Finally a chance to try fine dining Japanese cuisine! Cocotei is one of the top Japanese fine dining restaurants in KL and it is located next to another famous fine dining Japanese restaurant - Fukuya. The lunch sets at Cocotei are not really that expensive and really quite affordable for a special occasion where you can definitely see its quality.
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| Love the ceramicware! |
 |
| Chicken Meatball and Radish Soup |
The soups are not a part of the bento sets hence we were delighted when they were presented to us. First up is the chicken meatball and radish soup. The gigantic chicken meatball is encased within the radish and topped with a tiny dollop of mustard. Taste-wise, it is exactly like Chinese-style radish soup but fret not, the one served here is not a watered down version. Instead, it is quite concentrated in flavour and the chicken meatball is smooth and juicy. The addition of mustard adds a nice little zing to the soup and meat.
 |
| Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Soup |
The roasted pumpkin soup definitely wins paws down ^_^ The roasted pumpkin lends an extremely sweet taste to the soup with a hint of smokiness. Paired with the tender chicken which seems to have been browned a little, and a nice big floret of broccoli, we could not get enough of it. Perhaps it's time to replicate its flavour at home =P It's so good that you just have to try it yourself but I'm not sure if the soups are on a rotation basis.
 |
| Kiri Bento (RM 86) |
Isn't it such a lovely presentation? The Kiri Bento consists of, clockwise from left, sashimi, miso soup, grilled saba, croquette, appetiser and salad. It also comes with a mini chirashidon which could not fit in the bamboo basket and is shown below.
 |
| Chawanmushi |
 |
| Chawanmushi |
The chawanmushi is totally out of this world! Served hot, it was silky smooth and unlike the chawanmushi served at other Japanese restaurants. Its taste was further enhanced with the addition of a piece of roasted meat - I couldn't tell if it was roasted chicken or duck but it definitely tasted like roast pork and I'm pretty sure Cocotei does not serve pork.
 |
| Sashimi |
Sashimi here is wonderful! Super thick slabs, cold, juicy and bouncy - totally surpasses our requirements for fresh sashimi ^_^
 |
| Grilled saba |
The large piece of grilled saba comes with a huge mound of grated radish, lemon wedge and a small dish of finely sliced woodear fungus. The saba in this set was a little dry and hard but the saba in the other set was grilled to perfection. Perhaps it depends on the section of the fish you are offered.
 |
| Miso soup |
The miso soup was good but could have been more concentrated. No mini mushrooms though, only huge slabs of smooth tofu and wakame.
 |
| L-R: Salmon croquette and mentaimayo tamago |
The croquette is wonderful! <bright shiny eyes> The outer layer of panko coating is crunchy whereas the inner salmon and potato filling is still moist. I like the addition of some sort of tonkatsu sauce over the croquette which does not overwhelm its taste.
The square block of Japanese-style fried egg is firm yet wobbly (does that even make sense?) and the generous dollop of mayonnaise mixed with mentaiko makes it even yummier ^_^
 |
| Lovely lacquered bento box |
 |
| Chirashidon |
This tiny box of chirashidon is packed with extremely fresh cubed salmon, tuna and yellowtail sashimi, cubed eggs and cucumbers and topped with a generous sprinkling of sesame seeds. The ratio of sashimi to rice is definitely higher than the usual chirashidon - every mouthful is really just filled with juicy sashimi ^_^
 |
| Top view of the chirashidon |
 |
| Cocotei Lady's Set (RM 55) |
The Cocotei Lady's Set is really worth its price tag. As you can see, clock-wise from left we have fresh sashimi, a smaller piece of grilled saba, temari sushi, appetisers, mini cold soba, salad and right in the middle, deep-fried sweet potato.
 |
| Close-up of the variety of dishes |
 |
| Deep-fried aubergine and sweet potato sandwich |
I'm not too sure what this is but it tastes like eggplant and sweet potato stacked together and deep-fried. Not a fan of it but JS liked it.
 |
| L-R: Saba and salmon temari sushi |
Temari sushi are such cute little things, don't you agree? The mackerel one had sesame seeds dotting it whereas the salmon one was paired with mentaimayo. Both temari sushi were absolutely moist and delicious and it's just so satisfying to pop the entire ball into your mouth. I wish more restaurants have temari sushi on the menu.
 |
| L-R: Cucumber slices with dip and pumpkin and wolfberry salad |
The pumpkin and wolfberry salad on the right is pretty average. Mixed with some sort of wasabi mayo, the otherwise tasteless pumpkin cubes had quite a zing to it but the wolfberries retained its sweetness.
Now the appetizer on the left is very interesting. Cucumber sticks with deep-fried panko or tempura crumble and a thick bittersweetish and tiny bit spicy sauce to complement the plain cucumbers. I shouldn't even refer to it as a sauce because it has a jam-like consistency with tiny cubes of something I couldn't make out at all. This is truly the 1st time that I've eaten something Japanese that I don't know about =.= As I said, the sauce is bittersweet with a slight hint of spiciness and has a really really unique taste that I can't figure out. Anyone care to help enlighten me? Ms. bulat, maybe you can show your sensei this picture =P
 |
| Grilled mackerel |
The portion of grilled mackerel in the Lady's Set is much smaller than the one in the Kiri Bento. Where the flesh was dry for the other saba, this one was moist, juicy and oily. Absolutely comparable to
Kura and
Tenjin.
 |
| Chuka Idako Salad |
The salad provided a nice balance to the entire meal and also helped to cleanse the palate. Marinated baby octopi were also thrown in for some added flavour.
 |
| Cold soba |
The Lady's Set included a mini cold soba which came with condiments such as thin egg strips, dried seaweed and finely sliced spring onions. Tasted good but not spectacular.
 |
| Sashimi |
Can you see how huge the slabs of sashimi were? I'm pretty sure you can just imagine how good they tasted <drools by looking at the picture>
 |
| Matcha ice-cream |
Each set came with ice-cream as dessert so we had green tea and black sesame flavoured ones. The green tea ice-cream is super creamy with a strong matcha taste. Definitely one of the better green tea ice-creams out there.
 |
| Kurogoma ice-cream |
The black sesame ice-cream came with lots of black sesame seeds embedded in it. JS thinks the sesame seeds further enhanced the strong black sesame taste of the ice-cream but I prefer mine to be smooth and creamy so it really depends which way you like your ice-cream served. Nevertheless, it was one of the stronger flavoured ones in the market apart from
Hokkaido Ichiba and really good.
We were seated in a private room with a few tables but because the sliding doors are usually closed, it was really difficult to call for the staff. Also, there was no bell or button or anything of that sort to attract their attention. Service was quite slow too but it could be because of the packed restaurant and the fact that we ordered late hence most patrons had already placed their order.
In any case, Cocotei is definitely one of the best fine dining Japanese restaurants and if you're looking for a place to go to for a special occasion, this is it. Just like how other bloggers have raved about it, I too would highly recommend you try it at least once ^_^
PawPoints: 5 Paws
Pawket: Salami
Cocotei Tokyo Japanese Cuisine
5, GF-B
Jalan Delima
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 1800-88-66-55
Daily: 10.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10.30pm
