Dining With Jewelle

My husband and I thought of having a late night supper at the new Fratini Restaurant in Seria town earlier. But although the kids cooperated by turning in early, the babysitter was not ready and we could only leave home by 9pm.

Since it took 15 mins to drive to Seria, we decided that even if Fratini was still opened, they would not be able to prepare our food in time before their closing time.

And so we decided to drop by Kaizen instead.

My husband had a craving for the “chewing gum of the orient”, a nick name for these dried octopus snacks sold in most stores. So since he could not get the processed ones, we had the fresh sliced octopus instead.

I tried it once at the other Japanese restaurant and did not fancy its rubbery texture.

I was not crazy about these either although they seemed easier to eat and the generous slices of lemon masked any smell which it may have.

But if you asked me, this is not something I will order anymore.

So our first dining experience in KK during this trip was at the Wagamama at Komplex Asia City where it was not crowded (plus point) and spacious (plus point). The food selections were typical although I think their sushi range were not as much as Excapade (?).

I thought their food and the service was good.

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.

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.

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.

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*

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.

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.

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