Sakura Promotion @ Genji Japanese, Hilton Petaling Jaya

Sakura Spring Blossom Food Fest & New Signature Dishes

Back at Genji Japanese Restaurant at Hilton Petaling Jaya for a taste of their Sakura Spring Blossom Food Festival! Available until 31 March, 2017, diners should not miss Chef Richard Teoh’s gastronomic dishes inspired by the prettiest season in Japan. Hoping to paint our culinary town with lots of spring dishes in celebration of the pretty pink and white flowers in bloom, diners are treated to some of the freshest and tastiest Japanese dishes this season.

In celebration of Hanami, Chef Teoh’s inspiration are beauty as well as scrumptious dishes prepared with as little cooking method as possible to showcase the fresh and bountiful ingredients of the spring season. Genji Japanese Restaurant has always been a long-time favorite when it comes to Japanese cuisine in the city. Serving a la carte to buffets on the weekends, Genji has been serving sumptuous Japanese cuisine to diners since two decades ago.

The award winning restaurant has even air flown in fresh Sakura flowers and its season’s freshest ingredients in tribute to this promotion. Expect the spring season’s bountiful ingredients in the menu such as sea bream, shellfish and a variety of sansei (mountain vegetables).

Spring season denote lightness and floral prettiness. Celebrating the season’s attributes is Maguro Nano Hana Nutta Ae (RM39). Glorious cuts of the finest tuna paired with blanched stem of rape blossoms and miso sauce. The subtle wasabi hint in the miso sauce is really clever, teasing our palate together with the rich creamy and nutty miso. The delicate bitterness in the rape blossom added another dimension of flavour to the tuna and sauce. So well controlled with finesse in flavours…

Thinly sliced sea bream served with ponzu sauce is beautifully presented in Tai Usuzukuri (RM130). The soft sweet nuances of the fresh sea bream is a joy to savor. What was unexpected was the bold heat in Chef Teoh’s ponzu sauce that gave the dish a kick of flavours. It’s like watching fireworks in spring season for the dish.

Sashimi Moriawase Tokuijo (RM380) is Genji’s premium set of chef’s choices of sashimi. Only the best premium cuts get on this huge platter and we were definitely pleased with the Toro, Yellowtail, Salmon, Aji and Scallop. The sashimi were thickly cut, adding sublime touches to the already sumptuous raw fish.

The Toro melts-in-the-mouth while the creamy and divine Yellowtail was sensational. Ajj or Spanish mackerel is one of the most underrated fish, simply because it has such wondrous rich flavours from its oil and is healthy as well. The usual Salmon and Scallop, needless to say, are of the finest quality.

A bold creative piece of dragon is cleverly presented in Unagi Avocado Ura Maki (RM72). The reversed roll of avocado is draped with thick slices of caramelized smoky eel and seaweed. Each piece is creamy, smoky, sweet and savory on the palate.

More eel to satisfy those who loves unagi and it’s definitely a match made in heaven in Unagi Chawan Mushi (RM28). Generous cut of thick smoky, sweet and savory unagi goes so well with the wobbly soft steamed egg custard. There were also gingko nut and crab in the custard. Comforting in every spoonful…

For mains, the Wagyu Beef Nano Hana Maki (RM120) turned out to be a fine choice, especially if you are a fan of the luscious wagyu beef. The tender wagyu beef is rolled with the blanched spring rape blossoms and cooked on the teppanyaki with the moreish butter garlic soy sauce. Served with more vegetables and crispy garlic chips, the dish is deliciously delectable.

For non-beef eaters, one can opt of the Kue To Enoki Teppanyaki (RM85) or grilled grouper with enoki mushroom in yakiniku sauce. The firm grouper meat goes well with the robust sweet and savory yakiniku sauce. There were plenty of enoki mushrooms as well as other vegetables to balance up the fish.

Rape blossoms are delicious when prepared well. Despite its subtle bitterness, the vegetable has a crisp texture and is a delicacy to savor. Making another appearance in Nano Hana Tempura (RM45), I never knew rape blossoms can taste so good in golden crispy light tempura batter. A squeeze of lemon enhances the freshness of the rape blossoms while the tempura sauce added savory notes. It’s addictively and polishing off this basket of vegetables has never been easier.

While other cuisine may opt to start their course with soup, the Japanese tend to enjoy soup at the end for a comforting ending. The clear clam soup hit all the right notes of soothing and warming flavours on the palate. Such earthy flavours with beautiful bonito essence, the soup with the tender large clams in Hamaguri Jiru (RM28) was divine to the last drop.

Chef Teoh surprises us with an unusual pairing of Sakura Cheese Pudding with Black Sesame Ice Cream in celebration of the hanami. The Sakura cheese pudding is so pretty in pastel pink and tasted delicate and delicious. The nutty and aromatic black sesame seed ice cream is always a pleasant dessert and this one even comes with a pretty fresh Sakura stem on it. Presentation was indeed top-notch!

The Sakura Spring Blossoms Food Fest promotion is happening this whole month of March and the a la carte menu is available from RM23 nett for lunch and dinner. For reservations, call +60(3) 7955 9122 ext. 4071/ 4072.

GENJI JAPANESE RESTAURANT

Hilton Petaling Jaya Hotel

No. 2, Jalan Barat,

46200 Petaling Jaya

Malaysia

Tel:  603 7955 9122

Fax: 603 7955 3909

Website: www.petaling-jaya.hilton.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/hiltonpetalingjaya

Business Hours:

Lunch          Mon – Sat:  12noon to 2.30pm

                   Sunday Buffet: 11.30am to 2.30pm

Dinner         Mon – Sat: 6.30pm to 10.30pm

                   Saturday Buffet: 6.30pm – 10.30pm

Okonomi @ Solaris Dutamas

Sushi As You Like It

Okomoni – translate to ‘as you like it’ already had my attention the moment it opened in Solaris Dutamas. In fact, I have visited this place a few times prior to this visit with my family. The concept is fun as one can DIY their own sushi roll.

Together with Choi Yen and her family as well as mine, we paid a visit one weekend for a treat of sushi and other Japanese dishes since both our children enjoy Japanese food very much. Apparently there are new dishes at Okonomi and we can’t wait to try them.

The restaurant is nicely designed and has an open kitchen concept that allows diners to catch some sushi making action while dining. Section into two, the dining area is also parallel to the open kitchen. We like the modern contemporary interior design with the curvy ceiling panels and lighting that gives the restaurant a hip and cool vibe. Neutral colors let diners enjoy their meal at ease and in comfort. There is also an open dining space at the back of the restaurant for more privacy dining or functions.

The menu is decent with plenty of house signature sushi rolls taking top spots, followed by other classic Japanese dishes. There is also another menu where one can design your own sushi roll as you like it!

Drinks came first as usual. I had the & Matcha Shiratama Float (RM16.90) while Choi Yen had the Matcha Azuki Shiratama Latte (RM16.90). Our beverages are so refreshingly good with an intense matcha note. I was particularly fond of mine which had a scoop of green tea ice cream and balls of chewy Shiratama.

Our family had their fruit smooties of Strawberry, Mango & Avocado (RM12.90). Tall glasses of cream and fruity smoothies that makes a lovely beverage for the hot sunny day.

Spicy Prawn Burger (RM18.90) is the first dish on the list and also a new one on the menu. A pretty ensemble of chunks of poached prawns with crabstick, avocado, lettuce, onion, spicy creamy sauce sandwiched with sushi rice patties and crowned with spring onions and generous fish roes. Not a burger that one can lift to bite, we certainly didn’t mind as it was such a tasty combination with a good kick of heat.

There are two new sushi rolls on the menu now and the first one is a kickass Sweet and Spicy Prawn Roll (RM25.90). One bite of this and the heat explodes like fireworks in your mouth. I absolutely love this roll. The roll has a filling of boiled chopped egg, radish and lettuce. It is then wrapped with rice and draped with prawns before being smothered in a creamy spicy sauce with a sprinkling of finely chopped bird eye chili. So shiok!

Slammin’ Salmon (RM19.90) is the next new sushi roll and bound to be another crowd favorite. Salmon, Tamago, cucumber, melted cheese and spring onion sums up the roll. The combination is delicious, especially with the creamy melted cheese that paired so well with salmon and egg. I would definitely order this again.

We couldn’t resist ordering their popular house roll of Seafood Supreme (RM32.90). The uramaki roll (inside out roll) has crispy soft shell crab, Hokkaido crab meat, salmon, cucumber, cereal and yukke sauce. Indeed it is just as yummy as I have remembered it. The sticky sweet soy sauce really brought everything together so well and the crushed cereal added a nice crispy texture.

Now of course we also had a DIY roll of our own concoction. It’s quite easy as one has several sections of choices to choose from a list. The DIY roll comes in a choice of two sizes with regular (6 pieces – RM15.90) or large (8 pieces – RM18.90). Regular roll comes with 3 standard ingredients, 1 sauce & 1 topping while Large roll comes with 4 standard ingredients, 1 sauce & 1 topping. For premium selection ingredient as well as other additional topping or sauces, there are additional charges.

First, we decided to go healthy and had brown sushi rice, followed by a choice of uramaki roll preference and then we opted for a soy wrap instead of seaweed. We went with regular roll but opted for premium selection upgrade of Smoked Duck. Then we chose mango and avocado with a spicy mentai mayo sauce and topped it with crunchy tempura flakes. Our DIY roll was priced at RM20.90 with the premium selection upgrade. Yummy and satisfying to the very last piece…

We also had other dishes and Tempura Squid (RM18.90) turned out decent. The light and crispy rings of squid are nice and tender with the classic tempura sauce.

The Teriyaki Chicken (RM15.90) had all the passing marks of a solid dish. Light crispy skin on the chicken and the meat was tender and juicy. The smoky and sweet teriyaki sauce has the right balance of flavors and certainly made the dish very enjoyable.

Another new dish on the menu is the Chicken Karaage Waffle (RM18.90). This was decent but nothing that stands out much to me in terms of flavors. There is also nothing to fault has it had a nice crisp waffle, yummy crispy chicken karaage and the cream sauce was ok. Maybe because the other dishes all stood out in solid flavors so this one was less outstanding than the rest. Still a good dish if you love waffles and fried chicken.

Our kids had the Chicken Gratin Pasta (RM21.90), which was very tasty and creamy. The pasta had sufficient dose of flavorful cream sauce with chicken and mushrooms. It was also cooked to al dente and the dish was much enjoyed by Choi Yen’s daughter.

My sonny boy opted for his all-time-favorite Katsu Curry Chicken (RM21.90) the moment he saw this on the menu. How good was it? So delicious that he managed to polished it all off on his own. I did taste a bit of the curry and found it pleasing and comforting with a nice mild spice note and not overly creamy or spicy.

Lunch ended with a new dessert, a molten one of Matcha and Chocolate Lava Cake (RM21.90). A great pairing of chocolate and matcha, the lava cake was a hit at our table. Truly molten with a soft layer of cake, the flavors were spot and definitely a must for chocolate lovers. We love the dark rich taste of oozing chocolate with the intense green tea as well as the icy chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce. Can’t get any more chocolate than this…

One thing Okonomi does well is consistency. Like I said, I have dined there before and their food has always been good in terms of consistency in flavors and presentation. A fun and relaxing place for good sushi rolls and some modern Japanese dishes…

OKONOMI

A4-G2-02, Solaris Dutamas,

No.1, Jalan Dutamas1,

50480 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +6012-662 9041

Facebook: www.facebook.com/OkonomiFoods/

Business Hours: 1.00am to 11.00pm Daily