We checked out the new Tsutaya Books in Bukit Jalil yesterday!
First impressions: The management had good crowd control with orderly seating/waiting arrangements, similar to those done at large vaccination centres.
Our wait time was about 20 minutes to get into the store at 7 pm on Saturday evening.
We spent about 15 minutes seated outside the store’s entrance until we were ushered to the standing queue before being cued to enter.
Tsutaya Books in Bukit Jalil
With its dark accents and mirrored ceiling in some areas- Tatsuya is one of the prettiest bookstores in KL.
A special shout-out to TamanHati for curating all the plants inside too.
Located on Level 2 of Pavilion Bukit Jalil, this is the first Tsutaya store in Southeast Asia with 31,00 sq ft of floor space and 264,00 books on offer.
Tsutaya Books offers titles in many languages
During our visit, we found many titles offered in English, Japanese, Chinese and Malay languages.
The children’s section caught our eye with its interior, which makes for a comfortable and safe space for kids to browse the shelves and read. There is also a decent section for manga.
However, we do find that the book selection is not as extensive as Kinokuniya in KLCC.
The latter remains our favourite bookstore in KL for its amazing selection of titles, with a sense of personalisation from the curators.
We also found the indexing of books by the authors’ first names here rather perplexing.
Tsutaya Books – more than books
However, Tsutaya still draws attention by offering a variety of hand-crafted lifestyle products from Japan.
Stationary fans will also be pleased by the selection ere.
This concept reminded us of the Eslite bookstores we visited in Taipei (they are opening a branch here in Starhill KL soon).
Dorayaki, please
The bookstore also has a dedicated in-store cafe with coffee, matcha and confections served.
We ordered a Dorayaki set (RM24) which includes a drink and a dorayaki.
The latte here is excellent – which is not surprising as we recognise the barista as Masa-san from Artelier Coffee in Pavilion KL (there is also an Artelier Coffee branch here in Pavilion BJ).
The Classic Dorayaki with anko (red bean) paste was fresh-tasting with sweetness from some light cream and chestnut. The paste wasn’t too sweet and we thought the addition of the chestnut really complemented the anko. We definitely recommend trying this out.
We preferred this to the Cacao Dorayaki – which surprisingly did not have a strong cacao taste. The cacao also had a mild tanginess of the cranberries and sweetness of the shiro-an (white bean paste) alongside the chocolate cream, which Max enjoyed but Ming did not. Those expecting the traditional chocolatey taste and “kick” to the palate should skip this one and go for the Classic.
Summary
Tsutaya is definitely worth a visit – and kudos to the management for managing the crowd well on its opening weekend. We recommend spending some time for a cuppa and savouring the Japanese confections at the cafe.
We also recommend coming here at odd hours (7pm was perfect as most were having their meals then) – which should translate to a shorter waiting time to enter the store.
Tsutaya Books Bukit Jalil
Address: Lot 2.89.00, Level 2 Orange Zone, Pavilion Bukit Jalil, Persiaran Jalil Utama, Bandar Bukit Jalil, 57000 Kuala Lumpur
Hours: 10am-10pm Daily
Website: https://linktr.ee/bukitjalil.tsutayabooks
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