Ms. Jazz Reviews: Yuzu @ The Gardens

I wouldn’t say I’m very particular with Japanese food. Normally I’d be happy to satisfy my Japanese cravings at RAKUZEN that serves substantial choices at a fair price. But sadly their quality has somewhat deteriorate and service is no longer at par.

When YJ told me that YUZU has changed its menu, I was excited. YUZU has all these while been praised for its innovative menu and quality food; the only hiccup is prices are slightly steep comparing with other Japanese outlets at the mall.

Tucked in a secluded area of Gardens, next to Pappa Rich, YUZU occupies a large space and surprisingly despite being a weekday, the restaurant was almost crowded. Surely that is a good sign?

The interior has not changed much, a comfortable setting with the heavy use of woods and bamboos, with Japanese elements such as kimonos, sake bottles as a décor. The clever use of odd corners allows diners to enjoy private dinner in the semi-enclave spaces.

We were enticed over the colorful and appealing food pictures in the menu, can’t help but to go “gaga” over some of them. Having to read a lot from foodies on their set menus, we decided to take a different route and head for ala carte, only because we were two very greedy girls and wanted to try more varieties! After careful minutes of debating on our orders before we compromise on a few choice of everything!

For starters we went with Chutoro Sashimi (RM120) comprising of 5 tiny albeit thick slices of medium grade tuna belly, presented on a bed of ice. We were dissapointed as the tuna belly was not thawed properly hence the texture slightly frozen. A good chutoro (in my opinion) is marbled with thin line of fats giving it a melt in your mouth sensation. Clearly something is missing here.

Under the "Special Sushi" section, is the President Roll (RM68) filled with some of my favourite ingredients of wagyu, foie gras, tuna belly, avocado layered with chicken floss. It was a creative dish, and i was curious how these ingredients will go together in flavours.
The servings was HUGE, and definitely not bite size so i wasnt able to devour all ingredients at one go. Having to eat them eperately because all the ingredients were scattered, the flavours was ordinary but nevertheless i enjoyed it.

Yuzu volcano roll (RM45) was an afterthought, when we saw the chef serving this dish to the table next to us, and we thought, by golly gosh.. how pretty it looks and were tempted to order, and order we did.
Turns out to be a right decision. Just like its name, the presentation and taste of this sushi rolls resembles a volcano eruption whereby the baked seafood roll was toppled with generous amount of their special sauce mix of what suspect to be mayonaise and chilli sauce. Comment from YJ that while the sauce complements each other, the amount that was heaped on the sushi can be quite overwhelming after a few bites.

We were contemplating with the several options of beef available, there was choice of kobe steak and various wagyu cuts. In the end we settled for Wagyu Ishiyaki (RM55), Stone Grilled japanese beef with level of doneness to be medium. The beef while not being extremely tender, was pretty satisfying considering the price was quite reasonable. Simple marination and was well seasoned.

Foie Gras Butter Saute (RM120) was a must must order because we were given 100GM worth of them and there's no complaining about having too much foie gras, you know?
Out came 4 large pieces of foie gras, all stacked on top of each other. Hiding underneath all the glorious treat is the crumbled mashed potato, which we didnt touch since it pretty much soaked up all the oil of the foie gras making it quite difficult to enjoy. But Foie gras ohhh foie gras... how lovely you are, if only less oily :)

Ikura Chawan Mushi (RM18), where the combination of Ikura and the silky egg works well together. Sometimes simple does not mean ordinary.

When i saw Special Yuzu dessert (RM50) on the menu, i was delighted with the pictures. While there was nothing special about a simple arrangement of mixed fruit, macha cake, and ice cream, what is note-worthy is the homemade coconut ice-cream which was packed with intense creamy coconut flavours. The macha cake however was a bit parched and the dessert definitely does not worth an exorcist of RM50

If you want to taste something different, there is the Macha Coffee (RM18). The coffee was not brewed with green tea coffee bean *roll eyes at YJ* but assembled with bottom layer of coffee with another layer of what is suspected as green tea powder mixed with milk subsequently topped up with whipped cream.

Atsukan Sake (RM24) per serving, served warm

Our bill came up to RM600 between two

Ratings:

Food: 7/10

(one of the better japanese restaurant in town, probably wont be there for foie gras on a regular basis, but their sushis, and bentos are quite reasonably priced, dont worry you'll still have a satisfying meal under RM50 per pax!)

Service: 5/10

(Servers were not particularly friendly but efficient enough)

Ambience: 7/10

(comfortable without being too rigid)

Presentation of food: 7.5/10

Overall: 6.5/10

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YUZU Japanese Restaurant

T236, 3rd Floor

The Gardens

Mid Valley City

Tel: 03-2284 7663