40 F L AV O U R S
by Fong Wai Ling
NIPPON TEI
Serious about serving the best Japanese
Lot 426/427, 4th Floor, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 2161 4169 / 2161 4176
Opening hours: 11.30am – 10pm
N
ippon Tei, located on the 4th Floor of
Suria KLCC is serious about serving
the best Japanese food in town. The
outlet has been operating for over 9 years in
Suria KLCC under the management that pio-
neered Japanese restaurants here in Malay-
sia.
A buzzing crowd always seems to invade
the restaurant during lunch hours of working
days. During this time, its patrons are mostly
made up of the office crowd coming from the
many offices around the city centre. It’s really
not hard to see why when the restaurant oper-
ates on a “fast food” concept. “Fast food” in
Nippon Tei equates to quick time cooking and
prompt service as well as serving wholesome
and healthy meal. It’s also this very fact that
garnered its steady stream of patrons from the
moment the restaurant opens.
Nippon Tei boosts a wide selection of
choices from appetizers, main course to des-
serts. One can easily find something that sat-
isfies their idea of a good Japanese meal. We
visited Nippon Tei on a Thursday evening. It
was a rainy evening and the idea was to warm
our stomach with hot miso soup and fresh su-
shi.
The first thing that caught our attention
was the Nippon Tei Gozen (RM48). Tipped to
be the most sellable item in the restaurant, it
holds a delightful combination of sushi, sash-
imi and tempura. Perfect for sharing and as
they always say, “Eat like how the locals do,”
We also ordered the King Prawn roll. It
came rolling out in a grand presentation of
sushi stuffed with prawn and salmon skin in
between the shrimp’s head and its tail. Graced
an appetizer before you start your Japanese with avocado paste and mayonnaise, it added
fanfare, the prawn tempura instantly became much satisfaction to our lavish meal.
my favourite. Light and crunchy, it was almost Finally, we had a dessert, made out of
addictive! fresh yogurt; the Blueberry flavoured yogurt
My friend, a die hard sashimi lover ordered provided us the sweet closure to our elaborate
the Sashimi Gozen (RM53). With a choice of Japanese meal.
five sashimi served, together with hot Miso All in all, Nippon Tei is serious when it
soup and vegetable salad, there could be no comes to serving Japanese. All meals are care-
other complaints. The fillets were fresh, light fully constructed by their chef, where portions
and sweet and goes perfectly well with the are sufficed and done in considerable cooking
serving of rice. time. The restaurant also holds a pleasant, laid
We also have the Sukiyaki set (RM28), a bank environment that is friendly for all.
rich meal of thinly sliced beef served in a hot
pot. The meal also comes with a bowl o f
raw egg. According to Mr. Yan, Op-
erations Manager of Nippon Tei, a
lot of locals would pour the egg
into the hot pot in a typical steam-
boat fashion but the Japanese
way of eating it is to dip the sliced
beef into the raw egg and then
having it with your rice. We tried this
manner only to discover that it is
indeed a delightful way of eating
sukiyaki. The raw egg texture
envelopes the hot sliced beef
and gives it a milky texture. It
maybe a little intimidating in
the first place but do try it the
next time you are there. Like