Some Lunches

Sitting at Starbucks on my leave week to do my dissertation, i decided to take a break and blog a little. Besides, the music on the speakers is just tormenting! I will have to leave really soon if they don’t stop playing it. It’s a James Blunt CD! I keep hearing that ‘Goodbye My Lover’ song, maybe it’s on repeat, i don’t know, but i really feel like strangling someone. And don’t get me started with that song, “You’re Beautiful”….imagine serenading that song to someone. Love tip #1, DON’T!

Starbucks Azuki Frappucino

Have you guys tried the new Azuki Frappucino? Available in both cream based and with espresso shots. I tried both. For the true red bean lover, the cream based one would be one to pick, coffee lovers otherwise. I like this drink, and i have found myself sometimes…yearning, craving for it…

(no coffee experience would be complete without a stick or two…like cheesecake!)

Anyways….

Here are a few of my japanese set lunch escapades. I just love a good nihon no hirugohan . Power packed lunches i call it because they usually fill me up so bad that all i can think of after that is a nice nap. Well, it sorts of defeat the purpose of power packed lunches, as it turned out to be non-productive lunches. Well, here are a few of my belt loosening adventures.

Rakuzen Japanese Restaurant.

I have this almost every other week, as I go out on Thursdays to visit the Matsushita Factories. Therefore this place is situated some place in the middle, more specifically Subang Jaya. This restaurant has been known to be a good average priced japanese eateries. Their set lunches comprises of the normal japenese bento sets…with the exception of pork as it is a halal joint. So no Tonkatsu and Katsudon here. What I have in the picture is their chicken curry don, what i would really prefer is beef ones but since chicken was all they had, so be it. This cost about RM18.00 if i remember correctly. There’s a unagi kabayaki which is pretty decent as well, at about RM26.00, well grilled and tender on the inside. This restaurants greets you with enthutiasm, unlike my weekend visit to Nippon Tei at Times Square which had seasoned (i really mean seasoned!) workers there, that are half-heartedly in their welcoming greetings, a “Welcome” without looking at you. What’s that about? Anyways, back to rakuzen. I’ve been here for dinner as well, however, no pictures taken then. Again i’ve explained before that i can’t be taking out my camera to snap when my clients are around. But like my japanese bosses have said, this is one of the better japanese restaurants.

Kinpachi Japanese Restaurant

Another restaurant located in Subang Jaya, one that alternate between Rakuzen. However, this isn’t as popular and reason being that the food isn’t great, ok i’m a bit harsh…isn’t ‘that’ great. It’s quiet unlike Rakuzen, perhaps it’s situated away from the action. Well, if i don’t feel like bumping into my customers during lunch i would opt for this place. Their Wafu Hamburger isn’t too bad. But their ramen is horrible…hard and seemingly unrefreshed, ramen is a no no here. I tried this lunch set the other day which i forgot the name, is a breaded (like tonkatsu) minced beef rice set. It was pretty decent as being minced beef, it’s tender, like wafu hamburger. Yup come to think of it, it’s a beef burger patty on rice! This was RM20.00. But really, give this a miss…my recommendation to you.

Hajime Japanese Restaurant

This is a classy japanese restaurant situated in Ampang. It is one of those fine dining place, that resides in an old bungalow. So you have ample parking spaces that is for sure. The place specializes in Sashimi and Sushi…and yummy delectable rolls. I just love a good japanese roll…Scrumptious and bursting with flavours thats how i would describe it. Japanese rolls have recently become very popular in KL, they add a touch of fusion to japanese dining. Avocados and cheese has been quite a popular ingredient in these delicious rolls.

You won’t find ramen and udons here nor can you find chicken teppanyaki and katsudons. If you like fresh sushi and sashimi, this is the right place to come to. From the exterior and even the interior, what promises to be an extravagantly priced meal turned out not so otherwise. It is quite a nice place to impress, as the place is surrounded by a feeling of zen, water trickling down from the man made rock gardens. But at the time i visited the place it was empty! Perhaps it is still new and lacked advertising and promotion. Afterall, i wouldn’t have found out about the restaurant if i had not gone to my centre to submit my proposal.

What we have in the picture are some great rolls, i forgot the names, but the first is a picture of a cheese maki, salmon wrapped around some ebiko, grilled cheese, cucumber. The next one is an idako salad which i enjoyed very much, crispy cajunish idakos with the vinegared salad…yummy! Next to the salad, is a unagi roll, again with cheese, a nice sauce that’s in between italian dressing and mayo (probably they mixed it together), and drizzled with some teriyaki sauce…There’s a salmon broth that i ordered but didn’t have a snap of it, but that went cold too quickly, but it was pretty ok. Overall it was quite a delightful experience, not out of this world, but i wouldn’t mind going there again. The bill came up to about RM90+.

St Patricks, Kinpachi, Gion Bread & Phantom Limb

Konbanwa こんばんわ..
I passed my I1 Japanese exams! Boy was that a huge relieve, as I was pretty much prepared in retaking it another time. Thank heavens I didn’t have to. Now it is on to I2 demo I’m gonna take a break for a short while just so I can focus completely on my dissertation due on the 30th June this year. It has been given me sleepless nights, the fear of not completing it on time. Boy am I the procrastinating champion. I can’t do that now, as there is no more extensions allowed, hand it or fail it. Damn this cruel world.
I had Kinpachi for lunch after the exams. Located in Subang Jaya, just after the Subang Parade road leading to Kuala Lumpur. I had a bowl of their Kimuchi Katsudon. It was too much veggies and Kimchi stuffs for my liking. I was actually looking forward to have Tonkatsu, pork cutlets. However, to my dismay, what was presented then was only a mere few pieces. I felt like I was having a bowl of vegetable rice. Maybe it is just me, but I could have whipped up a better bowl of Katsudon… It came with a bowl of Miso and a saucer of pickles. The meal cost RM17.00. I didn’t finish my donburi. Feeling extremely thirsty and hot I decided to have a nice cool beer to cleanse the heat. And plus beer is a damn good tranquilizer for afternoon naps.
With so many Japanese diners in Subang, I wouldn’t head back there again.
I went over to Souled Out at night as well, a St. Patrick event was held there. I figured, they would have some sort of Guinness Draft promotion there as they were heavily promoting it for a good whole month. I was utterly disappointed that they didn’t, I mean what’s the point? They had some games and some really bad singing. I guess they were trying to be as Irish as possible but fell flat in comparison. Of course the most disappointing thing is definitely on the non-promotion Guinness Drafts!! How can that be? Who gives a fuck about St Patrick’s Day here? Who gives a shit about Shamrocks? Malaysians need to remember that day as a day they give 50% off for the stouts! I am not being an el cheapo but that’s how the M’sian mentality works. They don’t talk about the great DJ, the great decorations and the great games…they just talk about the cheap stout they had! And if there should be an event again next year, this will be the thing that they’ll be looking forward to! It’s like Oktoberfest where they have big discounts on beers, this is what I’m talking about. People here would associate that day with that. And plus I hear other places in the world give out free beers on St Patrick’s Day…Well, enough about that. Maybe I just really expected more..

Have you guys tried that Bologne Gion Bread? I don’t really know what is it really called cause it says Bologne (which is a city in Italy) on the banner and it says Gion (which is a city in Kyoto) on the plastic bag. So what is what? Well for now, I assume it’s called Gion Bread, and it cost a whopping RM18 bucks for a loaf. A normal loaf of Gardenia would set you back for about RM1.80? So you have some math calculation to do there, in short more bread than you can eat! However, despite the highway robbery price tag…there’s always a queue, and you may have guessed it..SOLD OUT! They started out as a stall outside of JUSCO Mid Valley…I think? Or maybe not, as I’ve seen it before at the Bon Odori fair at the Matshushita Sports Centre in June 06…so they may have set it up somewhere else before. The bread is cut into thick slices and they are buttered. They recommend that you give it a light toast to give that light crispiness on the surface and yet soft inside…very much like a Mcdonald’s French Fries minus the deep fry. I like it very much, especially when I have two slices of Honey Turkey Ham, two slices of Salami and a thick slice of Parma Ham, some mayo, some mustard, a slice of cheddar, lettuce and tomatoes, sandwiched in between. It makes a really good lunch! Better than O’Brien’s ! Well, the bread anyways…their relishes and that darn good turkey bacon are still a standout.
Nevertheless, bread will always be bread…of course their technique of making the bread is somewhat unique as they claim it to be…they can fool anyone, I mean how many of us have worked in a bread factory before? I guess as well, it’s the fresh and imported ingredients as well. Yes, yes…it makes a really good bread…and you really really can eat it on its own….again with that coffee craze of mind. However, for a staple diet of breakfast every morning, the price is a tad bit HIGH! I think for folks like me…LIKE ME…. breads such as this would be shelved away in my list as indulgences. It’s nice, but not to die for anyways.
Attended my cous wedding at the Banker’s Club on Sunday. Small place but it was pretty ok. It fitted about 18 tables, only close relatives were invited, you can feel the togetherness. I feel that sometimes in a wedding it’s more important, rather gathering a bunch of people you have to call out of obligation, many of which who do not really wanna come, yes out of obligation as well. It was my cousin who is now residing in Australia and married to a Filipino. You have his folks and sisters from the States coming to KL to attend the wedding. The food was ok, typical Chinese cuisine, the roast chicken and the fried rice was good. Apparently they didn’t have a karaoke system there, and Chinese will always be Chinese…they just want to sing!! So the night was filled with acapella numbers, some good some just downright horrible…the horrible ones I imagine are the equivalent of stand up comedies for me, rather than a torment in some cases. Yours truly’s dad sang as well, by the request of my uncle and aunty…oddly he chose Ave Maria..hmmm…Oh the groom sang a Frank Sinatra number as well, ‘It had to be you’. He neither sounded like Frank nor Harry. Well, it was a surprise anyways, a song he dedicated to my cousin, his wife. Strangely, he kinda stressed on the part of the song where it goes, “With All of your faults I love you still”….hmmm….
I guess it was a nice wedding, short of the extravagance that everyone is so accustomed to nowadays, it was just nice.
I’ve been listening to The Shins lately, their song, “Phantom Limb”. The MTV has the band singing and kids in some theather play as well. I just don’t the MTV sometimes, maybe I don’t try hard enough to try to comprehend it. Whatever the reason, it is a nice song. Call to Apathy was one of their better hits as well. Here is the Lyrics to Phantom Limb….

Phantom Limb – The Shins MP3

Frozen into coats,
White girls of the North,
Fire past one, fire the one
They are the fabled lambs,
A Sunday ham,
The ancient snow.

And they can float above the grass,
In circles if they tried,
A latent power I know they hide,
To keep some hope alive,
That a girl like I
Could ever try,
Could ever try.

So we just skirt the hallway signs,
A phantom and a fly,
Follow the lines and wonder why
There’s no connection.

And weakened falling eyes,
In cheap shots from the tribe,

And we’re often in Marcus’ porch again,
For another afternoon of the goat-head tunes,
And pilfered booze.

We wander through her mama’s house,
The milk from the window lights,
Family portrait circa ninety-five,
This is that foreign land,
With the sprayed on tans,
And it all feels fine,
Be it silk or slime,

So, when they tap our mundane heads,
To zombie-walk in our stead,
This town seems hardly worth our time,
And we’ll no longer memorize or rhyme,
Too fall along in our crime,
Stepping over what now towers to the sky,
With no connection.

Oooh waooooooo waooooooo
Oooh waooooooo waooooooo
Oooh waooooooo waooooooo
Oooh waooooooo waooooooo

So, when they tap our Mundane heads,
To zombie-walk in our stead,
This town seems hardly worth our time,
And we’ll no longer memorize or rhyme,
Too fall along in our crime,
Stepping over what now towers to the sky,
With no connection.

Yoko’s Japanese Restaurant

Yoko’s
36, Jalan Changkat Bukit Bintang,
50200 Kuala Lumpur
21443378

My second time here at Yoko’s. Situated along Changkat Bukit Bintang this restaurant has been here for a few years now. It goes by their motto,”A Unique Dining Experience”.
One thing about this place is, the service is bad, not bad as in rude but rather in a disorganized way. We were seated at our table for 15 minutes without anyone attending to us. There are about 2 to 3 waitresses to take orders, clean the tables and serve the food. I suppose in that sense, the service is bound to be a little slow. The waitress finally came after much calling and yelling from us…took 2 orders on her notepad and suddenly she disappeared. What was that all about?! Then a different waitress came, has the earlier waitress taken the initial 2 orders? She had to recheck and off she went. Thankfully, she came back, affirming us of our orders. Despite all the mess and confusion, the waitresses are friendly and cheerful, like their first day at work. Is always nice to have waiters/waitresses on their first day at work attitude (they try very hard to please!).
Like all the eateries here, Yoko’s too have a chillout kind of ambience; more laid back and it will be fine if you are just coming in for a mug or jug of beer. Something like your bar cum restaurant kind of concept. She’s always there as well, Yoko the owner. She’ll come to your table and just give her card and say hello. A personal touch I suppose, which makes the place a welcoming feeling as they try to remember regulars.
One thing for sure is that the menu had loads of spelling error, making it more of a real Japanese restaurant? I wonder… There’s quite an extensive selection, surprised I was as it is a pretty small place. They have Japanese pizza if you are interested, spaghettis and really quick snacks. We tried the Tako Pizza, it has cheese, octopus, tomato paste and just horribly soft. Hence, it was chewy, like it wasn’t baked enough, like eating an uncooked dough. I wished there were more octopuses. The pizza cost RM16.00. I guess the next time if I decide to have that again I would ask them to just cook it a little more. Raw pizza is just not raw fish.
We ordered a small bottle of sake, I forgot the name in the menu and plus I can’t read kanji. We had it chilled. The taste wasn’t intense enough for my liking; it didn’t stream down my throat like a slush of magma which I like in Sake. However, I may not be accurate in my tasting as my taste buds were pretty contaminated with 2 jugs of beer and cigarettes earlier at Little Havana.
We ordered a plate of raw tuna/maguro with fermented soybeans…only if you are ok with fermented stuffs. If you can’t even stand hearing the word ‘fermented’ then really, forget about this dish. This is sort of a authentic Japanese dish as Itou ordered it. It’s ermm….ok la…Duncan didn’t like it one bit. He was in some trance after taking a bite for a good minute or two…he clearly didn’t like it.
Another dish we had was my favourite and moreover, I chose it. So when you order something you have psyched yourself that it is delicious no matter what! The dish consists of slices of lightly grilled maguro, olive oil, tomatoes, lettuce and balsamic vinegar. I don’t have to convince anybody that this is a winning combination. It was juicy and delicious, clearly a must have. It’s part of Yoko’s Recommendation.
We had some deep fried spring rolls, tiny spring rolls..filled with ebiko. This was a good appetizer to start dinner with. It’s salty and the fillings were a good combination. I like the bubbly munch from the fish eggs. Yummy.

We ordered beef on a hot stone. It came wrapped around in an aluminum foil, then the waitress would cut it open with a pair of scissors. A gush of smoke escapes into the air, the beef slices were laid on top of a small rock smothered with ginger sauce. It had a couple of roast potatoes as well on the side. After having wagyu beef just 2 days ago…this beef kinda suck…it’s a little tough and by that it gives quite a chew. I guess I may be benchmarking here, so don’t take my word for it, it’s not that bad after a few slices. You get quite acquainted with the ‘chew’, I guess you can call it character.
Dishes here are rather reasonable with most dishes costing about RM10.00 per dish. It ranges from RM6.00 to RM30.00 on average. There are many dishes for cheese lovers as well. You have a resident pianist here playing some classic Japanese tunes like Chage & Aska’s Say Yes.
Go there; not for the food (it’s not excellent but it’s ok) but just to relax after work. It brings a new sense of refreshment, as I’m just a little tired of the places with extensive modern ID and playing Jose Padilla and the Café Del Mar Best Hits CD… This is a new place to just chill…

Ninja Jones Japanese Restaurant

Ninja Jones Japanese Restaurant

A-G-5, Ground Floor, Northpoint, Mid valley City,

No.1 Medan Syed Putra Utara,

59200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel : 22881646

Parking – RM2.50 for 1st hour, RM1.50 subsequent hour

Izakaya

Located just outside of Mid Valley, Ninja Jones proves to be quite a delicious and wonderful experience. I went there on a Sunday night for dinner with Diedre. You have to push a red button outside just to get the sliding doors open…like some Bat Cave hideout. Then the doors will lead you to a narrow passage decorated with rock stones and flowing water, the zen effect! On your right as you enter the main room is the teppanyaki grills and the place is well decorated, and lots lots of ninjas walking around…lightfooted! just like a real ninja! haha…i fall for these cheap gimmicks. So we have established that waiters here are dressed as ninjas… The waitress showed us to our table, smoking of course…

Next we were given the drinks menu first, as we weren’t in a mood for alcohol we went for green tea straight which later we found out was on the house. So value for money there. Oh, they had loads of drinks to choose from in there, shochu, sake, whiskey, beer, fruit juices and many more. Then we were given the food menu, there were loads to order. They particularly specialize in Wagyu Beef as they have a page dedicated to it. Prices ranges from 40 to 70 bucks for the beef. Very reasonable for Wagyu beef. They have many styles to cook the beef and there so many that i feel like coming back each time just to try a different style. Yes i love beef! We were a little less adventurous as Diedre loves soup, kara we ordered Wagyu Beef Sukiyaki. This cost RM58.00 and it’s good for 2. Next we ordered my favourite Unagi Kabayaki, grilled unagi in other words. That one was RM18.00, cheap I would think. And lastly we ordered an appetizer an Avocado & Soft Self Crab Namaharu, that rolls thing in the picture. That one cost RM22.00.

They prepared the sukiyaki in front of us which was a little more dedication compared to the other japanese restaurans in town. A ninja prepared it for us! The sukiyaki was exquisite, the beef was sensationally soft and tender. I mean look at the colour of the beef, when you see it raw like that, you know you’re in for a good beef!

The unagi was a little disappointing, well, maybe i’m particular about my eel but it was too soft and it didn’t seem to have been marinated enough let alone cook long enough. I will give this a miss the next time. It did come with two slices of cold sweet tamago though.

The rolls were a delight..it was displayed on top of a pool of sweet sauce and mayonnaise…just succulent and mouth watering. I will recommend this to anyone as it is both light and healthy. Look for it in the salad section of the menu.

And no japanese meal will be complete for me without my macha and azuki beans. This is priced at RM12.00. But it is short of fantastic so i can do without this the next time. However, take it if you have an undying craving for a green tea ice cream.

The service here is very good, 4 out of 5! Very attentive, and they speak japanese or at least they try to. I like how they changed our plates about 3 to 4 times. And the tea was just pouring, without me having to lift my arm to ask for more. The waitresses were very friendly as well and polite…i must have heard ‘excuse me’ a thousand times! Kudos to the restaurant manager to have trained them so well.

The restaurant deco is very nice as well and with all those ninja waiters walking around makes it a wonderful family dining experience. And the manager calls all of them ninja. “Ninja! Bill for table 5″. Cute eh?

There are many stuffs to try there with it’s unique ‘ninja themed’ dishes. They also have the usual sashimi, teriyakis, tempuras and sushis as well. I saw so many funny dishes being served at other tables, either that or their presentations is just great. They even have donburis, or rice bowls ranging from 20 to 30 bucks, very reasonable for a japanese meal. The place is definitely not overpriced, it is refreshing and definitely worth going again..

Value for Money :4/5

Deco : 3.5/5

Food : 3.5/5

Overall : 3.9/5

Sugimoto Japanese Restaurant すぎ本

Sugimoto – すぎ本
One of my favourite Japanese eateries. I was just there on Sunday night. There’s 2 branches so far, one at Bangsar and the other in Hartamas. I frequent the one in Hartamas. One can’t help but feel like you are in a real Japanese restaurant cause there are many Japanese in there. The one in Hartamas sits above Jarrod and Rawlins.
Jalan 27/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur.
Take the lift to 1st floor or take the stairs you lazy ass you. Upon entering the restaurant you will be greeted by folks from the Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia region. There are loads of them in there, somehow you will find them everywhere now as waiters in KL these days. Well, if it’s any consolation, they don’t make a difference to the food they serve.
The place is small, occupying a floor in the 4 storey shop lot. Meals here go from RM8 for starters to about RM50 for main courses. As always, come during lunch for their sets, is always much more worthwhile and yes, friendlier on your pocket. Set lunches go under RM30.00 for your usual Japanese food, i.e tempura, sushi, teriyaki and sashimi.
Anyhow, I went for dinner. I had an Unagi Iron Hot Bowl set for RM28 bucks while Diedre had an おこおこのみやきOkonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake) for RM18 bucks. The Unagi Bowl came with a Miso Soup, a small tiny bowl of ikan bilis (tiny ones as well) and some nori seaweed. Upon serving the dish, the waiter told me to wait 15 minutes before opening the wooden lid of the iron bowl. Great! Gotta wait! Diligently, I waited as I set my alarm on my phone. Opened the lid. A whiff of some smelly vegetable exploded from the bowl of rice. Oh shit…I ordered the wrong thing. There’s about 3 slices of unagi and hidden underneath it are the dreaded vegetables. The rice looked soggy, when I tasted it, immediately I could tell that it was still uncooked. The waitress or captain was kind enough to have it re-cooked. I waited another 10 to 15 minutes when it finally arrives. I scooped the rice into a separate bowl, added the condiments, I must say…”おいし。。ね” (delicious) Everything just sync together, of course, I have the Unagi to thank for. It turned out to be quite a good meal. Oh! I gave my vegetables to Diedre.

The pancake was good. Loads of squid and bonito flakes, making the whole meal just perfect as the pancake was very tasty whilst the rice is rather on the bland side.
Aside from the 2 dishes above there other noteworthy dishes worth exploring…
The Hokkai & Nabeyaki for example for RM35.00. It comes in two bowls, one bowl is a Donburi, Rice topped with Salmon Eggs, Raw Salmon and Salmon bits, while the other is a bowl of broth with Udon. This combination is quite a treat especially the Salmon Rice Bowl. Definitely Recommended.
There are many ala carte dishes to choose from as well, if you are not a fan of bento sets. I especially like the Atsuage Misoyaki, it’s like Age Dashi Toufu, but this is grilled with Miso paste on top…very tasty desu ne..this will set you back for RM12.00 per serving. There’s also a really good chawan mushi going for RM18 bucks which is very very tasty.
If you have the elderly taste buds, then go for fish head soups and mackerels in Miso paste.
The food here is good, the ambience feels somewhat cozy and it’s not too heavy on the pocket if you know what to order.
This is definitely the place to be for Japanese cuisine, home cooked style.

Kogetsu Japanese Restaurant – 湖月 (Hyatt Saujana)

もうにほんのレストラン、because I love Japanese food! わたしはにほんたべものそいちばんすきです！Anyways, this time we did a little travelling instead of the usual KL area. This time it was at Hyatt Saujana, near Subang airport. A hotel with a golf course and of course offering different cuisines under one roof. A plus point though for Kogetsu, that it is located outside of the hotel. It is actually by itself, like a house. Pretty authentic and traditional I should say. I wanted to slide open the what seemed to be wooden doors but with technology nowadays, I figured we could use a little help and pampering. Yes, the door automatically slides open, just like the ones at shopping malls, not very traditional, hmmm. The inside deco somewhat seemed like they have not changed the furniture in there since they opened, or it could be that they wanted that authenticity, who knows. It is definitely not your contemporary restaurant like Rakuzen. Oh another plus point, it’s situated just next to the lake and a view of the green green grass of the golf course. So I suppose you might wanna grab a seat just beside the windows.

It was lunch time, so you might expect sweaty golfers there talking really loud and drinking beer. Having their ひるごはん (lunch) there as well were Japanese housewives and some かいしゃいん　office people. The price of the food here is of your average Japanese restaurant, RM15 to RM50 for main courses. There isn’t much to choose from I’m afraid. Some set lunches, dinners and your common Japanese favourites. Compared to Kampachi, Zipangu and Iketeru, this is probably like a school canteen. I think Oishii or Donatku has even more food. Perhaps they decided to employ a more specialised set of food in their menu or maybe that there isn’t that many patrons to cater to. I had the lunch set with soba, sushi and tempura, priced at RM45. Kind of everything rolled into one, again it came with chawan mushi, pickles, miso soup, salad and fruits. The chawan mushi was horrible, tasteless and texture was way too lumpy for my liking. I ate 3 spoonful and gave that up. The tempura was ordinary. Sushi came 3 tiny cucumber ones, a maguro, a yellowtail and a mackerel. I was hoping for salmon in at least one of them. I was a tad bit disappointed. The cold soba was delicious though, with tempura crumbs. よっかた！そばそおいしいですね！My colleague had his favourite Unagi, (my favourite as well) he complained it to be too small. I couldn’t agree more, it was just a tiny slice, going French perhaps? It better be super tasty then. My clients declared that they weren’t raw fish lovers, thus 2 of them ordered tempura sets, 1 ordered a salmon teriyaki set and 1 ordered a bowl of garlic fried rice. Hmm…not very adventurous people are they, this lot. The salmon was pretty minute as well. They didn’t comment much on the food, so I figured that it was pretty normal, as when you are in the company of 4 girls, you would notice that they like to share what the other is having…when it is NICE. Simple observation skills that I picked up along the way of entertaining. The service was bad, for that few customers in there, the waiters were pretty disorientated. Not filling tea cups, not attentive to customer’s attention and just rude some of them. One of the waitress just came from behind and lifted my unfinished bowl of soba and said ‘are you done’? Could she at least have said ‘excuse me, sir?’ I mean bloody hell, you are in the restaurant business and you are in a hotel where service is suppose to be better. So that set me off quite a bit. I would have loved to tell her off but since I was in the company of my clients I decided otherwise.I guess perhaps dining there at night would be a better experience as probably the lake or the golf course would be lighted up, giving couples a romantic feel to it. I have definitely tasted better Japanese food, although you can’t really taste the difference when it comes to Japanese cuisine. Service as I mentioned earlier is below par. I suppose I will give this a miss in the future.

Xenri Japanese Restaurant

Took out some clients to lunch this afternoon. I wish I could take pictures of the food today. However, I’ll probably look like some ‘jakun’ fella in front of my clients, hence I decided against it. Located off

Old Klang Road

, some place opposite Pearl Point. If you know where the Elken HQ is, well the eatery is there. Me and Tan San, arrived there at about 10 mins to 12pm. It was rather empty. Hmmm…not a very good impression. I was excited at the prospect of having fresh Sanma though, their current month promotion. We sat and waited for our clients to arrive. We had some おちゃocha first. The moment our client arrived, we had a look at the menu. I must say, the menu boast quite a number of variety for you to choose from. The prices are reasonable too, if not cheap for Japanese food. You have べんとbento sets going for 20 to 24 bucks for lunch. Many of them chose the seafood set, a bunch of seafood fried teppanyaki style. Quite a mouthful I would say, plus, the set comes with the standard Chawan Mushi, Miso soup, fruit and a sushi. One thing that stood up was the appetizer, a Maguro dish with ginger miso sauce, simply divine. The dish is about RM16 bucks for 4 pieces of Maguro. One thing I couldn’t stand is that the waiter came up to us after presenting the menu and explain to us that all the sets can be replaced by Lobster, would anyone care for our fresh Lobster? I hate to be put in a position, I kept quiet, and that idiot kept on insisting on his stupid lobster. Now which idiot doesn’t know that lobster is nice? I mean, I had 6 clients with me…if all of them were to order that! My boss would certainly have a one on one talk with me!! I mean be a bit more tactful la. Thank heavens they didn’t go for the lobster. I had my Sanma, at RM42 for the fish only. Come to think of it, isn’t that more pricey than the one I had in Iketeru? Well, according to that stupid waiter again, it is a live fish, unlike the frozen ones they usually serve. じゃ! Ok, then I will give it a try. I had it Shio-yaki style again. The best way to eat that fish anyways. I had to wait almost half an hour before my dish came. The others were almost done with their meal. I mean that SOB could have at least told me. Apparently he said mine was ‘special’. Good Heavens, if I’d knew! Was it worth the wait? I guess fish is fish…it was ok la…I gobbled the whole thing in seconds…The crowd was slowly coming in, with a turn of my upon finishing the fish and rice I discovered that the restaurant was packed. Probably Elken sales folks I figured. They pride themselves from importing loads of stuff directly from
Hokkaido, like tomatoes and scallops. Yes, tomatoes, apparently they are very sweet. The restaurants attempts at giving itself a classy look but falls quite short of it. I didn’t like the service, I drink my tea fast and when I want to drink I expect my tea cup to be filled up, since you don’t put the teapot there. I guess the food is pretty standard, nothing spectacular, the sashimi were just ok, not that fresh. I guess to me, sashimi should always be serve on a bed of ice. No…I have not found my favourite Japanese restaurant yet.