Monday, September 10, 2007

Japanese Food @ Iketeru, KL Hilton, Kuala Lumpur



What a dull and dreary Monday morning it is today! Sigh, hopefully the sun comes out later on or else it's going to be one grey and dismal day. To cheer you all up, here's lots of pictures of Japanese food for you to drool over. I finally visited the famed Iketeru at Kuala Lumpur Hilton with El Presidente of the Japanese Food Kawan Association,
Ms. Lyrical Lemongrass. Totally pure accident as the original plan was dim sum at Chynna but the place was full.


Since Ms. Lemongrass has yet to try their lunch menu, we settled for their Mini Kaiseki (RM94) to share between both of us. Luckily we shared the Kaiseki as it was a lot of food. Served course by course, the kaiseki is a great way for the restaurant's chef to showcase various types of food and their specialties.


We started out with the Kurogama Tofu (Black Sesame Curd) which was very smooth and fragrant. Served cold, we each shared the small cube. Next came a trio of appetizers in an elongated box - lotus root slices in a cute eggplant shape bowl, fresh edamame and tamago cubes (omelette).


The edamame was steamed minus any salt and the tamago pieces had a texture akin to cheesecake. The lotus root slices tasted as though it has been simmered in a dashi broth.


Next we were served a soup which was their Tomorokoshi Surinagashi, a Japanese style corn soup. Very yummy stuff which was nice and hot to warm our tummies. I loved the slight sweet taste of the corn.


Next was an assortment of sashimi. I'm quite hopeless at identifying sashimi but I did recognise fresh tuna. Am not too sure about the other two but could it be amberjack and white meat fish?


This was my favourite - just a biteful but incredibly good the way the tastes meld with each other . The simmered unagi tofu where a piece of tofu has a slice of unagi to give it flavour.


Next was the Teppanyaki grilled swordfish served with black pepper sauce. I thought the sauce kinda overpowered the fish's fresh taste but I really loved the grilled vegetables they served it with. One was a grilled mushroom that had a lovely earthy flavour to it.


By this course, we were struggling to finish the food. We had a palate cleanser - the pickles which was wafer thin cucumbers, seaweed and chicken. There's suppose to be a touch of wasabi but I didn't taste any. Very nice and refreshing to allow our senses clear a bit before we proceeded with the other courses.


Next was a plain soup served with somen noodles. The broth served with these thin noodles was not too sweet and light.


They served us Inari Sushi which is beancurd pockets filled with vinegared rice. The beancurd was soft and I liked the sushi rice within that had a slight sweet taste from the rice vinegar.


Earlier when we ordered, we thought the Mini Kaiseki was insufficient for the two of us hence we also ordered a few makis. This is the Salmon Skin Roll (RM30) which was filled with crunchy bits of salmon skin that gave a nice crackle when you bit into it.


We also ordered the Dragon Roll (RM41) which was very good as they topped it with huge slices of unagi. A bit difficult to eat but very nice when paired with the rice that was filled with crabstick and vegetables.


We ended the meal with a platter of fresh fruits - sweet honeydew, refreshing dragonfruit, slightly sour strawberries (ichigo), juicy watermelon and tropical papaya.



They also served us a chilled redbean soup with slivers of orange peel which was refreshing and light. It was an extremely satisfying meal but it took quite some time hence both of us were late from the leisurely lunch. If you have the Hilton card, note that the meal will be 50% for the two of you.

Iketeru
KL Hilton
Sentral
Kuala Lumpur

(Pork Free.)

*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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21 comments:

jasmine said...

It does look like enough food for a satisfying meal for 2. Now, to find someone who has the hilton card :P

fatboybakes said...

you mean this was yesterday ah? oddly enough, i was having dim sum at chynna. dont think i'll be going there again.....for dim sum.

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

Just as well we went to Iketeru instead of having dim sum at Chynna, eh? My favourite was the black sesame tofu. So smooth and flavourful in its simplicity.

Babe_KL said...

3 Chas from me!

funny the simplest thing usually is the nicest eh LL?

Big Boys Oven said...

hmmmm......really looks simple but must be wonderful.

ling239 said...

Hey i was there too... but different restaurant and diff timing :p
guess this will be my next target thr ~ ^_^

MeiyeN said...

hmmm looks like blue fin tuna fatty belly sashimi to me!!!!! my god... must be yummy!

THINK. said...

KL Jilton? :)

boo_licious said...

jasmine - it's very worth it with the card!

fbb - not yesterday! Luckily we did not go Chynna as it sounds horrible.

LL - yeah, the tofus seem to win us over. I loved the sea urchin one we had also which was so simple and yum.

babe - LOL, guess the simpler it is the flavours stand out better.

BBO - both of u can try and then emerge to make more Japanese orientated cakes and pastries.

jackson - hee hee, I can eat Japanese all week and not get sick of it!

ling239 - yes, I saw u were at Sudu. Such a small world since FBB was in Chynna.

meiyen - wow, expert sashimi person. I can never tell at all!

alexelaine - yup, give it a try. No japanese people though dining here so mainly locals.

boo_licious said...

alexelaine - found the typo error, thxs! Thought it was at the bottom vs the top header.

Precious Pea said...

OOo...you just made my japanese bug flu popped out again. I want jap food now.

Luscious sista, i booked you next!

boo_licious said...

PPea - LOL, never mind u eat lots of seafood first in KK.

Jason said...

Aiyo, zoomed so near... so torturing.

Tummythoz said...

Don't think I had swordfish before. Sounds intriguing!

Unknown said...

the black sesame tofu looks gd..something tat ive never tried b4..

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

eh when is my interview la..?? haha..
seriously RM94 for all that food looks pretty good..cant imagine it with a hilton card..must be a steal.!

Unknown said...

that looks like a feast! you said you split it? your pix are really gorgeous btw...

boo_licious said...

jason - poor thing!

tummythoz - too bad didn't see it before they cut out it's sword!

kampungboycitygal - very unique and yummy. Cool and slithers down yr throat.

Joe - sorry, me no do applications as I'm only secretary.

foodhoe - yes, we split as quite a lot esp for lunchtime.

Ms One Boobie said...

Interesting black tofu.. Boo..! i must try it..!

boo_licious said...

mamabok - their tofu is so nice and smooth, very yum!

Junkgirl™ said...

Mmmm..delicious. The unagi tofu pictutre reminded me of the unagi I had as part of a kaiseki meal at Nagase Ryokan -

http://ournipponjourney.blogspot.com/2007/09/thur-jan-4-2007-day-15-takayama.html

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