Much ado over Momo

May is the time for Mother's Day celebrations and to celebrate I normally take my parents out for a good meal. Having heard good things about this Japanese restaurant we decided to give it a shot. Actually we were there for the ala carte menu but it turns out that they do not serve ala carte during weekends, only buffet. Since we were already there...might as well indulge!

The entrance

Very Zen no?

Since we arrived so early (we were their first customer in fact...LOL) we managed to secure seats easily and then it was time to eat!

Salmon, butter fish and tuna sashimi

Oysters

No complaints here. The sashimi were fresh and up to the usual standard you'd expect from a Japanese buffet. Oysters were silky smooth and were pretty large so expect to do some chewing.

Sukiyaki

I've always enjoyed swishing beef slices around to make sukiyaki. The soup was flavorful and I couldn't detect any MSG (didn't feel thirsty after downing two bowls). Coupled with tender beef slices, tofu and assorted vegetables it was a winner. I could probably spend the whole buffet here creating my own sukiyaki mixtures but then that's not the point of a buffet now is it? Bear in mind that the beef slices cook quickly so take care not to overcook them.

Yakitori

The grill offered a choice of whole fish (not sure what type though), squid, chicken and prawns. The chicken was a little bit on the tough side but the tasty marinade helped somewhat. I found the squid to be pretty good, crunchy and not overdone. The highlight has got to be the prawns though. Fresh prawns grilled to perfection with just a dash of salt to bring out the flavour. It was so good that you have to compete with other customers just to grab a couple.

Chawanmushi

You just gotta try this chawanmushi! Although it's not stuffed full of ingredients like say at Sushi King or Sakae Sushi the texture of the chawanmushi served here beats them all flat. The best chawanmushi I've had so far to be honest.

Teppanyaki

As for the teppanyaki section you get to choose between mixed vegetables, spring onion wrapped in beef, squid (more squid!) and beef cubes. Everything was just average around here but the exception was the beef cubes. Simple tender and full of beefy goodness!

Tempura

Can't really recall what was being offered at the tempura section since I always go for the prawns only. But I do recall various vegetables...and yeah, they definately have prawns. Normally I would load up on tempura prawns but since the grilled ones were much better I didn't take too many. Not to say that the tempura was all that bad...just average.

Shaved ice mixture (ABC)

Ice cream! In a cone!

All that food left little room for dessert but I still managed to stuff in some. Momo has a counter where you can create your own customised ABC. The ice shaver however produces pretty course ice...maybe they need to sharpen the blades or something. Ice cream consists of the usual flavours but they have cones! I know that ice cream cones are pretty cheap stuff but how often do you see buffets which provide this option? Mmmmmhmmm...munching on a crispy cone...makes me feel like a kid again...

If you're tired of always going to Shogun perhaps you can give this place a try. After all it isn't too far from 1-Utama. Prices are RM43.90 for Saturday and Sunday dinner and RM39.90 for Sunday lunch. All nett, so hey not too expensive at all. They also do shabu shabu buffet from Monday to Friday for dinner, so I'll be back to try that one out.

For precise directions (full address and all) and another review...check out KY's post!