Zestful Eats

The bf and I have been wanting to eat at a Japanese buffet for some time now. The nearest for me would be Shogun but I’ve heard that the food quality has dropped/is not so good so I didn’t want to try it. Plus, there’s always a huge line and I hate waiting.

After googling and reading other food blogs, I found that Rakuzen or (Raku Zen) in Chulan Square offers an All You Can Eat for lunch (1.00 - 3.00 pm) on Sundays. This was even better than eating a buffet because you can just order and they will make it fresh for you.

The presentation and setting of our table. We had green tea. The green leaf shaped thing is wasabi.

The very extensive All-You-Can-Eat menu. You can order everything and anything from this menu

Soft shell crab temaki (handroll) and assorted Sashimi

The soft shell crab temaki was nice but there wasn’t anything special about it. The assorted sashimi tasted quite fresh - no yukky fishy smell. Its 2 slices each of maguro (tuna), shiromi (white fish), sake (salmon), ika (cuttlefish) and tako (octopus). It was my first time eating the cuttlefish raw - can’t say I like the taste,. I love the tuna tho (the reddish meat). The octopus was kinda rubbery but that is expected.

I just love this Chuku Lidako (and so does my sister who was so jealous when I MMS-ed her this pic). Its baby octopus cooked in a reddish sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I really love the Japanese cold dishes and so does the bf.

Chuku Lidako (baby octopus) and Edemame (boiled green soya beans)

Then we edamame which are boiled green soya beans. Aree likes these beans. It has small fine hairs outside the pod and you only eat the beans inside. These tasted like they were perhaps boiled for a bit too long because they were a bit squishy. Yummy nonetheless.

Mixed sushi

We also had a plate of mixed sushi. From the top left : Tamagoyaki (omelette), ebikko (shrimp roe), inari (sweet bean curd stuffed with rice), inari (eel), ni hotate (boiled scallop), wasn’t really sure what was the 2nd one, octopus, ebi (prawn), cuttlefish, salmon, white fish and tuna.

Mix skewered grill

We also had a plate of mix skewered grill. It was two sticks each of shiitake mushrooms (which you can’t really see on the pic but its the far left), shishamo (smelt fish) and yakitori (chicken). Its my first time eating smelt fish which is commonly known as pregnant fish. Its stomach was full of fish eggs but for some reason I just can’t accept the taste of smelt fish.

Green tea icecream

OH MY GOD! This was SOOOO good. Let me repeat that. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. I had 2 scoops (wanted more but the bf looked at me one kind already). Im usually not a big fan of green tea but this icecream utterly blew me away.

Besides all the food that I took pic of above, we also had

• - Chilli ika (chilli cuttlefish) which wasn’t that spicy either
• - My absolute favourite Chuka Kurage (seasoned jellyfish)
• - Chawanmushi - steamed egg. Also so very sedap and silky smooth
• - Agedashi Toufu - Fried taufu (tempura) with sauce. This one was not so nice. The sauce lacked taste and the taufu was big when it should be smaller.

As you can see, we had so much to eat and I found it very worth it. I would so come here again if I had the money

Rakuzen Chulan  Square
Block B Lot 2A Chulan Square,
92 Jalan Raja Chulan, 50200 KL
Lunch: 11:30am - 3:00pm (daily)
Dinner: 6:00pm - 11:00pm (daily)

All-You-Can-Eat
Every Sunday (1.00 - 3.00pm)
Adult : RM55++ per pax
Child : RM28++ per pax

For reservations, please call: 03-2145 6200

Spritz cookies are cookies that have to be pushed thru a cookie press or piped out. You can buy a cookie press for pretty cheap nowadays from any baking goods store or big supermarkets.

Chocolate Spritz Cookie
Makes 7-8 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups (or 284 g) butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars at medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.

Creaming the butters and sugars together

3. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture gradually and beat well.

This is how the dough looks like after 1/3 of the flour

4. The dough should be soft but not too sticky. It should have a mousse-like consistency. Using a spoon, put cookie dough into cookie press or piping bag. Press cookie dough onto cool ungreased cookie sheets.

Pressing out the dough using the press

5. Bake at 375°F/190°C. for 10-12 minutes. Remove from sheet and cool. Store in airtight container at cool room temperature for several weeks or freeze for two months.

Nicely packed cookies

I bought a cookie press. Yey! Been wanting to have one for some time now. Finally got my mom to get me one. Its to make cookies fast because it can pump out cookies and also do icing. This one i bought has 10 cutout disks to make cookies and 6 icing tips for decorating cakes. Its made out of plastic and has a metal rod with notches.

This is how it looks like when I take it apart. What you do is pull back the metal rod at the squeeze part which has a handle. Then choose a disk (I showed two there) and attach it to the tube using the red ring at one end. Then fill the tube with your dough. Screw on the handle part and squeeze it to push out the cookie.

The cookie dough has to be one especially made for a cookie press - its usually softer and the quantity of butter is more - and is also called a spritz cookie. You must also bake it on a cookie sheet that is ungreased and unlined because if not the cookie wont stick to the pan after you press it.

I bought my for quite cheap, only RM11.90 at Tesco, Mutiara Damansara. Recipe tomorrow!