Thursday, August 18, 2011

ronnycakes reviews: Zipangu Weekend Buffet, Shangri-La Hotel

Japanese buffets are a dime a dozen these days but what makes Zipangu stand out a little more is the freshness of the food served and the fact that it is authentic Japanese. Zipangu is considered one of the best Japanese buffets in KL and the food you will find here is Japanese and only Japanese, no mixture of any other sort of cuisine.

P1060401-1

Service is quick and staff are friendly (as you would expect from a restaurant in a hotel like Shangri-La) and the ambience is peaceful as well, with dimmed lighting and a nice Japanese garden lining the side of the restaurant’s glass panels.

P1060413-6

P1060462-25

P1060442-16
There was a wide range of sushi prepared freshly by chefs at the counter.

P1060428-8

P1060438-14
Free flow of oysters! Which were incredibly fresh.

P1060444-18P1060445-19P1060446-20
Sashimi was top notch in freshness. Thumbs up!

P1060452-22

P1060455-23
Chicken Teriyaki.

The dessert section was quite big with a wide variety of different cakes, pastries and jellies.

P1060429-9

P1060434-11

P1060430-10

P1060437-13

P1060404-3

P1060408-4
Some appetizers and condiments: my favourite colorful Japanese pickles and smoked duck slices that were delicious!

P1060412-5
Tempura Prawns were tender and juicy with a crunchy exterior.

P1060472-28
Mussels and scallops with tabasco sauce was heavenly. The teriyaki beef was tender and marinated to taste as well.

P1060470-27
The chawanmushi was pretty good in my opinion, one of the better ones I’ve tried but it could have been kept warmer as it was just lukewarm when we tried it.

P1060478-30
The Clam in Rice Wine Soup was one of the first to go and I had to wait about 10-15 minutes for them to refill it! Clams were large, meaty and fresh and the soup was heavenly. Double thumbs up!

P1060465-26
The seafood fried rice was only mediocre, dry and bland. The chicken gyoza was average as well (nothing beats pork gyoza in my books).

P1060497-33
Mango Pudding was delicious, very aromatic and you can tell that its made with the good stuff.

P1060490-32
Strawberries with clotted cream! I loved the fact that they had fresh strawberries. Also tried the chocolate brownie (very moist) and a green tea truffle which was delicious and not at all sweet.

P1060486-31
I’m not entirely sure what this was, but it tasted like cherry pudding. Fragrantly tangy, this was delicious as well!

P1060504-35
Zipangu also serves ice-cream but you have to order it directly from the waiters/waitresses as it’s not displayed at the buffet counter. There are 4 varieties: green tea, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. We opted for the green tea ice-cream which was smooth and dense with flavour. I personally prefer grittier green tea ice-creams but for some they like theirs smooth so it’s a matter of personal taste.

P1060557-36

All in all although the spread at Zipangu wasn’t extensive, the freshness of the food saved the day. The desserts were also a highlight as there were just so many that we couldn’t try them all!

The buffet is priced at RM96++ per person and is only available on weekends whilst on weekdays, Zipangu only serves ala-carte dishes which I’ve also heard good things about.

Address:
Zipangu
Shangri-La Hotel
Kuala Lumpur
1800 88 7881 (toll free)
03 2716 3112

Map *here*

2 comments:

Baby Sumo said...

I like that green tea truffle ball. Had it during the Lafite lunch b4.

Sharon said...

Yeah it was really good! :)

 

Blog Template by YummyLolly.com

Edits by ronnycakes