Taka by Saito, Malaysia

[Bu Pun Su]

Sushi Saito Tokyo is one of the most famous sushi-ya in Japan. Reservation has been notoriously difficult. Following the steps of Kanesaka-san and many other sushi masters, Takashi Saito (finally) opened his first overseas venture in 2016. The surprising part at that time was that he chose Kuala Lumpur instead of the ‘usual’ Singapore or Hong Kong … well, there’s a Saito HK now.  

 

The menu was supposedly mimicked the one offered in the flagship restaurant – several otsumami, followed by nigiri sushi. Saito’s specialties such as mushi awabi and tako were superb. My favorite of the evening was probably the seasonal ankimo; served generously, it was creamy, smooth and delicious! The sushi part was also very good with airy shari and a good balance of vinegar and wasabi. Some pieces that I had were kinmedai, shima aji, ama ebi etc. The anago and even tamago were flavorful with nice texture while the portion of the uni, served gunkan style, was rather stingy.

 

Overall, it was a very good experience. I did not expect to see high quality and well-prepared ingredients such as herring roe, monkfish liver, shirako etc. in Malaysia. In the current environment, if you have access to top produce, you should be able to produce good meals almost everywhere. I’ve never been to Saito Tokyo. All I could say that my meal at Saito KL was comparable to my experience at top sushi-ya in Singapore and Hong Kong.

 

Taka by Sushi Saito is located inside the St. Regis hotel. Thus, one could expect the décor to be much more opulent than the standard Japan’s sushi-ya … very high ceiling, large space, nice hinoki wood, state-of-the-art kitchen equipment and so on. Masashi Kubota, the head chef, handled nearly everything. The local staffs helped him with a few cooked items or other not-so-critical tasks. I was the only client that night …

 

Pictures of the meal: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7124357@N03/albums/72157710586373687/with/48607446536/