Yakiniku involves grilling bite-sized slices of meat over a tabletop charcoal grill. — Photos: Asumo
In the thriving enclave of SS15 Subang Jaya in Selangor, is an expansive new Japanese yakiniku (grilled food) restaurant called Asumo. The restaurant is beautifully done up, with over 22 individual and semi-private rooms. The more popular rooms face the tree-lined street outside and offer an aerial view of the neighbourhood beyond.
Interestingly, nearly every element – from the crockery to the modern exhaust system – has been sourced from Japan.
The eatery is the brainchild of affable Japanese F&B entrepreneur Kota Furuya, who also owns Japanese restaurants Kyomo, Kingyu and Itsumo, all in Desa Sri Hartamas in Kuala Lumpur. With his fourth outlet, Furuya looked at expanding his reach to an entirely different suburb.
Eguchi (left) is responsible for caving the wagyu cattle once it arrives in KL while Furuya is the mastermind behind this delightful yakiniku joint. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
“When I go back to Japan, I always eat yakiniku. So I wanted to bring the culture here. My partners and I picked Subang because we feel like it is an area where many middle-income locals come to,” says Furuya.
The eatery’s main point of differentiation is that Furuya orders whole wagyu-certified cattle from Japan; instead of individual cuts or parts. Each cow has to be ordered at least six months in advance as there is a long waiting list of customers.
Furuya explained that if he buys the entire cow, he can actually charge customers more affordable rates.
“Imagine this: If you are a restaurant and you only want to buy a specific part of the cow, that jacks up the price of that particular part. In Japan, premium restaurants buy the expensive parts and cheap restaurants buy the not-so good ones. But the problem is when it comes to Malaysia, every part becomes expensive. So the average person cannot afford to eat Japanese beef.
“So our specialty is we buy the whole cow from Japan, so we can lower our price,” explains Furuya.
At Asumo, Furuya also believes in serving customers the freshest possible options, which is why his beef is not kept frozen but is instead refrigerated. Which means it has to be cut and eaten as soon as possible.
Once the wagyu arrives in KL, Eguchi carves the highly-marbled meat, dividing it into specific cuts.
“Once we open the vacuum pack, we have to sell that cut of meat on the same day. I cannot buy a 300kg cow if I cannot sell it within one or two weeks, because the flavour is gone. So I need customers to keep coming, in order to keep the meat fresh for them,” he says.
Aiding Furuya in his endeavour is Asumo’s Japanese chef Hiroki Eguchi, who has over 10 years of experience cutting beef in Japan. Eguchi is responsible for carving the meat into specific cuts.
Prepare to come on an empty stomach here, because there is plenty of meat on offer. You could opt to try 10 parts of premium Japanese wagyu, eight different parts or four, depending on how voracious your appetite is.
If you’re dining with just one other person, opting for four parts of wagyu is ideal. Try the 200g portion of four parts of wagyu, priced at RM190. The cuts on offer are up to the chefs, so you could get any part of the beef, depending on what’s available.
Asumo offers probably one of the largest selections of fresh, affordable wagyu cuts in the Klang Valley. Pictured here are 10 wagyu cuts. — Asumo
The meat arrives cut to the requisite thickness and looking incredibly red and very, very fresh. As befitting wagyu, each slice is riddled and criss-crossed with fat streaks that give the meat its enviable marbling and buttery texture. If you’re not familiar with yakiniku, you are basically meant to grill bite-sized cuts of meat yourself over the tabletop binchotan charcoal grill provided and then dip it into an assortment of sauces provided. At Asumo, the sauces range from seasoned wasabi to white rock salt, green onion soy sauce and spicy leek sauce.
If you’re concerned about ruining the meat, you can also get one of the friendly servers to grill it for you.
So what’s the verdict? Oh boy, are you in for a treat! The chuck eye roll is a bone-free cut that is derived from between the ribs and the backbone of the cow and once grilled, the thin slice of meat has a wonderful light char, a soft, cottony finish and an almost buttery texture on the tongue.
The silverside meanwhile is a cut from the rear leg of the animal that is made up of five different muscles. This particular cut has fat that evokes a sensation akin to bursting in the mouth. It is rich, unctuous and oh-so good.
The diamond-cut and thin-cut tongue offer diners the opportunity to sample less popular cuts of beef. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Up next, you might get the top blade cut of meat, which has a more pillowy mouthfeel and a fuller, rounder feeling on the palate, meaning it has a magical quality that gives the impression that you are eating far more meat than you actually are.
Perhaps the most prized cut in this stelliferous carnivorous constellation is the rib eye, which is essentially a boneless steak cut from the rib of the cow. Upon grilling, the meat has an incredible texture – the fat perfectly rendered with a melt-in-the-mouth quality and an overall texture that is velvety smooth and just glides effortlessly on the tongue. Trust me, you’ll be dreaming about this long after every last bit of meat has passed through your gullet.
For more bovine beauty, indulge in the 15-Second Rib Loin (RM35) which features rib loin slices grilled for a full 15 seconds (the server even does a countdown!) before being coated in raw egg yolk and then wrapped in rice. This is a sensational meal that features lightly torched meat with a silken heart that melds into a runny robe of egg yolk, which is then accentuated by the Japanese rice.
It’s the sort of meal that builds satisfaction and pledges lifelong loyalty from the very first mouthful.
If you’re after something less carnivorous, opt for the prawn, scallop and squid skewers.
For a more unusual cut of beef, opt for the thin cut tongue (RM35). Marinated with homemade garlic sesame oil, the tongue – once grilled – has an easy bite, good pull and chew and satisfyingly understated bovine flavours.
The diamond thick-cut tongue (RM22) features a fat slice of beef tongue that has a gelatinous texture and more fulsome beef flavours. It’s a hearty, filling cut that is perfect for people who truly love beef in all its forms.
If you’d like to take a break from all the meat, indulge in some seafaring fare instead in the form of the scallop skewer (RM15), squid skewer (RM12) and shrimp skewer (RM12). Each particular aquatic treasure has its own unique characteristic – the squid takes on a lovely char but still retains pliancy and a good bite, while the scallop is supple and limber with a voluptuous cushiony texture. The shrimp is a tad lacklustre but is not bad regardless.
Finish off your meal with the stand-out house favourite Garlic Rice (RM21) which is studded with dry garlic flakes. This is a hot, sumptuous meal where each rice kernel has been fried to perfection and retains a springy quality, which is buoyed by the garlic in the mixture which gives it both pungency and aroma. It is an excellent rendition of a Japanese classic that begs repeated eats.
Furuya grew up eating yakiniku in Japan and wanted to introduce the culture in Malaysia by offering more affordable fare in a beautiful setting.
Moving forward, Furuya says his goal is to get more Malaysians immersed in Japanese yakiniku culture.
“In Japan, I have yakiniku once or twice a month. So at Asumo, I want people to come back often too. That is why I try my best to offer reasonable prices, because I don’t want people to only come here once. I want this to be a new style of comfort eating in Malaysia,” says Furuya, smiling.
Asumo
No 49 & 51, Jalan SS15/5A
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 03 5611 5733/ 012 373 4416
Open daily: 11.30am to 3pm; 5pm to 11pm
