Tag: japanese

Update: The last time I visited Moshi was my first experience with Japanese food, Continue reading “Moshi Moshi” →

As everyone was looking forward to celebrating National Day this year, I was excited to be visiting this lovely restaurant located in Souk Al Bahar.

Kanpai boasts a cool vibe with a separate bar and a dining area for guests. The place has low lighting, with plush and comfortable seating. Since they had a set menu for the festival, we decided to opt for it.

Our Silver set menu comprised of Edamame and a Miso soup for starters. Our drinks were quite a variety!

From the four choices, I preferred the Piña colada and a Sangria (made with non-alcoholic red wine)

The Chef was kind enough to also serve two of their recommended items from the regular menu:

Vegetable spring rolls: These were crispy and well done, served with a tamarind chilli and soy lime dip. I personally preferred the tamarind chilli sauce that complemented the spring rolls.

Ebisabi Mayo: These fried prawns with wasabi mayonnaise, topped with thinly sliced seaweed was perhaps my favourite that night. Crunchy prawns with a sweet – sour and hot flavour of wasabi did wonders to the dish.

Then came our maki rolls decorated in the shape of the U.A.E flag. My favourite was the one topped with Philadelphia cheese. YUM! Look at how cutely this has been arranged!

Our mains arrived next, Gaeng Kiew wan Chicken and Shoyu Sa-mon. Presentation wise, the Salmon won. Garnished with micro herbs, a piece of grilled salmon sat on a layer of veggies.

But coming to the taste, the chicken won hands down! The creamy curry with chicken, lemon grass and  green curry paste went oh so well with the steamed rice. Though this may come off as a bit bland to some, we seemed to like the flavour it provided.

Lastly, the dessert was a wonderful affair at Kanpai. Customized specially for the festival, we were served a Green Tea ice cream with a macron sitting on top. There was also some popping candy sprinkled which gave a fizzy reaction on our taste buds. On the side, was an adorable card that said “I Love U.A.E”.

As our visit to Kanpai drew to an end, we were happy and satisfied knowing that this is a place that I will be visiting sooner than later. The Ebisabi prawns are to die for! Hungryoungwoman also recommends the dessert and Gaeng Kiew wan Chicken that served as great dishes.

Until next time…

 

Since I’m not much exposed to the Japanese cuisine, keeping aside the maki rolls, I decided to visit the newly opened branch of Wagamama. Located in Golden Mile, Palm Jumeirah, the restaurant chain offers Japanese-inspired food in a fast food chain setting.

The outlet has large tables and shelves displaying their ingredients. As we walked into the busy place, we were greeted by the manager who helped us pick a table and settle for the evening.

Wagamama serves fresh fruit juices with mixtures such as passion fruit, orange and apple. I personally felt that the apple flavour was lost somewhere between the citric fruits. While the other drink (Kiwi, avocado and apple) was perfect. Subtle flavours of apple and kiwi in a creamy juice.

We started our meal with some of the recommended items such as Ebi Katsu, Duck Gyoza and Prawn Kushiyaki.

The Ebi Katsu was bang on! Crispy on the outside due to the breadcrumbs and a chilli sauce on the side that complemented it well. Too good. I forgive it for being too oily.

I don’t prefer duck much, so the Duck Gyoza was received with a satisfactory response.

Going through their menu, we were spoilt for choice with the number of varieties present for ramen. We chose a lamb based one. Well cooked. Though a bit chewy, we licked our plate clean.

Our next order was the Chicken Katsu Curry with steamed rice. This was fantastic and was finished in minutes! The chicken was crunchy and went quite well with the flavor that the curry provided. They served a little salad on the side too, so you don’t feel guilty after having fried chicken. 😛

We finished off with a Chocolate Fudge Cake and a White Chocolate and Ginger Cheesecake.

While the chocolate cake tasted mediocre, it was definitely better than the ginger cheesecake, which had almost no taste of the ingredient mentioned. The dessert has scope for improvement, though, if the ginger taste can be taken up a notch higher. Balance that with the said toffee sauce on the side, and you have the perfect dessert!

Wagamama also serves the beloved Mochi ice cream which was sadly done with by the time I ordered it. Nevertheless, I am sure I will be visiting soon to try the other choices of ramen they serve.

Hungryoungwoman recommends the Ebi Katsu, Duck or Chicken Gyoza, Ramen of your choice and the Chicken Katsu Curry.

Until next time…

Chez Sushi is all set to open its fifth branch in the U. A. E. What attracted me towards this, is the cute decor and the custom made sushi. Now who wouldn’t love that?

We walked into the branch located in Bay Avenue on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, where the kind manager took our order. We started with a Lemon mint drink which totally refreshed me.

For starters, we ordered some Prawn spring rolls and a Mushroom salad (Totally recommended. Unless you’re allergic to mushrooms)

I loved the dip served with the prawn spring rolls. Wasabi mayo they called it. Creamy with a strong essence of wasabi, these went quite well with the spring rolls. I found them a bit too oily, though.

For mains, we tried some Salmon Teriyaki, my favourite Rock Shrimp and their popular Chicken Katsu Curry.

Starting with what I loved, the Rock Shrimp was amazing. I could easily name this the dish of the day. Though I’ve had better elsewhere. The shrimps could have been fried a bit more according to me. Not healthy I know, but oh well, that’s what cheat days are about.

The Chicken Katsu curry had a strong taste of something I couldn’t quite place. The rice helped neutralize the strong taste. Sadly, The Salmon Teriyaki was forgettable.

Coming to our Maki Rolls, we chose the Spider and Dragon (Minus the eel. Yes, I’m not really adventurous)

Out of the two, I preferred the Dragon. These consisted of avocado, prawn tempura, cucumber with unagi sauce. A creamy texture provided by the avocado with the crispiness of the prawns, and the unagi sauce, was wonderful.

We obviously ended our meal with the Mochi Ice cream. Who can go wrong with these? Out of the flavours we tasted, Green Tea was my favourite. The other two were chocolate and coconut.

Lastly, before bidding goodbye to our kind server, we had some authentic Japanese green tea. A much-needed drink after all that we had!

Hungryoungwoman recommends the Mushroom Salad, Dragon maki rolls, and the Rock Shrimps.

Should try the customized sushi next time! Until then…