WAKON JAPANESE RESTAURANT
Japanese After-Work Culture Hits Town
With Time For Good Food
Wakon Japanese Restaurant, a new izakaya Japanese restaurant hits town 2 years ago. Ensconced in Damansara Utama or more commonly known as Damansara Uptown - one of Petaling Jaya's all embracing food hubs such as Village Park, Fat Spoon, WonderMilk, Umai-Ya, Lameeya and much more.
While most Japanese restaurants in Klang Valley are backed by international chains and large corporations, it is refreshing and pleasant surprise to find one run by individual. Sundy Chim, a Hong Kong chef whose love for authentic Japanese cuisine; has brought him to open up his F&B business in Malaysia, a country he was rather fond of with the laid back and relaxed nature.
Just like the Japanese spirit, Wakon Japanese Restaurant is about having the innovative spirit while keeping the Japanese tradition. Stepping into the restaurant, you’ll be greeted by a simple and comfortable Japanese Izakaya-style interior. There is also a private room for small gathering or get-together function that seats around 20 paxs.
Wakon being an izakaya restaurant, focuses on Japansese grills called yakitori that appeals young crowds where they can relax and chilled over small bites with alcohol drinks, to savour some good food and a heck of a good time!
Choose from their simple menu comprising of grilled dishes such as Pork Neck Skewers, BBQ Squid, BBQ Chicken Wings and many more. On top of these, Wakon offers ala carte menu such as rice options, ramen and their signature such as Black Truffle Mixed with Udon.
On weekdays, izakaya restaurants in Japan are almost a must-go after-work hangout for office workers. So for Malaysians, Mr Sundy foreseen the same trend thus prompting him to set up his favouirte type of restaurant here, to charm the pants off the locals with his selections of authentic dishes and sake to go along with the good food.
To ensure their customer have the best experience, Wakon is determine in serving quality dishes. Since it’s an Izakaya restaurant, you can expect to savour some sake over your meal at Wakon.
Crab Roe Salada
RM13.90
Our meal started off with this light and refreshing Crab Roe Salada, a fresh mix of thinly sliced zucchini with julienned crab surimi tossed in Japanese dressing. Creamy yet light enough to kick-start our palate for the next dish.
Wasabi Gyoza
RM14.90
If the salad starter does not excite your tastebuds, do try out their Hokkaido Style Wasabi Gyoza, well-flavoured with wasabi pan-fried gyoza should do the trick. Something different from the usual ones as these are served with fragrant but not so pungent wasabi sauce as topping.
BBQ Pork Belly
RM 6.90
Grilled meat on skewers are always my favourite food items to eat at any Japanese restaurant besides the sashimi. Wakon's sizzling delights of BBQ Pork Belly - truly Wakon's triumphant warrior: a skewer of pork belly ~ perfectly grilled to juicy and succulent texture, not dry yet so tasty - simple and unpretendious. Recommended for its deliciousness to the max!
I believe the skills lies in the experienced chef to patiently grilled the pork belly with the right timing and perfection. Waiting time can be a little longer, so be more patient as good food needs diners' patience. It may takes you 3 minutes to consume the whole skewer that took 20 minutes to cook.
Waiting for your food to be cooked is one of the more trying experiences in life. It truly tests your patience. So, remember to take your time to savour the pork belly slowly as you you slowly melt into a blissful post-grilled pork coma!
MUST TRY
BBQ Pork Neck Meat
RM 7.90
Another winning dish to try is Wakon's BBQ Pork Neck Meat. This is equally delicious with charred bits and smokey flavour to melt your hearts too. Pork neck is quite different from the other cuts of pork. It has a very enjoyable crunchy, springy texture and is marbled with fat throughout, so the grilling makes it tastier... Yummy!
BBQ Squid
RM 18.90
Tantalising epicurean dish for seafood lovers is the BBQ Squid. Well-seasoned thick Japanese squid grilled to perfection. served in chunky slices with topped with ebiko or fish roe and chillie flakes. While the grilled squid is good on it own, but it's made tastier with the extra toppings for added taste.
Mentaiko Chicken Wings
RM 12.90 per Set of 2 pcs
Mentaiko Stuffed Chicken Wings (Mentaiko Teba) would be a real treat to those who enjoys mentaiko alot. Well, for some, mentaiko is not just an ingredient, it is a love affair. This Japanese delicacies; salted cod roe have so many fans eating it in so many different ways.
Eating the Mentaiko Teba at Wakon will get you a fish roe cholesterol overdose, hahaha! Every bite of the grilled chicken wings practically comes with a burst of the saltish and tangy of sea flavour mentaiko, generously stuffed into the wings.
Take note, this dish is only for those serious mentaiko lovers!
BBQ Brinjal
RM 9.90
If the dainty items have not filled your tummy, there are a number of noodles options that will do the job. Following are some of the few udon dishes I have sampled that is worth checking out.
Black Truffle Mixed Handmade Udon
RM 46.90
One of Wakon's best-seller and highly recommended must eat is their Black Truffle Mixed Handmade Udon. A combination of mentaiko and black truffle with slurpy udon makes it a tasty presentation of udon in its simplest form.
Wonderfully rich, the truffle paste infuse the rather bland-tasting udon with the distinct flavour of truffles. The mentaiko on the other hand, complement the udon as well... transforming it into a very addictive dish.
Tonkatsu Udon
RM 8.50
Tomato Udon
RM 8.50
Apart from the grilled items, diners can choose to have some udon in soup to fill up the stomach. According to Sundy, the Japanese usually enjoy their light bites of yakitori with drinks to be followed by having some udon or rice to fill up their tummy.
Take your pick from Tonkatsu Udon or Tomato Udon. For me, I prefer the rich creamy pork broth to the sourish tomato-based broth. Both coming in small serving, just enough to fill your stomach after your gastronomic treats of the mouth-watering variety of skewered meat.
Currently, Wakon has an ongoing PROMOTION as follows:
1. Purchase RM50 above, get any non-alcohol drink for free.
2. Purchase RM100 and above, get a bottle of 300ml Sake for free.
Wakon Japanese Restaurant
No.75 Ground Floor
Jalan SS 21/1A
Damansara Utama
47400 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03 - 7733 5996
Business Hours:
Mon-Sun 12.00pm – 3.00pm
6.00pm – 11.30pm (10.45pm Last Call)
