Senya Dining @ Isetan Foodmarket, KLCC

You may have already wondered what's up with the string of Japanese food posts lately? Well in conjunction with pawprints' birthday month <drum roll>, the posts should be related to pawprints' favourite food =D And what better way to showcase it than a string of posts related to all of Isetan Foodmarket's Japanese-manned stalls? =D

   
The last post of all is Senya Dining which is a dining counter. You can either takeaway the ready-packed donburis or have a quick lunch at the counter seats. The donburis are available either ala-carte or as part of a set with miso soup. Apart from donburis, there are also croquettes, sushi rolls, katsu and salads.
   

Senya Dining

      

Menu

Steamed Rice (RM 9)

     
The Steamed Rice is a typical Japanese dish - rice steamed in shiitake mushroom stew. The result is rice somewhat like glutinous rice, having absorbed all the mushroom flavours, and packed with lots of sliced mushrooms, strips of beancurd skin, diced chicken and something that looked and tasted like a Chinese herb commonly found in ginseng soup called Solomon's Seal aka Yuk Chuk. 

     

I must admit although the rice is very moist and soft, it lacked a savoury flavour which can be quickly remedied by adding a few drops of soy sauce. The red ginger pickles are also there for a reason, to add a tangy flavour to the steamed rice. The dish also comes with half a hard-boiled egg which require some soy sauce to alleviate its taste (they apparently now have more appetizing half-hard boiled eggs with a soft golden yolk). As I did not opt to reheat my donburi, the shiitake mushrooms were a little hard - perhaps it'll be softer if you reheat the rice.

       

Chicken Nanbanzuke Don (RM 10.80)

      
This is essentially fried chicken with an appetizing sauce of pickled mayo and onions. I usually don't ask for this to be reheated as the sauce tastes much better cold. The room-temperature fried chicken still tastes good cold as bento items should. The serving of fried chicken pieces which sits on a bed of shredded cabbage is generous. It can be a bit bland on its own so do make sure to coat each piece with the yummy sauce which also makes the rice more palatable. Highly recommended just because of the sauce alone! =)
    

Chicken Karaage Don (RM 9.80)

      
This is just plain fried chicken on a bed of lettuce and rice. The chicken pieces are still juicy and yummy even after it has been reheated. Nothing too special about this but JS liked it a lot.
      

Chicken Teriyaki Don (RM 9.80)

    
 You can't really tell from the picture but the chicken teriyaki actually glistens! The meat is so tender and juicy even though the chicken has been grilled till the skin is crisp. This is also highly recommended if you like teriyaki chicken =)
    

Salmon Fried Rice (RM 6.80)

       
This is just Chinese-style fried rice with cooked salmon pieces and ginger pickles. I quite like it as the pickles add more flavour to the rice and the eggs are still fluffy even though I reheated this. Or maybe I'm just a big fan of fried rice =D but I really enjoyed this donburi =) They were quite generous with the amount of salmon too (although you can't see it from the pic).
      

Miso Chicken Katsu Rice (RM 9.80)

      
I originally wanted to eat the Chicken Nanbanzuke Don again but I thought I should showcase more of Senya's donburis so I opted for this Miso Chicken Katsu Rice. Please don't be intimidated by the picture...it's actually not as scary looking =P In real life colour, the row of chicken katsu sitting atop fresh lettuce is slathered with a coating of dark brown miso paste and sprinkled with finely sliced spring onions.
     
It may take some getting used to for some people as the akamiso (red miso) paste tasted somewhat like Chinese yellow bean paste but nicer. It is quite salty for akamiso is known for its savoury taste and robustness so you may want to scrape it off on the sides of the container and add more to taste but it certainly makes the chicken katsu taste better =) The chicken katsu is not dry at all and it manages to retain some of its crispiness which is good. I'd recommend you to try if only just once as I have not seen this dish anywhere else.
    

Miso Ebi Furai to Chicken Nanban Don (RM 12.90)

I've not seen this donburi before and the day I was there, this one happened to be the last one. A very good deal for a surf and turf don. Again I did not reheat this as bentos are actually supposed to be eaten cold. The Ebi Furai was still crispy with a big juicy prawn within (there were 4 of them). Luckily this time, the miso wasn't very salty.
   
Actually I don't know the name of this donburi =.= but it looked like Chicken Nanbanzuke to me. When I had a taste though, I wasn't sure if it was nanbanzuke sauce or egg mayo -_-" It had an eggy taste but it looked like nanbanzuke sauce but it was too watery to be nanbanzuke =.= Anyway, the sauce went well with the pan-fried chicken pieces. A satisfying donburi indeed!
     

          
If you're looking for something filling yet affordable (comparatively to other food stalls at KLCC) and made with lots of care (but probably no love...I spied Japanese natives working in the kitchen and you know how much effort they put in everything they do), do hop on over to Senya Dining. I'm sure you'll find something you like there =)
        

PawPoints: 3 Paws 

Pawket: Onion
     
Senya Dining

Food Hall

Isetan Foodmarket

Concourse

Suria KLCC

Tel: 2382 7777

Daily: 10am - 10pm