At the storefront, Kikyo embraces you with Japanese charm. Graceful lanterns and lovely geisha figurines welcome your arrival. A humble showcase of Japanese cultural pieces is put together to enchant you. Feel your saliva gland swell at the appetite-whetting signal from the displayed food models. Experience a little Zenic moment while being surrounded by the tiny patches of bamboo grove on the walls in the restaurant. Within are neat wooden Japanese-inspired tables and benches, on which food and joy are shared and in which patrons are comfortably seated while waiting to be tended.
Kikyo is better known for “buffet à la carte.” Instead of serving food from a counter, patrons order and eat all they can, whenever they want to, from a menu for however long they prefer. This way, food is prepared to order and delivered fresh. The meal costs only RM39.90++ per adult; RM19.90++ for a 4- to 8-year-old child; and is free for children below four. Plus, it comes with free flow of Coke and green tea. “Besides catching up with changing times and and trying to be innovative,” said Kikyo Restaurant Manager Jimmy Yap, “we brought in the ‘buffet à la carte’ concept more than two years ago with the aim to turn every dining experience at our restaurant into a family-friendly one. Japanese food is for everyone — it should always be!”
Kikyo’s buffet menu boasts 80 dishes, including salads, appetizers, soups, rice and noodles, sushi and sashimi, as well as desserts. Some of the bestsellers are:
Eringi Butter Yaki
Big, fat king oyster mushroom thickly sliced and sautéed in sizzling-hot butter, cooked simply to preserve its meaty texture and delicate, earthy flavor.
Mini Tuna Pizza
Which reminds you of New York-style pizza but only much smaller in size. Its thin, crisp crust yields to the force of your teeth and shatters, bite by bite, and carries with it into your mouth are sweet ocean flavors from the tuna chunks and finely shredded nori on top. All these flavors are finally harmonized with squiggles of creamy mayo.
Tofu Steak
This is a giant block of wobbly tofu, so soft that all you do is scoop and swallow. It sits snugly in a pool of slightly sweetened, dark, thin, savory shoyu-ish sauce, and is crowned generously with large, thick katsuobushi shavings for an umami punch.
Hiyashi Chūka
A summertime favorite in Japan that can be enjoyed any time of year in sweltering Malaysia. It is a big bowl of ramen served chilled, swimming in a slightly sweet-sourish broth, and topped with ribbons of vibrantly colored ingredients such as omelet, lettuce, and nori.
Koebi Karaage
An addictive snack and crowd-pleaser. These little deep-fried shrimp are crunchy inside out, with a sprinkling of salt on top for that additional kick.
Sashimi
Fresh, sweet, succulent salmon and tuna served in thick slices — for all you can eat.
Uniquely Japanese ice creams
Though there are six flavors to choose from, be sure to try its green tea, black sesame, and wasabi ice creams. Pleasantly grassy, not cloyingly sweet, with a faint of bitterness, its green tea ice cream makes you think as though you are sipping some thick, milky green tea latté. If you are craving for something toasty and nutty and sweet instead, its black sesame seed ice cream, speckled with chocolate bits and MORE black sesame seeds, could just be for you. As for the culinarily adventurous, its nostril-cleansing wasabi ice cream will not let you down: deceptively vanilla at the first scoop, it slowly turns a mintlike taste, before giving way to the tingling sting of wasabi.
Kikyo opens daily, from noon to 2:30 p.m. and 6 to 10:30 p.m. While dinner buffet runs every day, lunch buffet is for weekends and public holidays only. Dining à la carte is available as an alternative. For reservations and enquiries, visit Kikyo’s Facebook page, or call 03-8060 1766.
You can also experience all this, including an exciting sushi-making session, with 19 other OpenRicers on Aug. 27 at 6:30 p.m. Sign up here before Aug. 3, and be chosen!
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