Back in 2008, Shiang and I had a little year long bet. The exact details aren’t important, but due to some luck and a lot of cheating, I emerged the victor. We then decided that the appropriate winning prize would be a nice dinner, and Diadomon Japanese BBQ restaurant was chosen.

Horng and Jeff were the two lucky dudes who happened to leech this meal off Shiang for absolutely zero effort, risk, and monetary contribution.

Diadomon Japanese BBQ restaurant, buffet style

Diadomon is located at Great Eastern Mall, which is in turn situated on Jalan Ampang, roughly half way between Ampang Point and KLCC. Getting there during rush hour can be a bit daunting, but with the liberal usage of the newly opened DUKE highway or our super advanced SMART tunnel (depending on where you’re from), it shouldn’t be too tough.

Parking isn’t a problem either if you are willing to part with RM2 to go into the basement. If you’re willing to spend a good chunk of money on food anyway, why not a couple bucks to park your car?

sashimi, grilled fish, prawns, and chicken.

Daidomon is one of those buffet places where you get to order the dishes, or in this case, raw and marinated ingredients so they are served fresh. However, an extensive line up of ready-to-eat dishes are available too, and of course, you don’t have to wait for those. There’s sushi roles, fried chicken, snail meat (very delicious!), edamame, kimchi, sashimi, and more.

From the ocean, we had sashimi (salmon, tuna, butterfish, mackeral), oyster and scallop (limited to one serving only), prawns, and marinated seafood. The sashimi were pretty decent, but honestly speaking not something to shout about. The grilled seafood though, were quite good, but it takes a bit of practise to get it just right.

Prawns were quite large and fresh, and I particularly love the big scallops, but too bad it was only 2 pieces per person.

ox tongue, beef sashimi, marinated beef

From the farm, we had plenty of beef with some chicken and lamb too (Jeff doesn’t eat beef). The marinated beef belly was really awesome and are ready to eat after minimal grilling time. I suggest asking for a serving of raw garlic and fry them on the grill first before starting to grill actual food, that’ll add an extra hint of aroma to the grilled food.

Ox tongue is one of my favorite part of cow to eat, and it’s great that Diadomon allows unlimited order, somewhere in an Australian farm, a deft cow hates me.

yukke sashi, KY, Shiang, Jeff, Horng

For the braver souls, Daidomon also serves several types of raw beef. The gyu sashimi (thinly sliced raw beef) is probably the easiest to swallow, while the yukke sashi (marinated beef with egg) can be a bit too much especially for a first timer. I love the gyu sashimi but to be frank, I think the yukke sashi was a bit too raw and maybe slightly too rich for my liking. It’s no wagyu tartar at Cilantro that’s for sure, but Shiang loves it.

Over all it was a very satisfying dinner that left all of us barely able to walk back to the carpark. With their ever long lasting promotion, the price came to over RM60  per person after service charge and tax. Pretty good deal if you ask me, I have no doubt this won’t be my last visit.

Check out their promotion on the website.

Address:
Diadomon
Lot 4, Level 3, Great Eastern Mall
No. 303, Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.16027,101.736746
Tel: 03-4252 8155

Tags:  BBQ,  beef,  Buffet,  grill,  horng,  Japanese,  jeff,  sashimi,  seafood,  shiang

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »

After hearing so much about Tenji from friends and other food blogs, Suan, Horng, and I decided to give it a try almost 2 months ago. One of the reasons it took us so long to finally go there was to actually avoid the madness during their half price promotion (which still runs once in a while, check their website).

Tenji Japanese Buffet at Solaris

Tenji is often compared with Jogoya, the first premium Japanese buffet restaurant not in a hotel to hit KL in early 2006. Personally I think that the comparison is justified as both Tenji and Jogoya caters for slightly higher end market and offers dishes that are quite similar, and more importantly, they’re priced competitively with each other at full price.

At Tenji, lunch is priced at RM77++ while dinner and supper at RM88++. Jogoya’s buffet is RM78++ for lunch, RM68++ for late lunch, RM88++ for dinner, and RM78++ for late dinner. (Jogoya pricing, Tenji pricing)

ohh, the oysters!

Located at Soho Solaris, Tenji is a much friendlier place for those who drives. Parking is a breeze if you don’t mind paying a couple ringgit for the underground carpark, on the other hand, Jogoya is accessible via public transport since it is located at Bukit Bintang.

As for the restaurant itself, Tenji is huge, with both air conditioned indoor area as well as quite a bit of alfresco dining, especially for those who wish to punctuate an extended buffet session with some nicotine.

KY, Suan, and Horng

I started off the late lunch with some oysters, steamed prawns, and sashimi.

The oysters here were pretty big and certainly fresh and juicy, the good thing is that the oyster bar is always being refilled anytime it is less than half filled. I am very very annoyed at places that takes forever to refill their most sought after ingredients/dishes (like Yuen steamboat’s chicken wings, or Talipon’s prawns).

always start with raw or lightly cooked food

I like their surf clam, scallop (albeit a bit small) and their rather fatty salmon sashimi, the butter fish was pretty decent too but I would stay away from tuna and squid sashimi if you’re particular about quality. As with most buffet places, the tuna served are of pretty inferior quality. This is due to the insanely high price of tuna these days I suppose.

There are also plenty of pre-cooked items on the buffet spread, the Singapore chili crab was actually very delicious, and there’s always the added advantage of choosing only the pincers (who cares about other customers, right? hehe). Other dishes include grilled vegetable, squid with dark sauce, fish, lamb, beef, and dozens more I can’t recall.

buffet spread, including drinks and dessert area

Like Jogoya, Tenji also employs the clips system whereby you drop a clip with your table number at the bowl indicating certain dishes, wait for a few minutes, and they will be served freshly cooked. The downside is that you might end up waiting for quite a bit if the restaurant is particularly busy, but since it wasn’t when we were there, we didn’t need to wait for more than a few minutes before our orders were served.

The steamed cod with soya sauce was good, but the serving was rather miserable so it’s best advised that you order 2-3 at one go. Another more memorable freshly prepared dish was the soft shell crab and this vegetable (a type of beans?) with black beans. We also ordered steak, some teriyaki dishes, mushroom, fish filet, and so on. In general they tasted pretty good and very few of them were disappointing (for eg. the soup with razor clam).

Singapore chili crab, soup, steamed cod

In the drinks department, you have fresh brewed coffee, cappuccino, latte, quite a selection of fruit juice, soft drinks, and my favorite – chilled fresh coconut. I think I had about 4 of those.

Haagan Dazs ice cream was what I had for dessert while the huge selection of pastry and other desserts lay sitting in front of me. We were simply full to the brim after spending about 2 hours having the late lunch. If I remember correctly, we skipped dinner.

Tenji is located at SOHO, Solaris Mont Kiara

Compared to my last 2 visits to Jogoya, I would personally prefer Tenji. Although the buffet spread is smaller, the food quality reminds me of the earlier days of Jogoya. Fresh, tasty, and with good service, they just somehow managed to aged in the last 4 years to a point that I stopped going there, hopefully Tenji never follow the same path.

Address:
Tenji Japanese Buffet
Lot L-01-01, Soho KL,
Solaris Mont Kiara,
No.2, Jalan Solaris, KL
GPS: 3.174689, 101.659595
Tel: 1700-80-1818

Tags:  Buffet,  crab,  horng,  mont-kiara,  oyster,  sashimi,  soho,  solaris,  suanie

Posted by KY | 42 Comments »

Just before heading to Bangkok, I had the chance to do a review at Pearl International Hotel’s Sunday Japanese Buffet. Being a fan of Japanese food, I naturally accepted the offer without any hesitation.

glorious oysters, mussels, and crabs

The Sunday buffet is actually something new for Pearl International Hotel. I was a little skeptical on the quality and choices of food as the hotel does not have an in-house Japanese restaurant. However, I was proven wrong on both assumptions when I reached the hotel at around 12pm. A writer from NST was joining us for the review session as well.

wide variety of food, including desserts and fruits

The buffet is set up at Deli Corner, the restaurant right by the main lobby with seating capacity of around 200. The setting is rather large, with almost every type of Japanese food on the various buffet lines. From raw oysters, sushi and sashimi, to tempura and sukiyaki, the selection was impressive.

the raw stuff: sushi, sashimi, oysters, and chuka idako (baby octopus)

The proper way to start off with a Japanese buffet is, of course, by attacking the raw bar. I got myself a few pieces of raw oysters, some mussels, and a couple steamed prawns to go with a serving of sashimi. This is to ensure that the taste buds aren’t contaminated by the stronger flavored cooked item.

soba, sukiyaki, tofu, and green tea ice cream

The oysters, mussels, and prawns were very good. As for the sashimi, the standard is rather normal. Then again I’ve never had really outstanding sashimi from a buffet. The finer cuts are usually only catered to ala carte menu where a plate of sashimi moriawase costs more than a ticket to this buffet, so I guess it is only fair.

noodle, tempura, chawanmushi

I then moved on to sample some chuka idako (baby octopus), tempura, tofu, vegetables, and terikyaki sticks. I particularly like the way they serve chuka idako in a soup spoon. Very exquisite and yet easy to take, easy to eat, and without the chance to make a mess. These cooked food didn’t disappoint me, they are at least on par with the midrange Japanese restaurants.

ahh, some sake to go with everything, perfect

I had the chef made me a very delicious bowl of sukiyaki with beef too, and another serving of raw food before calling it a meal. At the end, I couldn’t resist the green tea ice cream for dessert, 2 scoops of sweetness, bliss!

Pearl International is situated right next to Plaza OUG at Old Klang Road

The meal is priced at RM 48++ per person, seniors can get in for RM 40++ and kids at RM 30++. Pretty decent price for the amount of offerings you get to have. Currently it is only on for Sunday buffet lunch, but do give them a call as the F&B Manager Lawrance Khoh told me they are planning to expand this operation looking at the strong demand. Give it a try!

Invitation arranged by FoodStreet.

Address:
Batu 5, Jalan Klang Lama
58000 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.084701,101.67322
Tel: 03-7983 1111

Tags:  Buffet,  dining,  food,  idako,  Japanese,  sake,  sashimi,  sukiyaki,  sushi,  tempura

Posted by KY | 37 Comments »

It’s been a while since I last went for a buffet steamboat, in fact, it was Talipon in May. I guess it was because buffets always left me unable to walk. Then came the noobs suggesting that we head for the rather famous Yuen buffet steamboat at Sunway Mentari. I have passed the shop a few times and there was always a huge crowd, I guess it must be pretty good. So, why not?

huge crowd all the time

Except that I was rather hungry, and when we got there at about 8pm, there were about a dozen tables’ waiting list ahead of us. It was about 45 minutes later when we were called for our table. Note to self: donot go there without reservation on a weekend when too hungry.

Once seated, we were asked for the choice of soup. Unlike, say, Shabu Shabu King, we were able to have both the tomyam and clear soup in the same hotpot. We headed to the buffet line right away. The selection of items in this restaurant is bigger than the previous two restaurants mentioned, and they are not stingy on the more expensive items either. Plenty of big shrimps (both salt and fresh water), crab, squid, and shell fish for the taking. They were all pretty fresh too.

they didn’t skimp on the offering

The tomyam soup was particulary good, with the right amount of spiciness and sourness, it gets even better as you boil the various raw ingredients in the soup. I suggest always starting off with some crab or shell fish to give the soup base a stronger flavor.

Other than a few dozen types of seafood seafood, you can find poultry, beef, various types of fishball and fishcake taste-alike, more than half a dozen vege, kuih, fruits, ice cream, noodles, fried meehun and fried rice. I believe no pork is served.

chicken wing was really good too

The claim of fame for this restaurant though, is not merely its steamboat offering, you can get that in many other places. It was their honey chicken wing. We stalked the cooked buffet line for quiet sometime before the chicken wing came out of the kitchen steaming, and it was some 30 seconds before the tray is empty again. We only managed to get a couple pieces per person. The tiny chicken wings were indeed very delicious, with strong taste of honey properly marinated in the wings, it was something you’ll have to try for yourself.

so now you can go there too!

The dinner costs RM 18.80 per person, add RM 1.00 for the free flowing Chinese tea and it’s still less than RM 20.00, a very reasonable for the type of food served. Yuen buffet steamboat only serves dinner.

Address:
32A-1, Jalan PJS 8/6
Mentari Plaza, Bandar Sunway
46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.076211, 101.612098
Tel:016-2086678, 56375825

Tags:  Buffet,  hot-pot,  seafood,  Steamboat,  sunway

Posted by KY | 47 Comments »

My colleague invited me to this talk thingy at Hotel Equatorial a while back, lunch included. Who would want to miss a free lunch at one of the nicest hotels, right? However, I didn’t expect the host to offer such a lavish lunch at Nippah CoffeeShop. According to my colleague, most of the time similar functions usually only offer fried mee hun and the like. Lucky me.

very nice ambience

Nippah Coffeehouse is located at the basement of Equatorial Hotel, a giant staircase from the lobby will lead you directly to the restaurant, as you can see from the right bottom corner picture above. The ambience is really nice, the quiet and calm environment provides a striking contrast to the busy afternoon. The round tables at the center are fitted with steamboat pots, while the surrounding tables are rectangular and do not come with such fixture. There are probably around 30 tables in total.

some of the buffet lines

While not as big and lavish as Jogoya at Starhill, Nippah CoffeeHouse does pack an impressive array of buffet lines. There is a raw and salad bar, with oysters, clams, and other cold dishes. A grill bar with grilled fish, oyster mornay, satey, steak, and seafood thermidor. Then there’s the local dish area with various types of curry and other local cuisine such as beef rendang and crab with curry sauce (highly recommended). There are also a line offering raw food for steamboat, and also a dessert bar.

fresh seafood steamboat, raw oysters too

The food itself was excellent. I particularly can’t get enough of the Oyster Mornay, freshly prepared by the chef. If you are sitting on a table with no steamboat pot, you can still pick the food from steambaot line and get a chef to cook it fresh, with a choice of tomyam or clear broth.

The curry crab is another must-try item, alongside with the mutton rendang and the grilled salmon, done in a perfect way with the inner part of the fillet still soft and not over cooked. You can even find air mata kucing as dessert. A slight let down though, was the lack of fresh juices or any variety of drinks with the buffet package.

just look at these oyster mornay!

The lunch was worth RM 75++ per person. According to the Equatorial’s website, the establishment won the Malaysian Tourist Development Board Award for Best Malay Restaurant (Cuisine). It certainly taste like it.

I think this is an excellent place to bring foreigners for a good buffet dinner that offers expansive local delights while providing a very nice dining experience with excellent ambience and interior decoration. You will probably like it too for a change from the usual Western (esp. Italian) and Japanese style buffets.

Hours (the restaurant, not the buffet lunch):
Sun – Thur 6.00 am – 2.00 am
Fri, Sat and public holidays 6.00 am – 3.00 am
GPS: 3.153575, 101.709216
Tel: +60 3 2031 3030

Tags:  Buffet,  lunch,  western-food

Posted by KY | 8 Comments »