Hanazen Japanese Restaurant
[Pork-free] Hanazen Japanese Restaurant has been operating close to 15 years in Jaya One.
Hanazen is worth checking out if you’re looking for a casual Japanese restaurant that offers a myriad of Japanese dishes.
But what sets it apart from your run-of-the-mill franchises is its quality of ingredients and personable service.
Hanazen Japanese Restaurant
We recently brought Mum to Hanazen for an early Saturday lunch.
Spoiler before the end of the article: she enjoyed her meal.
Similar to popular franchises such as Rakuzen (decent) and Sushi Zanmai (terrible), Hanazen is one of those Japanese restaurants that offer a variety of choices in its menu.
Find everything from sashimi to sushi to don here – but we did find the quality here to be fresh and top-tier for the price.
For one, Hanazen operates as a standalone which allows it to maintain quality and source quality ingredients from Japan (such as certified Wagyu beef and bluefin tuna).
We enjoyed the set meals
Our Mum enjoys a good set meal for the sheer variety so it was what she and Ming got for today’s lunch.
Mum opted for the Teppanyaki Salmon Set (RM48) – which comes with two salmon fillets, stir-fried vegetables, tofu, fried garlic rice, miso soup, chawanmushi, and watermelon.
We thought the salmon was cooked exceptionally well as it was superbly moist and juicy with good crispy skin. The teppanyaki gravy also had a good balance of savoury and sweetness to complement the freshness of the salmon (which tasted sweet on its own).
We also found the other components of the set meal to be executed well – miso soup was flavourful, the chawanmushi had good texture (albeit slightly underseasoned) but the best element was definitely the fried rice (in lieu of white rice).
The fried rice was really fragrant and had a good garlicky punch!
No complaints about Ming’s Tempura Zen set (RM42) either. The prawns and vegetables were fresh and the batter was light and crispy.
Negitoro Ikura Don
Instead of a set meal, Max opted for the Negitoro Ikura Don (RM60).
What makes this bowl exceptional was the freshness of the minced tuna belly and ikura – which combined so well with the well-seasoned sushi rice and freshly-grated wasabi.
The don was served with a bowl of miso as well as tamagoyaki. Max really enjoyed the dish.
Avocado Soft-Shell Crab
The Avocado Soft-Shell Crab Maki (RM28) was decent too. The crab was crispy and lightly battered but what sets this maki apart was the creamy avocado and smoked cheese on top.
Summary
If you’re looking for a good neighourhood casual Japanese restaurant, Hanazen is worth checking out.
This spot has a regular clientele as well based on the number of Japanese sake bottles with names written on them.
Hanazen Japanese Restaurant
Address: C-43-G, Jaya One, 72A, Jln Profesor Diraja Ungku Aziz, Seksyen 13, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Hours: 11.30am-2pm, 6pm-10pm Daily
Phone: 03-7954 8000
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