Hei Sushi: East-Meets-West-Meets-Local Japanese Cuisine Review

Hei Sushi Japanese Restaurant just opened its maiden store in Malaysia, and it’s located at The Hub, Alamanda Putrajaya, opposite the Bowling Centre. Hei Sushi is sure to make waves in the Japanese food market with its unique combination of East-Meet-West-Meet-Local take on some traditional well-loved cuisine.

The restaurant itself is very cosy, with yellow lighting to create and romantic ambience. There is enough room to dine for corporate groups, families or even couples.

“Hei Sushi was established to appeal to customers who desire a taste of specially created Japanese dishes in a more contemporary style.” Ms. Yew June, Group General Manager of Marketing for Hei Sushi and Sakae Sushi Malaysia quotes.

The name “Hei” basically signifies growth and development, as well as a keen reflection of the company’s relentlessness to serve quality food and impeccable customer sevice.

Unlike your usual Japanese Restaurant, at Hei Sushi you will find a set of fork, spoon and knife on the table. Read on to find out why.

Before the actual meal started, we were served this beautiful Flower Tea. (RM7.99) The flower in the tea is a delicate Jasmine Flower served in a clear glass teapot, kept warm throughout your meal by the small candle below. The taste is very light and aromatic, refillable with hot water throughout our meal. The flower is really pretty to look at and you can watch it bloom slowly as the hot water opens up the petals.

Take a closer look, very pretty indeed. For a romantic dinner, this will definitely add to the zest of the evening.

The dishes reviewed here are all the highly recommended and must-try dishes, they will surely put a smile on your faces.

Our first dish is the Omakase Moriawase, a large mix of sashimi with hand-picked treasures of fresh salmon, yellowtail, butterfish, salmon belly, premium scallop, octopus and tuna sitting on a bed of ice with special decoration that changes each time. This has to be my favourite dish as I absolutely adore sashimi, and the fish are sliced so thick and they are so fresh to the taste.

They are best eaten immediately when served before the ice melts. Feeq showing how big this dish really is.

Even people who usually don’t like raw fish and seafood should give this a try, it is just that delicious and fresh. I even let my 6 years old boy try the salmon and tuna and he had no idea that it is raw, just gobbled it up and say it is yummy. Pricing starts from RM23.99 (3 types), RM33.99 (4 types), RM43.99 (5 types) and RM59.99 (onwards).

Hei Sushi has some must-try Special Makimono series, where Hei Sushi creatively blends traditional Japanese rolls with that of unique local ingredients. For example, we had this Hei Maki (RM13.99) , a signature tempura maki prepared with generous portions of otak-otak, layered with seaweed, omelette and cucumber. I love the way the seaweed is lightly fried tempura style making it really crispy, a hit with the kids too. The otak-otak surprisingly blends really well inside a maki, this is my first time having it this way besides the traditional wrapped with leaf made famous by Johor. Johoreans would sure love this dish if they are homesick!

The next Specialty Maki we tried was the Jackfruit Ebi Maki (RM15.99). Even the deco is amazing, according to my son it looked like a dragon. This unique maki that I cannot forget after trying, is a creation of golden prawn tempura, seaweed, Japanese omelette and cucumber wrapped in sushi rice with an exquisite and generous toppings of jackfruit slices.

Who would imagine you can mix maki with jackfruit, doubt you can get this anywhere but in Hei Sushi. The sweetness of the Jackfruit really compliments the prawn and omelette, once again another child friendly dish. My boy loves the prawn and omelette so much, he counted this as his favourite dish of the day.

Being unique has got to be the driving vision behind Hei Sushi, as even their Temari Sushi is in the form of balls rather than the usual elongated shape.

There are 5 types of sushi here, all filled with delectable ingredients, such as the otak-otak, chicken floss, tuna, sweet beancurd and salmon with avocado. They all taste unique but I really love the salmon with avocado, both being my favourite ingredients in and dish. Surely can salivate just thinking about it now. The beancurd one is so cute as it is wrapped up and tied up like a coin pouch. You can just see the detail the chefs put into each and every sushi, the deco with tiny leaves and herb.

Can you believe this dish is actually Tuna? This is Maguro Steak Rikkyuyaki (RM22.99) and I really thought it was like beef steak but it is tuna, this is where the east meets west part comes in. This reminded me of a chinese dish usually served in Chinese weddings, where the meat is eaten together with a steamed bun. This is exactly the way to savour this dish, just by placing the juicy tuna steak that is masterfully pan-fried with aromatic sesame paste sauce on top of the steam bun and biting it together, and be enthralled with the burst of flavours.

This is definitely a healthier option for meat and steak lovers, the taste is so lovely with the bun, and the sauce has got to be their secret recipe, it taste a bit like miso paste that I love to use in cooking bone soup for a natural boost of collagen and calcium, really healthy too.

In addition, there are main courses comprising a fine selection of seafood and meat set meals like the Hei Tori Specialty (chef’s specialty grilled chicken complemented with mango salad, pulut onigiri and spicy peanut sauce). This main meal can be ordered just by itself at RM25.99, or as a part of a 3 course meal at RM35.99 complete with an appetiser and dessert or even a 5 course meal at RM50.99 complete with an appetiser, sashimi, side dish and dessert. I love how they give you options according to how much you want to eat at the particular meal.

Initially, I thought the rice is sushi rice, but no, it’s pulut rice wrapped with seaweed, moist with the aroma of coconut, this is really the West-meets-local part. The mango salad has a Thai influence, and the Grilled Chicken paired with Satay sauce is absolutely delicious and hot, literally as it is spicy, but still acceptable for me even though I usually can’t take too spicy food. Coming from Kajang land of Satay, I’d say this Satay sauce pass my taste bud for sure.

For heavy eaters, the King Platter is something not to be missed. It consists of grilled chicken, striploin and seafood (Oyster, Squid and Salmon cooked Teppanyaki Style), served alongside mushroom and vegetables with a signature sauce. I cannot forget the juicy oyster! Even without adding the signature sauce, it is super amazingly delicious, one is just not enough. However, the signature sauce is top class, it just made me want to put every food inside or drink it up.

This dish is definitely a favourite if you love a variety of types of food or just want to try a little of everything. It can be ordered as a Main Course at RM49.99, as a 3 course Meal at RM59.99 or a 5 course meal at RM74.99.

No meal is complete without some dessert. At Hei Sushi, even the ice cream is special with a local flavour to it. The Jackfruit Temptations (RM8.99) once again bring in the special Sweet Jackfruit but this time it is done in a golden tempura crisp, served alongside a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream drizzled with warm butterscotch syrup, decorated with a strawberry. The combo is once again really unique and delicious, especially the tempura fried jackfruit, reminding me a little of the fried banana delicacy we have in Malaysia, yet using tempura style flour, it is very light and not oily.

Thanks to Sidney Kan and the rest of the bloggers for an awesome afternoon of great food and even greater company.

For more information and promotion, visit Hei Sushi Malaysia Facebook

Location
P03A, Plaza Level
Alamanda Shopping Centre
Jalan Alamanda
Precinct 1
62000 Putrajaya

Operation Hour
Mon – Fri : 11.30am – 10.00pm
Sat, Sun & Public Holiday : 11.00 – 10.00pm