Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Saisaki Japanese Buffet Restaurant, UOA Centre

The other night The Boy and I paid a visit to Saisaki for a Japanese buffet dinner. Located in the UOA Centre across the road from KL Convention Centre/Aquaria, Saisaki always looked crowded even during the week. We finally took the plunge after our new friends J&S recommended it as one of their favourites for a special occasion. After all, Valentine's Day was just around the corner, why not treat ourselves early?


Saisaki is quite a large restaurant. Open for lunch and dinner, it is a full buffet with a separate drinks menu. From the moment we arrived the service was impeccable with the staff all friendly and attentive. It was almost 8pm on a Friday night but plenty of people eating which was reassuring, as there's nothing worse than a buffet full of food that has been sitting in baymarines for hours.


We quickly ordered drinks - a beer for The Boy and a fresh watermelon juice for me. I should mention there are also dispenser drinks available as part of the buffet e.g. lemon tea, blackcurrant etc. which we actually didn't see until later but my juice was deliciously refreshing so I didn't mind. 


Our drinks arrived and I set off for the buffet. First port of call was the sushi area. There was a fantastic range of sushi, maki and sashimi available for self-serve, all looking bright and fresh and some of it beautifully decorative. I happily created a sushi platter all for myself (on a lovely plate too) headed back to the table to eat. 


The highlights for me were the aburi salmon, which had the perfect just-seared flavour, the chu-toro sashimi (fatty tuna) which was melt-in-your-mouth delicious and the inari boat for its bright colours and sweet flavour. 


The Boy came back with a plate loaded up with fresh tempura and a small dish of dipping sauce. While the prawn tempura was a bit batter-heavy in my opinion, the tempura eggplant and pumpkin were delicious, as was the yasai moriawase (mixed vegetables). 


It was time to move onto hot dishes, of which there were plenty, mostly Japanese but also some Chinese items mixed in (grilled phoenix feet anyone? Or perhaps sweet and sour chicken?) The Boy raved about the braised beef while I took a liking to the beef omelette. The salmon garlic rice is also a must, with deliciously crispy pieces of garlic scattered through fried rice with small pieces of pink salmon. It reminded me of my favourite garlic and shallot rice at The Rice Den in Sydney. 


There was also a teppanyaki station which we didn't try this time around, where you choose your own meat and vegetables and have them cooked to order on a hot plate; and a takoyaki station with all the necessary trimmings. Plenty of reason to go back again!


I have to admit that I actually had eaten so much sushi and sashimi by this point that I didn't have a lot of room left for the 'main' part of the buffet, as what room I did have I was leaving for...dessert!!


Yes. I come from a family of dessert lovers, people with sweet tooths worse than mine and my siblings' you would be hard-pressed to find. So did the selection at Saisaki satisfy my lust for sugar?


It had a pretty decent crack at it. There was a shaved ice station where you could choose your own syrups and toppings but The Boy and I bypassed it for self-serve ice cream. He had Pistachio & Almond and Chocolate Chip, while I had Green Tea, Choc Chip and Cookies & Cream. Yum yum yum. The Boy was very impressed with the Pistachio, and we both liked the chocolate - this is rare as I am not actually a huge chocolate ice cream person (I prefer to eat actual chocolate most of the time!)


There was also a lovely selection of mini cakes so I sampled a coffee cake and a vanilla cake, while The Boy chose a chocolate cake. The vanilla cake was a little too sweet on a full stomach but the coffee cake was very nice. I finished off with a pumpkin custard (made in a real pumpkin) and a mochi filled with red bean, one of my favourite Japanese sweets. 


When we left it was after 9 but still plenty of people eating their fill. The staff were just as friendly on the way out as they had been when we arrived and we left feeling pleasantly full and happy after an enjoyable dining experience. 


The price for the dinner buffet on Friday night was 65.90RM per person. Prices vary. You can pick up a price list from the restaurant or find out more on their website.





Restoran Saisaki Healthy Japanese Buffet:
Unit No. 1-9, 1st. Floor, Wisma UOA II,
No. 21, Jalan Pinang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : 03-2166 3728 Fax : 03-2166 6728

www.saisaki.com.my  





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