Shio Sushi @ Pandan Indah

Finally...a slightly higher end sushi restaurant (that's not like Sushi Mentai or Sakura Sushi) has opened up in my neighbourhood, Shio Sushi @ Pandan Indah...and I'm pretty ecstatic after my maiden visit.

Although I can't help but worry for them as I found the restaurant almost empty (there was just another table occupied) on a weekday (Friday) lunch (and I was there at peak lunch time at 1pm...and we even managed to park at their reserved lot).  I would have thought there'd be a bit more crowd from office workers during lunch time...but I guess the (higher) prices are not that affordable for the majority type of working crowd here (who aren't typically white-collar workers).

Notwithstanding that, we started with the Salmon Ikura Don @ RM28 as our first dish and when it arrived, my first impression was that the portion looked rather small (luckily, we ordered an extra dish for sharing).

The bowl was filled with slices of thick, fresh salmon sashimi as well as fairly juicy ikura though I would have liked if the salmon roe was slightly bigger in size but, at the price of the don, there's really no cause for complaint.  Besides salmon sashimi and ikura, there were also two small slices of tamago which was tastily done.

The dish for sharing is chef recommended from their signature series, the Shio Signature Roll @ RM12.  I could see finely shredded cucumber inside and crispy batter over sushi rice and nori sheet (it was a pretty basic sushi).

Nothing too spectacular with the taste of the roll (can't expect much also at that price) but the one thing I did notice was that the rice has slight tinge of (very light) brown.  On checking their FB, it seems they season their sushi rice with akazu which is a traditional Japanese red vinegar...rumoured to offer a naturally sweet with a much smoother, less harsh taste than regular rice vinegar.  Certainly decent in taste and the fine crumbs of batter were very crispy.

I zeroed in on the beef straight away and got myself the Saikoro Steak with Mini Tempura Set @ RM45 and was bowled over by the magnitude of it (it even had more dishes that the photo in the menu!).

Let's start with the mini dishes...it had a small plate each of potato salad, spicy tuna, including a miso soup and cawanmushi, with watermelon as dessert to end the meal.

There was also a mini salad of crunchy shredded cabbage, cucumber slices and wedges of cherry tomatoes tossed in a refreshingly light mayo dressing.

The side dish was the mini tempura with two batter-coated shrimps, one shiitake mushroom and one brinjal that were light tasting and super crispy.  A rather successful tempura, if you ask me, in terms of taste and crunchiness, accompanied by a traditional dipping sauce typically served with tempura.

Now, onto the main of saikoro steak featuring bite-sized beef that has been cut into cubes.  I was not asked my preferred doneness but when the dish landed on our table, I breathed a sigh of relief as I could see that the centre of the diced beef was still very much pink.

Cooked to medium rare (perhaps that's their default doneness) and tender with a good sear on the outside, they were extremely delightful for beef that price.  They were cooked in a savoury, delicious sauce with stir-fried vegetables of cabbage, red and green capsicum, onions and mushrooms.

My Personal Opinion

I'm so glad that a higher end (slightly only!) Japanese restaurant has finally landed in my taman compared to the usual lower priced Japanese outlets we have here that are highly popular.  Some may even consider this not affordable for a typical family meal but that's because they're probably not used to the even higher end Japanese restaurants elsewhere.  I actually think they're not high end or high priced at all.

Based on what I tried on my maiden visit, I'm 110% sure that I'll be back...very soon (to try other dishes)!  But as I'm writing this, I'm already thinking of having the saikoro steak again coz @ RM45 not only is it value-for-money, the portion is very generous and filling too (I needed help to finish, so the portion is certainly good enough even for a guy or one with a big appetite)! ^_~

Shio Sushi

48 Jalan Pandan Indah 4/6B

Pandan Indah 

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 012-693 6136

Sushi Mentai @ Pandan Indah

When restaurant chain Sushi Mentai opened an outlet in my neighbourhood, people flocked to the place for its cheap and affordable conveyor belt sushi.  We did too...and the place was always running full.

Then Sakura Sushi came offering even cheaper sushi (by a mere 10 cents a plate) and people shifted their focus.  We did too (when we felt that Sushi Mentai weren't as generous with their mentai as they used to be). And then Sakura Sushi fell prey to the same thing...they got stingy with their mentai and quality control slackened (when the owner was more focussed on setting up another outlet).

So, it was back to Sushi Mentai (for us)....and so was the crowd.  Since I blogged about this place in 2015, they're doing so well now (there's a queue even on weekdays' dinner nights) that Sushi Mentai @ Pandan Indah moved out of its one-lot premise and expanded to two lots just a few doors away.

Sushi is still priced at RM1.80 (for the yellow plates) and RM2.80 (for the red plates)...and we'd have our fill with some of our usual favourites.

Salmon Sushi

Tamago Mentai & Ebi Mentai

Inari Mentai

Unagi, Tuna Mayo & more Salmon

White Tuna Sushi

Some kind of Fried Prawn Sushi

Hard-Boiled Egg (encrusted in batter) topped with mentai

Potato Salad

Edamame

There are also special maki rolls from their menu that you can order like this Salmon Mentai Dragon Maki (4 pcs) @ RM12.80.  This is a prawn sushi roll topped with salmon and torched cod roe.

Besides sushi, we always complement each meal with some orders from the a la carte menu, of course.

The consistency of the Chawanmushi @ RM3.80 is quite well done and it's always served piping hot which I really appreciate.

Looking at the price of the Miso Soup with Clams @ RM4.80, I should have known that it was too good to be true as the clams weren't fresh.  Skip this.

Though the Salmon Mentaiyaki (120g) @ RM14.80 can be a little dry, the mentai makes up for it to give it that luscious creamy feel.

I prefer the Salmon Head Shioyaki @ RM9.80 grilled with just salt though there's also a teriyaki version if you like.

Though there isn't much flesh to get at, I still like to order this coz when it comes well charred, it has that smoky flavour that I love.

The pan-seared prawn and vegetable dumplings or Ebi Gyoza (3 pcs) @ RM7.80 were gummy and doughy in taste, so I won't be having them again, that's for sure.

The Yasai Tempura @ RM6.80 is a usual order for us as this assorted vegetables tempura batter is quite nicely done and crispy.  There's usually at least one piece each of brinjal, pumpkin, carrot, ladies finger, yam and sometimes even a sweet potato.

I was surprised by the Tori Kaarage @ RM8.80 as the rather generous-sized chicken pieces came out well fried, fragrant and juicy.  We have been ordering this quite a few times.

Sometimes when we tire of having sushi, we'll go for their very affordably-priced rice bowls.  The Salmon Teriyaki Don @ RM14.80 featuring grilled salmon with teriyaki sauce on rice is a favourite of mine (and at such a great price, you'll be forgiving even if the salmon turns up a little on the dry side)! ;D

The Spider Tempura Don @ RM16.80 wasn't as nice as the yasai tempura coz somehow the batter of this one was much thicker and the sauce drizzled on the rice wasn't to my liking at all.  I must remember not to order this ever again.

As for the Unagi Don (80g) @ RM19.80, it'll still satisfy if you don't have unrealistic expectations of good quality eel for that price and you'll do just fine.

My favourite meal here is the salmon teriyaki don when I'm looking for something light with a controlled portion that doesn't end up too filling.

And if I'm feeling a bit more peckish on some days, I'll add a chawanmushi to my rice bowl for a more fulfilling meal.

Imagine having 10 plates of sushi for only RM28 (even cheaper for me since I can only handle about 5), so if you're eating sushi alone, it ends up to be a really cheap meal.  But if there's one thing I dislike about eating at these cheap sushi places is you also tend to bump into people who have no proper etiquette when it comes to dining on conveyor belt sushi.  I've witnessed myself some of these improper behaviour like:

1)  They'll put the sushi covers anywhere they like on the conveyor belt (even on top of another plate of sushi!) instead of in its designated stand purposely meant for them.

2)  The children like to play with the sushi covers.  I've even seen some of them put the covers over their faces (before putting them back)...and that's just gross to see! >_<  And yes, while all this is happening, there's no intervention from the parents.  I once saw a mother oblivious to it all as she was just concentrated on her phone.

3)  Apart from that, the children also open, take a peek at the sushi and then close the covers while the sushi is moving around the conveyor belt...and that's unhygienic! >.<

4)  I've even seen some customers take a plate of sushi onto their table and then put it back on the conveyor belt after they decide not to have it.

5)  Some even hoard the containers of pickled ginger and wasabi on their table until they decide to put it back on the belt much later (I don't even want to contemplate what happened with the containers while they were on their tables).

My Personal Opinion

Their expansion proves that there's still a market out there for basic, no frills, cheap sushi/Japanese food with prices that are accessible to everyone judging from the high demand for them.

I guess people are more than willing to sacrifice a bit of taste and quality for something that they can have more regularly with budget constraints in mind.  And for people who have not had better (and more expensive) Japanese food, why not as they'll think it tastes great too.

It makes for a cost saving, casual dinner for us on a fairly regular basis...even when we have had better.  So there! ;)

Sushi Mentai
No 12 & 13G Jalan Perubatan 2
Pandan Indah
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2856 0385

Sakae Sushi @ MyTown Shopping Centre

This place is well-known for affordable sushi but blame it on my tongue which got spoilt elevated from some of the better Japanese food I've had the privilege of eating, I've not been back for a number of years, my last visit to Sakae Sushi was more than two years ago.

Since I had a RM20 voucher to burn, I might as well make a trip to Sakae Sushi @ MyTown Shopping Centre to use it up.  I think it was well past 8pm when we got there and the sushi belt was practically bare.  That would mean we had to order the sushi we want, so we decided to just go with bentos and set meals.

I went with the Sakae Teishoku @ RM27.99 that featured a variety of different Japanese offerings such as breaded chicken cutlet with Japanese curry and grilled scallops with mentaiko mayo, served with chawanmushi, miso soup and rice.

They use thigh meat for the breaded chicken cutlet, so the meat wasn't too dry with a nice, crispy coating. The serving was quite generous with six wonderful slices of which I managed to finish only half (I packed the rest home...in keeping with my resolution of eating smaller portions this year)! ^_~

The Japanese curry is good for 'wetting' your rice with some sauce though I've never been a fan of mild Japanese curry (what can I say, I love my local curry to death!).

Loved the well-torched mentaiko mayo-laced grilled scallops.....lusciously creamy, salty goodness! ^o^

The chawanmushi came much later (that's why it was missing from the first photo of the set meal).  They ran out and had to make a new batch.  Anyway, the wait was worth it as it came screamingly hot...just the way I like it.  I actually quite like the texture of Sakae Sushi's chawanmushi with chicken meat, imitation shark fin, crab stick, shimeji mushrooms, edamame and gingko nut.

Soup and rice complete the set meal.  For under RM30, you won't go away hungry with this value-worthy meal + the taste isn't too shabby either.  There are a couple more Teishoku set meals with prices under RM35 that are bound to please.

Even more value-for-money were the Bento Boxes, some of which you can get for under RM25, with choices of Aki Bento (saba & gyoza), Tomi Bento (beef & tofu), Natsu Bento (fried chicken, scallop & takoyaki) and Fuyu Bento (sashimi & sushi).

This is the Haru Bento @ RM29.99, one of two bentos that's priced above RM25, the other being the Mizu Bento (with eel and tempura).

This set comes with a good-sized piece of salmon teriyaki with crispy skin (maybe a little on the dry side), pleasantly tasty chicken teriyaki and Japanese omelette served with white rice and assorted fruits.  The set is filling and just nice for one though the previous (cheaper) set gives more value for money.

And if that wasn't affordable enough, you can even get Ojyu one-dish rice boxes for under RM15.  That's music to a lot of people's ears with eating out getting more and more expensive these days.

This Chicken Teriyaki Jyu @ RM12.99 of sauteed chicken with onions and teriyaki sauce was tasty enough. Only thing though, I felt that their version of teriyaki chicken seemed to be coated with a bit of batter and pre-fried beforehand.

Certainly no complaints for the generous amounts of chicken chunks we got for the price.  Just that sometimes you get chicken and onions that aren't so well caramelised due to inconsistencies in cooking.

Of course they offer various sushi too since they're a conveyor-belt sushi joint after all.

My Personal Opinion

You know what?  I've forgotten what the food tastes like after so long.  I think I might be coming here more often now.  The prices are truly affordable and the taste isn't half bad....so, why not? ^_*

Sakae Sushi

Lot B1-010 MyTown Shopping Centre

Jalan Cochrane

Taman Maluri

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2720 1723