Otoro - A Costly Obsession

Iggy's - Singapore

When I met my wife, she subsisted on cereal and toast.  Occasionally she went through the effort to make herself nachos.  Infrequently, she was known to eat a hamburger, or chicken breast.  She also liked fried things, and potatoes.  


We still have different opinions of one early episode in our marriage.  As the lady of the house, my wife said she would do the grocery shopping.  New to living together, she asked if I had any special requests.  I knew that my wife was a meat and potatoes girl, so I said, "I'd like to east some more vegetables.  Why don't you get any vegetables from the grocery store you will eat."  She said Ok.

Vege-wha?

Proudly, that afternoon she showed me what she had bought.  Potatoes (not a vegetable).  Onions (not a vegetable).  And pico de gallo (not a vegetable).  She still swears that pico should count.  I tell her she's crazy.  I've since turned her onto a vegetable or two, but where I've had much more success are proteins.  Men beware.  Out of the oodles of things I have subjected her to, she likes duck breast, duck confit, foie gras, pork belly (are you seeing a pattern?) and her newest obession is Otoro (fatty tuna belly).  

Hanare - Kuala Lumpur

In Japan we had the pleasure of eating at four of the best sushi restaurants in the country.  Unfortunately, we didn't make it to all the ones I had hoped, but Sushi Sawada, Sushi Mizutani, Sushi Yashitake, and Kyubei - Ginza isn't a bad hit list.  While stuffing ourselves full of extravagant sushi, my wife declared she loved Otoro.  Here are two of her favorite bites.

Sushi Yashitake - Tokyo

Kyubei - Ginza - Tokyo

If you are curious, her favorite was Sushi Sawada. More on this to come soon... and for now I'm keeping her away from Kobe beef - Wagyu...

Hanare at the Intermark

Located within the same building as the Hilton Doubletree in Kuala Lumpur is the new Japanese restaurant of choice, Hanare.  After my go-to sushi restaurant in KL closed sometime last summer, I found this review by CC Food Travel.  It set my expectations pretty high.  In the end, this restaurant has the distinction of at once giving me the some of the single best bites of sushi and steak I have ever had, and still being disappointing.

So, the Evian bottle is near the smallest I had ever seen, at .33 liter. In other words, my bottled water was disgustingly small, and for another 10 or 20 RMD, you expect a liter bottle.  Boo.

The Appetizer:  The Tofu was exceptionally creamy and the corn had a pleasant miso flavor with excellent char.  The solitary piece of fish was only ok, and remember things are not better just because they have caviar.  I am a sucker for shiso (the green leaf), so overall it was a nice way to start.

2nd Course - Sashimi:  I do believe they provide real wasabi, and the tasty little abalone/clam were nice.   The tuna was very fresh, and buttery.  The katsuo (bonito) had a surprising little taste explosion. Obviously, the real winner was the absolutely delicious little piece of tuna belly they provided, which was one of the best single pieces of sashimi I have eaten.

3rd Course - Crab Soup:  The broth by itself had the flavor of inexpensive, dried squid with a bit of crab sprinkled in (in other words, eh).  The ground prawn ball with ginger, however, was quite remarkable, and when all combined, it was a good few bites.  To really elevate the dish, however, the broth needs improvement.

4th Course - Wagyu on Eggplant:  The dish also seemed to be served with a bit of "oyster sauce" on it. The question that you have to ask yourself is, what is not to like about wagyu beef?  Nothing.  It is tender, melts in your mouth, and once you have a bite you never want to eat anything else.  In sum, however, the course was a little uninspired.

5th Course  - More Wagyu?:  Yes!  It's a little sad when the waiter does not speak much English and he makes no real effort to explain what you are eating.  For a meal that costs somewhere around 50 times the national average, this is disappointing.  So, there was some sort of homemade delicate green chili and oil mixture which, placed carefully atop the wagyu, made for the most delicious beef dish I have ever eaten.  It was nothing short of phenomenal.

6th course - Fried Fish:  Again, the lack of description made for a rather disappointing experience.  The little fried fish with breading, they were probably something in the sardine family, were full of flavor.  I was sad to not be familiar with the other fish, a small, light, sweet white fish carefully pan fried without breading.  It was super tasty.  I think the small piece at the bottom was a cod cheek, based off the flavor and size, but I can't be sure.  The non-breaded small fish, and "cod" were so delicious they stood up to the previous plate of wagyu.

7th Course - Sushi:  This course contained 5 pieces of premium sushi, and clam miso soup.  The miso had a delicate smokey flavor, and was memorable with the small clams, and the tuna belly, cuddlefish, katsuo, yellowtail, and some type of hikari mono - I think sanma were yum morsels.  Pictures are worth a 1,000 words.

8th course - Dessert:  Peaches and ice cream are very good, but peaches are less a novelty to me than they are the Malaysians.

At one point, as I was eating wagyu beef I looked over and became jealous of my neighbors' trio of mushrooms.  It's ok (nom nom nom) I consoled myself on beef so fatty it's probably illegal in many countries (besides India).  It just went to show that the restaurant has more to offer than what I ate.  I was very jealous, however, of CC Travel Food's Omakase experience.  Mine was excellent, but missing some of the more exotic delicacies that were offered to them.  It is my opinion that they outted themselves as food bloggers and got the VIP treatment.

So, all this delicious food discussed, let's have a hard talk for a second.  

The service was so bad!  There were faux pas, such as not brining a spoon with the soup dish, never clearing the towel, me asking for accommodations which were not made.  Lack of descriptions of meals, etc., they tried so hard, but the waitstaff were just not good at all.  For her part, the proprietess realized this and commented privately later that evening that they are struggling with service.  Well, struggle they do.  I hope they get better, because it is a serious miss at such a nice restaurant.

Next time I'll try the Champagne Brunch (reviewed by Eat Your Heart Out) and then my meal won't be distracted by the poor service.

Hanare Japanese Restaurant
Ground Floor, The Intermark,
Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur
03-2164-2133/ 2164-2633
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