[Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia] Weekend Lunch Buffet @ Hanare Japanese Restaurant, The Intermark Mall
By Elin Chow - Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Photo By: Elin Chow
Hanare is an authentic Japanese restaurant located on the ground floor of the Intermark Mall. The restaurant specializes in omakase dining, but is also famous for their Kaiseiki set meals and weekend ala carte lunch buffet.
All the seafood served at Hanare are hand-picked and air-flown twice a week from Tokyo's famous Toyosu Fish Market. Thus, you can expect to be served with only the freshest and finest fares.
After reading plenty of good reviews about the restaurant online, we decided to try out their weekend ala carte lunch buffet. The buffet is only available for lunch on Saturdays and Sundays, from 12 pm to 2 pm. Reservation is required.
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Hanare features comfortable open seating with an open kitchen, a teppanyaki counter and a huge sushi bar where you can watch the chef at work. The wood furnishing and spacious dining space provide a cozy ambience. Besides that, the warm lighting also creates an intimate yet upscale atmosphere.
THE MENU
The buffet spread offers a broad range of items across more than 10 categories, which includes appetizers, Agemono, Sashimi, Mushimono, Yakimono, Nigiri Sushi, Hot-Pot, Maki/Temaki, Teppanyaki and desserts. Although the food selections are pretty limited, the quality are good.
On top of the ala carte items, each diner will also get one Hokkaido Oyster, three slices of Chutoro and 120 g of Australia Wagyu Beef.
ORDERING
At Hanare, ordering is done via small sheets of paper, which is a bit cumbersome. You need to state the quantity of the item (e.g Salmon sashimi) that you want to order on the small sheets of paper that they have provided. If you state the quantity as "1", they will really serve you one slice of Salmon sashimi only.
Chutoro
The thickly cut Chutoro is deep pink in color with some marbling. It has a good combination of lean meat and fat, which gave the perfect texture when you bite into it. The Chutoro boast a rich, buttery flavor with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. I love that it is fatty but not overly fatty. It has a bit of sour taste and a rich taste of fat. Every bite was a bliss to have, with the delicate flavors and freshness melting in my mouth. So delicious!
Hokkaido Oyster
To be honest, I am not a fan of raw oyster. But since it is included in the buffet, I will have a taste of it. The freshly shucked oysters are lightly seasoned and served with slices of lemon.
The oysters were plump and juicy, with plenty of liquid in the shell. They don't have much taste at all, but well, I am still not a fan of it.
Australia Wagyu Beef
The beef were well-seasoned. They were tender and juicy - not melt-in-the mouth type but not chewy. Delicious but not exceptionally amazing.
For appetizer, I only ordered Potato Salad. It was soft and deliciously creamy. Served cold, it really makes a good appetizer or side dish.
Sashimi
There were seven types of sashimi on the menu, alongside a variety of Sushi and handrolls. All their sashimi are sliced freshly by their skilled chef upon order. For sashimi, we ordered Shake (Salmon), Tako (Octopus), Akami (Red Tuna) and Amaebi (Sweet Prawn) to try.
One of our favorite was Amaebi Sashimi. The Amaebi was extremely fresh and exceptionally sweet. Its meat was so soft and silky that each bite will melt in your mouth. We also tried Amaebi Nigiri, which was equally good as well. This is definitely a must try for all sashimi lover!
I ordered Akami to try because I wanted to know the difference between Akami and Chutoro. Compared to Chutoro, Akami is more meaty and red. It has a low fat content with a firmer texture.
Akami also taste more sour than Chutoro.
Temaki
I seldom order Temaki when I eat at a Japanese restaurant because they usually either have soft seafood or were too big and too filling. However, I had a great experience with the Temaki at Hanare.
I ordered Prawn Tempura Temaki. It was neat and visually appealing. The Temaki was almost (big) bite size and I can finish it in two bites. The rice was positively perfect, just moist enough and slightly warm.
Agemono
For Agemono, we had Ebi (Prawn) Tempura and Ika Geso Karaage (Deep Fried Squid Tentacles).
All the deep fried food are freshly fried upon order. Thus, they were light and fresh-tasting, remained crisp even when cooled. Our favorite was Ebi Tempura. Deep fried until golden brown, it was crispy on the outside and bouncy on the inside. Despite being crispy, it was airy light and not oily. The Deep Fried Squid Tentacles, on the other hand, was a bit tough to chew.
Yakimono
Teppanyaki
For Teppanyaki, we had prawns, baby scallops, mussel and vegetables. Only the prawns taste good. They were so fresh and bouncy. The rest were just average. Nothing to shout about.
Desserts
For desserts, we had Matcha ice cream, Black Sesame ice cream and Matcha pudding. Seriously, the ice creams are some of the best we have tasted. I really love their Black Sesame ice cream! It was so rich, creamy and nutty. So addictively good! Their Matcha ice cream was equally good, as well as the Matcha pudding. Both of them had good strong taste of Matcha with just the right level of bitterness.
We ended our meal with rock melon, which provided a delicious final note to our meal.
CONCLUSION
Overall, we had a great dining experience at Hanare. Although a bit pricey, you will get what you pay for. The weekend lunch buffet costs RM 218++ per pax, but the quality of food was top-notch. Everything was prepared meticulously and beautifully arranged before serving. Service was fast and attentive as well. Personally, I feel that it was worth every penny spent!
Hanare Japanese Restaurant
Facebook: Hanare Japanese Restaurant
IG: @Hanare_KL
Tel: 03 2164 2133
The Intermark Mall
Ground Floor
182, Jalan Tun Razak
50400 Kuala Lumpur
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