A Christmas Omakase at Nobu Kuala Lumpur

Celebrate Christmas The Nobu Way

Nobu, a name highly praised in the gastronomic world, goes all out to join in the festive cheer of the Christmas season with a gourmet Japanese Christmas Omakase. Opened late last year, Nobu Kuala Lumpur has been serving premium new style Japanese cuisine to many of their avid connoisseurs. Set on level 56 of Menara 3 Petronas tower, Nobu dining experience is further enhanced by the majestic and breath-taking 360 degree view of the cityscape. Designed by brilliant architect, Severine Tatangelo from Studio PCH, Nobu’s space is set with an open kitchen, Sushi bar, main dining room as well as Nobu lounge and bar.

Themed in rich cherry wood colours set with natural muted beige, the various sections of the restaurant are gorgeously lite up with soft warm lightings throughout the space. Japanese elements with plush greenery and rows of house Sakes completed the décor with modern elegance.

At the Nobu Lounge and Bar, a stunning bar is set in the center of the dim lite room, offering diners exclusive high-end sake and masterfully crafted cocktails. Spacious and inviting, this area is perfect for private functions as well as a place to indulge in a piece of the Nobu haven.

Celebrating Christmas the Nobu way, adventurous diners are invited to celebrate this festive holiday with Nobu’s Chrismas Omakase menu, available for lunch and dinner. Helmed by Ipoh born Executive Chef Philip Leong, Nobu’s Christmas Omakase is a creative set of new-style Japanese dishes injected with Nobu’s signature of Peruvian inspirations. The Christmas omakase is a 7-course dinner of newly crafted dishes complemented by a glass of Veuve Clicquot to ring in the festive cheers.

The first course was a joyous presentation of Botan Ebi Tartare with Caviar & Wasabi Soy Gelee. Botan Ebi or Botan Shrimp is a favorite in the Japanese community. The natural sweetness of the shrimp is much beloved by many and Japanese loves to enjoy them raw when they are fresh. It is minced finely into tartare and wrapped with zucchini before being topped with avocado and black caviar. Though it tasted really sweet with a light bouncy jelly texture, the tartare flavours are boosted to another level of flavours with the wasabi soy gelee. The delicate presence of wasabi enhanced the sweetness of the shrimp beautifully.

The next course is an ultimate one for sushi lovers. Nobu Matsuhisa is famed for his creative touches on sushi. While maintaining the true flavours of the Japanese delicacy, he still manages to get in his creative twist of raising the bar on the flavours of sushi by pairing them with his unique touches. Our Assorted Sushi of Chu-Toro, Kampachi, Aji and Hotate had the whole table in silence. Paying full homage to the beautiful and perfect sized sushi, each piece had its own little finishing of flavours. Completed with imported maple leaves to add to the presentation, we worked our way from the lavish to the sweetest.

Chu-Toro, medium fatty tuna looked utterly divine with its pale pink marbling. Its taste was just as supreme as its fame. Kampachi or Amber Jack paired with a thinly sliced jalapeno chili and herb tasted sublime in the mouth with its after hint of heat while the Aji or Horse Mackerel has a tiny dot of grated ginger and scallion to counter the bold aroma and flavour of the fish. The ending was sweet and fresh Hotate scallop enhanced with a torn leave of cilantro and a tiny droplet of Rocoto chili paste. I am in sushi heaven…

More sashimi and this course cleverly incorporated thinly sliced Madai or red seabream into a salad. The Madai Sashimi & Baby Spinach Salad with Yuzu Dressing had fresh and vibrant citrusy notes from the yuzu while maintaining a delicate flavour. Crisp garlic slices, bonito shavings, micro pea shoots and twirls of beetroot completed the dish with finesse and more flavours.

Our third course of Seared Hotate with Shiso Salsa was pretty and colorful. Plump scallops beautifully seared till just cooked, is paired with a Shiso salsa of minced sweet onions and peppers. Unctuous and salty thin slices of Bottaga or cured fish roes gave a unique note to the scallops. I adored this course for its bold but well balanced flavours of salty, sweet, sour, spicy and very subtle hint of bitter note from all the combination of the ingredients. The salsa sauce was so good, we asked for a spoon to enjoy it!

After all the seafood courses, it was time for a meat course. Taking on the lux Kobe beef, Chef Leong’s creation of Kobe with Anticucho Miso with Baby Vegetables proved to be a crowd pleaser. Melt-in-the-mouth tender Kobe beef was grilled to perfection and sat on a bed of quinoa, dotted with pumpkin puree.

The smoky and moreish Anticucho Miso sauce, which has the Peruvian chili paste of red Aji Panca and orange Aji Amarillo combined with Saikyo miso, resulting in a unique and luscious earthy flavour. The pop of colors from roasted beets, peeled cherry tomato and roasted brussel sprout leaves gave the dish its wow presentation factor. One can add a gentle squeeze of calamansi lime to height up the sweet and sour notes. A stunning dish in presentation and flavours!

If you do not take beef, do let them know and Chef Leong will adjust the menu accordingly.

Ending the savory course was a light and refreshing Cold Inaniwa. Al dente flat Inaniwa udon is served simply in a sweet and refreshing broth with seaweed and scallion. Slurping the chilled noodles is simply delightful!

The Apple Compote & Azuki Mille Feuille looked simple and yet complex. Thin green tea wafer brushed with gold dust, sandwiched yuzu cream with sweet and spiced apple compote to complete the mille feuille. On the side, creamy red bean paste and a quenelle of yuzu ice cream are paired to give the dish an East meets West finale. This dessert took me to cloud nine. It was not overly sweet and the green tea wafer really worked well with the tangy yuzu cream and sweet apples.

It’s definitely a different Christmas but what an impressive one!

The Christmas Omakase Dinner, priced at RM630 per person, will be open for two seatings with the first seating between 6.00pm – 6.30pm and the second between 9.00pm – 9.30pm. These seatings are open for reservations a month before.

The Lunch Menu on the other hand, will offer a 5-course Omakase set featuring selected dishes from the 7-course menu. The Christmas Omakase Lunch is priced at RM250 per person and is available during regular lunch hours on December 24 and 25, 2015. A la carte dishes will also be available to order, however lunch sets – apart from the Matsuhisa Bento, will not be.

For enquiries of to make reservations, please call 03 2164 5084 or Whatsapp 019 389 5085

NOBU KUALA LUMPUR

Menara 3 Petronas

Level 56 KLCC 50088 Kuala Lumpur

Phone: +60 3 2164 5084/ +60 19 389 5085

Fax: + 60 2164 5085

Reservation: nobuklreservations@noburestaurants.com

Website: www.noburestaurants.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/nobukl

Ramen Kanbe @ Empire Damansara

Kobe Style Soy Sauce Ramen

Here’s another ramen contender in town and it’s located at Empire Damansara. Ramen Kanbe is one of the latest ramen players and serves Kobe style Shoyu ramen. The restaurant is located on ground level of this quaint mall and at a discreet area which one may need to ask around to locate it. Thanks to JKdrooling and Naohiko-san, we were invited for a taste of Kobe style ramen at Ramen Kanbe recently. I do happen to be a ramen devotee so I was really interested to see how Kobe ramen would fair up against other regular Japanese styles.

Walking into Ramen Kanbe, the restaurant is brightly lit and spacious. I like the whole modern wood design contrasted with black and white. One can see the injections of Japanese influences and yet there is an element of surprise with a red modern designed hanging chandelier added color and boldness to the restaurant. One can peek at the half open kitchen counter while waiting for your food as well.

The menu at Ramen Kanbe is simple and offers few signatures of ramen, rice and side orders. The menu is pretty detailed with photos for easy references just like other ramen places. In the menu, Ramen Kanbe also stated that their custom blend of soy sauce if the key to all their signature ramens. The restaurant also makes ramen from scratch and their vegetable with chicken-broth based soup simmered for 7 hours. Shoyu ramen broth is clear with a rich brown shoyu color and is more delicate than other tonkotsu or miso based ramens. Diners can enjoy the aromatic and delicate broth with ramen and other condiments in the Shoyu ramen.

Ramen Kanbe’s drink list is minimal but sufficient with its usual Japanese Green Tea and others like Oolong Tea, Lemon Tea, Coffee, Coke and Beer. We tried their Lemon Tea (RM5) and Red Milk Tea (RM5) which is pretty decent.

Karaage (RM10) proved to be one of the highlights at Ramen Kanbe. The Japanese style fried chicken is crispy with a juicy inside. The boneless dark meat is very tender and tasty too. It was so good, we had another order of this fried chicken served with crunchy shredded cabbage and mayo.

Another side order that is worth ordering is the Gyoza (RM10). This is a super popular snack in Japan and also happens to be served at most ramen places as well. The pan seared dumplings has a nice crisp side and a soft one on the other side. The filling is tender and flavourful and makes great snacks while waiting for the ramen to be served.

My little one loves fried rice and so we had an order of Ramen Kanbe’s Fried Rice (RM12). It is a flavourful plate of fried rice with a nice aroma. There are bits of meat in it and the rice is fluffy and moist. My only gripe about this dish was that the portion is a bit small for its price.

Our ramen arrive and the first one was the Charsiu Ramen (RM21). A bowl of house signature ramen with plenty of pieces of Charsiu nicely covering the whole bowl also had     some black fungus, bean sprout and spring onion too. The ramen noodle is nicely cooked with tender texture. The broth is rather delicate with good essence of meat but not heavy or overpowering. One can taste the subtle notes of sweet and savory soy sauce in the broth. The Charsiu pieces are also very tender and are lean as well.

Ramen Kanbe’s ramen is definitely different from the many ramen places I have tried. There is a refine flavour to the overall bowl of ramen. It is easy to enjoy and won’t leave you with a heavy after taste. The price is also cheaper than most ramen places. I rather enjoy the ramen for its refine flavour and it is pretty comforting.

There is also another version with Wantan and Charsiu in the Wantan Ramen (RM21). This version features the same as their house signature ramen but has the added bonus of wantan dumplings together. The wantans are decent with thin dumpling skin and soft filling. I have never had ramen with wantan before but this is not too bad. It certainly makes a nice change from the usual ramen joints.

I chose the Spicy Ramen (RM21) because I was curious about the flavour and I also happen to love spicy flavours. My ramen comes with a minced meat topping rather than the charsiu thought I did wished for the charsiu. Fear not, one can put in additional orders of Charsiu (RM4 – 3 pieces) and Boiled Egg (RM3) like I did.

The Spicy Ramen had good solid flavours of heat and a bold and robust flavour. Its savory flavours really stand out together with the spiciness of the chili. The sheer simplicity of this ramen with minced meat and chives in a spicy broth showed that Ramen Kanbe can produce bold flavours in their ramen as well as they delicate and light Shoyu ramen.

I discovered that I do enjoy cold ramen after tasting it few times. So when I saw that Ramen Kanbe also has a cold ramen named Reimen (RM21), I decided to order this to share together with my foodie buddies. Cold ramen usually has a firm al dente ramen texture which is what I love. Here it is the same again where the ramen noodle has a solid bite in texture and is served with crunchy black fungus, egg, lettuce, pickled ginger and shredded Charsiu together in a chilled soy based sauce. I liked it. I think I ate most of this as I like how satisfying the chilled ramen tasted like.

Our last dish of the evening was definitely comfort food. Tenshin Han-Rice (RM15) is another dish that showed off the delicate flavours of savory with tinges of sweetness. Fluffy white rice is nicely wrapped with an egg omelette sheet and bathed in a light soy sauce broth.

Ramen Kanbe is pretty interesting. The restaurant makes a nice change from the usual heavy flavoured ramens. I believe that this is also a first ramen joint to feature Kobe style ramen. The evening we were there, service was also fast while the wait staff was pretty friendly too. Here’s one place that you can enjoy a bowl of refine and delicate Shoyu Ramen with a few extra goodies thrown in!

Check out Ramen Kanbe’s 1^st Anniversary Promotion

This set contains their most popular dish Ramen, 2nd popular dish Tenshin-hanrice and the choice of 3 various teas together.

Promotional price at RM25 and tax (Normal price is more than RM35)

They serve this great value set exclusively to Facebook users from april 8th until 14th. Other guest will be able to be served this after April 15th for 2 weeks till end of April.

RAMEN KANBE

G28, Block Empire Retail,

Empire Damansara

No.2, Jalan PJU 8, 47820, PJ, Selangor

TEL: 016-202-5812

Business Hours: 11.30am to 10pm

Website：www.ramenkanbe.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rk.empire.damansara