4 Fav Japanese Inspired Cafés in KL

"Hard work should be rewarded by good food."

- Ken Follett -

    

Shot by: Joel

   Hey y'all!! I'm back with another cafe hopping adventure and well, this time I've decided to put a little twist in my usual cafe hopping styles. From now on, I want to categorize certain cafes into themes which are based on my opinion. For this post, it'll be a Japanese inspired theme! :) For a person like me who fancies Japanese fusion food; I thought that I wanted to do a Japanese inspired cafes in KL soo HERE IT IS! 

**Note that some of the cafes is not written based on a one day visit just because I felt like there were more food that I should recommend before sharing so yea. :)

Kakigōri
Lot P4 17.00 Level 4, 168, Bukit Bintang Street, Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mon-Fri 10am-10pm

    You might have known by the name of this cafe shop but I'm still going to write about them just because it's worth writing for! Kakigōri was originated in Japan and has branched out to many different countries and of course; MALAYSIA! Kakigōri can be found at different location but the nearest for me personally was in Pavilion Bukit Bintang. As you all know, they are famous for their Bingsu and well, some might not know this but their roll cakes are LOVED too! 

    Upon my first visit, my friends and I tried the Watermelon with Rose Espuma & Red Fruits (RM17). The visual is really pretty and of course, it's worth taking a picture for BUT I guess it wasn't a match for me since I like desserts with slightly heavier flavors. For those who has lighter taste buds; this is for you honestly. It has a nice scent on it too and I think that's probably one of the things that I like about the Watermelon with Rose Espuma & Red Fruits, aside from the visuals.Well, it's okay cause it's still kinda good on a first try. In short, the Watermelon Bingsu taste was what I would explain it as delicious but 'fragile' if you get what I mean.

    I decided to give another go with my other friend whom I now go cafe hopping with often HAHA. He and I decided to try the Tiramisu with Coffee Espuma & Valrhona Chocolate (RM16) and the Hōjicha Roll Cake (RM10 per slice, 2 for RM18). It was absolutely delicious! The Tiramisu had more flavors honestly because coffee normally never goes wrong right? ;) The highlight of my second visit was the Hōjicha Roll Cake to be honest just because I really do love how the roll cake is SO soft and smooth and how the Hōjicha cream texture in the roll cake was also very smooth and flavorful! It was indeed a worth for a third visit just for the roll cake! 

Wild Sheep Chase

6-1, Jalan 1/109E, Off Old Klang Road, Desa Business Park. Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur, M'sia

Tue-Wed 12-8pm | Thur-Fri 12-10pm | Sat & Sun 10am-10pm | Closed on Mondays

    Shoutout to the minimalists, this cafe is for you! ;) Wild Sheep Chase is one of the prettiest white themed cafes I would say and the ambiance gives out the kind of Japanese minimal cafes vibes for me personally. I went there probably about three times now hahaha just because I love how cozy and minimal the cafe is. The cafe is probably Japanese fusion too judging by their environment and menu. Their menu is SO cute too where their dishes are being drawn on the menu like those Japanese menu drawings you watch on some Japanese movies (It reminds me of the drama series "A Girl & Three Sweethearts", the leading female had her desserts beautifully drawn, it's a wonderful drama and I think I watched it twice hehe).

    Their menu are more on desserts based on my opinion just because I feel their desserts taste better than their main. I really love their Chocolate Lava cake (above pic) 'Honestly Devilish' (RM23) and also Matcha Lava cake (below pic) 'Midori's Heart' (RM25). I also tried their Vanilla Soufflé served with a choice of syrup and sorbet. All of the desserts are delicious! It's soft and fluffy for the soufflé and the lava cakes really did helped me with my sweet tooth. FYI, I'm actually a sucker for lava cake HAHA soo I do recommend their lava cake despite not having to see its 'lava' flowing out smoothly BUT at the end of the day, it still tastes good!

    I also did tried the Ciabatta Sandwich with Omelette served with grilled vegetables (RM14). The Sandwich honestly... it's nice BUT I do have to say I've tasted better (Just randomly pointing it out but my uni; BUC has the best ciabatta bread ever HAHAHA). ANYWAY, I do hope I can try more of their mains soon (please sponsor me, Wild Sheep Chase LOL) because I feel and shouldn't I can't

make an exact conclusion just because I only tried one main.

    ALSO! Do try their Oolong Milk Tea (Hot, RM10. Add RM2 for Cold) cause that is good! I think I will only order that drink in Wild Sheep Chase just because I feel they are good in those instead of the caffeine category such as mocha and black. I did tried their Longan Milk Tea (Hot only, RM10) before and well, it doesn't suit my taste buds personally HAHA but if you like Longan, then maybe you should try it! Anyways, I do feel I gotta visit once more since they do have a lot of awesome desserts I have yet to try soo until then! :)

Oolong Milk Tea

Cureé
38, jln 1/77a, changkat thambi dollah, off jln imbi, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
7.30am-3pm | 6pm-12am | Closed on Wednesdays

    Cureé is another Japanese restaurant (I kind of consider it as cafe since they pull off a cafe vibe more than a restaurant lol) that serves Hokkaido style soup curry located just behind Berjaya Times Square and OF COURSE I wouldn't leave out Cureé since I'm so near to it LOL. I decided to go try it with my friends and there were many things to try honestly but I only ordered the weekday set lunch menu where you order a main of your choice and then you receive fruits and a small cup of Hojicha Tea. During then, I've ordered the Japanese Curry Chicken Katsu with less rice & mild spicy level (RM16.50) cause I'm ain't that adventurous when it comes to trying spicy stuff lol.

    The outcome? It was delicious! It was actually my first time trying Japanese Curry so I can't really comment or judge how the curry tasted like BUT all I can say as a first timer; it was good enough for me to go again and have my lunch at if I have break in between my class. OH YEAH! They do sell some cute handcrafted product (by "Takos". You can check out their insta here) if you want; it ranges from mini coin bags to cute earrings if I'm not mistaken. If you see Cureé's Insta account, you can see there are other brands that sells their merchandise there too. So if you're interested, do check them out here or visit the cafe itself. :)

    OF COURSE, ordering one dish doesn't do it for me so I went with my friend, May for a second try HAHAHA and not only that; I didn't want to be NOT adventurous for once on Japanese Curry so I took the same Japanese Curry with the same less rice BUT just the 'spicy' level. It was even better to be honest since it gives you a kick with its' spiciness. It was spicy for me heh. :') For those who loves spicy Japanese curry, you're welcome that I recommend this cafe for y'all. I was also able to try out their Okonomiyaki Waffle (RM6.50) since my friend ordered it hehe and it was GOOOD! You can see the waffle picture I've taken below. I think I wanna order that the next time I go to have my waffle craving fixed. Overall, their food is scrumptious for me and my friends who tried it so you should visit Cureé cafe soon too! :)

Lucky Tora
25, Jalan Mesui, 50200 Kuala Lumpur
Mon-Fri 12-3pm, 5pm-1am | Sat & Sun 12pm-1am

     Saving the best for last; LUCKY TORA! HO-MA-GOSH I love that place SO much! First thing, if you can't seem to find where is it; it's the same lane as Feeka cafe. The environment is what I always love honestly, a little retro when you step into the cafe and there's a kind of open air corner lane as you walk down more into it where I kind of love taking photos there (natural lighting is the only reason of course). Not only that, their food is REALLY good! Lucky Tora is a Japanese Fusion cafe & bar (mmhmm BAR guys, cocktails and all). For me, I go mainly for food so for bars; until then HAHA. Their service is really good too based on my own experience with my friend (they were soo kind and friendly).

    I've only went once but my friend and I tried quite a few items and we were contented with it! We tried the famous Chicken Katsu Bao (RM18) and I do highly recommend ordering it if it's your first or second time (or well, idk how many more times HAHA). It really tasted good at least for me and my friend. I like how their char-siew sauce and tartar sauce blends so well together! We also tried other dishes such as the Wagyu Beef Okonomiyaki, Tsukune Yakitori, Makimono NYC spicy tuna roll (on the house since they accidentally missed out our order) and Miso Soup (my fav lol & it was on the house too). All of them are lovely. :')

     The Wagyu Beef Okonomiyaki (RM24) is a pancaked topped with beef slices and some random sauces idk HAHAHA but it was really awesome except I think they could improve on their beef slices by making it a little tender because my friend and I tried it wasn't as tender as we thought it'd be. SO YEA! Also, I do suggest not to order too much if you want the Wagyu Beef Okonomiyaki and you only came with 2 persons because it might be too much if you have small appetites.

    For the Tsukune Yakitori (RM7) as you can see from the picture, it's Japanese chicken meatball that are skewered and grilled and coated with Teriyaki Sauce. There was a side of egg yolk and soy sauce (I think) with you are supposed to mix the egg yolk and sauce well and then you take the chicken meatball skewered and dip it into it & the rest is history! It's the BOMB! I really like how unique this dish is since it's my first time trying all these kind of Japanese food so I'm quite amazed by it. The NYC spicy tuna roll (RM22) was really good too and I really do recommend it if you like the basic sushi rolls like these.

    We also did try two of their drinks and my friend had the Cool Green Juice (RM13) which basically is a mix of kyuri cucumbers, green apples and lime kasturi. My friends said that it was GOOD too so you should go try. For me, there were so many to choose from so I gave up and chose the classic iced lemon tea (RM10) - it never goes wrong. ;)

    Overall, all of the visits did not gave me any bad impression and instead it was good. I love their food too and I personally don't mind going back a few more times if I save up more extra money to go for another re-visit cafes. That's all I have for you guys and gals and I hope you enjoyed my read until the end. Do share this post to anyone who is interested in going to Japanese themed cafe hopping adventure! :) THANKS and see you until the next upcoming new blog post y'all!

Sincerely, Shannon