Friday, January 30, 2015

Yuzen Japanese Restaurant @Damansara Perdana– Omakase Japanese Fine Dining Review


Malaysian can now enjoy top quality fully imported from Japan the Omakase style. Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to this special Japanese epicurean experience at Yuzen Japanese Restaurant located at LG03, Plaza Emerald North, Jalan Pju8/3A, Damansara Perdana, 47820 Petaling Jaya.


Omakase; is an expression that are widely used at Japanese restaurants particularly in sushi restaurant where one leaves the selection of what to eat entirely to the chef. It is the direct opposite to ala-carte. Customers ordering omakase style expect the chef to be innovative and surprising in the selection of dishes, and the meal can be likened to an artistic performance by the chef.


Ordering omakase can be a gamble for those that are choosy on the type of food that they like; however, the customer typically receives the highest-quality fish in stock at a less expensive cost than if it had been ordered à la carte. A little more of that later.


Yuzen Japanese Restaurant décor is of a minimalist simple Zen design. Its' ambience suits a casual Japanese dining experience while there are some private rooms that caters to more privacy for the guests.


The afternoon lunch started off with an Omakase Sashimi (market price)– it is a platter of raw fresh fish and seafood selection by the chef. Our platter of the Omakase Sashimi comes with variety of fish and seafood.


Although one can also order a normal Sashimi set, an Omakase Sashimi Platter allows the chef to mix with some top quality seasonal fishes into this platter.


According to the Chef, one can expect that the Omakase Sashimi Platter that you eat this week would not be identical at all to the following week.


One can also be surprised by this offering to taste some of these specialty Japanese fish which can be very costly to be ordered ala-carte.


At Yuzen, the Chef have concocted a special in-house made wasabi which is perfect for eating Sashimi, as you would not need any soya sauce added into it. In Japan specialty restaurant, Sashimi are most likely be served with this special wasabi concoction which will bring out the natural taste of the fresh fish and seafood.


Next, we had the Tuna Takaki Avocado Salad (RM22.00), the tuna are lightly pan fried on the outer layer and slice thinly and served with avocado, fresh green salad and rocket salad.


The dressing was a light sesame mayonnaise and blended perfectly with the salad greens.


This is then followed by the Omakase Nigiri Platter (market price) which has pieces of specialty sushi which include the Salmon Roe, Toro, Tuna, Salmon, Ankimo and others. Your order will definitely be different from the one we had.


We had another salad which is the Deep Fried Salmon Skin salad. The skin was very crisp and eaten with the salad, it gives the mouth a feels of crunchiness while the greens gives you a refresh feel.


After that, we had the Chawan Mushi (RM10.00). At Yuzen Japanese Restaurant you can order your Chawan Mushi with a Seafood topping


or a Crab Meat Topping. I find the eggs custard very smooth, where you can slurp it into your mouth. It also has a strong tinge of flavourful taste. Upon checking with the Chef, his Chawan mushi are made from a special clear broth that takes more than 6 hours to boil and mix with the eggs and steam at the right temperature to this perfect setting and texture.


Next, we had the Chicken Teriyaki – RM13.50 - the chicken was deep fried to a light crisp and topped with a special in-house blended teriyaki sauce that was not too sweet and was just nice for my taste. Usually, I am not a big fan of teriyaki but this one made me go for a second helping.


One of the most interesting dish for me which leaves me an unforgettable taste even after sometime as I write this post is the Surume Ika Teriyaki (Squid) – RM20.50. The squid was lightly grilled to a seared while retaining the squid, firm and bouncy texture.
 

What makes this dish an unforgettable taste is not the grilled squid but the accompanied squid sauce which the chef has used the squid roe, squid ink and the secret recipe to cook this sauce which has a very strong and smooth taste of the squid.


The after taste from eating this sauce with the grilled squid leaves one taste bud and senses highly satisfied. If Squid is one of your favourite, you gotta try this.


Little did we know as a food blogger, mostly we have already experience this Omakase experience as most of the time, we totally leave it to the chef to dish out their specialty dishes for us to try.

Our Other Japanese Cuisine Review
Kampachi Japanese Restaurant @ Pavilion Kuala Lumpur  – Best Japanese Restaurant – All Kansai Festival Review Puchong Setia Walk Sumptuous Traditional Japanese Food at Bonbori Japanese Cuisine Restaurant by Best Restaurant To EatKurata Japanese Restaurant Park Royal Kuala Lumpur – Japanese Fine Dining With A Touch of French Review

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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Porto Bello Cafe@ Damansara Uptown - A mushroom love affair Review By Best Restaurant


Mention the name Porto Bello, it must have everything to do with mushroom. So, what is so special about a mushroom meal. Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to a special review of Porto Bello Café which is strategically located at 8 Jalan SS21/58 Damansara Utama (Uptown) 47400 Petaling Jaya,. Selangor.


Porto Bello Café@ Damansara Uptown exudes a sense of belonging and comfort in this new café setting that was opened about 6 months ago.


The décor and ambience gives one a very relax feeling; in which the wall is being plastered with bare bricks design that amplify an European atmosphere and feel.


Our food review started out with the HOMEMADE WILD MUSHROOM SOUP - RM8.90. This soup is cooked with 5 types of wild mushroom, which is the Brown Shimeji Mushroom, White Shimeji Mushroom, Shitake Mushroom, King Oyster Mushroom and Oyster Mushroom.


With this combination of mushrooms, the soup exudes not only a strong mushroom aroma while each and every spoonful is filled with tiny pieces of finely chopped mushroom, herbs and had the right combination of creaminess, which makes it more wholesome. Accompanying the soup is the in-house made slice wholemeal baguette.


Next, on the table is the PORTO BELLO'S FRENCH ESCARGOT - RM13.90. Most Escargot are served with garlic butter.


At Porto Bello, the chef uses a special recipe of garlic, whipped cream, mozzarella and parmesan to cook up the sauce which was heavenly. Do not let them take away this sauce after eating your escargot as this special sauce can also be used as a dip for toasted bread or French fries. 


The final appetizer that we had was the LEGENDARY CRAB CAKE – RM10.90 which is served with herb aioli and tomato relish.


For those that love to eat crab, you might want to give this appetizer a try-out as the filling is generously filled with the crab meat i.e. you can taste the crab meat with every bite. There are some evident of some light spicy taste that makes this dish a nice pairing if you decide to have some alcoholic drink that can go well with this appetizer.


At Porto Bello Café, they do serve an assortment of snack food, one of which that is unique is the BOMBAS at RM6.50. Bombas is coated with bread crumb and is a Fried mash potatoes ball with minced chicken meat filling. This is a fusion dish derived from the Italian Fried Rice Ball.


If you are familiar with the Chinese Dim Sum, “Woo Kok” which is a fried yam with minced chicken or pork, this BOMBAS is quite similar to that. The difference is; for BOMBAS is mash potatoes instead of yam.


The first main course for the night is the SMOKED BARBEQUE CHICKEN - RM29.90– this is for a half portion. When the dish arrived at the table, we could really smell the heavy and strong fragrant of the smoked chicken.


To cook this dish, the chicken are first smoked using the SARSI WOOD in a special oven for more than 30 minutes, and this is the secret, which explains how the unique special smoked aroma is allowed to permeates deep into the spring chicken meat.


One can really taste the strong flavour of this smoky taste especially the skin of the chicken. It leaves your taste-bud on a high 5 that you really can’t stop savouring each and every part of the chicken while licking up each bone. Note: this special chicken is available in limited quantities, so do check it out with the order takers if you want to try this dish.


The next dish is the signature PORTO BELLO CHICKEN PIE – RM 22.00. For those that loves anything mushroom this is a must try.



The thick and giant Porto Bello mushroom is served with a piece of chicken patty served on top of a pie pastry.


This method of cooking ensures that the natural mushroom taste will not be overpowered by the other ingredient. With each bite, you can taste the springy texture and juiciness of the Porto Bello Mushroom taste.


Next, we had the opportunity to savour a not on the menu item which is the FRITA BOLOGNESE A LA PORTO BELLO - RM 18.90


Like the BOMBAS, the spaghetti are wrap around by the mashed potatoes and deep fried and served with a generous serving of Beef Bolognese sauce. The Chef has creatively created this unique fusion dish.


Another main dish that we tried was the SEARED SALMON - RM29.90 - The seared salmon is served with beet root puree, mash potatoes and beure blanc.


To end this dinner review we had 2 desserts namely the LAVA CAKE - RM 13.90. As usual, this cake has to be eaten hot i.e. when it is served, so that when you cut the cake, you can experience the hot chocolaty lava flowing out.


Scoop it up with some Vanilla Ice Cream which is cold, and you can really taste the sensation of the marriage between the hot cake and the cold ice-cream.


The second dessert is the PANNA COTTA - RM 14.90, a chilled Italian dessert of cream and milk with a zesty lemony taste from the lemon rind and strawberry sauce.


If you are one of those that loves to explore fusion food in a nice restaurant setting, you can try out Porto Bello Cafe@ Damansara Uptown.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Choi’s Don & Dak @Kuchai Entrepreneur Park Old Klang Road, Korean Teppan BBQ Table Review


DakGalBi is one of the most popular Korean meals. Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to review this new restaurant Choi’s Don & Dak located at 30, Jalan Kuchai Maju 8 Kuchai Entrepreneur Park Off Old Klang Road Kuala Lumpur.


Choi’s Don & Dak décor is one of a very simple setting and it is brightly lit place where you can easily see what is being cooked in the hot teppan top.


In the centre of each table is a special thick cast iron hot plate where the DakGalBi will be cooked.


One of the biggest problem eating DakGalBi is that there will be a lot of vapour that emits from the hot plate and when you are done with your meal, your whole body and clothes shirt is blanketed with this vapour of BBQ. So, this special hot plate actually does not emit that much vapour as compared to some other DakGalBi restaurant, so you won't be smelt like a BBQ after leaving the restaurant.


Another feature of this special cast iron hot plate is, it does not burn easily so the food will continue to stay piping hot and you can continue eating it without rushing.


We understand that all DakGalBi outlet will only serves chicken meat, but at Choi Don & Dak, customers can opt for either Chicken or Pork. The Pork is serve using the style of Jumuluck where the pork meat are hand press and massage with the special pork sauce before serving it.


The cost per head for the DakGalbi at Choi Don & Dak @Kuchai Entrepreneur Park is RM19.80 per head and it is serves with a generous portion of vegetables with some side of vegetables i.e fresh green lettuce as a wrap, garlic slices, green chillies, pickled onion and a special mash potato.


One of the key plus point at Choi's Don & Dak is that all the DakGalbi sauce are made in-house using pear, apple, fruits and some special ingredient which are made by the boss herself Ms Grace Choi, from Korea. So, you really get to taste the original Korean Homemade flavours at this restaurant.


Eating this DakGalbi with a wrap of lettuce and garlic slice.


For some add-on, you can choose the mix sausage where you can choose 3 flavours out of 5 which include the normal, cheese, black pepper, garlic, or mushroom sausage. Note: All the add-on the picture for the add-on is just a half portion. You actually gets more than that for your orders.


You can also add on fresh mushroom which includes the shimeji and Enoki at RM8.00.


Other option of noodles includes the Udon (RM7.00)


Ramen (RM6.00) and mozzarella cheese (RM8.00).


For those that would like a simple meal, you can opt for a Ramyun Ramen - RM12,00.


or the Korean Jiapaghetti (RM7.80)- it is a dry ramen that taste much like the dry wantan noodle.


Or if you are a rice person, you can opt for the Fried Rice With Dry Laver. This special fried rice uses the Japanese round grain sticky rice with Korean seaweed, Kim chi sauce and fresh green lettuce.


The rice is fried on the teppan top till a crisp on the outer layer. The rice has a strong fragrant of the seaweed, much like the taste of fried sushi.


Finally, we had the Pork Cutlet (RM16.80), which is coated with bread crumbs and fried to a crisp and topped with an onion brown sauce.


The next time, you have a yearning for some real Korean Teppan BBQ, you might want to give Choi's Don & Dak @ Kuchai Entrepreneur Park a try.

For more Korean Cuisine review, please click on the link below