Posts tagged sake

It has been almost six months since my first visit to Sake Room and there had been some changes. If you didn’t know, Sake Room Sushi & Lounge serves a large variety of excellent Japanese [tag]sushi[/tag] and Fusion dishes.
Located in Seberang Jaya, it is definitely one of the best restaurant in [tag]Penang[/tag] for [tag]Japanese food[/tag]. The director of [tag]Sake Room[/tag], Melissa has taken over the kitchen as the only chef and has introduced many new dishes to the menu.
Recently, Melissa invited me over for to sample the new dishes, which I gladly accepted – knowing that I would be in for an awesome meal. I also get to bring along a guest – who else but Siang Leng

The first dish to arrive was actually a soup – Baby Shishamo Soup @ RM11.90. Shishamo (Japanese smelt fish), or more commonly known as pregnant fish and traditional gin’an soup are used to prepare it.

At first glance of the second soup, we thought we were going to have tea. But this is actually another appetizer newly introduced in [tag]Sake[/tag] Room - Zen Kettle Soup @ RM8. A number of fresh seafood like abalone, shrimp and vegetables like cabbage and carrots are cooked together in a combination of Dashi broth, sake and soy sauce.

If you were me, I bet you will think that the soup is prepared earlier in a big pot then transferred to the kettle. Well this is not the case. According to Melissa, every dish in Sake Room is prepared to order where quality will not be compromised.
For us, it was a new and unique experience to drink soup from a tea cup instead of a bowl. Because of the relatively large amount of fresh seafood used, the soup is very flavorful and intense – simply the best Japanese soup we ever had.
The kettle may look small but it contains enough soup to serve each of us twice. Even after the soup was finished, we get to eat the seafood ingredients left in the kettle. I have especially enjoyed the abalone, lol.

For starters, Atlantic Salmon Ceviche @ RM14 is a Carribean inspired dish. Served in a cocktail glass, it uses cajun spices and togarashi tossed in with avocado, orange bits, tomatoes, salmon and Ikura. Ikura is the Japanese term for salmon roe, which are round in shape and red in color.
Sake Room gets their supply of Ikura by importing them from Japan and processing them to be edible themselves. Ikura has a rather strong fishy smell and by applying a little pressure using your tongue, they will pop in your mouth!

Next up was Naruto Maki @ RM22 – An appetizing and beautiful dish which is said to take time and experience for a sushi chef to master. Without using sushi rice, paper-thin cucumber instead is used to wrap around the Atlantic salmon and crab.

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