It all started off with some messages exchanged over Facebook; it didn’t take long before it became a mini-gathering of sorts. It is always a pleasant experience to check-out unfamiliar food spots with a few friends; if it turns out bad, there’s always the good company to save you =)
I’ll be honest; I’m a HUGE fan of Japanese cuisine. I’ve been fortunate that my job took me to Japan on several occasions, which is also quite bad in retrospective because authentic Japanese food can be considerably different than what we get locally. Not necessarily bad, but different. One such item would be yakitori – literally grilled chicken or what I would rather call Japanese Satay! I was excited when I came across a review of Ri-Yakitori in our local Flavours magazine and somehow it became the dinner destination of choice.
Before I head off with the details, do bear in mind a few things. Google-ing will throw you a fine selection of reviews on other blogs and generally it’s all good with the grilled foie gras and the chef’s custom menu. Bad news: those items are no longer available on the menu! Nooooo~! I was rather disappointed, but do read on. Also to note is the location; it is located INSIDE Garden’s Hotel. You’ll need to head to the Hotel Lobby at the ground floor and take the hotel’s elevator to level 7. The e-kiosks are hopeless in directing you anywhere, so do take heed of this info. Happy hunting!
On a weekday, the place is relatively empty. This was surprising because I expected it to be rather full; I suppose weekends would be when the crowd comes. Location wise, it was simple and elegant and quite inviting. I can’t say if my opinion will hold if the place was jam packed like sardines. Upon being seated, we were given the menu (shown below) and I requested an introduction of their menu. The waitress was very courteous and knew the menu rather well and gave us recommendations with ease. She did, however, confirm about the removal of the items mentioned before… kind of heartbreaking but since we’re already there, the show must go on!
After flipping through the very brief menu, we settled for the set menu… all 4 of us =P Plus some ala carte sides. Oh, did I mention that the set menu below is the ONLY set they have? Sad, but true :(
See the menu? Most of the above are showcased below.
Potato Salad. Nothing unique to this dish. It is served cold, mind you, so some people may not take a liking to it.
Kampung Chicken Egg with Leek. Awesome~! I totally loved this. The yolk was cooked to golden perfection and the leek and perhaps the use of kampung chicken eggs add up to a lovably unique flavour. One among us did not quite enjoy it though; I would wager that the leek may be the culprit. Leek has a very strong flavour that may turn off some people. Me? Can I have another… please! (No… we didn’t order another one… *sigh*)
Chicken meatballs. Never knew chicken meatballs could taste so good. The meat was juicy and grilled just enough to give a tender interior encased in an almost crispy shell. They’re quite huge too!
Chicken wings were delightful. The skin was crispy, the meat was tender and every one of us enjoyed it tremendously. At this point, I’d say I was willing to come back here just to order this :)
Ala carte dish number two. I honestly forgot what it was called, but its basically omelette. The chef himself served this to our table; he apparently made some alterations. He claimed it was cooked in a mixture of French and Japanese style. It was fried just enough on the outside to give a well-cooked ‘skin’ that wraps the creamier interior.
Chicken skin turned out totally different than my expectations. Under normal circumstances, anyone would expect skin to be crispy/crunchy and oh-so-flavourful. This however was chewy and not so… ‘skin’-like. Some of the pieces were remarkably juicy and melt-in-your-mouth, but overall they were a hassle. I’d dare say this gets the lowest vote of the night.
My favorite! Japanese pizza aka Okonomiyaki. It is VERY hard to get authentic tasting okonomiyaki in Malaysia, and by far this was the closest among the many places I’ve visited. The smell and the taste were so close to what I remember with the exception of one thing… volume. This here is rather thin and not brimming with vegetables and crust and noodles (depending on the type of okonomiyaki you fancy). I will give them points for doing a great job; something I’ll order again… and again.
Chicken thigh. This outranked the meatballs above. What can I say; thigh meat is among the most tender in general and it is no exception here. Everyone on the table enjoyed this. If i were to order ala carte, this would come in bulk!
Chicken breast. The one thing that no one expected to go so wrong. Dry, tasteless and tough. Definitely overcooked. It is probably deserving of a second chance, but considering all FOUR sticks tasted just as disappointing doesn’t help its case. Plus, I am not a big fan of chicken breast meat.. so that’s the end of it.
Wait.. there something missing? Yes, the stewed chicken with half-cooked egg on rice. The entree comes last and can you imagine that all the above were building up to the entree? By this point, we were all massively stuffed to the brim. I was the only one who braved the meal whilst the rest asked for takeaway. I don’t have a shot of it, but it is basically oyako-don. The chicken was tender and juicy reminiscent of the thighs. It was a simple dish and would’ve been satisfying on its own had we not been stuffed like turkeys :)
So did we enjoy ourselves? Most definitely. There were some misses in the selection, but the ones that hit were really great stuff. On a future visit (yes, it’s worth revisiting), I’ll stick to ala carte. The sticks are relatively cheap, averaging RM5. I’d say it is quite a good deal considering the servings per stick. With the added benefit of choosing only those you like, plus an added variety not available in the set, the ala carte selections are worth experimenting on. The okonomiyaki and the kampung chicken egg alone would drag me back to this place again =D Here’s to looking forward to my re-visit in the future!
Ri-Yakitori
7th Floor, The Gardens Hotel,
Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur,
MalaysiaOperating hours:
Monday-Friday (5pm-1am)*
Saturday (12pm-1am)*
Closed on Sundays except on special events
* Last order at 11:30pm
Telephone: +603 2268 1188
Website: unknown
GPS Info: unavailable
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