Food Review: Takoyaki

I :heart: Japanese food and one of my ultimate favourites is okonomiyaki (a sort of pizza). Wikipedia described it as "a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning 'what you like' or 'what you want', and yaki meaning 'grilled' or 'cooked'." The first time I had the chance to eat it was at Sakae Sushi, but they took it out of their menu a while back. So imagine my happiness when I saw that this new Japanese shop at 1 Utama's new wing is selling it.

[caption id="attachment_1854" align="alignleft" width="270" caption="Takoyaki"][/caption]

Simply named Takoyaki, it's located at LG311F of the new wing (right beside New York New York Deli and opposite Cold Storage). Their menu consists purely of Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki, which in my opinion, taste pretty good.

The Takoyaki is a sort of ball-shaped fried batter and, according to Wikipedia, it's made with 'tempura scraps, pickled ginger and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, green laver, mayonnaise and fish shavings'. It's usually filled with baby octopus but in Malaysia, however, we seemed to have innovated the takoyaki by filling with it other ingredients.

[caption id="attachment_1859" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Takoyaki (fried octopus in batter)"][/caption]

For Takoyaki's takoyaki, you are offered a choice between the traditional baby octopus, prawn, or sausage and cheese, which costs RM4.00 for 3 balls, or tako (octopus) or unagi (eel), which costs RM4.50 for 3 balls. Served in a boat-like paper packaging, you can either eat it there or have it packed for take-away.

You have to eat it while it's still hot so that the warm filling almost melts in your mouth along with the delicious topping. Once it gets cold, the taste is not as good. However, my cousin said that the takoyaki sold in Jusco's food centre, opposite the supermarket, is better but to each his/her own. :-) By the way, the exterior looks exactly the same so be sure to ask the cook which one has which filling or else try it and find out.

[caption id="attachment_1873" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Cook making okonomiyaki at Takoyaki"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1864" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Okonomiyaki (sausage & cheese)"][/caption]

The Okonomiyaki tastes about the same as the takoyaki and is available with the toppings of baby octopus, prawn, sausage and cheese, unagi and seafood, all at the cost of RM8.00 each. According to the cook, the seafood okonomiyaki consists of prawns and baby octopus toppings but since I only had one slice of it, I can't confirm it. It's easier to differentiate the okonomiyaki because you can see the topping through the lines of mayonnaise and tempura flakes. It is also served in a paper box packaging for easy eating and take-away.

[caption id="attachment_1869" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Okonomiyaki (seafood)"][/caption]

One okonomiyaki will fill you up just like a regular meal but for some people, the taste of the okonomiyaki sauce and the mayonnaise might make you 'muak' (fed up) so it's best for first-timers to share it with someone.

Of course, being an eatery, there's bound to be drinks and I'm happy that Takoyaki offers bubble tea in their beverage menu. Ever since 1 Utama's Yippee Cup closed down, I had nowhere else to buy decent bubble tea in the shopping mall.

[caption id="attachment_1879" align="alignleft" width="144" caption="Peach Milk Bubble Tea"][/caption]

I love peach so I ordered a plain, 'bubble-less' peach milk tea while my cousin had the bubble milk tea with the same flavour, which are both RM4.00 each. The choice of flavours is tremendous so don't be surprised if it takes you a while to decide which flavour you want.

As if choosing the flavour wasn't hard enough, then you have to choose the drink type. There's flavoured tea (green tea or red tea), milk tea, snow shake, snow blended and ice blended. I haven't had the chance to try the snow shake and snow blended so I'm not sure exactly how it looks or tastes like.

[caption id="attachment_1882" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Beverage choices at Takoyaki"][/caption]

There are so few people manning the small shop (about 2 employees) so you might have to wait for your food because as far as I can see, only one person cooks and makes the drink. If there are more than 2 employees, then it might be a little faster. If the batter is already prepared, it shouldn't take the takoyaki long to cook, maybe around 5 minutes, but if the batter isn't ready then be patient because it will take about 10 minutes. The okonomiyaki, though, will take a while because it has to be cooked in a pan on the stove.

It may not be a swell place to have a proper meal or a date but it's fun to sit and chill while watching your food being made right in front of you. Enjoy!!

Food Review: Zen Japanese Restaurant

I've decided to make Fridays as my Food Review day. Wheeeeee!!! Food Review is not just about what's nice to eat and what dishes to order. I'm also including places and outlets that I DO NOT recommend. You wouldn't believe the outlets I've been to that are lousy in service and unhygenic to boot. :x By the way, I'll TRY to write a food review every Friday, if possible. If not, well, then I guess my busy schedule has gotten the best of me. Hehehehe!!

My first Food Review is going to be on a place I discovered on my recent birthday. I love the place so much, I can't wait to eat there again.

[caption id="attachment_719" align="alignleft" width="179" caption="Zen Japanese Restaurant"][/caption]

I don't know if you guys realize that there's a great japanese restaurant called 'Zen Japanese Restaurant' at Sunway Pyramid. It's located at Lot 0B2-F-U2 on the 1st Floor of Oasis Boulevard 2. You have to go all the way through Parkson Grand (old wing of Pyramid) and take the stairs/escalator to your right to reach it.

If what I have tasted at Sakae Sushi all this while is japanese food, then Zen must be the queen, no, KING, of great authentic japanese cuisine.

[caption id="attachment_721" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Sashimi at Zen"][/caption]

The sashimi is soooo thick and fresh. Not even the higher standards of Senjyu Sushi, Sakae Sushi's more exquisite sister, could compare to the sashimi I tasted in Zen. Sorry about the picture. The sashimi was so good that I didn't realize I ate half of it without taking a picture of the dish, ehheheheh!

We ordered the Udon as well, accompanied by tempura prawns. I didn't like the Udon soup much, though, because it was the soy sauce type that Tokyo people like. I'm more of the clear broth type, like Kansai-style. But the Udon was thick and filling, and the tempura prawns were really big!

[caption id="attachment_723" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="From left to right: Gyutan, Sashimi and Udon"][/caption]

But my utmost favourite dish is the one I've been craving for since I first tasted it in Penang; Japanese BBQ Gyutan (grilled beef tongue). Yep, you guessed it, cow's tongue. Yummy!! It's sliced so thin and you get to grill it yourself on this small cute little ceramic stove, and it only takes a few seconds to cook each side of the tongue. And when you dip it into this special beef sauce...ooooh, it's simply heaven! For RM30+, Zen gives you quite a lot, even for two people, it's more than enough. You can just see the ceramic stove at the left side of the picture and the ready-to-eat grilled tongue on one of the plates.  Don't worry, if you can't stomach eating a cow's tongue, there's normal beef available too. :D

[caption id="attachment_724" align="alignright" width="210" caption="Frozen Strawberries"][/caption]

For dessert, we had something that I wanted to try whenever I was at Sakae Sushi but they never seem to have it available; Frozen Strawberry. Vanilla ice-cream with whipped cream stuffed into frozen strawberries, WOW!! Be careful, though, it will definitely give you brain-freeze, it is THAT cold.

Ok, let's drop the food and go into service. Quite frankly, for such a high-class restaurant, I expected a better and more attentive service. It takes a while before the staff actually notice that you require their help and they tend to walk pass you without noticing your raised hand. That's a minus for me. However, the ones who did serve us are trained quite well, with good manners and poise.

[caption id="attachment_725" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Interior of Zen"][/caption]

They need to do a better job at keeping the place clean as well. I was seated at one of the corner comfy tables, and right behind me was this bare cupboard they use as a decor and the dust on the shelves was quite thick. It shows how often they dust the place. However, the environment is nice. It has that calming effect with the choice of cream and dark colours, and soft yellow lighting.

With a seating capacity of 126 people, their business hours are Monday to Thursday (11.30am - 3.00pm & 6.00pm - 11.00pm) and Friday to Sunday (12.00 noon - 11.00pm).  You can contact them at 03-7492 4922 should you wish to make a reservation or for any inquiries. If you like Japanese food, you definitely can't pass this one. 8)