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During the National Day last Sunday, I had a shabu shabu dinner at Nagomi Shabu Shabu in Menara Hap Seng, KL. Ms Tam Poh Poh, the acting COO of Nagomi Shabu-Shabu was our host that night. My first impression on the restaurant was bright, classy and the huge entrance gives people a welcome feeling.
Shabu shabu means swish swish, referring to the swishing action when cooking thinly sliced meat in the broth. This method of eating was actually introduced by Genghis Khan in the 13th century, who intended to feed his army more efficiently by gathering them around the food cooked in a huge pot of broth. It was then introduced in Japan in 1948 and subsequently to the whole world.

We chose a window side seat, so we could enjoy Kuala Lumpur’s night view while enjoying our Japanese food. Shown here is the single pot each customer will be using for shabu shabu. Purpose is to promote a better hygienic dining experience. According to Tam, shabu shabu restaurants in Japan are small and they use only one pot for cooking.
Because of that, customers have to huddle around the pot and it could be pretty uncomfortable. Which is why Nagomi Shabu-Shabu chose the Japanese word ‘Nagomi’ as the restaurant’s name, it carries the meaning of peace and harmony.

Maguro Pirikaara Age, Fried Tuna @ RM18 is an appetizer consisting of white and red tuna. Behind the tuna are Japanese cucumber and fresh mango juice. The juices in Nagomi are prepared by blending freshly cut fruits with crushed ice and no sugar is added (honey is added into the cucumber drink) The fruit juice’s creamy and thick texture is nice but I would probably like it even more if it was sweeter lol.

If you look carefully you’d make out the white and red tuna in the dish. Red tuna would have a darker color and has a stronger taste compared to white tuna. Maguro Pirikaara Age is light and fresh in taste, a palate opener and an excellent way to start the meal.

Besides shabu shabu, Nagomi also serves good sashimi and sushi. There are over 30 items to be ordered from the sushi and sashmi menu alone. One of them being the Soft Shell Crab or Spider Maki @ Rm18. It is a delicious hand roll sushi made using generous amount of deep fried soft shell crabs.

Although the price is quite expensive, it is value for money because of the huge pieces - look at the big chunk of soft shell crab meat in the sushi, you can really feel its crunchiness in your mouth, damn nice. And the satisfaction of enjoying it in a mouthful was just indescribable, haha!

A set of shabu shabu in Nagomi, be it Sake Nabe, Ribeye Nabe or Chicken Nabe is always complemented with vegetables as side dish. There are three types of broth available in Nagomi - Nagomi’s signature broth, spicy or chicken broth. All the broth as well as the dipping sauces in Nagomi are specially handcrafted by their Master Chef Ikuo Tanabe-san. Tanabe is one of the most experienced Japanese chef and was also the head chef of Daikoku, now known as Kampachi in Equatorial Hotel.
The vegetables used for shabu shabu in Nagomi are all soaked in icy salt water for 20 minutes, twice. This process is done to remove all unwanted pesticides, bacteria and insects from the vegetables. I really felt the difference, the vegetables are fresh and have a sweeter taste.

Shabu shabu is best enjoyed none other than getting to dip and swish Kobe Beef in the soup, then savoring it. Since young, I have read a lot of comics and watched some dramas from Japan. So, I know a little about Kobe Beef, it is a top-grade beef from the breed of Wagyu cattle which is so expensive it can be considered a luxury.
How luxurious? At Nagomi, it is priced at RM125 for 120g. That’s more than RM1000 for a kilo for a kg of the meat! From what I read, Kobe Beef is so soft and tender it could melt in your mouth.. that’s how special the meat is.

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Technorati Tags: shabu shabu, Kuala Lumpur, Japanese food, Nagomi, sushi, Kobe Beef

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 sushi and Fusion dishes.
Located in Seberang Jaya, it is definitely one of the best restaurant in Penang for Japanese food. The director of Sake Room, 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 Sake 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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Technorati Tags: sushi, Penang, Japanese food, Sake Room, Sake

Rasa Sayang International Buffet is priced at RM96 per pax excluding 5% Government tax and 10% service charge. It is held in Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa along Batu Ferringhi Beach in Penang. Spice Market Cafe hosts the buffet this is the contact information:

Tel: 04-888 8888 (wow nice number)
Fax: 04-881 1800

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Technorati Tags: Penang

Sake Room is a fusion restaurant in Seberang Jaya recommended by Mabel Lai for good sushi. As always I would try out my readers’ recommendations whenever possible and blog about it. If you didn’t know, fusion cuisine is a combination of different forms of cookery or traditions. It can be of a combination of Chinese and Japanese cuisine or Western and Vietnamese cuisine. The possible combinations are totally up to the chef’s creativity and culinary skill.

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Technorati Tags: fusion, Japanese cuisine