Food Notes: Halal Japanese Food Awaits at Citraida

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.

Food Notes: Japanese Dishes at an Affordable Price

Location: Sukiya - Tokyo Bowls and Noodles

Fancy enjoying Japanese food for less than RM 20.00? I can still hardly believe that everytime I dine at Sukiya (available at several locations including Mid Valley Megamall, Uptown Damansara, IOI City Mall Putrajaya and AEON Bandaraya Melaka), I would only have to pay a bill totaling less than RM 20.00. Except for the Unagi-don (which is priced above RM 20.00), other dishes on offer here would mostly cost you around RM 15.00 including drinks.

Sukiya's signature dish is the gyudon, which is a bowl of rice topped with thinly-sliced beef simmered in a special sauce. Apart from its gyudon, a variety of noodles are also on offer. Its tagline "Tokyo Bowls and Noodles" says all about the menu on offer.

I have tried several of Sukiya's gyudons. My favourite would be the Osaka Okonomi Gyudon, which is particularly fulfilling with a mixture of cabbage, mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce and some sort of meat floss added on top of the rice and beef. It also comes with a wobbly, perfectly poached egg in another small bowl to top the dish. Carefully pour the egg onto the rice and let the yolk burst in your bowl!

The Osaka Okonomi Gyudon comes with a poached egg

When the wobbly round egg bursts...

There are also the Three Cheeses Gyudon (gyudon topped with three types of cheese) and the Snow White Cream Gyudon (gyudon served with mixed vegetables in a creamy white sauce).

The Three Cheeses Gyudon

Other rice dishes I have tried here is the Teriyaki Chicken Bowl: rice served with tender, boneless chicken marinated in teriyaki sauce. Then there is the Tokyo Oyakodon, pieces of chicken meat and egg served on top of the rice with spring onions. According to the explanation included in the menu, "oyakodon" literally means "parent and child bowl", which directly refers to the chicken as the "parent" and the egg as the "child".

The combination of chicken, egg and spring onions goes well with each other to produce the scrumptious Tokyo Oyakodon.

Tokyo Ramen with Double Chicken Meat

As for the ramen, I had had the Tokyo Ramen With Double Chicken Meat. The shoyu soup is totally perfect and the steamed chicken meat is so juicy that I felt fortunate to have ordered the one with "double" chicken meat (there is another, the Tokyo Ramen With Chicken Meat, which obviously contains lesser chicken pieces).

Oh, by the way, please note that prices of some dishes vary depending on the size of the bowl - you can choose from sizes S, M, to L accordingly.

For Muslims, rest assured that Sukiya is certified halal so you can enjoy the dishes without doubt.

Apart from its affordable pricing, I also like the fast service at Sukiya. I have never been kept waiting for my food - it usually arrives within ten minutes or less. I usually spend about 30 minutes at the outlet. Save money, save time! :)