Some Japanese soul food to warm the stomach at Kushiyaki Kuni and Okomen, two eateries well worth visiting in the Hartamas neighborhood.
First up, Kushiyaki Kuni at Plaza Damas, where customers can launch snack attacks with grilled skewers of everything from chicken liver and mentaiko-stuffed pork ...
... to ox tongue and chicken skin. Can't pretend these are nutritious, but they're very nice.
Other izakaya-style offerings here include soups such as a miso salmon bone one and another brimming with pork and konjac.
Rice with raw salmon, tuna and salmon roe makes for a super supper ...
... or have it topped with kampung egg. Kushiyaki Kuni's location might be familiar to some folks; it takes over the location formerly occupied by Izakaya Tamako.
KK's house-pouring sake is an intriguing variant with powerful notes of banana (!).
Next up, Okomen, a hideout on the backstreets of Desa Sri Hartamas.
Okomen's range of ramen is staggering. The "tontoro ramen" features slurp-worthy noodles in a pork bone broth that's not as fantastically flavor-rich as renditions elsewhere, but we like the simmered pork cheeks for their firmer bite compared to regular cha-siu.
A pleasant change from porky ramen: shio kaisen ramen, with a salty soup enriched with a whopping prawn, Japanese scallops and squid.
Okonomiyaki, topped with egg and bonito flakes and stuffed with chicken, seafood and cabbage. Tastes as delightfully addictive as it looks.
Yakisoba and seafood in an okonomiyaki crepe. A noodle version of "nasi pattaya."
Unagi hot stone rice. Generously portioned eel, warm and soft, makes this a genuine pleasure.
And of course, everything here partners perfectly with hot sake.
Kuni Kushiyaki @ Plaza Damas
Okomen @ Desa Sri Hartamas
Kuni Kushiyaki,
E-1-10, Plaza Damas, Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur.
Okomen Japanese Restaurant,
7G, Jalan 22/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-6205-9828
Hahaha...I can't believe I tried Okomen before u...hehehe :P
ReplyDeleteI gonna visit Kushiyaki Kuni cose the food looks delish! =)
Ulric: okomen? Stuck in my draft folder since a visit in mid-April! And now finally free, since it seemed like the perfect pairing with kushiyaki kuni. Both worth trying!
DeleteRats...missed by a month...hehe :P
DeleteYes...gonna try Kushiyaki Kuni and revisit Okomen...hehe =)
Ulric: hartamas, a great area for Japanese food lovers =)
DeleteTotally agree...but I wish I could visit more often :(
DeleteUlric: heheh find an office to work at in this area =)
DeleteI wish I were younger and a healthier body to savor the liver, chicken skin, ox tongue ! But a good weekend lunch/dinner destination for family. I think under the bamboo trees will be a good place ! Thanks, Sean !
ReplyDeleteWong: hope you like the place. Kuni kushiyaki is quite small, so it might be a bit too crowded sometimes, but it might be quieter during weekends compared to weeknights =)
DeleteI'm always attracted to restaurants with those plastic dishes outside! They always look so good :P and most of the time, better than the real stuff!
ReplyDeleteVien: heheh, great craftsmanship and attention to detail! I love how they can make fake ramen look so alluring :D
DeleteHow are the prices like at Okumen?
ReplyDeleteUnknown: moderate. Slightly lower than some other kl ramen outlets. Expect many dishes in the 20-something range.
DeleteAll the rice here looks so good. Esp. Unagi hot stone rice. Can see the nice coating of teriyaki sauce on the thick unagi cutlets ;-)
ReplyDeleteMelissa: great comfort food for fans of rice :D And yeah, unagi with rice goes so well together in this recipe =)
DeleteYay for more Japanese food! I think I will try the Kushiyaki Kuni first since we always go to Plaza Damas on the weekend. :)
ReplyDeleteCk: good idea! The restaurant is pretty easy to find, I think, somewhere facing Starbucks =)
DeleteThe mentaiko with pork sounds really good!Btw Hubby asked if u got a new camera recently?
ReplyDeleteBaby sumo: I'm starting to believe that maybe mentaiko goes well with everything! :D oooh, nope, still using the same camera since last December. A canon point-n-shoot =)
Deletehey Sean, wanna ask you what's your top 10 italian restaurant list?
ReplyDeleteEiling: ooh, difficult to rank, but i guess i'd include il lido, nero vivo, ciccio, delucca, villa danieli, favola, prego and garibaldi =)
Deleteoooh these are the big names. How about the newly opened italian restaurants? I was thinking to try one of two new places with my friends.
DeleteEiling: DV ristorante pizzeria at bukit damansara is quite good also. simple fare, but very affordable and well worth the money in terms of taste :D
DeleteThe hot sake certainly makes a Japanese meal complete...
ReplyDeleteMissyblurkit: and sometimes i like it cold, heheh :D
DeleteOkomen looks like a great place to have a cosy meal. But I also want the rice with raw salmon, tuna and roe! #greeedy
ReplyDeleteBangsar-Babe: the menu at okomen is quite wide, so it's very easy to have a very filling meal there. but luckily it's only a five-minute drive from there to kuni kushiyaki, so you can definitely have it all! :D
Deleteomg mentaiko stuffed pork sounds very interesting! i love the japanese pizza here
ReplyDeleteLatest: Fine Dining with #Oktoberfest
Fish: oh yeah, it's nice to pair mentaiko with ingredients like cod fish, and also meat like chicken and pork :D
DeleteLooks like both outlets warrants a visit. And more ramen to try too. The unagi dish looks really fab, thick cuts of unagi and there's EGG! :D
ReplyDeleteTNG: yeah, both worth checking out if you have a craving for this sort of meal. always happy to see places that serve good ramen. and yeah, unagi plus egg plus rice is great comfort food! :D
DeleteHi, Wen Ching here. Haha, can't believe that I met you there, nice meeting you! Hope to see you soon. =)
ReplyDeleteEat Only Lar: it was really nice meeting you and chatting with you, even if it was only for thirty seconds. you guys are doing a really nice job, and it was wonderful to see that the restaurant was packed =)
DeleteHot stone rice - minus the unagi and add tuna for me - sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThe Yum List: even though we don't have cold, wintry evenings in KL, this would be a great meal for a rainy night :D
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