Wa Zen Japanese Restaurant, Melaka Raya
Sleepy Hao, Akiraceo Jian and I headed to town for a more decent (Anything better than Sushi King or maybe Sibaraku is considered decent.) Japanese food. Actually, I have nothing to blog anymore, so I dragged these two scapegoats along so that I have more pictures to be used in my post.
I read about this particular restaurant from Yung.’s blog and decided to give it a try. Who knows, I might have another place to have my all time favourite unagis whenever I feel like I want to.
Wa Zen 和膳 Japanese Restaurant, located not too far from Portuguese Hotel, operates quietly in Melaka Raya. It’s relatively easy to find and parking is ample. However, do take note the lane opposite the shop is drawn with yellow lines, so, try not to park there during the day time.
There aren’t many tables in the restaurants. A glance at it, there could be less than 10 tables, with separated cubicles on the left and a private room at the back. Warm lighting and fully air conditioned.
My complain is that, they actually allow their patrons to smoke inside the air conditioned restaurants. Not very wise, I would say. Ample space between each tables and still comfortable to sit in. I think the restaurant is quite popular in town, as we had to wait for a short while before being seated as all tables were occupied. There were a lot of Japanese customers having dinner there too, to my surprise.
Then, I noticed this cat again. Its in every Japanese restaurant, I believe. I seen it here, Sibaraku and also Sushi King. Meow~
Upon seated, hot towels are served to all patrons. However, with three photographers around, hot towels ended up being cold by the time we use it. As usual, pre-packed wooden chopsticks and chilled green tea.
While waiting for our food to arrive, I played with the stuffs available on the table. The Japanese soy sauce, chilies flakes and tooth picks.
For starters, Hao and I had the fresh salmon handroll and soft shell crabs handroll. Taste wise, it was edible but definitely lost out in terms of taste. The seaweed used to wrap around the ingredients were not easy to tear off, making it quite a little troublesome to eat and with all the egg roes falling off. I wonder the seaweed got “stiffed” because of our photo taking time. The waiter did remind us to eat them quickly.
We ordered the sets, which come with a bowl of white rice, salads, steamed eggs, two slices of watermelons and whatever you ordered main dish. It was really disappointing to see a small pool of water after I finished the bowl of salads, which could only mean they didn’t drain the lettuce properly before serving. The steamed egg contained too much water and has lost its texture. A failed cawanmushi.
Hao ordered tori rose katsu set (deep fried pork chop) while Jian ordered teriyaki chicken rice set. I don’t know how it tasted, so let it be.
As for me, definitely and nothing else but unagis. Yummy! I was telling May Gin this early evening that I was having cravings for unagis.
The unagis were much drier compare to many other unagis that I have tried in other Japanese restaurants. However, the taste was there albeit not that strong. The delicate white meat was cooked to perfection, retaining its firm texture and yet soft and smooth enough to glide down my throat. Again, some sweet sauce onto the white rice would be nice, for its too dry, the whole set that is.
In Malacca, there are only a few Japanese restaurants, with Sushi King dominating the market. However, with Wa Zen around, the locals have another options. I would definitely come back again, especially when I feel like having a more proper Japanese food rather than the sucky but still edible Sushi King. There’s another Japanese restaurant that is about to open soon in Dataran Pahlawan, but that will be another post.
Wa Zen Japanese Restaurant
38, Jalan Melaka Raya 15,
Taman Melaka Raya, 75000 Melaka.
06-2823882
Related posts:
- Shogun Japanese Buffet Restaurant, 1 Utama
- East Garden, Melaka Raya
- Shabu-Shabu Japanese Steamboat Buffet, Bandar Puteri Puchong
June 30th, 2008 00:13
The entire look of the restaurant looks promising.
Yeah…you are right, Melaka only has few japanese restaurant and i guess i have been ages not been to Sushi King. :-P
I would give this Wa Zen a try some day. How about the pricing?
June 30th, 2008 00:20
OOohhh la la….
New Japanese place.. do they have any tataki dishes? Salmon or beef? LOL….
Making use of ur external flash i see… isk isk isk…..
June 30th, 2008 00:27
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I’ve been waiting for this post!!
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/760/img9266xz8.jpg
Don’t you dare to delete this comment, else I’ll keep on chanting the Sigma word whenever I see you with my irritating voice! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
urghh… wait, I should ask Sam to do that job since his voice is a lot more irritating than mine… LOL
June 30th, 2008 07:58
OMG at that pic LOL !!!!!!
OMG
June 30th, 2008 09:40
how come u never treated me japanese food when i was your roommate for 2 long years? and now u bringing the ‘bochi’ there, not fair rite!
see bochi’s face beside the monkey? looks exactly like him, nice shot!
June 30th, 2008 10:35
Should go to EQ’s Kampachi… It’s the ONLY place with great japanese food in Melaka :)
June 30th, 2008 10:53
veli mach pictures… but food ones so lil nia..
June 30th, 2008 11:14
UNAGI!!!!!
This is why I refuse to bring my camera along sometimes because 1) foods get cold fast and 2) you don’t want to make hungry ppl waiting while you’re taking pictures of their foods because they’ll eat you rather than food.
June 30th, 2008 16:54
Good la, now you have more Japanese restaurants in Malacca. When you wanna treat me at Wa Zen?
June 30th, 2008 17:32
wow the unagi looks sparkling good!
June 30th, 2008 19:52
aiyoooooooooooooo… I LOVE UNAGI also…………….!! walauuuuuu eh……….. yummy yummy
July 1st, 2008 00:02
Yan Er : Expect to spend around RM25 - RM30 per meal, more or less like Sushi King, if you ask me.
Robin : Yes, they do. But I love my unagis more.
Hao : *roll eyes*
Kampungkai : I didn’t treat them also. Hehe. I rather use the money to treat them to buy myself more unagis.
shYnn : I beg to differ. Moreover, its RM70 per meal at Equatorial Hotel and at such steep price, I doubt you can eat Japanese food frequently. :) Give others a try, they ain’t that bad.
Joshuaongys : Because we didn’t order much.
Chong : Haha. Well, a blogger got to do what a blogger does, right?
Neo : Haha. Come Malacca and we shall see.
Xin : Yes, it is really nice, except its a little dry.
Dr. Carolyn : You love them too, eh? :D
July 1st, 2008 01:06
omg… I so miss japanese food!! Sushi King sux! I dunno why people keep recommending that place..
July 3rd, 2008 00:08
That blardy cat is everywhere in Japan. Once, I entered this shop that’s FULL of this cat - all sizes and colours. Some hand can move, some cannot move. Crazy -_-”. It’s birth place is Japan I’d say.
July 3rd, 2008 00:27
Chunchow : Haha. Yeah, Sushi King sucks, but in Malacca, you don’t have much choice.
Narrowband : LOL. So, it is from Japan and every Japanese idolizes the cat.
July 3rd, 2008 10:48
Narrowband, don’t forget that most of them (Japanese) are crazy over Hello Kitty and hence, the cat figure…
July 4th, 2008 16:09
Hell I totally dislike they let patrons to smoke inside the restaurants, but it seems like most of the japanese restaurants allow that.. Sad.
July 4th, 2008 16:14
Chong : Hehe. Hello Kitty ought to be hung and shot dead.
Yung . : Well, its their restaurant. :) The least they did is to spray some fragrance thingy.
July 16th, 2008 00:27
Hi there, have you tried out kushi masa? They specialize in yakitoris.
It’s located opposite of UOB Bank in Plaza Mahkota around Melaka Raya.
Service is slow, but it’s the only place I go for Japanese food in Melaka.
Recommendations:
->Omurice (Omelette rice)
->Tsukune (minced pork on sticks)
->Teba naka (chicken wings)
->Tori katsu kushi (Fried chicken meat on stick)
->Bekon asupara (Fancy way of saying bacon asparagus in Japanese)
Would like to read your review on that, thanks.
July 16th, 2008 00:51
Anonymous : Hmm, thanks for the tip off. I shall try the restaurant one days. :)
July 16th, 2008 08:52
i went to Wa Zen last week and u are right…the meals were quite cold dy when served and taste wise….erm…i should say…i would not return back as i prefer to choose Kokiya or EQ Kampachi.
July 16th, 2008 10:23
Yan Er : Hmm, what food was served cold? My unagis, rice and stuffs were still hot even after our “ritual”. It was the handroll that cooled down quite a lot. Where is Kokiya?