Xenri, Japanese Food, Wisma Elken, Old Klang Road Kuala Lumpur

I was told that this place belongs to the owner of an MLM called Elken. He supposedly loves Japanese food so much and since he could not get what he wanted, he opened one himself. I think there's another branch in the city. (Menara Hap Seng)
Anyway it was my sister's birthday and we decided to come here. I've only been here once and the food was pretty good but the service was something else. 
We were led to the same room again in the back. (Wonder why they keep stuffing us back there??)
Xenri's got the typical Japanese decor, very Zen and yet they try to modernize it a bit. Western restaurants have their wine showcases and Japanese somehow also have their Sake showcases plus the occasional Koi pond.
The room we had is the Japanese tatami styled rooms where you have to sit on the floor. Good thing they also have a "hole" under the table so you don't have to kneel or squat. 
We ordered quite a bit as the family was there and I only got to try a few things.


1st one was the Xenri 6-course special. For simplicity, I'll list them down in the following photos with my remarks.

Bean curd appetizer. It was slightly on the cold side. Deep fried bean curd served in pork broth topped with shark fins. Taste was a little bland. I reckon this should not be served first.
 Points - 0.5

Sashimi platter with 2 slices of tuna, salmon and white tuna. Nice cut. They're not cut too thin. About 2 cm cut of fish that at least you have something to chew on. Xenri maintains the quality of their sashimi. Fresh!
Points - 3

Another appetizer that should have come before the bean curd. Cold tofu served with jelly fish and tomato. It had this pretty delicious sauce that came with it. A little sour but appetizing. The tofu was very normal though. Points - 1

Deep fried chicken roll. This was just too dry and did not have much taste. Maybe they should come up with a dip to make it less dry.
Points - 0

Una-don (Rice with Eel) The main dish of the Xenri special. The Unagi (eel) just did not have the Japanese unagi taste. The unagi sauce was neither here nor there. To make good unagi, the sauce is key. This was really disappointing.
Points - 0

I had the Saba Shioyaki & Gyu Niku set. 

Grilled Saba or Mackerel. The fish was fresh but it was grilled right. Not enough salt and too burnt on the sides. The skin was not even crispy. Sigh! Points - 0 (only reason why I finished it was I was not going to waste RM 44)

The beef in the set was good. Nicely done as it was not over cooked. Tender and juicy combined with the sweet and a little salty sauce. NICE!
Points - 1.5 (0.5 was taken away as there was only like 5-6 slices of meat)

Appetizer of tuna with mayonnaise topped with salmon roe. Very normal stuff. Tastes just like canned tuna. Points - 0.5

Chawan Mushi (Steamed egg). I must say this can compete with the one my mum makes although mum wins hands down. It was not over cooked like most places, maintaining the smoothness of the egg combined with pork and mushrooms.
Points - 2

Finally my own man was kind enough to offer me a slice of his dish which was beef with ponzu sauce.

Beef medium cooked with ponzu sauce making it very appetizing but there was too much garlic on the sides. (I prefer the meat to be less cooked but my old man wanted it medium) Points - 1.5 Not too bad though I prefer the one served at Yoko's Changkat Bukit Bintang.

All in all Xenri is a nice place to have dinner. Located in a secluded part of Old Klang Road, you can have a quiet meal here. The service on the other hand needs improvement. I pressed the electronic service bell many times over dinner and that gets really frustrating especially when you're not a patient person. (Me! the least patient diner ever) Each time I wanted something like menu, more tea, where's my rice, bill etc, I had to send my little niece out to get a waiter. Why the hell do you have the damn device when it does not work!


Price wise? It ain't cheap here. One dinner set will cost RM 40 and above before tax and service charge. For 3 people, you're definitely not leaving here without forking out 200 bucks.


Quality? Pretty consistent quality of food. Japanese food is all about freshness of the produce. Their sashimi is top grade.


Taste? Average. I expect more especially with a price tag like theirs.


Will I return? Yes, once every 3-4 months. I don't make that much money to indulge here. I will come back for the sashimi.

Japanese Soba & Sushi, Ichiban Boshi, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

I was rushing for the 2.40pm movie and had only 22 minutes to eat. (Yes, I finally got to watch Transformers.) Wanted sushi or was I craving for something with no oil. Anyway popped into the Ichiban Boshi and basically had to request for a table with access to the conveyor belt. I don't get it. Why do you have the sushi conveyor belt and not put your customers beside it? Anyway I was in a hurry. Jumped onto the next available table and I just grabbed a few plates off the conveyor belt. In the meantime, also ordered their house specialty Zaru Soba (Buckwheat Soba Noodles) and a serving of gyoza.

Where is the quail egg?

I remember the first time I had this here, it was not good. This time round, it was pretty damn good. Mainly because I was damn hungry and cold soba noodles are perfect in this hot weather. It was served cold although it would have been better if served on ice. Ichiban Boshi makes their own soba and their buckwheat soba today was fresh and "re-freshing". The soba dip was a little salty for my liking but the texture of the soba was perfect. It was tender on the outside but really "crunchy" inside. Put a little wasabi on the edge of the soba dip bowl, then slurp the soba out. As the soba goes into your mouth, it will have a little wasabi in them. One complaint that I found was that, the quail egg was missing. 


Points - 2

Does not really look that appetizing right?

Chicken floss sushi! Look closely. The rice isn't packed in tightly enough. They just don't train them to roll sushi right. Once you dip them into the soy sauce, they'll just fall apart. 

Cheese with ham? Damn it tasted like the buns you get at the Bread Shop.

I had a few plates of sushi, think I had 6 plates of all varieties. (told you I was hungry) All in all I was not too impressed with their sushi. I guess I am a little particular but when I see Banglas making sushi, it just doesn't do it for me. The rice is not packed in nicely, most of the time, the salmon pieces seem to scream let me go as they slowly slide off the rice. They also tried to be adventurous here with fusion varieties like one that had cheese and ham. I'm all in for fusion but some varieties just do not work.


Points - 0.5

The photo makes it look good but it taste horrible!

The last order that came was their gyoza. Damn!!! It was so bad! The gyoza skin was thick and rubbery! They pan fried it and the edges were a little burnt but the skin, it just tasted like the frozen ones you buy from Cold Storage. The sauce they had on it was some thick soy sauce that got thicker and yucky as they served the gyoza on a hot plate. Talk about being dumb. None of the normal gyoza vinegar to be seen. Worst part is the stuffing. Chicken stuffing is a NO NO for gyoza. It just was BAD!


Points - 0


I reckon I would only go to this place for their soba and I hope they maintain their standards for this. If not, there is no other reason to return.