Rakuzen @ Chulan Square KL

A little history - I was not really a fan of Japanese food in the past. Thanks for my dad who was never adventurous when it comes to food, I practically grew up eating Chinese food. So imagine my reaction when having sushi for the first time :P the sight of raw sashimi was too much to take and the idea of walloping raw stuff was out of question. However, everything has its first time and mine was only tuna mayo sushi (one and only one)! Even miso soup took me a few trips to get used to. Enter Jenn into the fray and she literally persuaded me to try everything. LOL! think back of those days.. maybe I was in love with her so each and every words coming out from her mouth worked magic :) and now, it was my turn to teach her a thing or two about sashimi!

Jenn and I knew each other since we were 15 and when we went to study in KL after SPM, $$$ was tight and having sushi was considered luxury at our times. Saving up enough moolah to take her out to Genki Sushi (hey! this was the most popular place for us in the 90s) was what I did at that time. It was great to spend time with the one I love (do not forget that we were only friends at that time) and it was very well-worth the effort. The sight of her glowing face while having sushi was unforgetable. Oh did I mention that the time with her never seemed enough? We had so much to chat yet so little time and I always look forward to see her again. Now both of us are husband & wife... life got better for us and we could afford to eat at better Japanese restaurants. I could remember how she raved on Rakuzen, as her sister treated her for a meal there once.

It was her birthday & I had decided to bring her there. We were staying in The Westin Hotel KL & we made reservation for dinner at Rakuzen in Chulan Square. It had stopped raining and therefore the weather was rather cool as we walked there holding hands.

We were there in less than 10 minutes

We got ourselves a table facing the busy stretch of Jalan Raja Chulan. We just sipped out hot ocha while watching the world passed by.

Shun no sashimi mariowase - salmon, maguro, baby squid, Japanese Sea Bream & half-beaked fish. This is actually a seasonal menu (especially for the sea bream and half-beaked fish) so availability is not guaranteed (we were here sometime in April). Everything was freshly prepared and we were more than happy to clean up the plate, sparing nothing.

Quarter tray of Nama uni (sea urchin) - my first time tasting raw sea urchin and it was had a hint of saltiness (from the seawater perhaps) and sweet nonetheless. LOVE IT! Don't be fooled with this picture as the portion was rather small for RM45. We should have ordered larger portion!

Dragon roll - fried king prawn roll topped with avocado. You can find this practically almost every Japanese restaurant and sushi joints in Klang Valley. Our love for avocado and the crispy-ness of the king prawn justified our order.

Saba shioyaki - grilled mackarel with salt. No complains!

Ara no Miso Shiru - fish head miso soup. Jenn is a sucker for fish head! You should see her when she's having fish head noodles LOL!

Hotate Miso Shiru - scallop miso soup. I am perhaps more lazy and therefore settled for scallop instead of fish head :P

Goma Ice - black sesame ice-cream with sesame seed. As usual, sweet note to end our satisfying dinner!

Leo's verdict - probably the most expensive & satisfying Japanese meal that I had so far but it is worth every penny spent! everything was top notch and service was attentive too. Pardon for the dark pictures as I was still using Ixus at that time.

Rakuzen
Block B Lot 2A Chulan Square,
92 Jalan Raja Chulan, 50200 KL
GPS: 3.148518, 101.716114
Tel: 03-2145 6200

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

Sher Ryn is ONE!!! Have I done a good job???

That's right!!! Time flies so fast that my daughter has reached her first anniversary in March 2010. To her dad & mom (that's me and Jenn), it is a proud moment. For a typical Chinese family, it is a big deal too. Preparations had been made a few days before the big day - my mom ordered 2 cakes, self-prepared the "red" eggs, jelly, steamed chicken as well as some fried chicken. It was just a simple celebration with some close friends and families were invited.

Sher Ryn was fascinated with the reddish eggs

Received ang pow from her grandparents (a rather big one too!) which has been saved aside for her future education.

My dad, mom, Sher Ryn, Jenn & I... she has grown a lot huh?

Well that was in Kuala Lipis... we went out to KL to celebrate the day after. Bought a simple mango cake from Zen by Secret Recipe with one candle!
She was soooo happy that she clapped as we sang Happy Birthday song to her! I really love these moments.. and then it was time to cut the cake! Of course, with a little help from Jenn :)

For dinner... it was Delicious's Caesar's Salad with Smoked Salmon and breaded chicken fillet with some dipping sauce (forgot its name)

God I miss the time when she was small! She has grown into such a healthy and happy little girl who sometimes turn into a monster when she's grumpy or when her demands are not met.

Happy family moment in the concourse area of Mid Valley Megamall... pretty sure that some of you would recognise those flowers from Alice in Wonderland movie :) but let's focus on us ok??

LOVE this picture - taken while walking to The Garden from the Megamall's Starbuck entrance. There is a mini water fountain in between the two malls and Sher Ryn was intriqued by the water show. All I had to do was to show interest in what I was looking at and her head would eventually followed mine :P

Not an easy to task to raise a newborn baby for a year but I am pretty sure that it will get harder as she reaches teenage years. My friend once told me "For the first 12-18 years you will worry on how your daughter will turn out and the rest of your life worrying when your daughter is going to turn in"... LOL! It made sense now... being parents can be paranoid~

Oh well... as long as I give it all raising her up with care and discipline, all I can hope is that she will turn out just fine. As for when she's going to turn in, there is always CURFEW!!!! Sher Ryn's arrival has made my life brighter and seem to be meaningful...

My Big Day Part 1

**Put all the back logs away and decided to post on my birthday instead this time... divided into two parts.

Back to reality! Back to this little town where my factory is located... in other words, back to work!

Good thing is that I feel recharged after spending the last weekend in KL, minus the baby. Jenn & I left Sher Ryn in the care of her mom while we took off to KL on Thursday night, as she had some works to do on Friday.

Not many people know that 24th October is my birthday, which also coincide with Sultan Pahang's birthday. But it makes no difference to KL-ites... as it's a normal day to all of them. Back to those days when I was just a little kid, I felt so proud everytime my birthday arrived as it was always public holiday. When I came to study in KL, I had to live my life like KL-ites.. no holiday unless it fell on weekends. And it continued for another few years when I started working in KL until I came back here in 2005.

On Friday (that's the eve of my birthday!), Jenn proposed to go to Ribs by Vintry. She knows that I'm a huge fan of anything to do with pork... well, with the exception of the spare parts :) and on top of that, both of us had been talking about dine & wine, a luxury that both of us don't get to do often... not when there's a little monster who always crave for attention from her parents. As for me, after reading AWOL's and kampungboycitygal's blogs... I agreed right away!

It was raining when we arrived around 7++pm... and as expected, parking was oh-so-difficult to find. I dropped Jenn in front of the outlet and asked her to look for a table first (knowing that it's not easy to find a table on Friday evening) while I drove a few hundred metres away and parked my car on the side of the road near the housing area. It has rustic interior but in a modern kind of way and the lightings are not too dim. However, it will require a stable pair of hands to take pictures without flash for a more natural effect.

Extensive wine collection is made available on the shelves (arrange library style.. only it's wine and not book) that you will definitely see once you step into the outlet. Whatever you are looking for - cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, pinot noir, bla bla bla.. they have it.

I spotted my favourite drink - Moet & Chandon Imperial Brut costing RM288! But I recalled that it cost only RM250 a bottle in Tasting Room (Bangsar)...

Both of us settled for Fire Road Pinot Noir 2008... from Marlborough region in New Zealand. This area is famous for its grape and wine production in NZ, as I went there once for wine tasting during my days in University of Otago. Good thing is that it is only RM77! The wine was a little bit spicy but after having with the meat, it just got better and better!

For starters, we ordered 100gm of their signature roasted pork at RM7. Crispy skin with higher lean meat ratio to the fat (which I prefer), it is considered cheap by normal standard as a plate of roasted pork rice already cost RM5 in KL. Heavenly! (although the meat was a bit cold when it was served on our table)

We also ordered burschetta RM12... consisted of anchovies (which explain the rather salty taste), fried pork bacon bits, capers and diced tomatoes on top of toasted bread. Finished in no time!

Braised pork ribs - the ribs were braised with red wine sauce and served with rosemary baked potatoes and coleslaw. Contrary to what kampungboycitygal wrote, the ribs that were covered in a rich and thick brown sauce was fork tender and literally fell of the bone. Inconsistent maybe?

BBQ pork ribs @ RM39 (medium portion) - I was feeling greedy at the beginning as I planned to go for the barbarian ribs instead. But when I realised that we had ordered 2 starters, I played safe and ordered a medium one. Definitely one of the best pork ribs in town (if not the best) that was served on a bed of mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were great too as it was covered with the sauce from the BBQ ribs! Forgetting all the manners, I put my knife and fork away... used my hands to pick up the delectable pork ribs and devour it like a hungry tiger.

Leo's verdict - By the time we finished the dinner, the rain had already stopped. A little bit tipsy, both of us walked to the car.. and I got to placed my hand on her shoulder and held her close to me before planting a kiss on her lips (18 SX!!!). Sorry no pictures on the kissing, just our happy looks while dining there.

No No!!! It's not the end, since the night was still early... we went to Jaya One and ended up at Brussel's Beer Cafe. The place was full of people having beer, celebrating Oktoberfest!

Both of us had the Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier @ RM18 per half pint... and went home after that!

Oh yes, these were what I got as birthday present from Jenn (^_^)