Osaka Kitchen, J's Gate Dining @ Lot 10 Shopping Centre

J's Gate Dining in Lot 10 Shopping Centre now houses 16 speciality restaurants on one floor (with one casualty so far, Tokyo Obanzai Hachi).  I've visited two of them, Bonta Bonta and Kaisen Don Kinme and end up liking both.

The latest to open (a little over a month ago) is Osaka Kitchen, J's Gate Dining @ Lot 10 Shopping Centre (which we've been looking forward to), specialising in teppanyaki and okonomiyaki cooked on an iron griddle in front of diners.

Since we're here for the teppanyaki, let's start with that.  You can choose from either chicken (RM37), pork (RM42) or beef teppanyaki (I didn't see a seafood choice) but the surprising thing though was that the various teppanyaki choices all come in a set course.  You can't order just the meat and have it commonly served with rice and vegetables like in most teppanyaki joints I've been to.

For the beef course, there's a choice of Beef Rump Steak (RM80) or Beef Sirloin Steak (RM160).  I also saw a note at the bottom detailing the additional cost for the Japanese Beef Sirloin Steak (+RM80) and Japanese Beef Fillet Steak (+RM140) which would mean that the prices will be jacked up to RM240 or RM300 (yikes!) if you want Japanese beef (so I'm assuming the earlier two choices are Australian beef perhaps?).

Haiz, all so expensive, I had to settle for the cheapest option, the Beef Rump Steak Course @ RM80.  Funny thing was, the server didn't ask me how I want my beef done.  I'm not sure if it's an error on her part or they actually don't give you a choice on how you like it cooked.  She said they usually cook it to medium before I asked if I could have it medium rare and then she said it's cooked between medium rare to medium (it felt like she was just pacifying and/or accommodating me by including the words 'medium rare' in her sentence) :P

Since my beef rump steak comes in a set meal, the course began with the appetiser which turned out to be a fresh salad.

It had crunchy lettuce, shredded cabbage, capsicum slivers and cherry tomatoes topped with some tiny crispy silver fish in a light shoyu dressing.  Very refreshing starter.

Next to arrive was the Japanese Omelette with Pork Belly.  This was basically just a fluffy omelette wrapped with finely chopped pork belly.

Served with a drizzle of mayonnaise and a sprinkling of aonori (green seaweed flakes) in a slightly sweetish teriyaki-like (okonomiyaki?) sauce, it was temptingly tasty. ^o^

Then we were served the Seared Specialty Sesame Tofu.  Don't be fooled by the word 'tofu' as it was unlike the texture of tofu I was expecting.  The texture caught me completely off-guard.

It had a lightly seared outer layer that was fragrant but it was very wobbly and gooey with a chewy, flour-y taste.  It was like I was eating an extremely soft version of radish cake (or mochi).  It had this gel-like consistency that I found unpleasant (though I've read reviews raving about this dish).  Maybe I was supposed to eat it with the wasabi (but I don't eat wasabi!) to cut through that gummy texture.

The Grilled Avocado with Melted Cheese was next.  The way they cook this is they sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of an avocado slice.  They let it cook on the teppanyaki grill (covered) until the cheese melts and forms a crisp layer of cheese (those that fell off the avocado and onto the grill).  It's finished with a sprinkling of aonori.

Well, if you like cheese and you like avocado....you'll like this.  It's a simple rendition of soft, creamy avocado and cheese with a few cheesy crisps.  Again, not my favourite (since I'm not a cheese person) + it also felt rich as it was creamy (cheese) on creamy (avocado).

Finally, it was time for the main, the Beef Rump Steak was served with some garlic crisps, fried pea shoots and a dipping sauce (of probably soy, mirin and grated daikon) that's somewhat similar to those served with tempura.

I've turned one of the pieces around so that you can judge the doneness.  As you can see, it was just a little pink in the centre, so it was much more medium than it was medium rare although it did have that perfect searing on the outside.  Because it was cooked more than I would have liked, perhaps that contributed to the meat being not as tender but still came off pleasantly tasty and I enjoyed the pea shoots very much (there was so little of it though)! ^.^

In the end, I was glad that I didn't choose the more expensive beef cuts since we don't have a choice on how we want our meat done.  I hope this was not a case of the server (who served us) not doing her job properly! >_<  Anyway, do make a request for your choice of doneness (when you eat here) just to be sure.

Our other main was the Okonomi-yaki Course @ RM45 that offers the same courses as the one before but only the pork okonomiyaki is available for the set meal.  If ordered as a stand-alone dish, you have a choice of pork (RM23), pork & squid (RM29), mixed with pork, squid & prawn (RM32) and Osaka Kitchen's special with pork, squid, prawn, beef & avocado (RM40).

Okonomiyaki is basically a Japanese-style savoury pancake made from flour, eggs, cabbage and Japanese yam with various toppings.  It's then drizzled with generous amounts of Japanese mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce (a mix of soy sauce, ketchup and Worchestershire sauce) and finished with an equally generous sprinkling of aonori and katsuobushi (bonito flakes).

This was my first time trying okonomiyaki, so I didn't know what to expect.  First mouthful, it tasted very similar to takoyaki to me but I'd rather have takoyaki than this okonomiyaki coz then it'll be stuffed with my favourite baby octopus.  I felt that it had too much batter and not enough filling.

Maybe it's because this one is a pork version which I didn't fancy.  Perhaps, a seafood version with either prawns, octopus, squid or scallops may be more my cup of tea.  Besides okonomi-yaki, they also offer yaki-soba (though it wasn't available yet on our visit).

To end our meal, the dessert of the day was ice cream (as told by the server) and we were asked to make a choice between matcha, vanilla or yuzu.  We picked vanilla.....

......and yuzu.  Let's just say the ice cream was more icy than creamy! >.<  The yuzu one tasted more like a sorbet.

The best part about the dessert were the pretty transparent plates they came in...haha! :D

Though the staff were courteous and proactive (refilling our green tea and clearing our finished plates), they were also very flustered with their service.  Some of the issues were....1) the various courses did not come in sequence (as per the menu), 2) we had to remind them of one forgotten course, 3) they brought us one course twice and 4) one of the mains (the okonomiyaki) arrived after the first two courses!

I think they have to rethink their execution...and soon.  They need to find a better system to execute the various courses to know who got what.  Perhaps, they should consider sending out all four small dishes at once (in one tray) instead of course by course.  That way, there will be no confusion as to which courses have been fulfilled for which diner.  And once the diner has finished all his four starters, they only need to follow up on the main and the dessert.

My Personal Opinion

The teppanyaki didn't impress as much as I thought it would.  Not having a say in the meat doneness, I can just as easily go to Tamaruya Meat Master (also at Lot 10) and have my fill of beef done exactly to my liking....with bigger portions and cheaper prices too (and what I pay goes directly into the amount of meat and not get 'wasted' on side dishes that I could do without (since I ended up liking only two out of the four courses).

As for the okonomiyaki, it too didn't turn out to be the tasty treat that I was expecting.  Hmmm, I'm not sure if I'll be back.  I mean I know I'll be back to J's Gate Dining, I'm just not sure if I'll return to this particular restaurant.  If I do return (and that's a big maybe), it'll be for the teppanyaki, not the okonomiyaki! ;)

Osaka Kitchen, J's Gate Dining
Unit Level 4
Lot 10 Shopping Centre
Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2110 3591