One restaurant, 120 different types of sushi - that's the hook for Solaris Dutamas' new Mono Sushi.
Our favourite thing about Mono Sushi is its setting, tastefully composed - no surprise, since the restaurant is run by the talents who crafted the polished look for Cosans Coffee. It seems plausible that - similar to Cosans Coffee - Mono Sushi is intended to eventually progress into a chain of eateries too.
Lovely portraits adorn the restaurant's walls, illustrating Mono Sushi's philosophies - the outlet's founders say Mono means simplicity, silence & focus; the feel here is ostensibly inspired by the Japanese city of Kawagoe & its old, evocative buildings.
The sushi menu is divided into 12 main categories, each with a different seafood topping: Aji (horse mackerel), ika (squid), hamachi (amberjack), suzuki (sea bass), tai (sea bream), hotate (scallop), ebi (shrimp), unagi (eel), sake (salmon), managatsuo (butter fish), tako (octopus) & maguro (tuna). Pretty presentations.
Each of the 12 categories then contains 10 different preparations - a clever concept that results in a dizzying parade of potential choices. Squid with natto, cheese, kimchi or ume shiso sauce? Horse mackerel tempura or tataki? Amberjack with mango or mentaiko? We could have listed more of the options, but the service team told us to stop photographing the menu.
Most of the pieces of sushi are priced at RM3.80 or RM4.80 each, reasonably priced enough for many visitors to Publika (though our favourite, the scallop, is a still-fair RM5.80). Customers can stop by for a light snack & spend less than RM20 for several pieces of sushi or splurge on a full-blown meal for very likely south of RM60 per person.
Flavour-wise, Mono Sushi somewhat falters for us; the sushi showcases respectable effort, with sufficiently fresh seafood, but this is ultimately more of the mass-market variety, with imperfections in intricacies like the balance of flavours & the preparation of rice, falling short of the bar set by places like Sushi Hinata & Ichiro Sushi Bar - the price to pay for lower prices.
Mono Sushi
A2-G2-3A, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur. Outside Publika, same floor as MPH. Walk out, on the same row as Mee Jawa.
Open daily for lunch & dinner. Tel: 03-6206-5239
Check out the latest edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favourites, featuring 100 recommended restaurants for October-December 2014, including more than 30 new entries for this quarter.
This eBook is available to read or download at this link: http://eatdrinkkl.cld.bz/2014D
This link expires Dec. 31, 2014. Please check the newest blog entries after that for fresh links.
Stay up to date: The Eat Drink KL newsletter is sent by email to subscribers every Monday; it's the Klang Valley's foremost weekly round-up of new restaurant openings (even before they're featured on this blog), F&B promotions & other tasty tidbits.
Subscribe to Eat Drink KL Weekly for free via this following link:
Note to subscribers on Gmail: The newsletter will be in the Promotions folder of your inbox.
Sausages to sambal. Muffins to marshmallows. Peanut butter to mango chutney. Cornflake ice cream to honey aloe yogurt. Lavender-laced lemonades to lychee-&-guava juices.
Eat Drink KL: Small Businesses, Huge Flavours is the first eBook to help customers navigate the diversity of independent F&B entrepreneurs who bake & boil in their own kitchens, offering some of Malaysia's finest, most fascinating food products.
This resource will be continuously updated with new listings: www.eatdrinkkl.publ.com/businesses
