Japanese Desserts @ Kin Shui Tei, Tropicana Golf & Country Resort

Yesterday (Valentine’s Day) I was invited to a Japanese Dessert Fair at Kin Shui Tei located within Tropicana Golf and Country Resort. The invitation was extended by Tam, who also invited me to Nagomi shabu shabu restaurant not long ago.
Kin Shui Tei is a classy Japanese restaurant its restaurant run by Mr. Ikuo Tanabe, a vastly experienced chef in Japanese cuisine. Needless to say, I was extremely excited about the food review for the entire week. For a food blogger, an invited review like this is as good as it can get, almost a dream come true!

Three new desserts I sampled were (clockwise) Fruits Panna Cotta, Fruits Mizu Mame and San Shoku Abekawa. I just love how vibrant the colors are in this photo.

I am going to start with my most favorite Japanese dessert of all, the luscious Fruits Mizu Mame @ RM19. Mixed fruit (apple, orange, grape, watermelon), lemon tea jelly, raisins and Japanese black beans (mame) are served on a dollop of vanilla ice cream.
The presentation was nothing short of impressive, especially the leaf shaped apple slices. It was so beautiful that I was quite reluctant to dip my spoon into the dessert. But, it had to be done anyway lol.

Besides the fresh fruits, I particularly enjoyed the raisins because they were not your ordinary dry raisins but infused with white wine and honey. This gave the raisins a juicy texture and nice honey taste, which was very delicious when coupled with the vanilla ice cream.
At first I thought RM19 was a little expensive for a dessert. But after knowing the extra mile Kin Shui Tei takes from providing the freshest ingredients to preparing and presenting them delectably well, the price tag was well worth it.

Fruits Panna Cotta @ RM19 is quite similar to Fruits Mizu Mame, except it had less fruits and a pudding. The pudding is called Panna Cotta, an Italian dessert made from cream and milk. It had a silky smooth texture which melts in your mouth and tasted not too sweet. White wine infused raisins were also present in this dessert, with honeydew and bits of juicy lychee flesh sprinkled on top.

I would recommend Fruits Panna Cotta to those looking for a bigger portion in their dessert.

The last dessert I had was San Shoku Abekawa (Three Colored Japanese New Year Cake) @ RM15. As the name implies, it is a plate of Japanese dessert with three different colors and flavors (from left to right) – cocoa, yellow bean and green tea. I liked the presentation, just like ice cream on sticks.

Among all three, yellow bean flavored is my favorite for its stronger taste and sweetness. If you didn’t know, Japanese New Year Cake itself is tasteless so the powder was the only source of flavor.
Another important thing about the cakes is that they must be enjoyed warm when delivered to your table. If left cold, the rice cake would harden making it really chewy in your mouth. This was perhaps the most traditional Japanese dessert I had that day, sadly the one I liked the least too.

I didn’t only get to try Kin Shui Tei’s latest desserts, but also some of their best selling dishes. Man, I am such a lucky person! Teppan Seafood @ RM 59 is a set meal consisting of Teppanyaki seafood and vegetables served with rice, miso soup, an appetizer, Japanese pickles and a fruit platter. Wow, that’s a lot of food in a set meal don’t you think?

The Teppanyaki seafood had generous portion of fresh squids, two huge prawns and a slice of sea bass. Each seafood is unique on its own with the squids cooked with a secret sauce, prawns baked with cheese and the sea bass pan fried. I really enjoyed the fresh sea prawns, with flesh as thick as my thumb. Eaten with the soft, melted cheese the prawns were simply heavenly..

And a Japanese meal wouldn’t be complete without sashimi. I am a newbie to sashimi and didn’t know how to appreciate it before this. But Sashimi Teishoku @ RM46 completely opened my eyes to the wonderful world of sashimi. I finally realize why the Japanese liked sashimi so much!

From the looks you may think that they are sushi, but a closer look would reveal that no sushi rice is there. It is purely assorted sashimi (salmon, salmon belly, butterfish etc) with some wrapped with thick Suzuki (Japanese sea bass) slices to resemble a sushi. Now, that’s really something.
Besides sashimi, the same accompaniments for Teppan seafood are also provided (miso soup, rice, fruit platter). Here, miso soup is enjoyed the traditional way by sipping it from the bowl instead of using a spoon.

I haven’t found myself enjoying sashimi so much like this before even though I have eaten it before in many Japanese restaurants. The sashimi was so fresh that the flavors were out of this world, I simply couldn’t hide the happiness and satisfaction with each bite I took.
When asked by Debbie, my host for the meal about the freshness and tastiness of the sashimi. I only could reply with nods of approval and a wide grin on my face, lol.

Freshly ground wasabi can be requested in Kin Shui Tei at no extra charge. It’s definitely fresher and spicier, perfect for the sashimi I had.

Kin Shui Tei’s new menu is done beautifully with hundreds of Japanese dishes to choose from.

You can also dine in the Tatami Room if you like a more private dining session. It’s spacious and no extra charge is imposed for dining here.

Kin Shui Tei’s dining area – calm, relaxed and very Japanese atmospheric. Seatings next to the windows are brighter with natural lighting, great for food photography.

If you are a Japanese food lover, you really got to try Kin Shui Tei. I am not saying this because they invited me over for a free meal. The fact is it’s a great Japanese restaurant and I honestly enjoyed the food here. Rather than visiting the chained Japanese restaurants, why not pay Kin Shui Tei a visit? I am sure you would enjoy the food here as much as I did.

To reach KST from LDP, take the left turn before reaching One World Hotel into Persiaran Bandar Utama. Keep going straight until you see Lebuh Bandar Utama, and follow the road. You will go pass Centrepoint Bandar Utama on your left and eventually arrive at an intersection where you can see MSC Status Bandar Utama on your right. From here, go straight and you will see the signboards leading to Tropicana Golf & Country Resort.
It’s pretty straightforward and I managed to find the place even though it’s my first time there, so I think it wouldn’t be a problem for you as well. Refer the following links for more info on how to get there:

Detaild direction via Google Map

Kin Shui Tei website

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