Review: Torii, a Bar in the Heart of Kuala Lumpur

TORII

Lot 8-6, Jalan Batai, Damansara Heights,
50490 Kuala Lumpur.
+603 2011 3798 / +6019 203 7093
11.30 am till 2.30 pm (Weekdays only)
5.00 pm till late (Daily)

Cuisine Type : Japanese Yakitori
Price Per Skewer : RM 8.90 – RM 37.90 ($2 – $10)
Attire : Casual
Reservations : No
Payment : Credit Cards Accepted
Restaurant Website : http://torii.my/

Located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur is a Japanese Yakitori Gastro Bar called Torii. There are two of these restaurants in Malaysia, one in KL and another in Damansara. It serves some of the best Yakitori I’ve had in Malaysia as well as a wide selection of Japanese whiskeys. The restaurant/bar is open on the weekdays from 11:30 a.m. until 2.30 p.m. as well as at 5.00 p.m. until late every day.

Japanese food is famous in Malaysia as is it almost everywhere else in the world; there are a number of Japanese restaurants all over the country especially in the capitol, Kuala Lumpur. Yakitori, however, is a kind of Japanese food that isn’t as well known in Malaysia as Sushi or Sashimi; it is therefore something more interesting for us here than what we know as regular Japanese food. Although slightly pricey compared to other restaurants in the city, Torii is definitely something I’d recommend to anyone who likes Japanese food.

After living abroad in the United States for a year, I’ve been back in Malaysia now for about 3 weeks, and Torii was the restaurant my old high school friends and I met up at after not seeing each other for many months. We were there on a Friday night. It’s a small, cozy, dimly lit restaurant that wasn’t too crowded or noisy. Surrounded with Japanese oriented decorations including paintings, I enjoyed long undisturbed conversations with everyone at my table. We made reservations as we came in a rather big groups of 15 people and one of us preordered various skewers for everyone at the table to share.

I’ve always loved Japanese food be it Yakitori or Sashimi and so do all of my friends. We grew up begging our parents to let us have as much Japanese food as we can and until today we have it at least once a week. Now that two of my high school friends live in Milwaukee with me we try our best to have sushi whenever we can.

There was no wait time for the food since we preordered and as soon as everyone was at the table we had dishes brought out to us one by one. We ordered more stuff from the menu but we really hardly had to wait for anything at all. I enjoyed dessert the most as they had cool dishes such as green tea creme brûlée with white chocolate lavender ice cream, Japanese pancakes with mixed berries and dark chocolate sorbet and a nutty chocolate bar with roasted nuts and berries and I tried all three.

Our waiter’s name was Burt, he didn’t talk much but was very helpful. I asked a million questions when it comes to what I should order and why I should order it. Servers in Malaysia aren’t usually very nice and act as though they don’t have time for all my questions, but Burt seemed to enjoy helping me pick my food. He helped me pick out various skewers that were all to my liking as well as some delicious drinks that I also did like a lot.

I remember some of the dishes I had better than others mainly because they were so unique or just were so delicious that I’m hungry now just thinking of what to write about it. One of those dishes was the Mentaiko Pasta. I shared this with a friend thinking that I wouldn’t want much of it because it would be too filling; biggest mistake of my night. I love fish roe on my food, I also happened to love eating seaweed and the spaghetti was filled with both of it. I could honestly eat it for dinner every night without complaining.

One of my favorite skewers of the night was surprisingly not a meat skewer but rather their Aubergine (eggplant) skewer. Drizzled with shoyu and pesto sauce the fried aubergine was the perfect blend of sweet and sour. Lastly, the dessert I think about so often is their nutty chocolate bar that I mentioned previously and Burt picked it out for me. Served with berries, nuts and a whisky raisin ice cream, it was rich and creamy and just fantastic. My friends love it as much as I did and to be honest I had two of them.

Torii is definitely a restaurant I’d recommend for everyone, especially Japanese cuisine lovers to try at least once. Although slightly pricy because the food was so good I really have no complaints. Good service, good ambiance and great food. I’m going back there for dinner tomorrow.