Watami has more than 600 restaurants in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Shenzhen and Shanghai up to date. A new one has opened in 1 Utama recently. It is the second Watami shop (first in Pavilion) in Malaysia. I’m liking it but i hope they keep up with the good service and quality of food unlike most of the eateries in 1 Utama which had deteriorate with time.
 

The interior is different from the one in Pavilion which has dim lights and a cozy Japanese setting. Watami at 1 Utama is bright and modern with a bar in the center where the beverages are prepared.  Definitely a nice hang out place.

The food on the other hand is more of fusion than of pure Japanese food with salads and bibimbap sets making an appearance on the menu.
 

Currently they are offering a lunch set special at the price of RM17.90++ which includes the main dish, beverage and salad. A nice deal especially for office employees on lunch break.

We decided to give the lunch set a try so each of us ordered a different set for the variety.
 

We expected something small but surprisingly the portion were more than enough, plus the food is great too.

The Unagi Tshoku set comes with a bowl of rice and a miso soup, a selection of drink (we had hot honey plum), a small bowl of salad and hotplate of marinated unagi slices and white tofu drowned in bamboo shoot broth. The hotplate is placed on a small gas cooker where the dish is heated up. Once it starts bowling, we had to break an egg and mix it into the dish.

I love unagi so it is obvious that i enjoyed this a lot. The broth was really sweet and tasty too.
 

I had reservation regarding the Seafood Doria when i saw the menu. It looked tempting but i had my share of bad experience with cheese-baked anything so i stopped myself ordering. Sis on the other hand gave it a try.

It turned out pretty good. No regrets because it was delicious.

They were generous on the ingredients (there were lots of shrimps) and the cheese was very rich but not overwhelming. I suggest that if you want to try this then order it to share because there’s rice underneath the cheese and seafood so it could be pretty filling.
 

Also pleasing to the palette is the Salmon & Tobikko Bibimbap set. It comes with a small bowl of tobiko (flying fish roe) which we sprinkled onto the bowl of rice before we mix everything up. I have to admit i enjoyed this more than the conventional Korean bibimbap. The salmon is fragrant and the tobiko adds to the bite with its crunchy texture. The slightly charred rice at the bottom of the hot stone bowl was absolutely delicious.
 
 

Unagi Tshoku Set – RM19.90
Salmon & tobikko Set – RM19.90
Seafood Doria Set – RM19.90
Total: RM65.65 inclusive of 10% service charge

* All lunch set comes with a selection of drink and salad.
 
 

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Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant
F355/356/357, 1st Floor,
Rainforest, 1 Utama,
47800 Lebuh Bandar Utama,
Petaling Jaya
Tel: +603-21416671
Website: www.watami.com.my