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.

Umai-ya @ Uptown 37, Damansara Utama PJ

It has been a while since I hang out with my 2 best friends (since secondary years) and have a good time. All of us already started our own family so we don't get to meet up like this everyday except for special occasion or holidays. Matt suggested something other than Chinese food... so we decided to eat Japanese food instead.

All of us met up at my house in BU before heading there. Parking is not that hard to find during holiday seasons. Located in Uptown 37 (developed by See Hoy Chan Group) which also houses HSBC & Starbuck, it should be relatively easy to find.

A big wooden door at the entrance...

This is one of the places where they prepare the dishes for you.

We were shown into a private room by the waitress.. yay!! We can crack lousy jokes and make fun of each other without having to worry about other people staring at us like crazy people.

Look... they even have Chinese New Year addition in their menu!

Kani Unatama Maki @ RM14 (4 pcs) - soft shell crab, tamago and eel wrap with seaweed

Taco Pelt @ RM20 (6 pcs) - fried seaweed roll with soft shell crab and fresh salmon

Dragon maki @ RM24 (6 pcs) - salmon, ebi tempura roll with eel and avocado on top.

Unagi okonomiyaki @ RM18 - Japanese pizza with unagi anf kirimochi

Koebi karaage @ RM9 - deep fried shrimps with salt. Drip with lemon and good to go... quite crispy. However, please chew carefully, as it's shell might pierce into your lips.

Kabocha sapporo ankake @ RM18 - pumpkin with mushroom and chicken thickness sauce

Leo's verdict - I forgot that both my friends are not into raw meat... therefore, most (or should I say all?) of the stuff ordered were cooked. I'd been deprived of sashimi again :( apart from that, everything was great and most importantly, we got to sit down together and chat our night away. When you have families, opportunities like these are rare. That is why I really enjoyed the night.

Pasta Zanmai @ 1Utama Shopping Centre (Old Wing)

Last minute shopping before the holiday began, and Jenn was feeling hungry after walking for a while. Pregnant woman... always hungry!

We'd come to know about this place for a while now but never step our feet inside. Anyway the outlet is design in such a way that the front half is allocated to sell Japanese products while the other back half is where the restaurant is.

You can observe the chef whipping out the dishes through the transparent glass.

Rather big menu with separate dessert + beverages menu.

The interior looks nice and cosy... with 2 big lamps in the middle of a few round shaped table + sofa.

Jenn is a ig fan of avocado and so when she saw a dish with this ingredient - Kani to Avocado no Gomadare Shitate, or crabmeat & avocado pasta with sesame sauce @ RM26 - she quickly ordered it. The set comes with small salad and miso soup. It will be less RM3 if you opt for pasta only. This dish came in quite a big bowl and boy, the crab meat (not crab stick) looked fresh and big chunk too. The sesame sauce made the difference to the pasta.. its aroma blended with the freshness of crab meat and avocado, made me couldn't stop slurping the spaghetti. The salad is equally nice, veggie was fresh and actual crab meat slices were used with sesame dressing. Guess I'm a sucker for sesame oil and its stuff... lol!!!

Leo's verdict - So far, I was impressed by the quality of the food. Too bad that I was not hungry at that time, and so I didn't get to try their other dishes. I'll make sure that I come back soon...

Ajisen Ramen @ 1 Utama Shopping Centre (Old Wing)

We were indecisive today... both of us could not agree on what to eat for dinner. So we set out on a place to go and then decide on what to eat once we're there. We ended up in 1utama... spent a good 20 minutes just to look for carpark (a big SIGH!!!)

As we walked, we saw this outlet... hmmm!! Not bad we said... so Ajisen Ramen it is!!!

I asked Jenn to go inside first while I snapped a few pictures... like this one where they put some Japanese decorations and pictures of the food on the display.

This is how it (inside) looks from the outside... quite modern.

Rather big menu

Chicken Teri Set @ RM11.80 - this set came with a complimentary soup. The teriyaki sauce was OK but I preferred grilled chicken instead of deep fried (in this case). I also like my salad to go with thousand island sauce but then, it was too much... YUCK!!!

Fish ramen @ RM12.80 - it was hard to describe the taste of the soup (according to Jenn). It was a combination of spicy and salty but not too much... just nice and Jenn liked it. Again, the fish meat was deep fried!!

Black pepper tontoro @ RM12.80 - it certainly looked very big on the menu. When it was served, it was only 5 pieces of ultra thin slices or black pepper marinated pork. The meat was not so tender but quite chewy though. For those who like their meat to have strong black pepper taste, you would love this... Jenn thought that it was too peppery but I liked its strong taste.

Leo's verdict - I don't really like my chicken teri set but the tontoro was good. Jenn also commended on her ramen. Well, I have to come back for Round 2 and try different food in order to make conclusion on whether it's worth coming or not.