Torii at Batai, Damansara Heights: 2017 menu

This review is brought to you in part by Torii.

Torii has unveiled its new dinner menu, jazzing up modern Japanese cuisine with intriguing creations and combinations.

Sashimi Platter

Start with chef Nizam’s refashioning of a sashimi platter, with toro, kampachi, salmon, amaebi, scallop and uni elegantly unified in a bowl, their sweet, fresh flavours and pristine succulence buoyed by the uplift of yuzu foam – it tastes as lovely as it looks, making for a memorable way to enjoy sashimi (RM42).

Chilled soup

It’s also well worth whetting the appetite with Torii’s chilled soup of blended peas and edamame, beautifully textured and enhanced with a tinge of green tea, poured over salmon tartare and a quail’s egg yolk, accented with a little lime, salt and extra virgin olive oil, for bursts of brininess soothed by mellow vegetarian notes – very tasty (RM19).

Bone marrow

Bone marrow is forever a treat, but Torii ups the ante by using wagyu bone marrow, buttery and beefy to the max, made even more hedonistic with morsels of foie gras and quail’s yolk on each fragment, for the ultimate diet-be-damned indulgence (RM29).

Seafood

Fish takes on a twist with Torii’s pan-seared tuna paired with honeycomb, which may be an acquired taste for its strange mix of seafood and sweet, complemented by zucchini and curry mayo (RM29). For a safer selection, the baked halibut is impeccably executed, moist and tender, well-matched with mashed halibut and caviar (RM29).

Vegetarian meals

Vegetarians are not neglected – the house salad channels vivid flavours and vibrant textures, with the main components of rocket leaves, cubed apples, a whole mozzarella cheese ball and garlic drizzle working terrifically in tandem, their sum more satisfying than their parts (RM26).

And in a nod to wisely curated produce, zucchini flowers should always merit an order on any menu, battered here and stuffed with mixed truffled mushrooms, set over balsamic-laced dashi in a playful revision of tempura (RM25).

 Rice bowls

Battle of the bowls: Torii’s stone bowl rice is built to be a crowd-pleaser, brimming with unagi, shrimp, Japanese scallop, seaweed, tobiko and onsen tamago, layered over firm, hot and crackling rice (RM39). It has plenty of ingredients that a lot of people will relish, but our vote is for the Beef Donburi, which offers mouthful after mouthful of pleasure, with medium-rare beef slices, foie gras, white truffles and a soft-cooked egg, full of flavour and fragrance (RM58).

And there’s still much more to try – scallop uni ravioli, a smoked duck steak, and wagyu scone sliders, to name a few. Many thanks to Torii for having us back.

 Location & Details

Address: Lot 8, Batai Village, Jalan Batai, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur.
Hours: Open Mon-Fri, lunch & dinner; Sat-Sun, dinner only.
Tel: +603-2011-3798
Find: View directory for Torii here.