Sushi Zanmai @ The Gardens, Mid Valley City

There is no doubt that there are a lot of household franchise name offering some decent sushi in the Klang Valley region. But how often you came across crowd queuing up just to get a table and not even the food yet? What's even astonishing were that the impatience people of Klang Valley could actually queue up for some sushi.

The stall I was referring to is Sushi Zanmai. It may be a pretty new name in Malaysia sushi franchise industry, but the name has gain recognition amongst the sushi lovers in Malaysia. Each time I have the urge to try them out, but was pulled back by the long queue especially during the peak hours and weekends. Finally, my chance arises on a normal weekday during the non-peak hours at the Sushi Zanmai located in The Gardens, Mid Valley City.

Sushi Zanmai at The Gardens

It was only a quarter after 5 at my time of visit, and the place were already almost full with very little vacant table left.

At 5pm and the place were already almost full

The settings of place very much resembles the outlay of a Japanese restaurant with wood and sakura trees are the main theme of the layout.

Great ambiance and layout at Sushi Zanmai

So while waiting four our fresh sushi to be served on the table, I prepared some wasabi and Japanese soy sauce as the dip for my sushi. Just a thought on what is the different between wasabi and chillies? Chillies burn your tongue while wasabis excite your taste bud nerves particularly when you take too many at one go.

Wasabi with Japanese Soy Sauce

Jo Unagi (RM 6.80)
Their proclaimed premium roasted eel. Fair enough, it lived up to the expectation by offering a very meaty flavourful unagi. It was lip smacking good, a must order dish for those unagi lovers!

Salmon Zanmai (RM 19.80)
A platter of sushi that consisted of salmon, salmon belly, broiled salmon, smoked salmon and salmon roll.

Salmon and Broiled Salmon
The normal salmon tasted very fresh and smooth. The broiled salmon meanwhile offered a very unique taste of a little burnt on the top layer while being soft and smooth on the bottom layer.

Smoked Salmon and Salmon Belly
Smoked salmon was salted and resembles the taste of a bacon, a pretty new taste to me. I'd always like the Salmon Belly part and this is no exception. It was fresh and way smoother than the salmon meat.

Salmon Roll
Very ordinary sushi roll with some salmon meat within.

Tuna Salad and Salmon Salad (RM 2.80 each in a pair of 2)
Both the salad sushi consisted a lot of filling that came with a decent portion of diced vegetables for some extra chewiness. The taste were pretty ordinary but I find the tuna salad was slightly on the tangy side.

Chawanmushi (RM 4.80)
Japanese steamed egg in a cup that consisted of some meat and seafood.

Rokko, 6 kinds (RM 30 for 2 pieces each platter)
A platter of raw sashimi that consisted of tuna, yellow-tail, salmon, sweet shrimp, octopus and cuttlefish. I'd particularly enjoyed the tuna and salmon sashimi as they were both very fresh. However, I find the yellow-tail fish tasted too fishy and the texture was way too soft to the extent it break apart easily. Octopus and cuttlefish provided a different dimension for it's juiciness and chewiness while the sweet shrimp is a big no-no from me because it tasted too sweet and the meat seems to be in a rotten state.

Spider Roll (RM 12.80)
A soft shell crab roll that is topped with avocado and mayonnaise. A real bomb! Mayonnaise that melts in your mouth initially before the crispiness and sweetness of soft shell crab that rolled in upon each bite. With extra fragrant from the avocado, this got to be my favourite sushi for that day. Simply awesome!

All in all which inclusive of refillable grean tea and service charges, the total bill came to RM 96.15. The price might be a little on the steep side, but I've got no complain for the quality and taste of food that were being served. And now I know why those sushi lovers are willing to queue up even the queue look extraordinary long.

Atmosphere: 7/10
Food: 7.5/10
Price: 4.5/10
Verdict: Avoid visiting during peak hours to avoid queuing up!

Sushi Zanmai - The Gardens
Lot T217, Third Floor
The Gardens, Mid Valley City
Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: 03 - 2282 1160 / 012 - 702 1160
Business hours: 10am - 10pm