Location: Citraida Butik & Kafe, Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor
"Succi Sushi" became the tagline for Citraida boutique cafe, indicating its offer of halal Japanese food, particularly sushi, maki and bento sets. Also available at the place are other side dishes such as chawan mushi, edamame and takoyaki.
I had the Ebi (prawn) Tempura, which also comes with spinach, carrot and enoki mushroom tempuras. The tempura is light and crispy, drizzled with a bit of mayonnaise and special sauce. Ah, the heavenly taste made me realize that preparing them as tempuras are the only way to make me eat carrots or spinach.
If you would like to have a more complete meal with tempura, try the Ebi Katsu Bento set, which is basically the aforementioned Ebi Tempura that comes with rice, soup and also cut fruits. Rest assured you will be completely full after having this dish.
Ebi Tempura
The Ebi Katsu Bento Set is basically the Ebi Tempura served alongside rice, a bowl of soup and cut fruits.
I also tried the Egg Mayo Sushi and Salmon Mentai Sushi. Each sushi platter you order consists of two pieces of sushi. I thought the size of the sushi might be a little bit smaller than what I'm used to. Nevertheless, it was easy to eat as you can have one sushi in one bite only. I really like the Salmon Mentai (salmon and fish roe) Sushi; each one is torched moderately to add more flavor.
Then I tried the Daging Sambal Hitam FBI Maki, a fusion of the Japanese maki and Malaysia's beef sambal hitam. Sambal hitam is made of bilimbi / belimbing buluh (a close relative of the starfruit) cooked with bird's eye chillies, anchovies and shallots until dried. Meanwhile, the name "FBI" is derived from the initials of a local celebrity, Faizal bin Ismail who came up with his daging hitam recipe for the Malaysian market. Citraida's Daging Sambal Hitam FBI Maki is FBI's Daging Hitam rolled up into a maki and topped with crispy tempura crumbs. It was totally scrumptious with a tinge of hot sambal hitam.
The Daging Sambal Hitam FBI Maki, a fusion of Malaysian and Japanese delicacy
Meanwhile, a recent addition to Citraida's menu is the Soft Shell Crab Larva, which is softshell crab pieces topped with fish roe, mayonnaise and sauce. Though it is a bit salty, the crispy softshell crab is delicious nevertheless.
The Soft Shell Crab Larva
Citraida is a casual dining place alongside a mini boutique near the entrance, which sells women clothing and hijab / shawls. The owner of Citraida is Khairul Noormaidah Zali - also known as Aida - who shot to fame after winning a local reality television show, Gadis Melayu, back in 2008.
