Sushi Zanmai @ Gurney Paragon

 

Sushi Zanmai has finally reached the shores of Penang island. I remember first eating at this outlet in The Gardens Mall, midvalley, KL. That was way back in 2011/2012 I think. So, now it has opened it's first outlet in Gurney Paragon :)

It's abit small compared to other outlets. And the whole chain of food outlet under the SuperSushi brand opened next to each other here at Gurney Paragon. There's Sushi Zanmai, Rakuramen, and Pasta Zanmai on the same floor, situated next to each other, side by side. Oh, not forgetting the Hokkaido Ice cream too!! (well, that's another post altogether)

This post will be about Sushi Zanmai alone :)

Before I begin, may I just say that the line queuing to get a table to Sushi Zanmai was a crazy 30-45min wait. The queue was THAT long!! And there were crazy amounts of people just willing to queue to get in. Yes, I was one of those crazy people... :)) I went there on 1st August.

And even days after their opening special ended, the lines of people waiting to eat at Sushi Zanmai was still as long...talk about good business!

Nice ambiance in the restaurant.
Loved the circle booths, which we sat in! Super comfortable, and it gives good privacy.

Here's the menu... well, part of it...

Drinks

See the top left hand corner? I never knew there were so many was to prepare green tea drinks... *feeling excited*

Their opening offer was this plate of salmon. Five thick slices of raw salmon for RM8.80 (N.P 10.50) The salmon was so fresh and tasty! It simply felt like gelatine in your mouth... just melting.. aaaaa :)

 I ordered this salad too. It's a combination of raw salmon, avocado and fish roe, topped with radish and lettuce. RM7.80 I found the portion size was smaller than expected.

 

Chawanmushi. But theirs was a bit special. In it had brown mushrooms, and a WHOLE prawn, and fish cakes. The usual chawanmushi-s that I've tasted so far, didn't have a whole prawn. And it was NOT a miserablely small prawn. RM4.90 Super worth it :))

 

Next-up was spicy unagi maki. Very good!!! RM12.90 I like the sweetness of the unagi in the center and the crunchy-ness of the fried crabstick on top. The mayo/sauce that came with it just sealed the deal on this dish. YUM!

So here's the overview of what we ordered...

 

I'll be posting about Pasta Zanmai and Rakuzen in my following posts... stay tuned!

Sakae Sushi @ 1st Avenue

The month of January, Sakae Sushi is offering their monthly specials.

This is called the Blue Paradise Maki.

 

I was so facinated by the blue colour on this sushi that I ordered it without reading the what the sushi contains... haha

But it tasted good. The blue thinggy you see is actually the sauce that the sushi is adorned with. To me, the sauce tastes more of a mayo just in the colour blue :P RM8.80  for members and RM10.80 for non-members

 

This cute pink plate was ordered from the kid's menu selection. It's fried scallop with potato stuffing. Simple and cute! Delicious too... RM3.99

 This yellow plate is also one of the monthly specials for January. This one's called Ocean Crispy Roll. See the prawns topping the sushi? That's cooked prawns rolled, sitting on top of a egg mayo sauce. The bottom part i think is friend bread roll?? haha... very interesting dish. Try it!! RM7.80 for members and RM9.80 for non-members

 

We had Sakae sushi on the 7 Jan 2013... and this was the first time we ordered almost all coloured plates on the menu... red, yellow, green, black, pink... only one plate was missing and that was gold! haahha... Happy New Year!! (Happy first week of January 2013.. i mean.. hahah)

 

Tokyo Street, Cafe Takahashi @ Pavilion KL

 Pavilion KL is noted for it's luxury shopping and high-end retail outlets. This luxury shopping haven also offers food and cuisines with price tags of similar standards... (be prepared for the high prices of food)

 

 

 We decided to try out some japanese fusion food offered by Cafe Takahashi along Tokyo Street @ Pavilion KL.

They offer reasonablely priced set lunches.
Here's what we ordered:-

I liked my main dish very much. The spaghetti was bursting with flavour and the roasted chicken was still succulent although cripsy outside. Yum!!

Roasted chicken with spaghetthi

 The beef spaghetti was ordered by my friend who preferred the beef be well done. It sorta came medium rare. But the spaghetti was equally tasty!!

Beef slices with fried udon

 Our sets came with a fruit punch, soup and dessert

I absolutely loved the fruit punch! It came with a juicy cherry inside. - A real thirst quencher!


Fruit punch

 THe mushroom soup was so-so. Fancied the crouton which was crispy :)

Mushroom soup

Chery at the bottom

 The best was dessert! Vanilla ice-cream creatively topped with fruit sauce & chocolate love-letters and layered with 'honey-stars'. Delicious!!

Vanilla ice-cream with honey stars and chocolate love-letter

 

 

Exploring Gurney Paragon (Part 1) - Goku Raku Ramen

Visited Gurney Paragon twice today, both for lunch AND dinner. Yes, i must either love Gurney Paragon or have no place else to go to. Answer is, neither of the above... hehe. It's simply because it's near to my work place and i went with a different group for lunch and another for dinner....
(*justified smile)

I'll talk about dinner in a following post.

Since today was a friday and we had a long break for lunch on fridays, we decided to have lunch out. And a certain someone was keen to try-out this new Japanese restaurant at Gurney Paragon called Goku Raku Ramen. Seems that the place has been opened 2 months ago since December 2011.

The interior design is simple and gives you a feeling as though you've transported back into the '60s - note the rounded edges of the window to the kitchen, and arches on the ceiling. And coincidentally (..or not), Bee Gees music was playing in the background. Haha

They mainly have (like the name suggests) ramen noodles... The only difference between each different ramen is the soup flavour. Ingredient wise almost the same, safe for the egg that comes with Ultimate ramen.

And you are given a choice or small or large bowls of noodles.

Drinks came in large glasses - like the ones you drink beer in, and there's free refills!

Here's what we ordered:-
From the left top corner... Ultimate ramen, spicy ramen and Miso ramen

Here's the address if you wanna check this place out.

Lot 163-D-1-05, Gurney Paragon Mall, Persiaran Gurney, 10250 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel no: 604-226 0961
Business Hours: 10.00am – 10.00pm

Head-on over to Part 2 & Part 3

Sushi Tei @ Gurney Plaza

Gurney Plaza has been undergoing alot of changes these past few months. Old shops are closing and new ones mushrooming.

This is especially so for restaurants! (Yay for me!)

One new restaurant that has opened its doors in Penang is Sushi Tei

It's another Japanese restaurant which I first ate-in in Singapore... yes, that was many years ago... and now it's finally available in Penang... *awesome

Like the other Japanses restaurants in Penang, they too have the sushi-on-a-conveyor-belt section to choose from.

And prefering the ala chart version, we ordered tepanyaki ramen, salmon and spicy ramen noodles! Oh, not forgetting the smooth and delicate chawanmushi.

For me I loved loved loved the soup for my spicy ramen noodles... okay i forgot the actual name of the dish... but it was so yummy!

Although the prices are abit more than the likes of Sushi King or Sakae Sushi, I suppose they offer alittle something different :)

Check this place out and find out for yourself! :)

Vino Vino Bistro

Had lunch @ Vino vino today. It's situated at Bay Avenue, near Queensbay.

First impressions are, that I love the interior decor - elegant chic. The walls and floor are made to look like you're in a cellar.. (dunno if it really was the owner's intention though)



see the walls - all brick-like

Love the fact that you're surrounded by bottles and bottles of wine and alcohol on display.

I must admit that I don't drink. (not even a glass or a sip) Because I can't stand the taste or the smell of wine, whisky, beer, alcohol, you name it!  :(

But the oddest thing is that I love how the bottles look like and it gives me a since of being in a foreign land, like being overseas. (I know i'm weird)

vodka

The chandelier - lovely!

Anyway, back to the food!

Vino vino offers Japanese cuisine, be it tepanyaki style or the bento kind (served with rice). They have Set Lunches as well as Set Dinners

Since it was lunch time, I settled for their Set Lunches which is way cheaper than the Dinner Sets.

Choice of wine brands from Le Challenge, Michel Lynch, Salisbury.. etc 






This is how you fill your cup (done by waitress)

But the main attraction @ Vino vino is their wines & alcohol, really. They offer those who aren't such heavy drinkers a way to sample their wines and not be forced to buy the whole bottle. They have a 'vending' machine kind of dispenser of wines. Cool!



Chilled wine in a vending machine. Prices are shown (arrow)



There are a wide variety of choices available, be it French wines, Autralian wines, South African wines, that come in Red or White, which ever is to your liking! You'll be spoilt for choices :)

So you can order your wine by the cup. Even that comes in choices of small, medium and large! At different prices of course :)

Thus, if you're the light drinker - you could go for the small glass. And if you're big on your drinks, you can settle for a bigger glass! Love the options. But like I said I don't drink. So, for lunch today, I took coffee instead.

Red wine from Le Challenge (french wine)

 Did I mention that Vino vino serves the best Italian coffee too? Yum! The aroma just fills the room instantly :)

Strong coffee - Italian beans Caffee Vergnano

Oh, i'm digressing again. Back to the food~!

Here's what we had:-

Chicken with cheese. This was really good! The chicken meat was properly seasoned and grilled to perfection!

Miso soup that came with the Set Lunches

We ordered 2 Lunch Sets. The CHicken Teriyaki set and the Lamb set. Both came with Miso soup, rice, coffee and fruit!
The Lamb set was a bit tough but real tasty. Oh, and spicy too! That was a surprise - didn't expect it to be that spicy.


Chicken Teriyaki set on the right, and Lamb set on the left



Lamb pieces - up-close!

A special note should be mentioned that I found their waitress who served our table was very friendly, helpful and professional. (She knew her wines!) She just made eating there more enjoyable! Kudos!