What happens when a Japanese yakiniku-loving couple eat at more than 2,000 yakiniku restaurants across their home country in 15 years?
For Suguru Ishida and his wife Tomoko, the next step was running their own yakiniku joint, which they launched in Singapore nearly nine years ago.
The couple, formerly yakiniku-focused bloggers, want to spread the gospel of grilled beef throughout the globe. "We love yakiniku so much," says Tomoko, who believes her husband is "the world's biggest yakiniku lover."
In 2022, they embarked into Malaysia, opening Yakiniku Sizzle by Yakiniquest in LaLaport Bukit Bintang City Centre, serving top-notch, halal-certified A4 and A5 Miyazaki wagyu beef.
Crucially, thanks to Suguru and Tomoko's years of experience, they've elevated the yakiniku experience with their attention to detail - from the thickness of each cut to the marinade for the meat to its storage and handling, every consideration has been fine-tuned to perfect precision.
This is KL's ultimate yakiniku paradise, though the kitchen goes beyond grilled beef to great recipes like tamago kake gohan with minced wagyu, egg omelette with wagyu, and simmered wagyu temaki, making it a wonderfully well-rounded wagyu restaurant.
In KL, Yakiniku Sizzle takes things back to the basics of Japanese barbecues, with an authentic, a la carte selection of traditional, time-honoured cuts. Guests grill the beef themselves to their preferred doneness, in a calm, casual restaurant with warm wood tones.
When we visited Yakiniku Sizzle, we saw first-hand how their chef diligently and delicately wields his well-maintained knives, portioning the beef with an expert's ease.
Each cut is perceptively sliced against the grain, neither too thick nor too thin, to yield the ideal taste and texture. It's enhanced with Yakiniku Sizzle's original yakiniku sauce, a house blend with secret proportions of soy sauce, mirin and more.
Rest assured of fresh beef that's never kept in the chiller for too long.
Before indulging in Yakiniku Sizzle's top temptations, start with its selection of namul, a variety of seasoned vegetables (RM9 each for a small portion, RM16 for large, RM48 for an assortment of six kinds).
This is the ideal appetiser for a yakiniku feast - a healthy palate-cleanser that includes possibilities like avocado, eggplant, daikon (radish), komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach), mushrooms, tomatoes or bean sprouts.
The Signature Yakisuki (RM68 per piece) is a must at meals here. A decadent delight, this sumptuous slice of striploin is gently, gorgeously grilled by Yakiniku Sizzle's team - patrons can then dip and swirl it in luscious raw egg with sweet-savoury sukiyaki sauce. Addictive!
Customers can explore the menu for other beautiful bovine creations, such as the Sizzle TKG (RM28), Yakiniku Sizzle's take on the classic Tamago Kake Gohan. The fundamental rice with raw egg is blanketed with grated yam, sesame seeds and minced A4/A5 wagyu beef, reinterpreting a light, simple Japanese breakfast as a creamy, melt-in-the-mouth marvel.
Tamagoyaki is also transformed in Yakiniku Sizzle's Egg Omelette with Japanese Wagyu (RM28) - the house-made omelette, soft, thick and fluffy, is folded over a moist, meaty layer of wagyu beef for two irresistible textures in one protein powerhouse.
Fans of Japanese comfort fare will relish the Simmered Wagyu with Tofu (RM28), soulful and hearty with an exceptional depth of flavour - each forkful feels saturated by the beef's glorious, gelatinous gravies, as satisfying as a slow-cooked stew.
Get a handful of the Simmered Wagyu Temaki (RM18) too, a hand-roll with a delightful difference, stuffed with wagyu beef instead of typical seafood, crunched up with cucumber and tobiko.
One more snack for the road: The Japanese Wagyu Croquette (RM18) is crisp to the bite, potatoey and meaty to the chew, a golden ball of breaded bliss.
All of Yakiniku Sizzle's beef is Japanese A4 and A5 wagyu beef, mainly Miyazaki beef, except for the Australian wagyu tongue and regular beef tail.
While beef is the unmistakable star of Yakiniku Sizzle's show, the restaurant also takes pride in vegetables to balance the ensemble. An assortment of kimchi is a prerequisite in a respectable yakiniku restaurant, with napa cabbage kimchi, daikon kimchi and cucumber kimchi to choose here (RM9 each for small, RM16 for large). If you favour fresh fibre instead of fermented, select the Sizzle Salad (RM28), a lively platter of corn, avocados and tomatoes, tossed in an onion-based French dressing.
YAKINIKU SIZZLE by YAKINIQUEST
Lot G-92 (GF), Gourmet Street, LaLaport Bukit Bintang Centre, Mitsui Shopping Park, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 11am-3pm, 5:30pm-10pm.