Japanese A La Carte Buffet @ Tatsu, InterContinental KL

Japanese is definitely one of our favorite cuisine, even our children love it. Last month, we took our kids to Tatsu Japanese Restaurant in InterContinental KL for their weekend a la carte buffet. For RM98++, you get to choose from 88 items from the menu, which includes sashimi,teppanyaki, sushi, maki, noodles and many more. We successfully tried 27 items from the menu with several orders of certain items which we really enjoyed.

88 Splendid Dishes at RM98++..

Salmon sashimi (shake)

Tatsu has a nice zen-like quality to it. Service was very good as well. For this buffet, there was only 1 rule - we could only order 5 dishes at a time to avoid food wastage and as soon as the food was served, we could place another order. It worked pretty well for us.




Lobster


Sushi bar


Dan Mouse


Chloe Bear

We started off with a bowl of hot udon and two chawanmushi for the kids - their default order whenever visiting any Japanese restaurant. The udon was good, and the kids managed to finish it between the two of them. Chawanmushi was silky smooth too.

Hot udon


Chawanmushi


Kids were happy with the food



One of the must orders for us when going to a good Japanese restaurant is sashimi. There are 5 types of sashimi to choose from, butterfish (abura bouzu), octopus (tako), salmon (shake), tuna (maguro akami) and yellowtail (kampachi). We tried them all except for the octopus. All the sashimi was very fresh and I especially loved the salmon sashimi, especially the fattier cuts that we got. We must have ordered at least 6 portions of this (yes, 18 pieces in total!)

Salmon sashimi


Tuna and yellowtail sashimi


Yellowtail sashimi


Butterfish and salmon sashimi


We tried some of the appetizers such as smoked wild duck (aigamo kunsei) and marinated jellyfish (chuka kurage), both which was good. I also like both the prawn (ebi) and soft shell crab tempura, both coated in a nice light batter.

Marinated jellyfish


Smoked wild duck


Soft shell crab and prawn tempura


I wasn't too crazy about the unagi kabayaki (grilled eel) since the flesh was slightly too mushy, but the gindara teriyaki (grilled cod) was very good, and Baby D especially liked it, and kept requesting for more. Baby D also loves miso soup, so we got him a portion of that which he finished on his own and Baby C got the dobinmushi (clear soup in teapot) which she shared with me. She insisted that I ordered this for her so that she could pour the soup in the little teacup for me and refill it for me everytime. LOL.


Unagi kabayaki


Miso soup


The boy and his soup


Dobinmushi


Gindara teriyaki


The beef teppanyaki uses Australian beef - the meat had slightly more resistance but flavorful. I was delighted to see mini scallops on the menu - when the dish arrived at our table, I was surprised they were not so mini afterall (they were just like regular sized scallops) and it was really good. Being a huge scallop lover, of cos I couldn't resist ordering another few portions of this. ;) We also liked the mixed mushroom teppanyaki, a melange of textures and flavours.

Beef teppanyaki


Scallops teppanyaki (mini hotate)


Mixed mushrooms teppanyaki

We ordered a portion of tori karage (fried chicken with ginger) for the kids, Baby C liked this and ate 2 pieces. There are 7 types of sushi available here, we only tried the salmon sushi but it was nicely made. Similarly with the maki rolls, there are 6 types available but we only tried the tuna mayo maki.

Tori karaage

Salmon sushi


Tuna mayo maki


Cold soba

Negi toro maki (chopped tuna hand roll)


For a sweet ending, we tried all their desserts except for the black sesame (goma) ice cream. The assorted Japanese mochi was a bit different from what we expected, these had a jelly-like consistency with fillings such as red bean. The kids favorit! e desser t has to be the mini chocolate fondue which comes with deep fried dried fruits which they got to dip in the warm chocolate.We must have had 3 portions of this. This was followed by vanilla ice cream which they shared and the adults had the green tea (matcha) ice cream with azuki beans. I really liked the matcha ice cream.. you could taste the slight bitterness of the green tea. Yum. Even the assorted fruits was polished in no time by the kids.. plum, watermelon and honeydew. I ended my meal with a hot red bean soup with rice dumpling.

Japanese mochi


Mini chocolate fondue



Vanilla ice cream


Assorted fruits


Red bean soup with rice dumpling


Green tea ice cream

It was a wonderful 2 hours spent with my family, enjoying good food in a really nice restaurant. Our kids had a really great time, and that makes us happy.



The a la carte buffet is available for both lunch and dinner on Sat, Sun and Public Holidays.

Pork-free.

Opening times: 12.00 noon - 2.15 pm, 6.30pm - 10.15pm

Service: Excellent.

Price: RM98++ per adult, RM49++ (children aged 6-12)

Location: Tatsu Japanese Restaurant, InterContinental Hotel Kuala Lumpur, 165 Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur (previously Hotel Nikko).

Tel: +60 3 2782 6118

Website: http://www.intercontinental-kl.com.my/dining/tatsu_restaurant.asp

GPS Coordinates: 3.160249, 101.717584

Foldies @ Karak - Bentong - Karak Loop

Wow.... I am in trouble how can I reach Karak Town on time. A serious bumper to bumper traffic jam at Karak Highway.I was late by one and half hour, I thought my friends have left me out and I would be looking for them somewhere along the proposed route. How nice, they waited for me and allowed me to have a Char Koay Teow with a Kopi 'O'.The Karak Char Koay Teow I had at Kedai Makanan dan Minuman Mee Fong Main Road (GPS :3.412947,102.035812)All set and ready to go.
We left Karak town slightly after 9.00am which we were! suppose d to leave at 7.30am. My apology again.

The traffic on gthe eve of Hari Raya Puasa was not only busy at the main roads and highways but occasionally at kampong roads too.
I met Ah Pan two years older than me but he is super fit, speaks fast and rides fast too.The taking over by another generation of palms as the old withered.Hahaha ... not Kota Baru....we were not going there yet.Foldies taking a break while the Chief checking the route with his GPS device.My f! aithful Dahon P8 going places again.After a tough and undulating climb we finally reached Bentong town and the time was about 12.20pm
Chief & Ah Pan regular stop at this popular bicycle shop known as "Pusat Basikal Bentong". Mind you the bikes sold here are branded ones leh.

Famous ABC ice Kacang of Bentong at Kow Po, Kedai Kopi & Makanan Kok Hing
No 117, Jalan Pasdec,
28700 Bentong
Tel: 016-922 1695
GPS : N03 31.292 E101 54.486
Standard version of Kow Po's ABC.I got to know more of these kids young and full of potential. The one in red is only in Standard 4 Primary, the dark blue is Form 2 Secondary and the eldest is in Form 4. All of them are good riders and ride fast.These are their bikes and obviously always ahead of us and waiting for us at all the stop pits.So long Bentong, see you again.Another 4 km we would be back to Karak Town and a lunch was awaiting us.As usual our host was ever waiting for us. This time for lunch at Yik Kee Restaurant. My last visit to Yik Kee Restaurant can be seenhere.The highlight of the lun! ch was t his gorgeous fish Soon Hock.Perfectlysteamed and extremely yummy.Thank you to Mr. Wong and it was a great lunch @ Yik Kee.
Yik Kee Restaurant
29 Jalan Besar
28600 Karak
Pahang
Tel: 609-231 1240
GPS : 3.414187,102.034304We were invited to visit Wong's farm and it a good experience to see what a vegetable farm is like which is also his home.Wong's place is just like a home stay resort, a great place and time to rejuvenate ourselves before we go back home to Kuala Lumpur.It was so relaxing that I dozed off and had a good re-charge while everyone was still talking about bicycle etc etc.... I will come back to this place if I have the opportunity to do so. Thanks to Sam Cheong for planning allowing me to follow him in this recce. And also to Ah Pan for guiding us the route with his young riders. Also special thanks to Farmer Wong (al! so a ver y keen cyclist) for his hospitality. Thanks you once again.
I would also like to thanks C.K. Toh & Sam Cheong for some of their photos which I have borrowed from facebook.