Rocku Yakiniku Malaysia at Pavilion KL: Review

All-you-can-eat servings of grilled meat & seafood at wallet-pleasing rates? That’s the hook for Rocku Yakiniku, currently the top highlight of the Pavilion mall’s new seventh-floor, multi-outlet dining department (take the escalator up from TGI Friday’s).

Japanese BBQ and Live Music

Rocku Yakiniku is the first Malaysian spin-off of a Singaporean restaurant of the same name in the city-state’s Bugis+ mall. It seeks to supply not only Japanese barbecue cuisine but also entertainment, with live musicians expected to perform at night.

Limited To 100 Minutes Per Meal

Rocku Yakiniku is cavernous, with a look that’s meant to evoke a colourful sort of edginess. For budget-conscious customers, head here during daytime (11am-5pm), when meals cost RM32.90++ per person (50 percent off for children). In the evening (5pm-11pm), the charge rises to RM49.90++. Patrons are generally limited to 100 minutes per meal; if you require more time, it’ll cost RM9.90 for each additional 20 minutes.

Carnivorous Feast

Rocku Yakiniku’s grilled selection remains the same throughout business hours, so whether you’re here for lunch or dinner, you can feast on pork belly, bacon & collar, plus beef rib-eye, sirloin & chuck steak, as well as chicken.

Crustacean Selection

And a selection of seafood that includes prawns, mussels, butter fish, salmon, squid, scallops & shishamo, all of which can be ordered as many times as you like throughout the 100-minute time limit.

Choose Wisely

DIY cooking eats up a lot of time, so the 100 minutes might fly faster than expected. Choose wisely then; the best cuts might be the beef rib-eye, satisfyingly tender & flavoursome, plus everything porky, particularly the savoury bacon & the juicy belly. Most cuts proved pretty tasty – if we tried ordering them a la carte at a regular restaurant, the cost would have easily soared; in that sense, Rocku Yakiniku provides very reasonable value for money, specifically for the lower-priced lunch sessions.

But we might skip the seafood next time; it takes more effort & care to cook, offering potentially lesser returns versus the meat. Plus point: Ventilation at the powerfully air-conditioned Rocku Yakiniku is excellent, so you might not risk leaving the restaurant smelling of smoky meat. Then again, we were here on a weekday afternoon when the outlet was mostly empty, so there wasn’t too much heat & cooking going on around us to tax the venue’s capabilities.