Kushi Q, Tropicana City Mall

(HALAL)


With the opening of the new Tropicana City Mall that's located just at the back of my home, I made a trip to see what's "cooking" in there. There are still quite a number of lots not opened for business yet, however there was this place that caught my eye, Kushi Q - a little Japanese grill restaurant. Googling for the definition of "Kushi", I found out that it meant skewers used in Japanese cuisine such as yakitori. Yakitori is traditionally grill chicken but nowadays other types of meat are also used. Oh, I also found out that there is a chain of Kushi Q overseas and wonder if this is from the same chain.

The yummy food on display - Chicken wings, prawns, lidako (octopus) to name a few.

An automated rotation grilling machine is used to deliver that perfect grill

1) Staff would slather the skewered meat with the teriyaki sauce and place it on the metal clip
2) The clipped skewered meat then goes around and is slowly lowered in an "assembly line" fashion
3) The skewered meat goes in between two hot surfaces; it will go 2 rounds (moving along slowly on a oval shape conveyor belt) if it's to cook from a raw state or just 1 if it's to reheat.
4) At the end of the cycle the metal clip automatically releases the skewered sticks which will then drop into a metal container below and wallah....Food is served!

The skewered meat starts from RM2 to RM2.50 a stick and Bento Sets are also available with Rice or Salad served with either 3, 4, or 5 skewers combination. Glorious Jade and I decided to go for the 5 stick Bento Set (RM12.90/USD4), comprising of shisamo, scallop, chicken thigh with leek, prawns and beef with pineapple.

The shisamo, scallop and prawn. I found the prawn a bit on the chewy side as it might have been overcooked. I prefer it to be grilled with the shell and all, as I find that it just makes it taste more aromatic while retaining more moisture . I was told that the next batch of prawn would be grilled with shell (some customers had earlier said that it was troublesome to eat the prawn that way) still intact and they will make a slit so that customers can peel the shell off easily.


Glorious Jade was delighted to find fish eggs in the shisamo and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then we had the one and only premium grill item available for the time being; Unagi and sesame seed priced at RM5/USD1.50. We also tried the Aroma Spice Chicken (spices with fine chilli flakes and black pepper seed.

From left : - Chicken Thigh with Leek, Beef with Pineapple and Chicken Breast with Wasabi.

My fave would be the Beef - I tried eating it with the pineapple and found it somewhat normal, just like the chicken breast meat. However, when I ate the beef on its own (without the pineapple), it was simply lovely, so full of flavour! All the meats were succulent and moist. The chicken thigh was marinated well and was also good whereas I found the chicken breast meat (served with a mild wasabi mayonnaise) a bit plain - not marinated well enough?

This pic almost shows the actual size of the scallop served (put your hand against the hand in the pic and you'll know what I mean), more than decent size at just RM2.50/USD0.70. It was once again, succulent and moist. Another great item.

All Bento Sets comes with a choice of rice or salad (which you can order on its own at RM2/USD0.60 each). So for those who need to upload carbo (and ruin an otherwise healthy meal), you can choose the rice and for a healthier alternative; the salad. The rice came steaming hot with a bit of sauce made from chicken stock but it was a bit too wet for my liking. I left the rice aside for awhile and it tasted a lot better when the rice had cooled down and had less moisture.

Kushi Q is a great place for a light meal and for those who are watching their weight (!) since grilling is a healthier cooking method. We enjoyed our light and simple meal - will definitely be going back. By the way, they also do delivery to Damansara Intan offices from 11am to 7pm.

Kushi Q
Lot LG 20,Lower Ground Floor
Tropicana City Mall
3, Jalan SS20/27
47400 Petaling Jaya
Tel : 03-77283613/012-709 8668/012-2889506

There's lots of people in this world who spend so much time watching their health that they haven't the time to enjoy it.
~Josh Billings