Excuse Me?!!

That was what I said to my friend when he told me about Fukuya. It was the way he pronounced it that reminded me of the twins Fuk Mi and Fuk Yu in Austin Powers. Hilarious! Anyway, I've heard rave reviews about this place. Mostly about the impressive building and value for money kaiseki lunch. I've been hoping to try it out and finally got the opportunity yesterday.

I wasn't sure of its whereabouts but I was pretty sure I was on the wrong road when I spotted the cool, clean white building on my left. You can't possibly miss it on Jalan Delima. I can see why my friends found this building impressive. It has a long walkway from the car park to the main body of the restaurant and several glass front villas on each side. Threatening grey clouds loomed over the restaurant, black fabric flapped in the wind and I was greeted by a waitress in black bent at the waist in full bow. It was very dramatic! My partners were waiting for me at a table by a large glass window that overlooked a lush bamboo garden. Think Crouching Tiger minus Chow Yun Fatt balancing on a branch. Two of us ordered the kaiseki lunch (RM58++) and my other partner ordered from their lunch menu - two dishes with rice, pickles, chawan mushi, miso soup and dessert (RM40++).

While waiting for our food, we were given chilled apple juice. Not just any apple juice. It had the distinctive taste of Fuji apple. It was good stuff. The chef at Fukuya is from Waraku. There are some similarities with the decor and menu. However, the finishing at this place is a little shoddy. There were some odd bits of furniture lying about and there is a unfinished feel about this place. I'm sure its not noticeable at night but with the floor to ceiling windows, the bright daylight was unforgiving.

Our food arrived swiftly and we gushed at how pretty the first course was. Cold starters in the form of prawns in soy sauce, eel wrapped omelette and tiny pickled pink shrimp. The pink shrimp was interesting. It was sweet, salty and sour at the same time. I couldn't stop eating it. Second course was clams in clear broth followed very quickly by a sashimi platter. I was disappointed by the soup not for the taste but by the lack lustre bowl. After the pretty basket in the first course, I was expecting a beautiful porcelain bowl but instead I got the standard lacquered one. The clams looked so pale with the strands of spring onions floating around like ghosts in the clear soup. It was very tasty, almost a bit too salty for me.

The next course was grilled fish which was dense and flavourful. I loved the pickled lotus that came with it. It was sweet, sharp and crunchy and was perfect with the salty fish. The next course was tempura in the form of crispy golden coins. I thought it was a nice touch that they had chopped up the prawns and fried it with lotus. There were also two small green chillies to go with it. I thought we were done but we hadn't had our simmered dish yet. It was beautifully presented in a pale blue bowl. I wasn't sure what it was but it was pretty! I think it was leek. We forgot to ask the waitress. It came with a thick jelly-like gravy and strands of faux sharks fin. It was unusual but delicious. Finally, we were served rice with salmon roe, pickles and mushroom broth. The mushroom broth was really intense, like a good porcini stock. Yummy!

I was still feeling peckish so I ordered a maki with toro, uni and crispy salmon skin. If you like salmon skin, you'll like this one. It was super crunchy. It was RM22++ for the four pieces but worth it because it was to die for! For dessert, the dreaded watermelon slice but I was wrong! It was kiwifruit and a single strawberry resting in whipped cream. Phew! My partner ordered lavender ice cream (RM14++). I cannot begin to explain how strange it tasted. I couldn't smell the lavender but when I put it in my mouth, I became disoriented. Oh my God! Why am I in Lovely Lace? Or am I in the toilet??! Shudder. And I was so shocked, or dumb, that I took another bite. Actually. it wasn't all that bad. The texture of the ice cream is like gelato but the taste was just too odd. A little too much like spritzing air freshener in your mouth.