Candy Gets Hungry #11: Takashi Japanese Restaurant at Centrepoint Bandar Utama review

2 July 2017

Hullo fellow wai sek maos~ Centrepoint may be a very very common location name but to many Petaling Jaya folks or more specifically Bandar Utama residents/KBU Students, it's a small and pretty cozy (ok, maybe sometimes quite dead) neighbourhood mall. It may be weird to call it a proper mall but I've definitely seen how much this place has developed and expanded over the past 10+ years. 

A few eateries I personally recommend checking out if you're a first timer there would be 港飲港吃 Kong yam kong sek food court @ G floor, Bosko restaurant & bar @ 1st Floor, and the Meat In Claypot Bak Kut Teh @ Ground floor. 

The Banana Leaf mamak @ Centrepoint used to be my favourite place to eat Indomee but i'm not sure why perhaps they've changed their chef or something, but sadly I just can't find that taste I love so much in the Indomee there now :( But I still go there la hahaha.


However today, we'll be talking about their latest eatery addition instead, which is a Japanese restaurant called Takashi Japanese Restaurant. I had brunch with my family there the other day and figured I might as well share my dining experience :)


Since it's occupied a corner lot, it was pretty easy to spot. 

Here's the entrance of the restaurant. Their operating hours are from 11:30A.M to 10:30P.M daily.

We got there slightly early and since they weren't open yet we've decided to run some errands first. At approximately 11:45A.M we got back to Takashi and they've already got a few tables seated. (not in pic)

On the other side there's a bar area. You could also see one of the staffs arranging the tables to form a longer one. Surprisingly on the day we were there for lunch, several tables were already reserved. The long table above was occupied by a family, while the section you see empty above was fully occupied by a party celebration. Within less than an hour, the place was literally full house. 



These origami cranes looked really cute on the divider. Really adds on to the Japanese vibes in the restaurant.

Condiments~

We ordered a pot of hot ocha(green tea) Couldn't tell what green tea it was but it did taste a little like Genmaicha.

Time to order our food! 

First dish to arrive is their Saba Shioyaki - RM17.90. I'm not a fan of fish dishes because I'm really bad with bones. Like, really bad. Though taste wise it was actually pretty similar to the grilled Saba fish I had during my Japan trip! Seeing that this dish was actually somewhat comparable to the saba I had in Japan itself, no wonder this was their best sellers! FYI, I'm not a wasabi person but according to my mom & aunt, they noticed that Takashi serves FRESH wasabi. Serving fresh wasabi in Malaysia is quite rare ok. As in not the typical squeezed out from the tube ones like almost all Japanese restaurants in Malaysia is serving y'know. Fresh! 

The next dish we had was Takashi Zen - RM20.90. This set comes with miso soup, stir fried vegetables, chicken karaage with mayo and garlic fried rice. Judging from the portion and variety I think RM20 is a fair price. Taste wise it's so-so? The garlic fried rice would've been great if it was less salty. Stir fried vegetables were pretty alright. Miso soup however tasted a little weird? In fact, all their soup based menu items tasted a little weird. I think it's some seasoning they used? 

This chicken karaage actually looked pretty depressing though. I personally find this pretty dry :( Although I didn't like it, my sister loved the chicken karaage so you'll definitely have to try it for yourself to judge. 

Nabeyaki Ramen - RM26.90. We have initially ordered Nabeyaki Udon and Inaniwa Udon. Funny how 15 minutes after ordering, one of the staffs came out to tell us all udon noodles were unavailable. Thus we have switched the Nabeyaki Udon to Nabeyaki Ramen instead. Inaniwa udon was switched to another Takashi Zen. So alright, here's the Nabeyaki Ramen. Like the miso soup I mentioned earlier, I'm not a fan of some particular seasoning in the soup base. Overall the dish tasted a little bland too. Presentation wise and overall of this dish, I don't think it's worth RM26.90 :(

We've also ordered a Chawanmushi - RM6.90 ea. It's a savoury japanese steamed egg custard dish, one of my personal favourite Japanese side dishes! The taste of the chawanmushi at Takashi was pretty alright, but I think it's a little on the pricey side. If I were to compare, this tastes very closely to Sushi Zanmai's chawanmushi. It's definitely more yummier than the chawanmushi served at Kura, One World Hotel. Though my favourite chawanmushi is still from Sakae Sushi. (half the price too!) 

Inaniwa Udon - RM28.90. Earlier I mentioned that we've ordered Inaniwa Udon and they told us there isn't any udon right? Then they've mysteriously served us Inaniwa udon ??? Ok.... So we made sure they canceled the 2nd Takashi Zen. I mean there was a couple miscommunication issues here and there but the owner had came over to settle everything very nicely so all's good. Plus, it was a full house at that time and the restaurant was fairly new. So mistakes once in a while is understandable. 

I've had Inaniwa Udon a few times (in Malaysia and Japan), this is the first restaurant that has served us Inaniwa Udon on a bed of ice, I actually like this idea cause it keeps the udon cold and fresh.( that's what I feel la ) so +1 for presentation. Serving portion ain't that big, and I find the udon noodle texture alright. But like the other soup bases, the dipping sauce for the inaniwa udon had that odd seasoning taste as well. That was really the only turn off from this dish for me. If they were to switch up this odd taste in their soup based dishes, I'm more than happy to give these dishes another go. For RM28.90, I think it's borderline pricey, then again inaniwa udon in Malaysia is generally expensive, so I think still acceptable for me.......if they change the dipping sauce recipe ahaha. 

Last dish we ordered was their Chicken Teriyaki Zen - RM16.90. This set comes with a bowl of white rice, teriyaki chicken, salad and miso soup. Is it just me or are all teriyaki chicken sets usually priced at RM16.90 HAHA. Anyways I had no regrets ordering this because other than the miso soup, I loved everything else in the set. Although generally teriyaki chicken is like the one dish in Japanese restaurants that could never go wrong, I've had some bad ones in the past and this one was pretty good. Not exceptionally good, but not bad la. So if you're planning a visit to Takashi, and you're a fan of teriyaki chicken, go for it! :D Sometimes it's OKAY to be boring ok? (I just really love teriyaki chicken la, I go any japanese restaurant I also order teriyaki chicken one. Except for Zanmai, I'll order Karaage there lol) Unless if you like fish, then order the Saba Shioyaki. They have a set option for that too.

zoom in on the chicken

I feel so guilty writing this but I actually tried to switch the salad in my set to something else. Have no regrets when my request was rejected. The salad was actually my favourite in the set. I liked the teriyaki chicken too but I feel that most places tend to pay less attention to the side dishes(?) So I'm highlighting this specifically and am actually really loving the taste of this salad. The taste of it reminded me of this salad I had in Kura, One world hotel many many many years ago. I don't know how to describe the dressing though but it's some kind of yummy vinaigrette!

Hope you guys find this review helpful, some of the food was a hit, some was a miss and everyone's taste buds are different so you'll definitely have to pay them a visit to judge for yourself! 

PS. If you're going there on a weekend with a large group, you might want to make a reservation cause as I said, when I went, it was a full house lunch crowd.

Overall Rating:

Atmosphere: 7/10
Quality of food: 6/10
Price: 5.5/10 (Some I think was worth it, some not so?)
Service: 7.5/10 (The staffs were pretty friendly, but a bit blur ^^")
Would I come back? For the chicken teriyaki set? Yes! The rest of the meal, no. I do wish to go back to try their sushi soon!



Takashi Japanese Restaurant
Lot G6-G7. Ground Floor, 


Centrepoint, Lebuh Bandar Utama,
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia 47800


Contact number: 014-884 4000









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