EVERY so often, one discovers a restaurant operator who offers quality food at affordable prices. Such restaurants might be rare but they do exist, even for premium-priced Japanese food. Yes, to eat the best, you have to pay; but for days when you want cut-above-the-standard but not necessarily top-of-the-line fare which will cost a pretty penny, then a place like Rakuzen fits the bill.
Rakuzen has been around for over a year, and those who work around the Millenia Walk area have been fortunate enough to partake of its generously portioned, good-quality fare, especially when it comes to set lunches under $25. Its unagi with rice set features a whole unagi and is priced at $18, for instance.
Although it has a handful of outlets in Kuala Lumpur and one in Jakarta, it has so far opened only one outlet in Singapore. But having 'critical mass' in the region has enabled the restaurant to maintain moderate prices, even as director Kado-san assures us that Rakuzen directly imports some of the finest ingredients from Japan. 'That helps us keep our costs down, as there's no middleman,' he says.
Rakuzen brings in its own brown Japanese rice, for example, and polishes it here. So rice sets are available in a choice of brown or white rice. What's cool though is that the 170-seater restaurant has over 250 items in its menu, many of which aren't your standard sushi and soba. We checked out its new a la carte dishes launched late last year and came across a few interesting takes on the familiar.
There's the Maguro avocado yukke ($18) - which sees raw, diced tuna served over avocado and seaweed, topped with a raw quail egg and to be mixed together with a slight spicy Korean-style sesame-based sauce drizzled on the plate.
And then there's the Yose toufu ($8), a home-made beancurd unique to Rakuzen, where soya milk imported from Kyoto is steamed upon order and served with soya sauce mixed with ginger and spring onions.
We enjoyed the fresh crunch of the Imo salad ($10 for large; $6 for small) and were pleasantly surprised that julienned potato could taste so surprisingly sweet and non-starchy, almost like turnip. We had it with the Rakuzen special dressing, which was a fresher, frothier and less tart version of Thousand Island.
The sashimi served at Rakuzen is flown in from Kyushu twice a week, such as the melt-in-the-mouth tuna belly and the chewy fugu. What was quite a delight was the lightly vinegared unagi in tempura. The tempura assortment itself is okay, although on the oily side. Perhaps it was because we were having tempura for dinner, as the oil tasted like it was on the last dregs of its frying life. Assorted sashimi options range from five to 12 kinds. The Ofune has eight kinds of sashimi good for three to five persons ($70).
The Kushiyaki grilled items are done well, not overly seasoned or salted. From the braised section, the interesting Ganmodoki ankake ($10) was a palatable dish - a fried 'ball' of tofu that has been mixed with vegetables, served in a thick, soya-based gravy.
With the wood features of the stylishly designed restaurant, Rakuzen has made the effort to esconce diners in a fine-dining environment. Rakuzen is living up to its name, 'joy of dining', in terms of variety and quality, and ambience.
