I first noticed Yayoi when I visited Lot 10's 4th floor. They're part of J's Gate Dining concept which houses a number of speciality restaurants on one floor with each specialising in a specific Japanese cuisine like tendon, udon, soba, teppan rice, shabu-shabu & sukiyaki, tonkatsu, yakitori, okonomiyaki, teppanyaki & yakisoba, tonkotsu ramen, chicken ramen, matcha desserts, crepes and even Italian gelato and coffee.
I've dined in three of them before namely
Bonta Bonta,
Kaisen Don Kinme and
Osaka Kitchen...but sadly only
Osaka Kitchen remains till this day as part of
J's Gate Dining. I've walked past
Yayoi a couple of times but have not tried until now, so what better time to try
Yayoi than via delivery courtesy of a dinner treat recently! ^_~
Yayoi is a Japanese
Teishoku restaurant specialising in set meals offering various bentos, donburi and
a la carte side dishes with complimentary miso soup. Perhaps the previous
Bonta Bonta (specialising in unagi don) and
Kaisen Don Kinme (specialising in seafood don) had been
absorbed into
Yayoi since they offer unagi and seafood rice bowls too on their menu.
This was the
Beef Nasumiso & Saba Shio Bento @ RM30.90 served with rice, sides and miso soup.
One of the mains of this bento was the
beef nasu miso which consists of miso glazed eggplant with stir-fried beef slices, red bell peppers and
shimeji mushrooms. This was a very flavourful main as they were rather heavy-handed with the miso, so it was a tad on the salty side for me (so you'll need more rice) but tasty nonetheless especially the beef slices, thinly sliced and tender (wished there were more of it though).
Saba shioyaki (or salt grilled mackerel) made up the other main of this bento. Unfortunately, this came off like the saba was steamed instead of grilled. It was missing the much sought-after charred marks and grilled taste.
It did come with condiments of
grated daikon and a wedge of
lemon but it badly needed some shoyu since the saba wasn't salty. Also, for some reason, the grated daikon came off a bit bitter.
The sides were
tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette) and
edamame. The
tamagoyaki, however, tasted like an underseasoned omelette though the texture was alright. It lacked the usual sweet and savoury flavours, so it was a bit flat.
The second bento was the
Wafu Teppan Combo (Beef & Kaarage) Bento @ RM32.90 served with rice, sides and miso soup. Visually, it was a colourful bento.
The main for this bento was stir-fried beef and fried chicken kaarage with potato wedges, red bell peppers, snow peas, sweet corn and pickled cucumber.
The thinly
sliced beef was tender but would have loved to see some charring (after all this was supposedly teppanyaki-style cooking). As for the
fried chicken kaarage and
potato wedges....well, you simply can't foul up something that simple to execute.
This bento came with two sides from the earlier bento.....
tamagoyaki and
edamame with the addition of
sweet corn and
pickled cucumber.
Both bentos were served with complimentary
miso soup that contained pieces of
kombu (dried kelp) and omelette shreds. Again, I found the soup to be on the salty side due to either the dashi broth or the use of a bit too much miso paste.
There was an extra
a la carte side order of
Gyoza @ RM15.90 featuring 6 pcs of juicy, plump-filled gyoza with an accompanying dipping sauce. This turned out to be my favourite bite of the night.
My Personal Opinion
Overall, Yayoi's set meals are reasonably priced with a good variety and fair portions. I'd say the meals were average tasting at best from the two set meals I tried. The biggest issue I had was in the seasoning of the food as some of the components were either underseasoned (like the tamagoyaki & saba) and some were overseasoned (like the nasu miso & miso soup). Perhaps the chef had an off day. >_<
You can order directly from yayoi.alacarte.my for delivery from any of their branches in Lot 10, The Gardens, Waterfront Desa Park City and IOI City Mall if you're interested to give it a try.
Yayoi Malaysia
Lot P1-19 Level 4
Lot 10 Shopping Centre
Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2110 4448
The colour of the Beef Nasumiso looked so appetizing, unlike that stir fried beef in another bento, so pale which I thought was blanched beef slices. >_<
ReplyDeleteYa, the beef did look like it was blanched (much like the saba looking like it was steamed)...hehe! ;)
Deleteafter reading the not-so-good review like certain dishes being over-seasoned or under-seasoned, i think i shall give this place a second thought coz taste consistency is crucial especially when the customer is paying that much for a bento meal. Tamagoyaki should not taste flat, even the economical AEON pre-packed tamago sushi have tinge of sweetness in it.
ReplyDeleteActually, the bento prices are considered reasonable (seeing that it came from Lot 10) but wished the cooking and taste of it could be better though.
DeleteI love to eat tamagoyaki a lot and tamago sushi is one of my favorites but regret to hear that it is flat and does not taste sweet.
ReplyDeleteI, too, like to eat tamagoyaki with its light sweetness (though there are also savoury ones that I enjoy). ^_~
DeleteVariety of different items in one dish is certainly something you can't really do at home.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about that...unless you're making many portions for more family members.
DeleteI miss Japanese bento meals. I have tried food that are just all right, average tasting, not bad but not that good. But if the price is reasonable, I guess we can't really complain. If there is one thing that I dislike it is tamagoyaki, in spite of my love for eggs.
ReplyDeleteOh, you don't like tamagoyaki...even with some sweetness in the rolled egg? Hmmm, I wonder why. I take it then that omelette is your least favourite way of having eggs? ;)
Delete