Out & About: Wakaba Japanese Restaurant, Cenang Mall

Just had a simple dinner at Wakaba Japanese Restaurant in Cenang Mall yesterday. Been about 2 months since I last had any Japanese food in me. When big boss lady wanted to eat out, we immediately both agreed that Japanese would be a lovely change from our usual Malaysian fare. 

Arrived at approximately 8pm and we proceeded to peruse the menu. Quite a few new things has been introduced - Set Meals, A-la-carte dishes, Desserts and a number of beverages. The restaurant also had included subtle touches - Tray of the Japanese chilli seasoning, Soy sauce and others in cute glazed earthen ware vessels. Nice.The restaurant still feels a tad spartan what with its all glass facades and spare table arrangements, but I guess in a warm locale like Langkawi, more space would equate more air circulation.

Clockwise: Pots of Kikkoman Soy Sauce & Chilli flake seasoning, chopsticks and saucer with a fish shaped soy dish.

It took us a wee bit long to order as we both had to fight the urge to order as many as we could (well, it has been a while since we had Japanese right?). But after about 10 minutes we finally decided on a few things. 

Mine was a Sashimi Moriawase (Med) Set Meal. And it arrived fairly soon after ordering. 

Sashimi Moriawase (Medium) Set Meal - Plate of Sashimi, Kobo & Carrot Relish, Mound of Sticky Rice, Watermelon Triangles and Miso Shiru.

Thick slices of Salmon, Tuna, Boiled Octopus and Ika (Squid) topped with some lumpfish roe (nope, that isn't the shrimp roe, those would would be daintier) and a small hill of grated Wasabi root (uhhuh, really).

Proceeded to tuck in and sampled the Sashimi slices. All were good quality with the exception of the Octopus, which I am sure was at least a day old as it had lost quite a bit of its characteristic firmness and juiciness. The thinly sliced Ika on the other hand was outstanding, superbly cleaned and sliced into mini slivers needing just the slightest dab of Kikkoman sauce to help it go along. 

Then our side dishes arrived in succession.

Vegetable Kakiage and Dipping Sauce

Grilled Pregnant Fish

Pickled Gyuri & Wakame

Basket of Edamame

So, Boss lady also proceeded to demolish the snacks presented in front of her. A bit after, her main dish arrived.

Teriyaki Chicken Set

Kobo & Carrot relish, Fresh Salad with Yuzu Cream and Teriyaki Glazed Grilled Chicken. 

Lady boss' set was particularly good too. The chicken was perfectly cooked and grilled to sticky heaven and well complemented by the Kobo relish and the tangy sweet salad. Good portion size too.Certainly made up for that bit of waiting we had to do for her meal.

The bill came back to about RM 150 inclusive of our 2 cold green tea drinks, which some would argue is a tad on the expensive side, but it is a proper restaurant with none of those 'Serve-your-own-lazy-ass' type of service so prevalent in the Kaiten equipped places. 

The staff were friendly (foreign staff - Pinoy, I think) and chatty. The place clean and had no off odours whatsoever. Smokers were given the choice of sitting in a covered open air side of the place.

And they had these! 

Kawaiii!