Dozo Japanese Restaurant, De Garden

Jeng Jeng Jeng! It's been awhile since I posted a photo of theme behind the title of this blog. Crunchy whole fried soft shell crab karaage should be piping hot with a cripsy exterior with moist flesh within. A portion at RM28.80. From the angle of photo, it is quite obvious that I do not own the credit of this photo. The clarity of the photo is so obvious that it is taken using an iPhone6 and above.

The owner of this photo commented the salmon was flavourful with crispy skin and yet maintaining the moist and flaky flesh. Salmon Teriyaki for your omega-3 top up at a price of RM21.80. Now I start to understand why there is a long queue/booking during the opening launch whereby they offered a 50% on all food items for the first 3 days! Few weeks later, this place is packed to the brim at 7pm on a weekday! Yes, that's why parking seems to be of a problem in de Garden recently with addition of Dozo, Doma and Three Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf.

A snapshot of the Sashimi Set Meal at RM48.80. There are other sets available from RM30+ onwards. Once you have a glimpse of the menu, you will clearly see that they are giving Zento a run for the money. Okay, enough of the photos sent from a friend. Let the food review start below...

For the kaiten sushi, there is conveyor belt sushi available with 4 colour tier - RM2.30, RM4.30, RM6.30 and RM8.30. The yellow plate of Kani Mayo is obviously the cheapest one, while the purple plate being at RM4.30. The chuka idako (seasoned octopus) is priced at RM6.30 but come in generous portion, I think there were 7-8 pieces of Octopus. The slight drawback was the conveyor was installed above the eye level. Even somebody at 6 feet like yours truly need to tilt up the head to observe what item has run past me.

The ala carte menu is quite extensive ranging from premium sashimi, yakitori (grilled skewers), tempura (fried items), rice bowls, noodles and cooked seafood and meat. Under the rice bowls category. this is the Oyako Don - Stir fried chicken fillets on runny eggs and mushroom. Took a spoonful of it and don't find it very appetizing though. For RM19.80 I would give this dish a miss. Perhaps the stewed pork rice is a better pick? Yes, there is pork in the menu, that's why I said the war drums has been sounded and Zento would've feel the heat now.

Another rice bowl item, Gyu Don could be literally translated into Beef Rice Bowl. Thin slices of beef (tender but not well marinade and it tasted slightly bland). Well you can get it for half the price at Yoshinoya (half-heartedly done also in my previous visit whereby the staff actually simmered my beef slices instead of cooking them on the hotplate!)  or Sushi King. Back to the Gyu Don in Dozo, the bowl is big but by the time half of the rice is finished, there are not much beef slices left to go along with it. And need to pair the last few spoonful of rice with the Miso Soup.

The Kyushu Ramen bears similar ingredients which you can find in other Japanese restaurants namely the key highlight in the form of sliced pork (chasu), fish cake slices, strands of wood fungus, stewed hard-boiled egg and not forgetting bouncy noodles! The cloudy tonkatsu broth  (from pork bones) is tummy-warming, hearty and full of umami flavour. A bowl of comforting noodles at RM23.80, normal for Japanese cuisine nowadays?

Niniku Chahan (Garlic Fried Rice) is executed to near perfection. Each grain of rice is fluffy and not too overly doused in oil and yet it brings out the full aroma of garlic and fine coating of eggs. At RM6.80, this carbohydrate fix is the best bet to fill up the void in your stomach if you have limited budget to order a few more items. A recommended pair would be complementing it with teriyaki salmon or maybe tepannyaki dishes.

There is no 6% GST imposed yet as Dozo is actually brought in overseas! Yes, the first branch is actually situated in United Kingdom! Seems like the management of de Garden is doing a good reviving strategy to the mall tenancy with addition of some more established names. Will I be back again? Perhaps to bring a friend to try else I would revisit Doma again to try all their flavours of Bingsu and rice pancake