Waku Waku Contemporary Japanese Dining @ MidValley Megamall, KL

Waku Waku (わくわく) Contemporary Japanese Dining restaurant offers innovative fusion food such as Japanese style nasi lemak, spicy sushi roll with sambal, lam mee Jepun, koay teow Jepun and Ishiyaki bibimbap. I was attracted to the Japanese nasi lemak, hence we found ourselves here for lunch one afternoon. 

Japanese-style nasi lemak 

Waku Waku means "excitement or thrill" in Japanese and is located on Level 3 in MidValley. Most of the restaurant is covered in wood, and part of the dining spaces are made to look like houses. You can also see all the way into the kitchen since they operate an open kitchen concept here.

Japanese Roasted Rice Tea - Genmai Cha (RM2.90)

Cookies & Vanilla (RM7.90) - cookies, milk and vanilla ice cream blended together

You can view their menu here, but basically they have hambagu, kushiyaki (skewers), tempura, agemono, sushi, sashimi, soup, salad, noodles, rice and dessert. I ordered the Nasi Lemak Jepun without any hesitation  (well, maybe a little cos I was tempted by the hambagu). The rice is served in a sizzling stone pot, similar to the ones used to serve Korean dolsot bibimbap. The rice is very fragrant, thanks to the coconut milk but it was slightly on the wet side. It was topped with finely chopped iceberg lettuce and an onsen tamago. I especially liked the crispy bits from the bottom of the stone pot, same as when I eat bibimbap.

The condiments that came with the nasi lemak Jepun was pretty good. I like the sambal, since it is the sweet-spicy type that I usually favour. I poured all the sambal into the stone pot rice and mixed it well! Yum. There was at least 4-5 king prawns in the separate prawn sambal - pretty generous. I don't usually like chicken drumstick, cos I find it too fatty but the drumstick here was smooth and quite lean. It has been braised in soy sauce, so it's very flavorful too. Overall, I find this an interesting take on the Malaysian nasi lemak, which tastes quite healthy too.

Nasi Lemak Jepun (RM14.90)

Hubby had the Salmon Butter Rice (RM13.90), which was also served in a stone pot. The rice was topped with butter grilled salmon steak, minced chicken, cucumber puree thing, and spicy chilli flakes. Hubby commented that it was satisfying enough.

Waku-Waku

Verdict: Food here is tasty and reasonably priced, will come back for the hambagu. Need to try the hambagu so that I can perfect my own hambagu recipe at home. :D

Full set of photos can be viewed on my Facebook page here. 

Pork-free.

Price: Approx. RM46 for lunch.

Location: Waku Waku, Lot T-015B, Level 3, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (next to Pet's Wonderland)

Tel: 03-2284 1172

Website: http://www.mywakuwaku.com