Yoshinari at Plaza Damas 3, Sri Hartamas: Restaurant review

Soulful, honest flavours, skilfully constructed with minimal fuss by chef Komoto and his team – opening this month in Sri Hartamas, Yoshinari is the first Malaysian offshoot of a Japanese restaurant of the same name near Tokyo’s Shibuya Station.

Customise your set lunch

Yoshinari’s chief attraction is its customisable lunch sets – for RM37.60+, choose two main items from the menu, which will promptly be put together with rice, miso soup with house-made bean curd strips, and at least two side dishes, which may include creamy tofu mousse flavoured with sesame and wasabi. For dinner, omakase multi-course meals are offered (RM180-RM260).

Salaryman’s lunch

We enjoyed our salaryman’s lunch – Yoshinari’s take on bibimbap was tasty, a medley of beef, vegetables and soft-boiled egg, meant to be mixed up.

Pork belly with smoked potato salad was satisfying too – luscious meat and soft carbs. But not everything was a success: the beef hamburg steak was too gamy; the tuna and scallop sashimi was only OK (Yoshinari says it secures its supply from Tsukiji market).

Still, the hits outnumbered the misses – both the lightly battered chicken laced with red pickled ginger and the simmered flatfish were moist, delicate and delicious. Shochu mixes are available, blended with green or oolong tea.