauce, it was definitely an out of the ordinary sushi as it was wrapped in a soft rice roll.

Eel Spring Roll

Below are the Fried Soft Shelled Crab and Squid.

Fried Soft Shelled Crab

Squid

I have to say that the Grilled Salmon was done very well. Using very fresh sashimi grade salmon, it was grilled so that it was slightly charred, yet leaving the meat soft and juicy to the point that the meat almost melts in your mouth.

Grilled Salmon

The Saga Japanese Beef Roll is also under the “Creative Sushi” category and having seared the outer layer of the beef, the middle portion is left raw, resulting in a tender beef sushi.

Saga Japanese Beef Roll

A word of caution. During peak hours, you may need to wait for quite some time, so it would be advisable to go during off-peak hours (some have waited for over an hour to get a table). Fortunately, we went later in the afternoon after the crowd had gone so there was no waiting time.

Itamae-Sushi Restaurant

Shop 1-3 G/F., Excelsior Plaza, Yee On Building,

24-26 East Point Road,

Causeway Bay,

Hong Kong

Tel: 2110 8504

Kura Japanese Restaurant

Everytime we have an occasion to celebrate, be it a birthday, anniversary, reunion and we feel like Japanese and feel like spurging abit, we head on down to Kura Japanese Restaurant in One World Hotel.

We love coming here because we know the quality of food we are getting is top notch. Everytime we go there we are never disappointed by the quality of food or the service. Plus, I personally like the ambience. Once we set foot in the restaurant we are greeted by all the staff including the chefs as we make our way to our seats. It feels like we are coming home.

Most of the time when we eat here we go for the set dinners because its value for money. All the sets comes with a salad, chawan mushi ( steamed egg), appetizer, main meal, miso soup and dessert. The sets range approximately from RM25 to RM80. And they are generous with their servings. The most expensive sets are big enough to serve 2 people.

Our orders that night include

Zakuro Chirashi Zen RM35

Yakiniku Zen  RM42

Sushi and Tempura Zen RM48

Zakura Chirashi Zen

As usual, whenever I eat at a Japanese joint I will order the meal with the most sashimi. In this case it was the Chirashi zen set, it is basically was a giant bowl of sushi, topped with all the sashimi I can get. It had salmon, tuna, mackerel, butterfish, prawns, squid…mmmm. You get the picture right? The starter that night was Japanese tofu, which was really soft that almost melts in your mouth. Delicious.

Sushi and Tempura set

My cousin ordered the sushi and tempura set, and you can see how much they gave. Seven pieces of sushi with thick slices of fish and a big plate of tempura, together with rice and steamed egg. She was struggling to finish this. But it was really good. Everything was very fresh.

Yakiniku Zen

My dad ordered the Yakiniku Beef set. Yakiniku in Japanese basically means grilled meat. The beef was done perfectly. It was very very tender , thats all that needs to be said.

As usual, we walked away from Kura feeling ’stuffed’ but contented. A good meal all in all. Writing it makes me want to go back again. Lets see when the next occasion coming up…..

** IBM-ers get a 10% discount!!!

Kura Japanese Restaurant

One World Hotel,

First Avenue,

Off Dataran Bandar Utama,

Bandar Utama

Cuisine : Japanese

Halal

Tel : (03) 7726 9660

Opening hours

11.30am – 3.00pm (Lunch)

6.00pm – 11.00pm (Dinner)

With Rakuzen opening a branch in Sri Hartamas, we decided to give it a try. They do have other branches in the city and in Subang, but this was the closest to drive to.

The decor has a very warm and modern feel, whilst maintaining a Japanese style to it all. Some of the tables are segmented by hanging sheets or dividers to give more privacy.

This, however, is not a blog about interior design. So lets move on to the food! For starters, we begin with the Spider Roll. A delightful sushi roll which centres around a portion of soft-shelled crab. The outer layer of the roll is coated in Flying-fish roe.

Next up, cha soba (cold green tea buckwheat noodles). This was definitely a generous portion of cha soba which was complimented with dipping sauce that is hidden underneath the quail egg and seaweed. The noodles, however, were abit on the dry side.

The Tempura Moriawase is a mix tempura of vegetables and prawns. The fresh ingredients made this a delightful dish.

Another appetizer includes the Hotate Mentaimayo Yaki which are baked scallops.

For the mains, we managed to sample two sets. Firstly, the chicken katsu, always a favourite.

Secondly, the Sashimi to Yakizakana Zen set. This includes two pieces of grilled fish accompanied by sashimi, deep fried shrimp, miso soup, cawan mushi and others. They were quite generous, providing thick slices of sashimi. Grilling and the light seasoning brought out the true taste of the fish.

As always, there was room for dessert, but after such a heavy meal, we decided to go light on desserts and try the variety of ice creams.

With many other dishes yet to be tasted, there will definitely be a return visit.

Rakuzen Japanese Restaurant

Lot P17, Plaza Ground Floor

Hartamas Shopping Centre

60, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1

50480 Kuala Lumpur

Cuisine: Japanese

Halal

Tel: +603- 6201 2060

Our friends Shene and Jason have been telling us about this place forever, and so finally we decided to go on a double date with them and check the place out.

The main entrance with its cobbled pathway and bamboo trees

The restaurant is actually an old bungalow, converted into a restaurant. It has a bamboo forest theme going with bamboo lining the cobbled pathway and also around the restaurant. On a scale of 1-10 for ambience, this is definitely a 10. We were ushered into our private room (reserved) with our own private view of the bamboo forest outside.

View from inside the room.

View from the outside, a small little enclave with a view of the bamboo garden

We gave the chef a budget of RM100 per person (it was a special occasion ok?), and see what he could cook up for us, which gave it that little element of surprise.
Our dinner menu for the night consisted of:

1. Grilled baby scallop with Mayonnaise Sauce, Oil Steamed Shishamo Fish, Grilled baby Yam with Miso Paste, Smoked Salmon

2. Double boiled Salmon Barry Soup served with Mushroom and Leek

3. Assorted Sashimi (Tuna , Salmon, White Tuna and Yellow Tail served with Garnish

4. Grilled Japanese Sea Bass Jaw with Salt Seasoning

5. Grilled Eel Hot Pot with Burdock and Egg

6. Assorted Prawn Tempura

7 Grilled Eel Roll Sushi

8 Green tea, Citrus and Sesame Ice Cream.

9. Recommended Sake

Grilled baby scallop with Mayonnaise Sauce, Oil Steamed Shishamo Fish, Grilled baby Yam with Miso Paste, Smoked Salmon

Double boiled Salmon Barry Soup served with Mushroom and Leek

From the top, we were first served a tapas platter which allowed us to sample a little bit of everything. The grilled baby scallops were grilled to perfection and the grilled baby yam with miso paste is not something you can get off a typical Japanese menu. The double boiled Salmon Barry Soup was an east meet west concoction, sweet and light, with the mushroom and leek giving it its own individual flavour.

Our ‘perfect’ shot of the sashimi bowl

The assorted sashimi came in a gigantic bowl which was beautifully decorated. The artistic presentation of the food showed off the generous slices of sashimi, not to mention the freshness. It felt as if it came straight from the ocean. Eaten dipped in soy sauce with freshly grated wasabi will give any sashimi fanatic a run for their money.

Grilled Japanese Sea Bass Jaw with Salt Seasoning

The Japanese Sea bass jaw with Salt Seasoning was initially eaten with some apprehension since we did not know what we were eating. After a few nibbles, we realised what it was. The salt seasoning went all the way through the meat even to the bone, making it very tasty and left us wanting more.

Grilled Eel Hot Pot with Burdock and Egg

The Grilled Eel hot pot with burdock (some kind of vegetable root) and egg was deliciously tasty with the eel melting in our mouths. It came in little clay pots, bringing back memories of my younger days playing masak-masak in my own little world. The prawn tempura served after this was too tempting to resist, even though we were stuffed by then. The batter used was light and the prawns, succulent. Perfecto!

Grilled eel sushi roll

Last came the grilled eel sushi roll. Now this is something quite unique because the chef incorporated a bit of Malaysian-ism into the sushi by adding chili padi, giving it that extra kick. Lightly fried in tempura batter gave it that extra crunch, making it a good end to our long meal. All this food went down really well with the recommended ice cold sake that we ordered.

Citrus flavoured ice cream

Despite feeling as if we could explode anytime soon, we could not say no to dessert (You never say no to dessert). We were served nice cold ice cream to cool our tummies down. There were 3 flavours to choose from – the traditional green tea (macha) ice cream, sesame ice cream, or citrus ice cream (refreshing). Shene actually recommended lavender ice cream which is personally made by the chef and is said to be ‘the best’, but unfortunately, there wasn’t any available that night.

All in all, our total bill came up to approx RM125 per person which is not bad since we had a wide range of dishes (scallops, tuna, salmon, eel, prawns) and it would probably have cost us more if we had ordered the dishes separately. I think this was a great and well worth it dinner. Cheers to great food, great environment and also great company.

I highly recommend this place for birthdays, anniversaries, family dinners or even if you are looking for a nice quiet place to eat. Fukuya, we will definitely be back for more.

Fukuya

No. 9, Jalan Delima 55100 ,

Kuala Lumpur

(Behind Indonesian Embassy)

Mondays – Saturdays 12:00pm – 2:30pm (lunch)

6:30pm – 10:30pm (Dinner)

Sundays : closed

Cuisine: Japanese

Halal, Private parking

Tel: +60(3) 2144 1022/2144 1077

www.fukuya.com.my