Kizuna Japanese Restaurant Ramen

After a year, I am back to the sashimi wonderland!

Visited this place a year ago. Ever since, the word 绊, which means bond or ties,

was inked in my head. And of course, apart of that word, the fresh, thick-cut sashimi

and heavenly foie gras remained on its throne in my tummy. Okay that's weird.

Read my previous post here.

Love the ambiance here. It's quiet with dim lighting,
soft music and minimal decorations that ease the eyes.

They have just launched their new menu this month,
with new yums such as different renditions of hotate(scallop) dishes
and variety of ramen added in.

Disclaimer: As the restaurant was dark, and the genius(read: me) is not a fan 

of flashlight, you will see two different versions, or color to be exact of the food.

My apologies as most of them turned out to be very yellowish and reddish.

Sashimi 

Salmon [RM35/5pcs] | Tuna [RM35/5pcs] | Hotate [RM40/4pcs]

My love for these fresh raw meat is eternal. Salmon was air-flown from Norway

while Tuna was from heaven-on-earth Maldives, these thick slices were soft and juicy,

satisfaction on many levels each time you bite into it!

It was my first time trying Hotate sashimi, flown from Hokkaido

and topped with salmon roe, they were slippery smooth.

Request for nama wasabi(fresh grated wasabi) to go with these sashimi for an extra kick. 

House Wine [RM100/bottle]

Sashimi is best paired with glass of white wine.
We were pampered with 2011 Vallformosa Lavina Blanco Semi-Dulce,
it was light and fruity, which perfectly complemented the sashimi.

Hokkaido Scallop to(with) Caviar [RM60/4pcs]

Pan-fried scallops sitting on thin lemon slices,

topped with caviar flown from France and fresh wasabi.

It was a combination of sour(only a tinge), salty and hot. As soon as I took a bite,

the wasabi kicked in immediately and masked the taste of the rest almost entirely.

The chef might want to go easy on the amount of wasabi

since the 'main characters' of the dish were, obviously, scallop and caviar.

Hotate Mayo Maki [RM50/4pcs]

Scallops were pan-fried then baked to medium well,
topped with ebiko and mayo blended with sriracha chili sauce,
tongrasi(Japanese seven spice seasoning powder), onion and carrot.

Among the three variations of hotate, my favorite goes to this one

for the interesting blend of creamy and appetizing yet not overpowering topping.

Kyushu Ramen [RM19.90]

Pork bones were boiled for long hours to achieve this rich and cloudy broth.

Noodles were done al dente, soup was slurppily good with no signs of phosphorus acid.

Tobanjan Ramen [RM20.90]

Tobanjan is a spicy and salty miso bean paste,
which made this bowl of ramen looked like curry mee at first glance haha.

 Slightly spicy and very flavorful, the broth wasn't as overpowering
and cloying thick as it looks like in the picture.

Jigoku Ramen [RM20.90]

We were warned about this one, as jigoku means hell in Japanese.

I was pretty terrified hearing that yet excited to know how does hell taste like.

Luckily, it was not as 'hellish' as it sounded like.

It kind of reminded me of Szechuan mala soup,
spicy but not to the extend of numbing your tongue.

Okay I actually had a sip only cause I'm a loser, so please try yourself
and let me know if the soup would start a fire in your stomach or not.

One thing to highlight is that every bowl of ramen comes with two huge, juicy slices of chasu.
Mad love! Thanks to Trista for volunteering.

Hot Stone Wagyu Foil [RM119/160gram]

So we meet again! Oh I'm talking to the Wagyu that I hardly have the chance to devour.

Raw wagyu were sliced and place on the hot stone together with enoki,
topped with fried garlic bits and rained with teriyaki sauce.
They were then wrapped in foil until they were cooked to medium rare.

Tender, juicy with garlicky goodness, the sizzling and strong fragrance were too hard to resist.

Dragon Maki [RM29.90]

We got to try this yummy maki in interesting presentation once again!

Layers of seaweed, unagi and avocado slices wrapping crunchy deep fried shrimp,

rice and cucumber cube. So much texture, so much satisfaction!

Foie Gras with Black Cod [RM95]

Last but not least, the ever sinfully delicious duck liver with black cod fish.

Foie gras was buttery and melted immediately in my mouth.

We gave most of our share to CK, as it was his first time having this delicacy.

The look on his face was priceless, the taste was magical for the first-timer.

Oh well, at least the radish slices lying beneath eased the guilt a little bit.

Huge thanks to Kevin, the boss of Kizuna for hosting
and spoiling us with so much good food!

Kizuna Japanese Restaurant Bay Avenue

Website | Facebook page

Opening hours

Monday to Friday

11:30am - 3pm, 5:30pm - 10:30pm

Saturday & Sunday

11:30am - 10:30pm

04-638 3491

C-9-1, Bayan Bay Indah 3, 

Bay Avenue, 11900 Bayan Lepas Penang