Masa Japanese Restaurant

24/12/2011 - Dinner at Masa Japanese Restaurant

As usual, Masa offers a speciality menu of the day and their standard menu.

We ordered the Grilled Salmon cooked in miso sauce from the speciality menu.
From the standard menu, we ordered the Agedashi tofu steak, deep fried soft shell crab, deep fried white bait, prawn tempura and a plate of tuna & salmon sashimi. We also had miso soup.

Masa Restaurant

Deep fried soft shell crab with a light dipping sauce.

Agedashi tofu steak topped with strips of seaweed.

Grilled salmon cooked in miso sauce.

Deep fried white bait.

Tempura prawn.

Tuna and salmon sashimi.

Miso soup

Lily's comments: Excellent. As usual, the service and quality of food is outstanding. It was Christmas Eve, we booked at the last minute and was still able to get a table for two by the window. Mr Shinji has hired an extra helper in the kitchen. Masa opens from Wed to Sunday for dinner only.

MASA Japanese Restaurant, Sylvania

Dinner at MASA Japanese Restaurant on 17/11/2010.

We booked for a table for two at 6.30 pm. We arrived on time, and Mrs Shinji said we could have the table by the window (near the main door) or we could be seated at a table inside. We chose the one inside.

There were already three tables occupied, and phone was busy with calls for more bookings for that evening. They also had a new helper, a middle age Japanese woman. From the looks of it, she's new as Mrs Shinji would inconspiciously showed her what needs to be done, from giving us the menu to taking drink orders. Mrs Shinji is still the one taking the meal orders.

We ordered from the special menu of the day as well as from the standard menu. We had seared salmon sashimi with crusted black sesame and tuna sashimi. We also ordered deep fried calamari, soft shell crab, prawn tempura, salmon and tuna sushi, miso soup and some rice.

Kevin had a beer and we both had some green tea as well. As for dessert, we shared a Green tea ice cream.

We felt really special when Chef Shinji came out to serve the meal himself. He would chat with his customers and shared a joke or two. At one point, he was showing us how the tuna sashimi should be eaten by wrapping it with a kind of mint leave that was served on the side of the dish. He is always making sure that we enjoyed the cuisine.

Total cost = $109.

Verdict: As usual, outstanding!

MASA Japanese Restaurant, Sylvania

I highly recommend this Japanese restaurant. One of the best in town. Great cuisine. We are regulars now of this restaurant, its like an addiction!

I have nothing but praises for this husband and wife team.

Please check out the review from SMH website.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/masa-20100802-1134t.html

Masuya Japanese, O'Connell Street

14/02/2009 - Dinner at Masuya Japanese Restaurant.

Entree:
Softshell crab, Rainbow Sushi, Sashimi Boat

Main:
Salmon teriyaki x 2. Rice on the side. Miso Soup
Wagyu Beef
Tempura (Seafood and Vegetables)

Beverage:
Red wine 1 glass
A bottle of sake
Ice Lemon tea

Total cost for 4 = $260

Ratings
Food quality = 7/10
Ambience and cleanliness = 7/10
Value for money = 8/10
Service = 2/10

Lily's Comment: Good
We were very disappointed with the service. It was Valentine's evening. As expected, service would be slow on a busy night like this. However, the service was extremely below standard. I reckoned there's a cut in the service headcount due to the economic slowdown. We had a booking for 8:15pm, and got our table on time. When the waitress sat us down, she only gave us 1 menu to look at. So, we had to take turns to scan thru' the menu. I had to ask for another menu twice and waited for a good 10 minutes before someone finally presented us with the second menu.

We didn't mind the long wait for the food to be served. But it's more the fact that the service was always incomplete. When the entree was served, we weren't even given the soya sauce on the little plate. We had to request for it. The soya sauce should have been served right at the start just when we sat down as per normal practice . And then they missed out on my glass of wine when the drinks were served. I had to reorder it again. Then it was Sean's turn. The three of us finished our main meal and Sean's wagyu beef was no way in sight. The captain was very apologetic when we told him about the missing main meal. We suspected that the kitchen had forgotten to cook the beef. It was the most uncomfortable dining experience for all of us, as the minimum service did not even exist. Shirley paid the bill without even leaving 10cents of tips as they did not deserve it. If this is how the service is heading, I'm sure we will not be regulars anymore. Very disappointing!

Kampachi Japanese Restaurant, Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur

Feb 2009 - Dinner Kampachi Japanese Restaurant

We dined twice at this upmarket Japanese restaurant at the Pavilion. The Japanese cuisine that we had both times is excellent.

Entree:

Beef cappaccio, soft shell crab.

Main:

- Salmon fillet set

- Sashimi set

The combo set came with rice, miso soup, salad, japanese egg dish.

Beverage:
Japanese Tea that came in a pot

Plum Wine

Total cost for 2 = RM400

Ratings

Food quality = 8/10

Ambience and cleanliness = 7/10

Value for money = 8/10

Service = 8/10

Lily's comment: Excellent. One of the better Japanese restaurants in KL. It's upmarket and expensive, but isn't Japanese cuisine always expensive....One can also purchase the various types of Japanese tea to take home. I felt that my first visit was better than the second time. I like the fact that you don't have to dress smart to dine here. You get away with just thongs and shorts.

Masuya, O'connell Street

24/07/2008 - Dinner at Masuya Japanese Restaurant.

Entree: Softshell crab & Rainbow Sushi
Main: I had the king prawn dish and 'lo-gung' had salmon teriyaki. Rice on the side.
Beverage: I had a cascade and 'lo-gung' had a glass of red wine.

Total cost for 2 = $95

Ratings
Food quality = 9/10
Ambience and cleanliness = 7/10
Value for money = 10/10
Service = 9/10
Lily's comment: Excellent. I am in love with this restaurant and have been a loyal patron for nearly 7 years. It is an addiction for me. Me and girlie pal used to lunch there a lot (at least once a week) until we've moved office. Each time my family from Canberra visited Sydney, they will put an effort to dine in this restaurant. I have been there a million times, never ever disappointed with the quality of the food, and the warm services provided by the charming and well mannered waiters/waitresses. The only setback is the ventilation, sometimes your hair & clothes tend to smell of 'deep-frying' when they bring out those sizzling dishes. But I can forgive them for that since the quality of the food is excellent and it is always consistent.

The price is really reasonable considering the quality of the food, the portion and the good service provided. With a popular restaurant like this one, booking is highly recommended, but tonight we got lucky as we were early and could get a table during the first seating.
Masuya, once again I love you!

The Wasaby, York Street

23/07/2008 - Lunch at the Wasaby Japanese restaurant.

Main: I opted for the sushi & sashimi meal. Wendy had beef meal.
Beverage: I had a glass of merlot.

Total cost for 2 = $55.

Ratings
Food quality = 5/10
Ambience and cleanliness = 9/10
Value for money = 5/10
Service = 8/10


Lily's comment: Average. The price that is set for the meal matches with the ambience. It is up-market price with very nice ambience. Each table will guarantee some privacy as the tables are not put too close together like in most restaurants. However, we were a bit disappointed with the quality of the food. The service is excellent (as one would expect in a Jap restaurant). Water was served as soon as we were seated. I reckon Masuya is a much better restaurant.

Yama, QVB

14/06/2008 – Lunch at Yama, a fusion of Australian and Japanese cuisine, in QVB (level 2).

Mom had seafood pad thai. I had seafood skewer and salmon nigiri and sushi.
Drinks – I had a latte and mom had Sensha green tea.

Total cost for 2 = $52.50.


Ratings
Food quality = 5/10
Ambience and cleanliness = 7/10
Value for money = 6/10
Service = 7/10.

Lily's comment: Average, price is up-market and quality of food is only average.