Japanese A La Carte Buffet @ Tatsu, InterContinental KL

Japanese is definitely one of our favorite cuisine, even our children love it. Last month, we took our kids to Tatsu Japanese Restaurant in InterContinental KL for their weekend a la carte buffet. For RM98++, you get to choose from 88 items from the menu, which includes sashimi,teppanyaki, sushi, maki, noodles and many more. We successfully tried 27 items from the menu with several orders of certain items which we really enjoyed.

88 Splendid Dishes at RM98++..

Salmon sashimi (shake)

Tatsu has a nice zen-like quality to it. Service was very good as well. For this buffet, there was only 1 rule - we could only order 5 dishes at a time to avoid food wastage and as soon as the food was served, we could place another order. It worked pretty well for us.

Lobster

Sushi bar

Dan Mouse

Chloe Bear

We started off with a bowl of hot udon and two chawanmushi for the kids - their default order whenever visiting any Japanese restaurant. The udon was good, and the kids managed to finish it between the two of them. Chawanmushi was silky smooth too.

Hot udon

Chawanmushi

Kids were happy with the food

One of the must orders for us when going to a good Japanese restaurant is sashimi. There are 5 types of sashimi to choose from, butterfish (abura bouzu), octopus (tako), salmon (shake), tuna (maguro akami) and yellowtail (kampachi). We tried them all except for the octopus. All the sashimi was very fresh and I especially loved the salmon sashimi, especially the fattier cuts that we got. We must have ordered at least 6 portions of this (yes, 18 pieces in total!)

Salmon sashimi

Tuna and yellowtail sashimi

Yellowtail sashimi

Butterfish and salmon sashimi

We tried some of the appetizers such as smoked wild duck (aigamo kunsei) and marinated jellyfish (chuka kurage), both which was good. I also like both the prawn (ebi) and soft shell crab tempura, both coated in a nice light batter.

Marinated jellyfish

Smoked wild duck

Soft shell crab and prawn tempura

I wasn't too crazy about the unagi kabayaki (grilled eel) since the flesh was slightly too mushy, but the gindara teriyaki (grilled cod) was very good, and Baby D especially liked it, and kept requesting for more. Baby D also loves miso soup, so we got him a portion of that which he finished on his own and Baby C got the dobinmushi (clear soup in teapot) which she shared with me. She insisted that I ordered this for her so that she could pour the soup in the little teacup for me and refill it for me everytime. LOL.

Unagi kabayaki

Miso soup

The boy and his soup

Dobinmushi

Gindara teriyaki

The beef teppanyaki uses Australian beef - the meat had slightly more resistance but flavorful. I was delighted to see mini scallops on the menu - when the dish arrived at our table, I was surprised they were not so mini afterall (they were just like regular sized scallops) and it was really good. Being a huge scallop lover, of cos I couldn't resist ordering another few portions of this. ;) We also liked the mixed mushroom teppanyaki, a melange of textures and flavours.

Beef teppanyaki

Scallops teppanyaki (mini hotate)

Mixed mushrooms teppanyaki

We ordered a portion of tori karage (fried chicken with ginger) for the kids, Baby C liked this and ate 2 pieces. There are 7 types of sushi available here, we only tried the salmon sushi but it was nicely made. Similarly with the maki rolls, there are 6 types available but we only tried the tuna mayo maki.

Tori karaage

Salmon sushi

Tuna mayo maki

Cold soba

Negi toro maki (chopped tuna hand roll)

For a sweet ending, we tried all their desserts except for the black sesame (goma) ice cream. The assorted Japanese mochi was a bit different from what we expected, these had a jelly-like consistency with fillings such as red bean. The kids favorite dessert has to be the mini chocolate fondue which comes with deep fried dried fruits which they got to dip in the warm chocolate.We must have had 3 portions of this. This was followed by vanilla ice cream which they shared and the adults had the green tea (matcha) ice cream with azuki beans. I really liked the matcha ice cream.. you could taste the slight bitterness of the green tea. Yum. Even the assorted fruits was polished in no time by the kids.. plum, watermelon and honeydew. I ended my meal with a hot red bean soup with rice dumpling.

Japanese mochi

Mini chocolate fondue

Vanilla ice cream

Assorted fruits

Red bean soup with rice dumpling

Green tea ice cream

It was a wonderful 2 hours spent with my family, enjoying good food in a really nice restaurant. Our kids had a really great time, and that makes us happy.

The a la carte buffet is available for both lunch and dinner on Sat, Sun and Public Holidays.

For the full set of photos and full menu, please view on my Facebook page here. 

Pork-free.

Opening times: 12.00 noon - 2.15 pm, 6.30pm - 10.15pm

Service: Excellent.

Price: RM98++ per adult, RM49++ (children aged 6-12)

Location: Tatsu Japanese Restaurant, InterContinental Hotel Kuala Lumpur, 165 Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur (previously Hotel Nikko).

Tel: +60 3 2782 6118

Website:  http://www.intercontinental-kl.com.my/dining/tatsu_restaurant.asp

GPS Coordinates: 3.160249, 101.717584