Toridoki @ Desa Sri Hartamas

Nestled in the middle of Sri Hartamas, Tori Doki is a real authentic Japanese restaurant that is managed by a Japanese. Sri Hartamas is famous with many different kind of restaurants and this is the first time I visited a Japanese restaurant that is run by a Japanese.

When I enter the restaurant, I can hear all the Japanese conversations going on among the diners! This proves that the restaurant is really popular among the Japanese and the food is on par with the food in Japan! The interior of the restaurant is simple and it is closely packed to maximize the amount of patrons dining in the restaurant.

Since this is an authentic Japanese restaurant, I can see a wide selection of Japanese alcohols that we normally don't see in Malaysia. Besides that, the types of Japanese alcohol or shoyu available is also differ for every month!

By the name Tori Doki, we can know that this restaurant is mainly focuses on chicken and the "chicken" symbol is also used on the restaurant. In the menu, there is a picture of chicken and the name of each parts of chicken are listed out for the diners! Now i know how to order breast meat "mune" and thigh "momo" in Japanese! How interesting!

Everyday there will a a different complimentary appetizer served and today I got the Potato Salad! The potato salad has carrot, purple cabbage and Japanese cucumber which is molded into a ball. I never thought a potato salad can taste so good! I was actually hoping for a second serving!

Potato Salad

The next dish on the menu is Nagaimo Garlic Butter, which is a special Japanese mountain yam that is white in colour. The texture of the yam is soft and smooth. The garlic sprinkles on the yam helps to enhance the flavour of the yam.

Nagaimo Garlic Butter - RM12

I love the Konsai Salad very much! When the waitress served the salad, I was surprised to see a block of cheese placed next to the salad. Apparently, the waitress will grate the amount of cheese that you like on the salad because sometime there are people that does not take dairy products or is lactose intolerant. Konsai salad is a mixture of lotus root, pumpkin, sweet potato and broccoli that drenched in a special Japanese dressing.

Konsai Salad - RM18

Teba Age is a fried chicken wings that drenched in teriyaki sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The skin is crispy and the meat is soft with a hint of sweetness from the teriyaki sauce. Fried chicken is always good but this is better!

Teba Age - RM10

Sunagimo Ahijyo is an interesting dish. Bread is provided to accompany the chicken gizzard with 8 types of vegetables. Chicken gizzard has an interesting flavour and it is chewy in texture. I believe that chicken gizzard is not something that everyone would like because peronally I don't particularly like it.

Sunagimo Ahijyo -RM18

I always knew that onigiri is a rice ball but this is something interesting where the onigiri is made by having rice mix with cheese and grilled to the perfection. The skin is crispy but the inside is soft and cheesy. Th cheese used in this onigiri is Camembert Cheese.

Cheese Yaki Onigiri - RM12

Tori Maruyaki is the specialty of this restaurant! It is advised to make an order ahead of time before you come into the restaurant because there is a limited amount of chicken prepared on a day. According the manager, Tori Maruyaki is marinated with salt and pepper and and baked to the perfection. The meat is soft and juicy, and the skin is crispy with a hint of tasty aroma.

Tori Maruyaki - RM45

It seems like it is a must to have Yakitori as part of the menu of all the Japanese restaurant. The yakitori in this restaurant is affordable and it has a decent amount of meat. Tsukune is chicken meat with leek and it has an interesting reasoning to this combination too! According to the manager, the leek helps to clear the palate and refresh the taste in the mouth before the next piece of meat. Tsukune has an extremely rich taste. It is molded into cylindrical shape using mix chicken meats and drenched in teriyaki sauce. Just by having 3 sticks of each yakitori has already filled me up!

Toridoki - RM8 per stick

Negima - RM5 per stick

Tsukune - RM11 per stick

Houjicha Pudding is my favourite dessert! I love the taste of burned matcha and it taste like creme brulee. The pudding is sweet from the maple syrup and bitter from the matcha tea. There are bits and pieces of tea leaves in the pudding. Unfortunately, the portion is too little! I was craving for more when I finish my pudding.

Houjicha Pudding - RM10

Overall, it is a great authentic Japanese restaurant to dine in. They have unconventional food and drinks available in the restaurant. The manager mentioned that all the cooks in the restaurant has undergone training in Japan! So if you craved for a real Japanese food from Japan, then this is the right restaurant for you!