REI Contemporary Sushi at TTDI: Pop-up review

This review is brought to you in part by REI.

REI marks an opportunity to celebrate the talents of two promising young Malaysian chefs as they embark on a fresh path in KL – this unconventional pop-up sushi bar is spearheaded by Perlis-born Eddie Ng, who honed his craft in Japanese kitchens in Tokyo and London in recent years before returning to Malaysia.

For the next few months, you’ll find Eddie and his buddy, Barcspain Nea, who trained in Gallic cuisine in France, manning a 10-seat counter at Taman Tun Dr Ismail’s DC Restaurant, crafting their own memorable take on sushi for omakase-style dinners with resourceful techniques and intriguing ingredients.

Soy-less sushi

Eddie does things differently from many typical sushi set-ups, producing elegant results – he ages his fish and seafood in a box filled with crushed ice for several days, deepening the dimensions of umami in his cuts and making them more tender, and relies on a variety of dressings and garnishes to totally replace soy sauce dips (a practice inspired by his stint at London’s Yashin Sushi).

Expect to spend one to two hours for dinner at REI (at a rate of RM180++ per person). Our first taste of Eddie’s efforts proved lovely – shiro ebi white shrimp (in season right now), enhanced with koji-fermented shrimp paste and lemon zest, draped on firm, well-separated grains flavoured with a nuanced red vinegar that’s originally intended to work with genmai brown rice.

Sushi revelation

Course by course, each round is revelation – sticky-textured squid with hints of lime, topped with Sapporo sesame and dulse red alga flakes (REI’s substitute for the oceanic flavours of kombu); torched cutlassfish with daikon ponzu; and marvellous chutoro tinged with a mix of soy-marinated fresh wasabi and wasabi paste – every piece inventively conceived and intelligently constructed.

Both in their twenties, REI’s show-runners look youthful enough to easily be underestimated (they initially met while working in Nobu KL last year), but their work is elaborate and painstaking, evidenced in meticulous creations like soy-marinated hotate sushi (the scallop is blanched, not raw, harking back to Edo-period preparations) and ikura with dashi jelly (genuinely gorgeous).

Careful preparation

This is a lean operation; Eddie and Barcspain handle everything themselves, with Eddie’s wife (a Japanese-born chef) slated to join them here soon. Being fresh faces, sourcing for produce can be tricky, but they perform admirably despite their limitations – amberjack belly comes topped with Kyoto black shichimi-spiced daikon (the shimichi is meant to be a change from the typical red togarashi, with flavours subtly closer to sansho pepper) and tuna is marinated with Hokkaido-brewed soy sauce. Even salt is thoughtfully chosen; REI uses Australian Murray River salt (a nod to how Eddie loves to pick up ingredients while travelling).

All good meals must come to end – here, with seared otoro bolstered with truffle oil and a terrific tuna hand-roll with crunchy pickles. REI can mean either ‘zero’ or ‘etiquette’ in Japanese, and this pop-up successfully encapsulates Eddie’s principle of starting from scratch and preserving a sense of humility and grace in the process.

Invigorating dessert

An invigorating palate cleanser of apples infused with calamansi and ginger extracts paves the way for Barcspain’s turn to shine, with a whimsical modern dessert of kinako roasted soybean mousse, coconut flakes, Gula Melaka creme anglaise, peanut brittles, matcha powder and raspberries, ravishingly textured, with flavour profiles that remain remarkably consistent with the rest of the meal, with an Earl Grey madeleine on the side.

Barcspain has plans to spin off on his own venue and projects too eventually, so keep a close eye on him. A carefully curated shortlist of sake is available; Eddie recommends the sparkling, delicately delicious. This is one initiative to check out for Malaysian fans of Japanese fare – thanks to REI for having us here.