Maruhi Sakaba @ Taman Desa, KL

Maruhi Sakaba is a popular yakitori joint at Taman Desa. If you follow Google map, most likely you will not be able to find the restaurant as it is located a block away from the indicated location. The signboard is so small I wonder why they even bother putting it up, with Chinese characters only O.O Somehow by chance, I spotted the restaurant and managed to skip several rounds of circling the square. The tip is to look for Public Bank and Maruhi Sakaba is located a few doors down the street.

See the extremely small signboard? 

Yakitori bar with non-existent decor

Menu

The menu is relatively limited compared to Sumi-Ka at SS15 but there are more choices written on a board at the far end of the yakitori station. The board includes daily specials as well as recommendations of their main staples.

L-R: Spicy chilli sauce, salty bean paste sauce

The green chilli sauce on the left was extremely spicy, sort of like pan mee sauce but also very addictive. The one on the right was slightly too salty for me and tasted like Chinese bean paste.

Maruhi Sour (RM 45)

Yep, you read right. It costs RM 45 for this big kettle of Maruhi Sour which apparently is some sort of alcoholic drink. It is very mild though and as its name suggests, a little sour =P

A shot of Maruhi Sour =P

Pickled Cucumber (RM 5)

Crunchy and slightly sourish, the pickled cucumber slices help to cool down the body after digesting meat that came straight off the grill.

Edamame (RM 3)

Not a bad portion for RM 3.

Pork Liver (RM 4)

When the pork liver was first delivered to our table, it was still kind of raw so we sent it back with instructions for it to be fully cooked. When it returned, it was extremely well done which meant it was quite hard and chewy. Despite that, it still tasted nice if you are a regular pork liver eater.

Pork Tongue (RM 4)

Many of our friends did not want to try the pork tongue but those who tried it agreed that it actually tasted really good! Chewy but with meaty flavour, I thought it was one of the best skewers we had that night. Will definitely order this when I return.

Pork Belly (RM 4)

The pork belly was awesome! Definitely the star of the show, it was crispy and flavourful with the salt marinade. RM 4 for a stick really is not too bad at all.

Chicken Thigh (RM 4)

The chicken thigh was moist but its flavour not too outstanding.

Chicken Skin (RM 4)

Chicken skin was quite crispy and well flavoured with salt.

Maruhi Don (RM 15)

A home style version of oyakodon, this minced meat rice bowl with egg is extremely comforting. The bowl is large enough to be shared by two if you're ordering yakitori as well and they are generous with the amount of minced pork given.

Tamagodon (RM 5)

Can't remember the name of this dish but it's just a simple bowl of rice topped with an awesome fried egg. So simple and so good. My friend had this with pork belly skewers d^_^b

Yakibuta Don (RM 15)

The Yakibuta Don came with 2 strips of grilled pork belly, grilled okra and grilled eggplant, topped with yakitori sauce, scallions and toasted sesame seeds. Every ingredient was really good, even the vegetables. It is a good choice to order if you are unsure of what to eat ^_^

All rice bowls come with a relatively large bowl of light miso soup. There is not much miso taste, hence not very salty, but it is very good in alleviating the oiliness and heatiness of yakitori. The soup contains lots of seaweed and scallions which I really like.

We also had grilled intestines which were super chewy and sort of like soft bone. Grilled with salt, there was not much taste of intestine. Another item was enoki mushrooms wrapped with bacon which were good too.

Overall, every item we had at Maruhi Sakaba was awesome and I can't wait to return. Do note that you will not be able to escape being blasted with the smell and fumes of grilled meat =)


PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Tomato


Maruhi Sakaba

6A, Faber Plaza
Jalan Desa Jaya
Taman Desa
Tue - Sun: 6pm - 10.30pm

Tamaruya Yakitori @ Isetan Foodmarket, KLCC

This Yakitori stall caught my eye when browsing through the Foodmarket. Yakitori can be a cheap and yummy meal if you are a small eater =)

       

Noren

    
I love these Japanese fabric dividers...they look so authentic and traditional!
      

Menu

       

Variety of ingredients

       

Take-away box

     
As we were quite full but still greedy (fine, fine, not us, but just me), we bought 2 sticks of yakitori - soft bone and chicken in salt dipping sauce.

      

Top: Soft Bone, Bottom: Grilled Chicken in Salt Dipping Sauce (RM 3.50 each)

     
Mmm...look at the succulent pieces of chicken!

• The Soft Bone had some chicken meat and crispy chicken skin attached to the crunchy and springy soft bone. It was very well seasoned and is more salty compared to the other yakitori but very good. Highly recommended to try!
• The salt dipping sauce was very aromatic and has a very different taste compared to the usual teriyaki sauce / soy sauce glaze. There was a hint of garlic-infused flavour which the succulent meat fully absorbed. Also highly recommended to try!

      

Yakitori in Salt Dipping Sauce (RM 3.50)

     

Yakitori in Teriyaki Dipping Sauce (RM 3.50)

        

Yakitori in Yakitori Dipping Sauce (RM 3.50)

      

Soft Bone (RM 3.50)

       

Grilled Vegetables

      
Apart from grilled meat and vegetables, they also have grilled chicken skin and grilled chicken wings. They've also got a wide variety of toppings to choose from (refer to the Menu) which we did not try as I was not aware of it until I enlarged the 2nd picture posted here =.=
     

Mixed Yakitori Bowl (RM 14.90)

       
This Mixed Yakitori Bowl immediately caught my attention when I walked past the stall another day. What better way to try all the grilled skewered meat than a donburi? =D It comes with an assortment of grilled chicken in various sauces, grilled onion half, 2 slices of grilled sweet potato and a grilled cherry tomato as well as lettuce and a topping of chopped green onion with salt.

The whole ensemble was yummy with either the yakitori dipping sauce or teriyaki dipping sauce mixed into the rice. However, I felt kind of =.= after I finished it. It is nice but I just can't bring myself to like it. I think the individual skewers fared much better as the taste is more enhanced.

     
    

     
      

PawPoints: 4 Paws

Pawket: Onion

    
Tamaruya    

Food Hall

Isetan Foodmarket

Concourse

Suria KLCC

Tel: 2382 7777

Daily: 10am - 10pm

Sumi-Ka @ SS15, Subang Jaya

My first visit to a yakitori place! Sumi-Ka is located near Taylor's Business School, tucked away in a quiet corner on the 1st floor. You can opt to sit inside this enclosed area which is a non-smoking sections and consists of 3 tables with a maximum seating capacity of 6 each (make a reservation if you don't want to stink of oil and smoke), or at the main area including the bar grill where native Japanese smoke, drink, eat and laugh.

  

Elegant signage marred by illustration of yakitori

  

Menu

Obviously, they specialise in yakitori and its famous accompaniment, Japanese beer. There are plenty of chicken, beef, pork, vegetable and seafood yakitori options with several listings for appetiser, onigiri and donburi.

 

Potato Salad (RM 12)

    
Even though they serve complimentary and refillable shredded cabbage and edamame, we ordered the Potato Salad. It was so good we ordered a second serving despite its expensive price. Very creamy and fragrant, the cold dish was absolutely divine against the heatiness of freshly grilled meat.

  

Yakionigiri (RM 5)

    
This was much better than the yakionigiri I had at Bon Odori. Here the grilled rice bits are crispy whilst the moisture in the onigiri is adequately retained. There were some bits of seared salmon to enhance the flavour of the rice ball. Pickles were also provided to complement the lightly salted rice.

  

T-B: Mochimaki (RM 5), Uzuratamago (RM 3), Shiitake (RM 4)

   

• The Mochimaki is essentially glutinous rice cake rolled in sliced pork. It has quite an interesting texture with the savoury pork and chewy rice cake.
• Quail eggs slathered with soya sauce tasted like...quail eggs =P It wasn't too bad and I like the fact that the egg did not have a leathery skin despite having been grilled.
• The shiitake mushrooms were average tasting...at least the mushroomy smell wasn't too strong.

    

T-B: Muneniku Mentai Mayo (RM 4), Nankotu (RM 4)

    

• The breast meat topped with a generous dollop of marinated pollock roe in mayonnaise was good. I sort of expected the breast meat to be dry but it was surprisingly tender and moist. 
• The Nankotu tasted just as soft bone should, except maybe a bit more crisp since it was grilled and more flavourful due to its seasoning.

     

Shimejibata (RM 10)

    

• The shimeji mushrooms sauteed in butter came wrapped in aluminium foil and topped with dried seaweed. The butter smell and taste was extremely strong. Not my favourite but apparently it's a best-seller at Sumi-Ka =)

      

T-B: Shoyu Kawa (RM 3), Momoniku (RM 3), Shio Kawa (RM 3)

    

• The soy sauce chicken skin was very crispy with mini pockets of aromatic oil...absolutely divine =D
• Chicken thigh meat was okay, not very outstanding. Moist and tender.
• The salt grilled chicken skin was served wrapped around a garlic clove. The chicken skin here is also very crispy and since I'm not a fan of garlic, JS had them all. He said <garlic breath> that they were crisp on the outside and slightly soft on the inside =P

     

Mochimaki (RM 5)

  
Another close-up of the sliced pork roll with glutinous rice cake.
  
We had one other dish which JS here forgot to capture >.> I have always wanted to try ox tongue and Sumi-Ka serves Gyutan so we ordered a stick. The 1st piece I had was yummy...it tasted like chewy soft bone with a beefy taste...the texture is kind of like freshly blanched pig's kidney, very "song hau" if you know what I mean. The 2nd piece I had was chewier and the 3rd piece was the chewiest with the strongest taste of innards. People who dislike the smell of innards should just stay away in case you get a strong tasting one. Adventurous eaters should give the unique texture a try =)
 
Sumi-Ka is rather expensive...the bill came up to RM 40 per person for 4 people (we had multiple skewers of the orders shown above). Although we said that we will not return immediately after the meal ended as it cost so much to eat "satay", we found ourselves craving the unique and yummy cooking at Sumi-Ka =D

  

PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Olive

  

Sumi-Ka

1st Floor
19, Jln SS15/4

Subang Jaya

Tel: 5632 9312

Daily: 6pm - 12am