Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Sushi Zen @ The Gardens, Midvalley City, Kuala Lumpur


Hokkaido Chirashi Don (RM15.90)

War of the Malls! So many places to shop and eat that one is now spoilt for choice. Although Pavilion is much bigger compared to the newly opened Gardens at Mid Valley City, I can envisage I'll end up spending more time here since it's located nearer to home. We did a few quick rounds at the mall to check out specifically Robinsons because they had the special promotion of 20% discount if you spent RM200 from 26th to 30th September, 2007. Saw loads of items I would love to have but decided to restrain myself. My mum was telling me about the first Robinsons which was previously located at Jalan Tun Perak (where the current CIMB Bank is located) where it was a big hoo hah in her day if you received a gift from there as everything was imported and super expensive.


Ebiten Ebikko Maki - Prawn Tempura Roll (RM4.90)

I didn't get much time to thoroughly explore the other floors of the Gardens since we were there in the evening. Heard that there are some interesting outlets on the Third Floor and I spied Alexis under renovation behind closed doors. I reckon these could be the outlets that face the rooftop garden so it should be nice dining there al-fresco. Will go check that out later today as we're due for lunch at Mid Valley.


Chawan Mushi (RM4.90)

I did manage to explore the Lower Ground area where food outlets and a Cold Storage supermarket is located. The supermarket has yet to open. There's also small outlets around the area selling various food items and serving food like Din Tai Fung (the famous Taiwanese chain with those soupy steamed buns we all love), Fogal's (serving non halal meat), San Terri Cottage from Hartamas Shopping Centre which has cakes and sandwiches, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Purple Cane Tea House, Shojikiya which sells Japanese items, MBG Fruits and etc. We ended up at this Japanese place called Sushi Zen which is related to Rakuzen. It's interesting to note that Shojikiya also belongs to Rakuzen. Also available at the Gardens is another Rakuzen byproduct - Sushi Zanmai which is located on the third floor. Sushi Zen is kinda like a budget place whereby you sit at a bar counter which faces the kitchen in the middle.

Tenjuyu (RM15.90)

The modus operandi at this place is - pick the menu items you want and order this from the cashier. Pay for the items and they will assign you or you sit down around the counter. Food will be delivered to you. The menu is divided into sashimi, sushi, makimono (sushi roll), temaki (handroll), hanmono (rice dishes), menrui (noodles) and tsuke moriawase (side dishes). The sashimi has a few varieties - tuna belly (toro), maguro (tuna), salmon and kanpachi. Prices range from RM15 to RM38 for the items (5 to 7 pieces). You can also order assorted sashimi - 6 types with 2 pieces each for RM30 or a smaller one at RM20 for 3 types with 3 pieces each. The sashimi is also available at Shojikiya where you can pack the items home. Prices for the sushi range from RM1 to RM8 with choices like tuna belly, ikura, boiled sea eel and inari. They also serve assorted sushi for RM30 (10 pieces and 1 roll) or RM20 (8 pieces and 1 roll). Sushi rolls or makis are quite simple with a price range of RM2.90 to RM4.90. Handrolls are priced at RM3.90 wth choices like salmon, fried soft shell crab and unagi.

When we ate there on Friday night, not everything was available like the noodles as they had some issues on cooking with an open flame. For the rice dishes, only selected ones were available. It's interesting to note that they fry the tempura in Shojikiya. Noodles look simple - cold noodles and warm ones with beef topping, mushrooms, tempura and sukiyaki broth. Prices range from RM12.90 to RM18.90.

I was so happy when I saw their rice selection as they had 3 varieties of Chirashi Don to choose from and a Salmon Don. Yum! I choose the Hokkaido Chirashi Don which didn't dissapoint. Of course size and portion of fish plus sushi rice is much smaller than what you get in Rakuzen but then this is half of the price. Splashie Boy had his usual favourite - Tenjyu with assorted tempura topping rice drizzled with soy sauce. Pretty good as they gave two prawns and an assortment of vegetables. There's also Kani Miso Soup (with crab) which is not available now hence we settled for their super smooth Chawanmushi. Feeling greedy, we also tried one maki - the Prawn Tempura Roll. Not fantastic though as the rice felt kinda soggy but the tempura prawn was fresh.

Overall, not bad food and pretty decent if you want a reasonably priced one. I guess with economies of scale from all their outlets, Rakuzen can bring down the prices at this no frills place.

Sushi Zen
LG-K02
Lower Ground Floor
The Gardens
Mid Valley City
Kuala Lumpur

Tel No: 03 - 2282 6160

(Pork Free. From 8am to 10pm daily.)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

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14 comments:

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

I seem to have missed a lot even tho I've only disappeared for a couple of weeks. haha. Goodie...Japanese food! Can't wait to check out the new malls. Spare some time to hang out with me, k, when I get back next week. :-)

Junkgirl™ said...

Tasty and brilliantly shot

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

i saw this place also and had a look at the prices..quite decently priced..and of course look way better then ur value for money sushi king..would want to try this definitely..

u say u were surprised at the tempura being fried?..how else do u cook it?

boo_licious said...

el presidente - seems you're lurking around when u shld be doing yr R&R. Loads more places in town so be ready to eat till u drop!

junkgirl - good place to hang out.

Joe - eh, u sure you eat budget food? I was surprised as they fry tempura elsewhere in the neighbouring shop and not at their kiosk.

Jackson - not yet but menu similar to UK. Saw one famous blogger dining there on Sat though. Maybe shld read his review.

adrian said...

Seem not bad. So fast you already went to try out foods at Garden.
The price also seem not bad. Not so pricey.
There is another Japanese restaurant at Garden. Haha wait for you review also.

ling239 said...

hmm... not one but three diff shops under the Rakuzen umbrella ~
the Hokkaido Chirashi Don looks so yummy must find time to go, tks! ^_^

Precious Pea said...

We sistas must have a gathering here when luscious is back from UK.

Ms One Boobie said...

Malaysians are indeed lucky when it comes to food.. ! even in singapore.. it was alot more ex.. so ya.. if i can stay in Malaysia.. and make US dollars.. that would be great..!! muahahaha!!

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

wahlau..dont say me until like that..
okok..much clearer..it would have made the place much pleasant to eat at also, if not we all smelled like tempura..

boo_licious said...

adrian - the other place sounds interesting also. Can't wait to try that one.

ling239 - don't expect a lot in terms of portion though.

precious pea - I think she will be demanding for a revisit to lots of places.

mamabok - dream come true as we will be super rich

joe - LOL, true mah this is budget style and not restaurant food.

ling239 said...

noted...
good idea too, can order other stuff mar ~ ^_^

damutznutz said...

Wah I think I should have read the blog again b4 eating at Sushi Zanmai just now. Not that the food at Sushi Zanmai was bad...it was actually quite good - but there was like an infestation of fruit flies or something!! They were even UNDER the plastic covers of the dishes going round the conveyor belt. We informed the staff, who shrugged and gave us that blase look so common among service staff everywhere (sadly). So I got smart and ordered a la carte of course :P

Then came the 2nd letdown - our California Maki had no avocado in it. So we sent it back to ask whether they had forgotten it. After a minute or two, our waitress came back and said the kitchen said they had run out of avocado. Strange considering right in front of us was a Crab and Avocado Salad heaped full of avocado goodness heheh... Oh well, I ended up rejecting the dish completey and just left feeling iffy about the place. I'm a longtime supporter of Rakuzen, so was very disappointed with the experience overall. Shame though - the quality of the food was actually tasty...if you could ignore the buzzing of the fruit flies.

Julian Si said...

I FINALLY made a visit to Gardens for the first time, after I ditched the Coach Launch, we headed straight to DTF aka Din Tai Fung ...

http://juliansi.blogspot.com/2008/03/din-tai-fung-gardens-mid-valley-city.html

Dissapointing :-( I prefer Shanghai @ Marriott KL!

ps - Also saw the sBread stall you mentioned in another blog, gotta try it next time ...

Christina Kam said...

Zen is my all-time favourite place tpo makan...especially their salmon temaki...one of the best temaki i have ever eaten (better than sakae and also sushi king)...fresh thick slice of juicy salmon in it..ohh yummy...

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