Dine with Me Weekend Promo @ Tatsu, InterContinental KL

Given the choice of all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet or a premium 4-course Japanese dinner (read: thick cut sashimi and charcoal grilled Wagyu beef), I'd chose the latter every time.

Tatsu in InterContinental Kuala Lumpur have come up with yet another fantastic promotion for Japanese food lovers. Every weekend, diners can enjoy a Japanese feast via the Dine With Me promo, priced at RM888 nett for 4 persons. With this promo, diners can expect top quality, premium ingredients prepared in various cooking techniques.

Kickstart your meal with this impressive, mouthwatering appetizer platter. Not only does it look amazing, every morsel on the platter was absolutely delicious.

Chef Tommy Kuan tells us that the seafood is air-flown in twice a week from Kyushu Island in Japan. On the platter, you will find tuna, kanpachi, salmon, hotate and akagai sashimi, as well as ikura sushi, avocado sushi, anago sushi and uni sushi. Everything was so fresh, and I especially enjoyed the thick slices of sashimi with the freshly grated wasabi. There are also baked oysters topped with mayonnaise which are best enjoyed warm.

Making a dramatic entrance, enhanced by dry ice.

The sight of this makes me very happy :)

Hand-grated fresh wasabi

Hamaguri Miso Soup, Japanese clam miso soup with tofu, spring onion and wakame.

For the next course, diners will be served the Seafood Platter, which feature ingredients such as unagi, salmon, prawns and snow crab.

Instead of the usual unagi kabayaki that we are accustomed to, the eel is steamed with sake for its natural flavour to shine. The snow crab legs were my favorite from this platter with its wonderfully sweet flesh. Salmon is prepared in two styles, shioyaki (salty) and teriyaki (sweet). The ebi tempura showcases plump, juicy prawns in a light batter. There are also four other types of tempura served on this platter, namely shirao (small ice fish) kakiage, broccoli tempura, asparagus tempura and yamaimo (mountain yam) tempura.

It's all about the meat in the third course. The highlight of the platter is the Wagyu sumiyaki served with Himalayan salt. Diners can cook the thin slices of Wagyu over a charcoal grill... as they're so thin, they cook quickly. We thoroughly enjoyed the tender, juicy beef, simply with a touch of salt.

In this platter, you will also find Grilled honey chicken with sudachi, Lamb teppanyaki with Cheddar cheese aonori, Stewed beef cheek with red wine, Stewed aigamo (duck) with julienned carrot, kyuri and radish, Bacon with fried potato roll and Mushroom teppanyaki.

Chef Tommy Kuan

The meal ends with a bang, with a fantastic Dessert platter. The Grand Marnier ice souffle is rich, creamy and tangy; a lovely, refreshing end to our meal. There is also Haagen Daaz green tea ice cream and delightful mochi.

So gather your friends and family and head over to Tatsu for a fabulous time this weekend. The Dine with Me promo is available on Saturdays and Sundays for dinner only.



Note: Tatsu's Japanese buffet is currently ceased to allow this promotion to be rolled out however I think their regular customers will be pleased with this new promo.

CIMB and Citibank cardholders can enjoy a 20% discount. For reservations, please call +603 2782 6118.

Opening times: Lunch 11.30am to 2.30pm; Dinner 6.30pm to 10.30pm daily.


Location: Tatsu Japanese Restaurant, Level 1, InterContinental Hotel Kuala Lumpur, 165 Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 03-2782 6118

Website: http://kualalumpur.intercontinental.com/dining/tatsu-japanese-cuisine

GPS Coordinates: 3.160249, 101.717584


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2017 Mooncakes @ Shanghai, JW Marriott KL

Mid-Autumn Festival is one of my favourite times of the year as I love mooncakes and the salted egg yolk gems that are often hidden in them. This year, JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur have cleverly designed the box to be repurposed as a jewellery box; after the mooncakes have been enjoyed, the box is perfect for storing your gems.

Not only do we love their packaging, we really like the range of baked mooncakes that we tried too. There are ten varieties of baked and four snow skin mooncakes to choose from. We had their classic selections such as Baked white lotus paste with single egg yolk and Baked green tea paste with single egg yolk as well as the slightly more unusual Baked pandan with pineapple paste and Baked bamboo charcoal paste with salted egg yolk.

Shanghai Restaurant's mooncakes are handmade and contain no preservatives, hence they must be eaten within 3-5 days of purchase. We are partial to thin skins when it comes to the baked variety, so Shanghai's scored high points with us. What really stood out for us were the salted egg yolks; they were salty and moist, the best amongst all the mooncakes we've tried this year. Hence if you're a fan of the salted egg mooncakes, this is definitely the one to get.

It was Chinese New Year all over again for Baby D as he indulged in the Baked pandan with pineapple paste as it reminded him of his favorite CNY cookie, the pineapple tarts ;)

There are 3 different box designs on offer - the Shanghai Elegance (with 4 mooncakes- RM178), Shanghai Splendour (with 6 mini mooncakes - RM98 for baked and RM118 for snow skin) and Shanghai Opulence (with 6 mini mooncakes in premium packaging - RM136 for baked and RM178 for snow skin). I love the classy Shanghai Elegance jewellery box in gorgeous red.

To place an order, please call +60 3 2719 8288 or email shanghairestaurant@ytlhotels.com.my. These mooncakes are available until 4 October 2017.

Location: Shanghai Restaurant, First Floor, JW Marriott KL, 183 Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 03-2719 8288

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Robataya Izakaya, Publika, KL

In Japan, izakaya is a type of informal Japanese gastropub where colleagues and friends gather for drinks and food after work. Situated on a bustling row within Publika is Robataya, a restaurant offering the Izakaya dining experience, with a vast menu comprising of sashimi, sushi, tempura as well as seafood and vegetables cooked on the robatayaki.

Start your meal with a sashimi platter; you can never go wrong with fresh, thick slices of raw fish. The Okan Sashimi Moriawase (RM70) that we had came with five types of seafood - salmon, maguro (tuna), hamachi, abura bozu (butterfish) and akaebi (sweet shrimp).

Enjoy one of these otsusume, a selection of small plates designed to complement your sake or beer. One of my favorites was the Ebi Furai (RM28), which features five large, juicy prawns deep fried to crispy perfection.

A must-try is the Saba Ichiya Boshi (RM48), a whole mackarel which is preserved with salt water for 24 hours before hitting a hot grill. We thoroughly enjoyed this moist, fairly fatty fish.Other than saba, there is also salmon ichiyaboshi (RM48) or icefish karaage (RM18), though we found these a little dry compared to the saba.

Another great snack to go with your sake is the Buta khusu yaki (RM19), grilled pork glazed in a salty-sweet sauce. We absolutely loved the tender, melt-in-your-mouth pieces of pork with a lovely smoky flavour.

We usually reserve hotpot for rainy days. The stars were clearly aligned as we set off for our review at Robataya and the heavens opened providing us with the perfect weather to go hand in hand with the newly launched seafood hotpot.

The Tokusen Nabe (RM198) launched mid September 2017, is a Japanese hotpot set which comes with baby lobster, Karatsuki scallop, Gindara kabuto (cod fish head), Age gyoza, Salmon kawa (fried salmon fish skin), pork belly slices, butterfish and asari clams. Diners can choose from 4 types of broth - kyushu paste, kimchi paste, miso paste or chef special paste. We had the miso paste broth, and by the end of our meal, the broth was sweet, thanks to all the seafood in the hotpot. The set also comes with udon or soba, which you can add at the end to the broth.

This set can comfortably feed 3-4 persons, and comes with side dishes such as wakadori karaage (fried chicken), chinmi mori (marinated jellyfish, seaweed and chuka idako) as well as Takoyaki Sarada (octopus balls salad) with a lovely sesame dressing. To end, banana ice cream will be served.

Opening times: Mon-Thu 11.30am - 2.30pm; 6pm - 11pm. Fri 11.30am - 2.30pm; 6pm - 11.30pm. Sat 11.30am - 11.130pm; Sun 11.30am - 11pm.


Location: Robataya Izakaya, D4-G3-09, Solaris Dutamas, No.1 Jalan Dutamas 1, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 03-6211 2785

Website: https://www.facebook.com/robatayaizakaya




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Recipe: Radish, Corn and Peanut Soup

Our kids enjoy having soup as part of their Chinese meal. Chinese soups are super easy to make, as you literally dump all the ingredients into a pot and simmer for 2 hours. Recently, we have been adding sweetcorn to our soups; the corn gives a lovely sweetness to the soup and the kids can also eat the corn after finishing their soup. WIN!

Radish, corn and peanut is just one of many variations of Chinese soups that we love. It's light and nutritious, try making it for your family today!

Radish, Corn and Peanut Soup
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 1/2 - 2 hours
Serves 4


Ingredients
1/3 radish, peeled, sliced 1.5cm thick and quartered
1 large red onion, peeled and cut into 1/8ths
1 sweetcorn, peeled and cut into 4
2l water
200g chicken breast, cut into chunks
1/4 tsp salt
30g peanut, soaked for 1 hour



1. Place all ingredients (except salt) into a large pot and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce to low heat and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Season with salt.

2. Ladle into soup bowls and serve hot.

Note: I use chicken breast as it's leaner (hence lighter soup), however you may replace with pork ribs or chicken carcass if you like. 

Soup with their favorite Japanese chicken curry.

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InterContinental Kuala Lumpur's Mooncakes 2017

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a time whereby families gather together, enjoy mooncakes and watch the full moon (a symbol of abundance, harmony and good fortune).

This year, Tao Chinese Cuisine in InterContinental Kuala Lumpur is featuring six selections of baked mooncakes and four types of snow skin mooncakes; a mix of old time favourites and new flavours, all handmade individually by Master Dim Sum Chef Lo Tian Sion and his team.

The elegant boxes are inspired by the vivacious plum blossoms, representing spring, beauty, purity and honour. Two colours are available - a choice of luminous gold or charcoal grey. The two-tier mooncake boxes can be converted into a storage box for your stationary or jewellery later on.

The baked mooncake flavours on offer this year are the classics such as White lotus paste with single egg yolk (RM28), Pure white lotus paste with nuts (RM26), Shanghai single yolk (RM32) and Golden Jade (RM26). These are all Halal-certified.

Two of their bestselling baked mooncakes are the Scarlet baked snow skin with pandan and salted egg bean paste (RM30) and Bamboo charcoal with assorted nut paste (RM32). The scarlet mooncake gets it beautiful red hue from beetroot powder; the filling was smooth and not too sweet, which I appreciated.

Chef's signature mooncake for 2017 is the Snow skin with pure durian and salted caramel chocolate (RM42). The durian filling was rich and creamy, and a handmade salted caramel chocolate truffle is encased in the centre of the mooncake.

Other snow skin mooncake flavours available are Marble snow skin with pandan paste and single egg yolk (RM28), Roselle snow skin with cheese and spirulina paste (RM28) and Sesame snow skin with Japanese purple potato and green tea (RM28). We sampled the latter and the flavours of the sweet potato and slightly bitter matcha matches well with one another.

The mooncakes are available until 4 October 2017 at the InterContinental Kuala Lumpur lobby counter. There is a 15% discount for CIMB, Citibank, HSBC, Maybank and UOB card holders for purchase of box of 4.



Opening times: Lunch: Monday to Friday 12.00pm-2.30pm; Dinner 6.30pm-10.30pm.

Location: Tao Chinese Cuisine, InterContinental Hotel Kuala Lumpur, 165 Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: +60 3 2782 6000

Website: http://kualalumpurdining.com/restaurant/tao-chinese-cuisine

GPS Coordinates: 3.160249, 101.717584


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