My Very First Blog

I hope you eat breakfast. I know of some people who don't.

They said there is no time to eat breakfast as they tend to rush to work. Some said they just don't have the appetite to eat anything in the morning.

But breakfast is important if you want to lose weight, or if you want to keep your blood sugar stable.

Imagine not having any food or nutrient entering your body since dinner the night before! Oh, I know some of you eat supper. haha! Still, your body is deprived of food for 8 - 12 hours and if you don't eat breakfast, you will be further depriving it of nutrients for another 4 - 5 hours until lunch time!

In the meantime, your blood sugar drops drastically and your body goes into starvation mode. So what does the body do in this situation? The body, being instinctively smart, will slow down your metabolism and store your fat in an attempt to make sure you survive the hunger. In other words, skip breakfasts often enough, and you will put on weight!

Therefore, make sure you do not skip breakfast!

Anyway, that's not the point of today's post. I really just want to know what is your ideal breakfast.

For me, I actually like my breakfast to consists of a cup of hot milo or chocolate (not coffee or tea!),


Image courtesy of lifeadventurez.com

two half boiled eggs topped with soya sauce and pepper...


Photo courtesy of Singapura Daily Photo

....and a few slices of bread or toast with thick kaya and butter! Hmmm....yummy!


Photo courtesy of Singapura Daily Photo

That's my ideal breakfast. No need nasi lemak, coffee, roti canai, McBreakfast and what nots!

But in reality, what do I eat for breakfasts everyday? Believe it or not - it's nothing but fruits, fruits and fruits!

Like jackfruit (nangka),



dragon fruits,


Image courtesy of fortunecity.com

papaya,


Image courtesy of truenorthkitchen.com

pineapples,


Image courtesy of My Asian Kitchen

mango,


Image courtesy of Simply Craving

bananas,


Image courtesy of Shine from Yahoo

star fruits,


Image courtesy of Enjoy Thai Food

watermelons,


Image courtesy of Herbal Blog

Well, you get the idea!

Why do I eat fruits for breakfast? Isn't it weird?

I started this 'eating fruits for breakfast' routine more than 8 years ago. Here are my reasons...

1. I learnt that fruits are the most nutrient densed of all foods! Since my body is deprived of nutrients for almost 12 hours since dinner the night before, I would need to replenish them. So what better way than to eat nutrient densed food like fruits?

2. I also learnt that fruits are best consumed on an empty stomach. This is because fruits are the most easily digested food in nature. If you eat fruits following a heavy meal, the fruits will not be able to pass into the intestines from the stomach because they are prevented from doing so by the other food that are harder to digest. The fruits will then rot in the stomach, and ferment with the other food resulting in bloating, wind and indigestion.

No wonder I don't feel good when I eat fruits for dessert after a meal! That's the wrong way of eating fruits! Fruits should be made the appetiser, not the dessert!

3. Do you know we need to take in at least 25 g of fibre daily? That's like eating 12-15 apples a day! Well, when I eat fruits for breakfast, I can ensure that I will fulfill my daily fibre requirement. Of course, my fibre intake also comes from vegetables and not solely from fruits.

4. Lastly, fruits are known to be detoxifying. Meaning, they help to cleanse our internal body from accumulated toxins. So eating fruits first thing in the morning will help to detoxify our body and encourage us to pass out those toxins in the form of stools.

The bottom line is, fruits are good for us and we need to eat lots of them! However, we normally don't eat enough because after eating breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner, we have no space left for fruits! If you were to follow the rule of eating fruits on an empty stomach, it is even harder to eat lots of fruits! So to me, the best time to eat fruits on an empty stomach is during breakfast!

Oops! As usual, I have gone way off topic! Looking back at the title of my post, I am supposed to ask what is your ideal breakfast! Haha!

Although I eat fruits for breakfast everyday, I do occasionally indulge in my favourite half boiled eggs, bread with kaya and butter and a cup of hot Milo or hot chocolate.

What about you? Do share with me what you normally eat for breakfast everyday and what is your ideal breakfast food.

I know I am a little late in posting about our late King Of Pop, Michael Jackson who passed away a few days ago.

But so many blogs were talking about it, so I did not want to be joining in the bandwagon.

Still, I could not resist sharing a little of my thoughts today.

I learnt about Michael's death on the radio while driving to work on Friday morning. I had switched on the radio and one of Michael's song was on air. Right after the song finished, the DJ spoke. I did not really pay attention to what the DJ was saying until I heard him say "...the late Michael Jackson...". I was like, what?! Did I hear that wrongly?

I was quite sure I heard wrongly, but his next sentence confirmed my worst fears. Michael Jackson had passed away! I could not believe it!

After that, the radio took in calls from listeners and some called in half crying as they spoke. It was pretty emotional and I could not help shedding a tear or two.

Later that morning, as if to add to the sadness I already felt in my heart, the rain fell.

Although I am not a huge fan of Michael Jackson, his popularity was something I could not ignore. I even bought his album "HIStory" many years ago which I really liked. It was the best album for me as it contained most of his previous No.1 hits and new materials. It was called "History : Past, Present and Future, Book 1". I have been waiting for Book 2 ever since but it never come.

As the years passed, Michael seemed to be more famous for his weirdness and molestation cases than his music. It was such a pity, for had he continued to come out with good albums, he would probably still be a force to be reckoned with in the music industry today.

Well, I am not in a position to judge Michael Jackson for what he did in his life. And I don't think anyone should even attempt it. For we are not him and we are not in his shoes. We would never understand the kind of life he went through. Now that he is gone, I just want the very best memories of him to last forever.

I think one of his songs that made the most impact on me was "Heal The World". Michael had written one of the most beautiful and inspiring lyrics to this song. Many people who knew him personally said he was a kind and warm hearted person.

Listening to this song made me believe that he was indeed a caring person who had a mission to heal the world. Did he succeed? I don't know but somehow this song just makes me want to cry.



There's a place in your heart
And I know that it is love
And this place could be much
Brighter than tomorrow.
And if you really try
You'll find there's no need to cry
In this place you'll feel
There's no hurt or sorrow.
There are ways to get there
If you care enough for the living
Make a little space, make a better place.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.

If you want to know why
There's a love that cannot lie
Love is strong
It only cares for joyful giving.
If we try we shall see
In this bliss we cannot feel
Fear or dread
We stop existing and start living
Then it feels that always
Love's enough for us growing
Make a better world, make a better world.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race.
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.

Bridge:
And the dream we would conceived in
Will reveal a joyful face
And the world we once believed in
Will shine again in grace
Then why do we keep strangling life
Wound this earth, crucify it's soul
Though it's plain to see, this world is heavenly
Be God's glow.

We could fly so high
Let our spirits never die
In my heart I feel
You are all my brothers
Create a world with no fear
Together we'll cry happy tears
See the nations turn
Their swords into plowshares
We could really get there
If you cared enough for the living
Make a little space to make a better place.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.

Chorus (2x)

There are people dying if you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me.
There are people dying if you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me.

Do you like watching movies? Most people do but some like to watch them at home. Me? I love watching movies at the cinema!

My favourite cinema at the moment is GSC Signature at The Gardens Mall in MidValley City. I know! I know! I have criticised it in my post last time, but after I went there early this year, I totally changed my mind. In fact, I was hooked!

Although it costs at least RM20 per ticket, which is almost twice the amount of a ticket at a normal cinema, it is worth it. For one, you get a bigger screen, more comfortable seats and less crowd! Besides, the crowds are the more civilised one, if you know what I mean.

You don't? Well, then let me tell you some of the less "civilised" things that I encounter in the normal cinemas that irritate me to no end!

1. Talking loudly on the handphone

This is the most irritating thing that one can do in the cinema, and let me tell you in case you are not an avid cinema goer, this happens a lot in Malaysian cinemas! Don't these people have any consideration for others? How am I going to concentrate on the dialogues spoken in the movie if they are interrupted and mixed with dialogues on the handphone?

I even have a friend who is like that! Sometimes she would receive a call in the cinema, and she would whisper into her phone. But when she could not hear the person at the other end, she would say "Hello? Hello?" a few times with increasing volume each time. I would get irritated and said "Shhhhh!!" but she would just ignore me!

When I tell her she is not supposed to talk on her handphone in the cinema, she would say it it is a very important call and she had no choice. Well, what can I say? Is the call so important that her life depends on it? And how come ALL her calls were so important, I wonder?

After a few times like that, I knew there would be nothing I could do short of arguing with her. So no more watching movies at the cinema with her! Good riddance!

2. Chit Chatting

Do you believe if I tell you that there are some people who go to the cinema not to watch movies but to catch up with their friends? Yes, you better believe it! I have encountered this before, and it really made my blood boil!

There was once I was watching a movie in the cinema and there was this couple just right behind me who could not stop chit chatting. Let me tell you, if I had just sat there and not intervened, I would have learnt enough about their private lives to write a tell-all book!

I told them very nicely that it was difficult for me to concentrate on the movie if they keep chit chatting like that. Well, they stopped. For a while. Maybe 5 minutes. Maybe 6. Then they were at it again!

For goodness sake, if you want to chit chat, why bother going to the cinema? Just sit at a nice restaurant or at a beautiful park and you can chit chat till kingdom come!

My friend who were with me gave them a mouthful and then we stood up and sat at two empty seats further down the hall!

3. Giggling all the time

Oh, let me tell you about this one! One time I had the unlucky experience to sit next to two girls who kept giggling non stop from the moment the movie started. And mind you, the movie was a serious drama. Definitely no comedic elements in the script whatsoever.

I really did not know the reason why they kept giggling, but it just got onto my nerves! I guess they were just chit chatting like case No.2 above and not really watching the movie. I just told them, "Excuse me, are you in the wrong hall? This movie is not a comedy!"

Luckily, they got it and they actually left after that. Phew!! At last, I got to have some peace of mind for the remaining part of the movie!

4. Laughing for no reason

OK, this is not as bad as the giggling above, but it still irritates me. I don't know why there are people in the cinema that laugh aloud at the most unfunny jokes. And they can even laugh at advertisements before the movie proper. I mean, what is so damn funny that you need to laugh aloud like that? It's as though they have never been to the movies before. Maybe they are from some kampong some where and this is their first time watching a movie in the city?

I honestly don't know! Some of the scenes in the advertisements - we have seen countless of times before, and even if we have not seen them, we would just merely smile and not laugh aloud like some idiots! I cannot understand why they need to laugh like that. I even think it sounds fake! Anyone can enlighten me on this crappy behaviour?

5. Sneezing or coughing all the time

Have you been to the cinema where someone sitting close to you kept sneezing or coughing? I mean it's OK to sneeze or cough once in a while, but not every few minutes!

If you are sick, for goodness sake, please don't spread your germs around in the cinema hall! At least have the decency to excuse yourself and leave the hall. Or suck a cough drop or something to stop yourself from coughing like someone with a terminal disease.

6. Kissing and making out

Have you ever seen couples kissing and making out in the cinema hall? I have to admit the dark environment in the cinema hall is just perfect for such actions! But come on! You go to the cinema to watch movies, not practise French kissing!

I mean, if you can't control your raging hormones, there is one simple way to overcome it. Just go to a cheap hotel, book a room and do whatever you want to do in there, for God's sake!

Don't do it while I am trying to enjoy my movie! I prefer to see my favourite stars making out on the screen, not you!

7. Sms-ing

Some people think that sending text messages on the phone is OK as long as they are not talking aloud on their phones. Well, how wrong they are! I don't know about you, but when someone sitting in front or by my side start sms-ing, the bright light from his or her phone would distract me from my movie watching.

I really think people should switch off their phones completely if they are addicted to texting and sms-ing.

8. Bringing a noisy or crying kid

I really hate it when the movie I'm watching is interrupted by noisy or crying kids! Why do parents like to bring their kids to the cinema if their kids are not disciplined enough to keep quiet during the movie? It is just so inconsiderate of them!

If they still want to watch the movie, simply get a babysitter to take care of their kids. Don't bring the kids into the cinema! If they do not have a babysitter, then don't watch the movie in the cinema. Get the DVD and watch it at home!

In fact, I think kids younger than 6 years old should be banned from the cinema!

9. Bad breath and body odour

Some people have stinking breath that I can smell two seats away! And some people have body odour that seems to suffocate me and makes me gasp for fresh air! Oh, these are the nightmares that can happen in the cinema if you are unlucky enough!

What would you do if the person sitting next to you have the strongest, most foul smelling body odour that would threaten to make you faint? Would you leave or would you struggle to watch the entire movie in that condition? Or would you tell that person he has body odour and could he please leave?

Well, I was lucky enough one time when this happened to me because there were many empty seats and I just simply changed seat. I can't imagine what I would do if the hall was full!

10. Revealing the ending aka spoilers

I don't know why but there are some people who go to watch the same movie twice or thrice or God knows how many times! I'm OK with that actually. If you want to watch the same movie 100 times, that's your God damned business! I'm sure the cinema operators welcome you with open arms!

But what I am not OK about is when these people start telling their friends loudly in the cinema the movie's storyline, what's going to happen next and worse, how the movie is going to end.

I mean, don't they know most of the people in the cinema were there to watch the movie for the first time? We don't need you to spoil it all for us, thank you! I am not going to pay RM10 for a movie that I know the ending to even before I watch it!

Imagine knowing what's going to happen in the next scene. If I were to watch horror movies, I would absolutely hate it if someone were to say "Oh, look out! The ghost is going to appear here!" Or if I were to watch a whodunit movie, someone were to say "There he is! He's the killer! You just can't guess it right?"

I think I would go and strangle that person! Wouldn't you?

Continues from Part 2

Who can resist desserts? Can you? Definitely not me as I have sweet tooth! I must eat desserts at buffets. In fact, without eating desserts, it's like not having been to the buffet!

And Tenji had a wide array of desserts for you to choose from!

There were the cakes and chocolate balls.



Mochis, jellies and puddings.



And cookies!



And of course there was the famous Haagen Dazs ice cream! I think just eating 4 bowls of Haagen Dazs ice cream would make this buffet worth all the money you paid!

But, alas, they did not have green tea ice cream! How was that possible? A Japanese buffet restaurant with no Japanese green tea ice cream? That's a sin, if you ask me!

Anyway, we tried the other flavours but one of my friends had a funny feeling that it was not Haagen Dazs ice cream! I tasted it and guess what - I think she was correct! How could Tenji place the label "Haagen Dazs" there when they were not serving Haagen Dazs ice cream?

I remember eating the ice cream on my first visit to Tenji with blogger Jam. It was definitely not like this!

I asked a lady who was busy scooping the ice cream whether it was really Haagen Dazs, and she said, "Of course! If not, I will sue Tenji!"

Maybe she should start talking to her lawyer. I really hoped Tenji did not con us, but I really did not think it was Haagen Dazs. Either that, or Haagen Dazs' standard had dropped!

Anyway, I did not take any photos of the ice cream. It was melting fast and after a while, it was like eating milk shakes. Haha!

Oh, by the way, do you know that you are not supposed to eat ice cream right after eating sashimi? Tenji even put up a notice warning of the danger of food poisoning if we were to mix sashimi with milk. Since ice cream is made from milk, you may get food poisoning if you eat ice cream right before or after eating sashimi! So do take note!

These were some of the cakes we ate.







I can't remember which cake is which! All I know is that I loved their tiramisu cake. It was really delicious! But still could not match the best tiramisu cake I have ever tasted, which was at Alexis Bistro in The Gardens some time back.

I tried to take another slice of the tiramisu cake but alas, there was no more left! What a pity! I would have eaten a few more slices of the cake!

My friend later introduced to me this tiramisu pudding which was very nice.



It may not seem very appetizing here due to my poor photography skills, but I assure you it was very nice!

So next time go to Tenji, just remember the word "tiramisu" - applies to both the cake as well as the pudding.

Another friend mentioned that the jelly puddings were nice, so I took these.



On the left is the honey dew jelly and on the right is mixed fruit jelly. Both were nice!

So how did Tenji's desserts fare against Jogoya? Well, I would say Tenji's cakes were better but Jogoya had the chinese herbal gui ling gao which I liked very much! However, the last time I visited Jogoya, this gui ling gao was missing, so I guess I would have to conclude that Tenji's desserts are better!

Actually, there were quite a lot of food I did not try. I did not eat the crabs, as I was already full then. Furthermore I felt lazy to eat those crabs - too much hassle to break open the shells and all! I also did not eat the Western dishes like spaghetti, which my friend commented was very nice. I also did not try their ice kacang. What a pity, but what to do? My stomach was not big enough!

I saw these food on display. I did not know what they were, but I was too full to take them.



And these fried stuffs? They made me want to puke already cos I was really full!



We ate and chit chat until 4pm! We really were the among the firsts to arrive and the lasts to leave. Haha!

Before we left, I saw that the cooks and chefs were all still busy preparing food. Probably for the dinner at 6pm?



Outside, it had just rained and the weather was pleasant.





I enjoyed myself but would I return? Yes, but only if I'm paying the promotional price of RM39.90++. I don't think it's worth going there if I have to pay the normal price of RM77.00++.

So let's sum up my comparison between Tenji and Jogoya. But before that, I would have to say that it may not be very fair for me to compare in this way because I ate buffet lunch at Tenji but I had buffet dinner at Jogoya. As we all know, dinners are usually better with more variety of food and perhaps better quality.

Also, this comparison is just a guidance based on my personal taste. Everyone's taste is different so please do not take this like a Bible for Japanese buffet restaurants!

Besides, what I mentioned here can and do change. For example, if I said the codfish at Tenji was very nice, it is very possible that you go to Tenji tomorrow and find to your horror that the codfish tastes terrible! Quality of food does drop and I have personally experienced that at Jogoya.

With that, let us sum up the comparison between Tenji and Jogoya with a point system, shall we?

1. Food Variety
Admittedly, Tenji loses to Jogoya on this one. Jogoya has such a huge variety of fish and seafood it wins hands down! For example, I can find stingrays, lobsters, mantis prawns, unagis and a wide variety of crabs in Jogoya and they can all be custom cooked for you.

Tenji has very limited fishes and definitely no lobsters and unagi that can be custom cooked. And I think I only saw one type of crab there. However, what Tenji lacks in variety, it makes up for quality. Tenji's codfish can easily beat all the different types of fishes you can eat at Jogoya!

Besides, you can't really eat those expensive lobsters at Jogoya unless you are a VIP member! That's right! Some food are reserved for VIP members only. I find this a total put off, but what irritates me to no end is that, as a VIP member, you can only choose ONE food ONCE only from the VIP section. That means I cannot eat two lobsters even if I wanted to!

The excellent herbal ginseng chicken soup which was previously available to everyone is now limited to VIP members only. The problem is, since I can only choose ONE food from the VIP section, I am forced to make a choice between the soup and the lobster! That sucks! Of course I chose the lobster in the end! Haha!

I hope Tenji would not follow Jogoya's style by introducing the VIP member card. If they do, maybe you would need to be a VIP member to eat those delicious codfish in future! Well, who knows since their codfish is so popular?

Score: Jogoya 1 Tenji 0

2. Food Quality
I can tell you Jogoya's food quality had dropped drastically since the first time I ate there! I just do not know what happened! It was such a disappointment as I had thought they were the best buffet in town! The last time I ate there, I found most of the food simply average and some even below average! Certainly not worth paying 88.00++ for dinner!

Tenji's food were also mostly average, some below average too, but a few really stood out like the codfish, raw oysters, and the tiramisu desserts. Besides, I think their oysters were fresher!

Score: Jogoya 1 Tenji 1

3. Price
I would have to say that if I were to pay the normal price, I would not go to both Tenji and Jogoya. It would be better to order ala-carte at authentic Japanese restaurants instead. But if you can get 50% discount or at least close to 50%, then it's worth going!

Honestly speaking, Jogoya offers much more variety of food at almost the same price, so it would seem that Jogoya is a better bet for your money. But if quality is what you want and not quantity, then Tenji is the place to go! Still, I won't want to pay that much (normal price) for limited amount of food!

Score: Jogoya 2 Tenji 1

4. Ambience
Tenji definitely win for ambience! Their outdoor garden easily trashed Jogoya! However, the interior is pretty much the same for both although Tenji looks more "class" perhaps with their classy wooden floor against Jogoya's cold hard cement floor.

Score: Jogoya 2 Tenji 2

5. Food Presentation
Tenji also beat Jogoya on this one! But if all you care about is the food quality and not how they are presented, this will make no difference to you!

Score: Jogoya 2 Tenji 3

6. Facilities
Both are even on this one. Both have basins with soap and water to wash your hands and washrooms that are nearby. But admittedly, Jogoya is a much bigger restaurant compared to Tenji. Jogoya even have private VIP rooms to cater for private functions.

Score: Jogoya 3 Tenji 3

7. Service
I would say both do not really have good service. One thing I don't like about Tenji is they ask you for payment in the middle of your meals. That's just so rude! Whereas in Jogoya's case, you have to pay first before entering the restaurant. Well, either you pay before you eat or after - both is OK with me, but not during eating!

As for booking for a place, I find calling both Tenji and Jogoya a hassle although the staffs manning the phone lines do reply in a polite and courteous manner. Jogoya does offer online booking but I find Tenji is better as it offers a simple sms reservation system that is a breeze to use.

Both get 1 point each! so total score : Jogoya 4 Tenji 4

Conclusion: Both are even!

My advice? Go to the one that gives good discounts! At the moment, Tenji is offering weekday lunch and daily supper buffets at RM39.90++ (normal price RM77.00++ for lunch and RM88.00++ for supper) until 31st July 2009.

For more promotions, visit Tenji blog and Jogoya blog.

Continues from Part 1

Besides Japanese food, Tenji also serves Chinese food. That means you can eat rice, vegetables and meat all cooked Chinese style. I did not eat them as I was more interested in the Japanese food! If want to eat Chinese food, might as well go to a Chinese restaurant, right?

You can even find dim sum and herbal ginseng chicken soup here!



I did try the herbal chicken soup - it was not bad, but could not match the ones I had in Jogoya. Too bad if you want to taste this particular soup in Jogoya, you would have to be a VIP member first! More on this VIP member stuff (which irritated the hell out of me) later.

Still on Chinese food, if you are a fan of steamed fish, then you don't want to miss Tenji's absolutely fantastic codfish! One of my friends who did not like sashimi and raw food actually ate 5 plates of the codfish!

That's right! She was so fond of the codfish and I could see why. I tasted the codfish and could not resist ordering 2 more plates!



That's my steamed codfish. It was really yummy! I think eating 5 plates of this codfish is enough to make what you paid for this buffet worth the money!

To order this codfish, all you need to do is to drop the metal clips provided into the bowl at the cooking area.



See the metal clip on the side of the plate? Every table is provided with 2 metal clips. Since we took up 3 tables, we were provided with total of 6 metal clips. The metal clip has numbers printed on it, so that when you drop them into the bowl at the cooking area, the staff would know which table to deliver the cooked food to.

When they deliver the cooked food, they would return the clip so that you can use the clip again and again. I was supposed to remove the clip from the plate but I was too busy eating the fish! Haha!



The above photo shows the place where you can drop the metal clips. See the bowls? Each bowl is for different type of fish or seafood so you pick which one you want and just drop your clip into the selected bowl. Once cooked, the dish would be delivered to your table.

Notice from the photo above that everyone had dropped the clips inside only one bowl? That bowl is for the codfish! So you can see that the codfish was a very popular dish!

I also dropped my clip into the bowl for the steamed red fish. Here's my red fish.



It was delicious, but the flesh was not as smooth as the codfish. That's why I saved my stomach for more codfish instead of ordering this red fish a second time! haha!

I would say that the codfish here beats all the fish I have eaten at Jogoya! No doubt, Jogoya has more varieties of fish and seafood but the last time I ate there, I did not enjoy eating them! The quality of the food in Jogoya had definitely dropped.

Walking around, I came across this station which served vegetables in soup. I decided to give it a try.



Just pick the metal bowl with the combination of vegetables that you like and hand over the bowl to the cook who will add the boiling soup into your bowl.



This is my bowl of vegetables in soup! I placed it on top of the burner though I did not start the burner. There was no need as the soup was hot. I just placed it there for fun! haha!



My bowl of vegetables contained mushrooms and bamboo clams. It was pretty tasty! Not bad at all.



The burner I mentioned above was not for that soup but was for the paper steamboats. See that same cook stuffing something that looks like paper onto the burner below?



Yes, you would need to get him to help you start the burner. I did not try this paper steamboats. Maybe I will try it next time I return to this restaurant.

My friend ordered this lamb shoulder using the metal clip dropping system.



I took a bite. It was quite nice, although I got a bit frustrated when I could not swallow the last bit as it was hard to chew! Almost wanted to spit it out but luckily I managed to swallow it. Haha!

There's also a salad station for fans of salad. Look! I found my scallops! (right side of picture)



You can also find Korean kimchi. Next to it was a food called "horeanso". I have absolutely no idea what that was! Anyone knows?



There were Western dishes if you like Western food. My friend took this plate of butter fish and lamb, if I am not mistaken. I tasted the butter fish and it was OK. I was not that interested in the Western dishes as I was really there for the Japanese food!



Besides the not-to-be-missed coconuts as mentioned in Part 1, you can also drink tea! Tenji had quite a variety of teas for you to choose from. Oops! I think the green tea was missing! Maybe the staff had taken the pot to be refilled.



I chose blueberry tea, which tasted slightly sourish. I liked it! My friend chose rose tea. That was nice too!

To drink the tea, you need to take an empty teapot and pour the tea from the main teapot (photo above) into your empty teapot. You can then bring your teapot to the table and pour into cups to be shared with everyone.

Here's my teapot containing blueberry tea and the cup which I poured the tea into.



They also have coffee which I did not wish to drink as I am not a fan of coffee whether they are cappuccino, latte, espresso or mocha!

Oh, and I think Tenji serves beer too! I saw this Carlsberg bottles outside at the outdoor garden.



I actually prefer red wine. Like what I drank at Jogoya although I understand it's cheap wines. It's OK since I am not a good wine drinker anyway, so cheap red wine is better than no wine! Haha!

We had quite a fun outing or should I say, gathering at Tenji. Barely half an hour into our buffet, we were already tasting the desserts!

But you know what? I think this post is getting a little too long already. So very sorry to say, I will have to continue in the next post. Looks like Tenji vs Jogoya is going to be a trilogy in the making. Haha!

In Part 3, I shall touch on the desserts and sum up the comparison between Tenji and Jogoya. Stay tuned!

Many bloggers have already blogged about Tenji, the famous Japanese buffet restaurant located at Solaris, Mont Kiara.

And many bloggers have also blogged about Jogoya, the other famous Japanese buffet restaurant located at Starhill in KL.

I have been to Jogoya twice, but have never ever stepped my foot in Tenji until less than three weeks ago.

I was there for a buffet lunch meeting with blogger Jam who had come to KL for a short holiday. However, during that lunch, I did not bother to take any photos as I was more interested to discuss with him about our impending China trip in August.

And so when I was invited for buffet lunch at Tenji again (what luck!) with a group of friends last week, I decided to take my camera along! I guess it's my turn to blog about Tenji! Haha!



This is the landmark roundabout with the fountain in the middle. Once you see this fountain and the roundabout, you know you have come to the right place.



Many people have asked if Tenji is better than Jogoya. Before going Tenji, I had the same question in my mind. I even asked some bloggers who had been to both but I received mixed responses. So continue reading for I shall reveal which is better!



We reached Tenji at 11.30am sharp. The buffet lunch starts at 11.30am and ends at 4pm daily. My friends were very kiasu (I think me included) and they wanted to make sure we were the first to arrive and the last to leave. Haha!

As we were led to our seats inside the restaurant, we passed by the nice outdoor dining area.





As it was hot, they had lowered the blinds. But later in the evening, when it started to rain and the weather turned really pleasant (to me rain is very pleasant!) they raised the blinds.





Nice or not? Did you notice the TV screens in the photos above?

You might be wondering why there is no one around. Well, that's because we were among the first to arrive and the last to leave, that's why! Haha!

If it was not too hot sitting outside, I would not have mind dining in the outdoor area.

But once inside, there were actually a lot of people already! And I thought we were early birds! Definitely could not beat kiasu Malaysians! Who knows, maybe there were some Singaporeans there. Haha!



The photo above shows the sashimi area where you can get your raw oysters, scallops, kisu fish, prawns, salmon fish, clams and octopuses.

Look at those funny shaped lights hanging from the ceiling. Aren't they cute?



The first thing I did was head to the sashimi area. Look, this is my very own sashimi plate. Yummy!



Can you spot in clockwise direction the raw oysters, salmon fish, kisu fish, tako (octopus), hokkigai (clams) and prawns? Too bad they didn't have scallops! I remember eating scallops during my lunch with Jam!

I think the sashimi here was comparable to the ones I had in Jogoya. But somehow I felt the oysters here were slightly better, probably fresher. So I took four more. Yummy!



Of course these oysters were not as large and meaty as the ones I had in Shangri-la KL last time, but they were pretty good.

If you like sushi, then this place will not disappoint! Anyway, what is a Japanese buffet without sushi, right? I personally don't really like sushi that much, so I did not really eat a lot of them.

Here's the sushi station where a chef was busy making sushi.



There were lots of different types of sushi available.







Below were some photos I took of the individual sushi.

The prawn sushi. I was tempted to just eat the prawns on top and throw away the rice!



Salmon sushi. I did not eat this. I prefer just raw salmon fish! Why eat the rice which is so filling? Might as well save my stomach space for other food! Haha!



Century egg sushi? Have any of you tasted this before? Well, I did not taste this. Not a big fan of century eggs anyway!



My friends and I observed this chef preparing the sushi.







And then I ordered two pieces of ebbiko sushi which one of my friends said was nice. The chef put in extra ebbiko (fish roe) on one of them for me. How nice of him!



See the difference? The one on the right was overloaded with ebbiko! Yummy!!

I don't know, but I think I prefer the sushi here compared to Jogoya. Maybe I didn't try all the varieties in both places so I may not be giving an accurate assessment of which restaurant has the better sushi. But one thing's sure - Tenji definitely score more points for presentation!

I was searching for my favourite unagi (eel) meat but was surprised I could not find it! How could any Japanese restaurant not serve unagi? Well, maybe for that rather cheap price we were paying, they decided not to offer this rather expensive dish!

(By the way, we paid RM39.90++ per person for this buffet lunch. This is promotional price as the normal price is RM77.00++)

What to do? I had to settle for the unagi handroll. Better than nothing!



Actually this unagi handroll was not too bad! It had to be ordered using the metal clip system. (For those of you who have not been to Jogoya and Tenji, I will explain about the metal clip system in my next post). I had a few of those handrolls! Yummy!

I do not fancy fried stuffs like tempura, but if you do, then you should not miss their tempura station!



This is my tempura dish which my friend took for me!



It was delicious. Well, it does look delicious, doesn't it? Tempura is known to be healthier than normal deep fried food as the batter is lighter and tends to carry less oil.

You can see in clockwise direction 2 tempura prawns, 2 tamago egg rolls, 1 shishamo fish (on stick), 3 tempura mussels and of course the bowl of tempura dipping sauce.

During the lunch with my friends, we were given seats that were near the doorway. It was quite hot despite the place being an air conditioned place. I guess it's because the door kept opening and closing whenever someone walked out or in.

All my friends were complaining about the uncomfortable and warm environment so I asked the staff if we could shift to another table. Unfortunately, she said we could not because the place was fully booked that day!

Imagine - it was fully booked even though it was lunch time on a working day! No prize for guessing how full it would be during weekends!

To cool myself down, I quickly went for this coconut drink.



I think it is similar to the imported coconuts I had in Jogoya. Very cool, refreshing drink! If there's one drink you must not miss, it is this coconut drink! The coconut is different from the usual local coconuts you drink as it has an aromatic pandan flavour to it.

In fact, there's usually a queue lining up for these coconuts so you can see how popular this drink is. I myself drank 3 coconuts!



We made a beeline for this coconut and tried to get as many as we could. Talking about kiasuness!

As we actually sat just in front of the coconut counter, it was quite easy for us.

This is the coconut counter although at the moment I took this photo, the coconuts had already run out, so no long queue in the photo.



Do you see the chocolate fondue? Now that reminds me of desserts!



But this post is already too long! So I shall talk about desserts in the next post, if you don't mind.

Besides Japanese food, Tenji also serves a variety of Chinese, Korean and Western food too! I will blog about that in the next post. Also, in my next post, you will know my conclusion - whether Tenji or Jogoya is the better Japanese buffet restaurant, so stay tuned.

Sayonara and have a happy weekend! : )