Sunday, April 27, 2008

Kaizen Sushi @ Seria With Eu And Qi

So far, we have only been to the Kaizen in Seria with our whole family last February and since then, we have never taken just the kids for meals here.

We did that a few weekends ago for lunch and I'm planning to avoid taking them here for a while - just until I think the staffs have forgotten us.

It's not that anything happened. It's just that Eu and especially Qi as usual managed to distract/attract the attention of perhaps the whole floor staffs.

The whole night. It doesn't help as there were few tables occuppied.

This time, my husband and I decided to take beef and while I had the beef rice set, he had the beef noodle. By the time my rice set came, I was quite full from my vegetable tempura and salmon sashimi that I hardly touched the rice sprinkled with sesame seeds (?).


My black pepper beef was okay and the noodle was good too. My husband also ordered and took from the train a couple of plates of sushi but I can't remember if I had any of them...

One of the difference between this place and the other popular Japanese eatery in Brunei is the wasabi. Diehard Japanese food folks told me that the wasabi here and at Excapade is different not only in terms of taste but also where you get it from.

The silver canister on the train is where you get the wasabi in this restaurant.

As usual, we're happy with the food here although this time, with our beef order, it was a bit more expensive - a total of $50+ for just the two of us.

And as usual, the voices of Eu and especially Qi's took over the whole place once in a while - and that was only because there was a lot of sussing and threatening from us.

It helped that Eu was distracted by my camera and there were a lot of self-idolatry pictures of her puckered mouth, nose, eyes and everyone else.

But there were also exceptional shots - considering she's only 4 years old - such as this one.


In fact, come to think of it, judging from the picture, even the shot of the wasabi canister was probably taken by her. Time will tell whether it was the camera or she really has an eye for photography.

As for Qi, if we could eat free for the times when she charmed restaurant staffs - we would be eating free ALL THE TIME.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 16:26:52 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Singapore : Japanese Food at Yoshinoya

Because we knew that we'd have a problem getting food for Qi in a Japanese eatery, we ended up with only ONE Japanese treat throughout our whole trip.

And it was not even one of those proper Japanese restaurant with sushi train but rather a fast food corner at Plaza Singapura called Yoshinoya. I read that this is a big chain which originated from Japan and has 13 outlets in Singapore alone!

Their recommended dish is their beef bowl selection but my husband ordered their Chicken Teriyaki and Salmon and I (having discovered the one Japanese food I do enjoy) had their plate of Gyoza.

The teriyaki looked good enough and the kids sure enjoyed it.

I was happy with my Gyoza too although I would prefer them to be fried a little longer. The ginger sauce was a bit too exotic for me though.

However, they are good for snacks and at the time when we were there, past 9pm, it was still busy with patrons.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 22:27:23 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Excapade's Gyoza vs Kaizen's Gyoza

Because I was quite taken with the Kaizen's fried dumpling a.k.a. Gyoza during our last visit to the Seria branch, and I remembered that I didn't quite fancy the Excapade's Gyoza.

So I decided to compare them again and a few days ago, I got my husband to take away one serving of the Excapade's Gyoza.


Excapade's Gyoza and Kaizen's Gyoza

Even from the looks of it, you could tell that they were prepared and cooked differently. The Excapade's gyoza were quite soggy but that could be from the fact that they had to spend 30 mins on the road (!). But again, even the sauce was different.

I thought the Kaizen's Gyoza was very much like the Chinese dumpling that I am used to - so perhaps the Excapade's version is more authentic?

For that, I need to go to Japan to find out.

But at this point, I can safely conclude that I prefer the Kaizen's.

*Read more on Gyoza if you wish*

Posted by JeWeLLe at 14:20:10 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Monday, February 25, 2008

Kaizen Sushi (Seria)

I first heard the news of the opening of a Japanese eatery in Seria town from the most unlikely source - my parents in law who gave me vague information that it will be a "branch of some restaurant in Bandar Seri Begawan".

The other men in my household were excited - nevermind which restaurant it will be as long as it's Japanese - as the nearest one is at least 30 mins drive away.

While I, not being a sushi fan, was busy speculating on which restaurant it will be and guessed that it could be another Excapade or perhaps Sushi Tei or maybe Misato or even Kaizen - the only 4 Japanese places that I'm familiar with.

That was until we got a confirmation from someone who was involved in the project that it will indeed be a Kaizen Sushi.

So last weekend, since it first opened its door last month, we took the whole family and my youngest brother, who was in town on route his way to Miri, for dinner.

One thing about Japanese place that I don't like is the menu can be confusing - all the food looks the same and the selections are so many, I had to forced myself to focus on the pictures and quickly pick before I lost interest.


Salmon sashimi, some sushi, cuttlefish, prawn, egg eel and salmon salad

My husband ordered the vegetable tempura as he knew that I liked the one that I had in Bandar's Kaizen but for some reason, the one that arrived was nothing like the type that I wanted. We also had the sushi party set, salmon salad, seaweed soup and fried rice.


Sushi party set

I also ordered a plate of Japanese dumpling called Gyoza - which tasted as good as the "Wo Tek" (Chinese fried dumplings) that we sometimes have for supper in Keningau and KK after whatever night activities we had then.

For some reasons, I find that the Kaizen's gyoza are more to my taste than the Excapade's and I will definitely order this again next visit.

And even though there were only 5 adults and 3 kids, the food finished so fast that I didn't even managed to try some of them!

My in laws verdict was that they prefer the other place when it comes to taste and that could be due to Kaizen's no-use-of-MSG policy (as I was told). But my husband and I actually like this place and I found a couple of things that I enjoy here and next time I'd have to try their curry range too.

In case you're wondering about the price, it is slightly pricier than Excapade but definitely no outrageous RM400 for a 4 persons lunch here.

And Sis Caneeliea, why don't you come over so you can try this and compare it with Umai :-)

Posted by JeWeLLe at 15:27:46 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Monday, September 17, 2007

What Roe Are These?

When hubby and I were comparing one particular sushi offered by Kaizen and Excapade, I was perplexed when he insisted that these are not the same type of sushi :

Excapade's
Kaizen's

Now that I compare the pictures, I could see that the colour of the roe are different. So perhaps hubby was right, these roe did come from two different type of fish.

Another reason why it's useful to take photos of your food!

Posted by JeWeLLe at 12:47:47 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Kaizen Sushi

Last weekend, we decided to try the Kaizen Sushi Restaurant in Kiarong.

Both of us have never been here before as to hubby, there is only one place on earth when it comes to Japanese food!

Despite it being a fasting month, the place was busy. There were a few tables occupied but I think we kind of broke the elegant silence the moment we came in with our two very exuberant girls -hopefully we didn't annoy any of the other patrons too much!

The menu was very thick and I barely had time to really look as I was feeding Qi her lunch and at the same time, trying to quell their excitement with the train. Perhaps even the kitchen staffs could hear Eu when she loudly exclaimed "I wonder what's in the mysterious red box!". Many, many times.

See that red box? Eu was absolutely fascinated by it.

After flipping through the menu scores of time, hubby ordered these :

10 pieces for $10+. Hubby found a cheaper salmon sashimi of equal quality!

As we were looking for a parking, we passed the back of the restaurant and saw that a kitchen staff was descaling a huge fish, salmon according to hubby. So the salmon sashimi that we had was fresh of the fish. Hubby claimed he could taste the freshness - I couldn't taste anything too different but if the expert said that it's good, I believe him.

Eu's Staple
Chicken Teppanyaki

As hubby is into salad these days, Kaizen received an extra thumbs up when hubby found that they offered this :

I don't know about you, but it doesn't look that appetizing to me at all. So this is how it looks like when the salad and the salmon slices were all mixed up :

Looks better?

I supposed the look can be deceiving because according to hubby, it's palatable - except he'd want to try it without the salad cream next time. Needless to say, I didn't try as it's not my kind of thing at all.

I decided to try out their noodle and tempura dish set :


The noodle and tempura set cost about $10+.

Hubby was impressed with the selections, quality and prices and I think as far as Bandar is concerned, it's no longer an Excapade Restaurant territory for him.

As for me, my noodle was suprisingly very good. I've never had a soba noodle before and I'm not sure if Excapade have this type.

But the best part of my set meal was definitely the tempura. I never knew tempura could taste so good! Bittergourd, brinjal and another vegetable I couldn't identified tasted so divine that I polished the whole vegetable tempura myself. Eu had the prawn and she said they're delicious too. At least now I know what I can look forward to whenever I find myself dragged to a Japanese restaurant.

As for the ambiance, I like it. It's cosy and the staffs were efficient. As I said, it was nicely quiet with not even any annoying non-Japanese songs in the background.

Until we arrived.

Eu, as usual, managed to distract the staffs with her "I LOVE salmon!" or "Here comes the mysterious red box again!", all ending with exclamation marks. No gentle speech for her. Qi, as usual, flirted with anyone who passed by her chair and I was just happy that she didn't burst into her boisterous "Go Diego Go!" song which has been her anthem for the past few weeks!

I wondered if the table next to us left because the kids were being too happy!

But I'm happy to concur with you, Sushi Fan. I think Kaizen is definitely another Japanese Restaurant I wouldn't mind coming to - if I really have to.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 12:34:10 | Permanent Link | Comments (5) |

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Excapade Takeaway

For the first time last Sunday, hubby brought home some take-away Excapade food.

Eu is turning just as bad as her papa and everytime we eat out, she'd ask if the restaurant has any salmon and salmon roe - nevermind if its a Chinese restaurant or a Western restaurant!

So, using her as his excuse, hubby bought some on his way home from a short stint at the office and how Eu welcome them!

For your information, Excapade is hubby's and Eu's favourite Japanese restaurant here in Brunei and Eu is simply crazy about their salmon roe sushi.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 22:49:37 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Singapore : Ichiban

Of course, hubby will not miss going for a Japanese food when he was over at Singapore last week. But since he was only there for one day, he only managed to check out the Ichiban Sushi.

Here, hubby thinks he has found the origin of our Brunei Excapade.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 00:00:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Misato Japanese

Last weekend we decided to try out the Misato, the Japanese restaurant in Kiulap after a prominent local journalist claimed that this is the best Japanese restaurant around.

This place has actually been around for several years but for some reason or others, we never really got to try it (not that I was eager to!).

Posted by JeWeLLe at 21:58:33 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Singapore : Raku Ninja

We came across Raku Ninja Restaurant as we were walking along the Singapore CityLink. I was glad to find it because it was past noon and I didn't pack Qi's lunch so we were desperate for a place that serves food for her.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 15:18:54 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |
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