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
4 of 5

Square Lotus

Square Lotus in Bellevue, Washington was an average Vietnamese place that seemed to cater to vegetarians.  It had a Four Star rating on Yelp (but in our opinion was not deserving).  The place had a very strip-mally decor down to faux brick wall paper, wobbly tables, and plates with the Square Lotus logo.

We ordered a few things, summer rolls, tropic rolls, stir fried soft egg noodles with beef (spicy style), and  super pho bowl (pho tai bo).  

Summer Rolls

Summer Rolls: They were a few herbs on the inside away from perfection, but they were very well done here. I prefer the fried wonton to be rolled in the middle, but to their credit they did include them flattened and in small pieces in the center.

Tropic Rolls

Tropic Rolls. We loved the combination of flavors and grilled chicken, but this roll was also missing a few herbs.  It was a nice variation from the classic summer roll, but was a little bland.

Stir Fried Noodles with Beef

Stir Fried Soft Egg Noodles with Beef - Spicy.  The portion was very small compared to other noodle or Chinese places.  The flavors were subtle, they don't jump out and slap you and "very very spicy" turned into barely spicy when it hit the tablet.  That was a tremendous disappointment.  The dish was good, in an average sort of way, but at over $9 I would not order them again.

Super Pho Bowl. Pho Tai (Bo).  The Pho broth was light, flavorful, and meaty, and the bowl is spacious (a personal preference I have come to view as vital).  The dish was very meaty when ordering the "super," but we can't comment on the regular (and judging by the noodles I suspect it may be very different).  The broth to noodles to meat ration was, therefore, quite on point if you order the Super Pho.  On the dig side, the broth was quite cloudy, which my wife assumed was due to not pre-boiling the beef bones before adding them to the pot with the other components (a quick was to make cloudy Pho broth at home).   

The biggest problem was really the poor, poor service.  Although we appeared to catch them during their lunch, the staff was not attentive at all.  We also got no hoisin sauce, crushed red pepper, or anything else out on the table (nor was it brought to us for quite some time after we had our food).  It was average, but with so many Vietnamese places in the Seattle area, there is no reason to overpay for noodles and get good (but not great) Pho with bad service.  I suspect if you are a vegetarian, you like this restaurant more  because they clearly cater to you with a large portion of the menu highlighted as Vegetarian.  If I were you though, I'd keep looking, because there are better places out there that also have vegetarian fare...



Square Lotus Fine Vietnamese & Vegetarian Cuisine
3540 Factoria Blvd SE # A
Bellevue, WA 98006
(425) 679-0680

2.5 of 5

Kabuki Fusion Sushi and Grill

Located just outside of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee was a surprising tasty little sushi joint named Kabuki Fusion Sushi and Grill.  Gratefully, it was close to my hotel, as well as a gaggle of other major hotel chains, and I was able to just mosey on down there for the Kabuki dance.  The decor was tacky, the service was stingy, but the sushi was solid.

I ordered:

Fresh scallop nigiri (pass)

Spicy scallop (pass)

Soy kingdom roll (good)
-tuna, salmon, mango and avocado wrapped in soy paper served with wasabi sauce

California roll (ok)

Oscar roll (good)
-Spicy salmon, asparagus, cucumber with white tuna, jalapeno and sriracha hot sauce on top

Phoenix roll (good)
-Yellow tail, spicy crunch, asparagus, and scallion with spicy tuna on top

The prominently displayed sushi bar on the left of the restaurant tried to be trendy, playing top 40 music with the staff in dark uniforms.   It was sort of cheap, with a modern feel that said both Japanese and middle of Tennessee.  However, the mix of paint, seat, table, and light colors can best be described as discordant.

Really though, you care about the food.  They had a decent menu.  The scallops were not fresh enough, and not the right kind for raw preparation.  They were ok, just not that good raw.  The Oscar roll, and Soy Kingdom (which actually comes out with a maraschino cherry) were standouts.  The rice was well cooked, and the overall value for what you have to pay is quite outstanding.  The Phoenix roll was good (just not as good as the Oscar and Soy Kingdom).  The place was lacking specials - you know the kind, displayed prominently on a chalk board by the sushi bar.  Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their sushi since Tennessee can hardly be considered a sushi mecca.  If I were you, I would go by on a Weds for half off (select) sushi.


Kabuki Fusion Sushi and Grill

10901 Parkside Dr # 101
Knoxville, TN 37934
(865) 288-9119
3.5 of 5 (overall)

4.5 (knoxville sushi)