Izakaya, or Japanese gastro pub, is a relatively new type of Japanese restaurant in Malaysia. It is basically a pub with a proper bar and a full kitchen. You want to have a few beer or sake? Sure. You want a full meal? They've got that covered too.

Robataya Izakaya at Publika

Robataya Izakaya is a relatively new comer of such restaurant in KL. Located in Publika, they have a pretty extensive menu offering raw fish, ramen, rice dish, tempura, salad, grilled items, and more.

Robataya Izakaya at Publika is our dinner spot tonight, we're having boat loads of different items from the menu, from sashimi, sushi, to salad, teppan, and kushyaki at this review session. Momo tama and their salmon oyako sarada are definite must orders. #kyeats #izakaya #foodreview #sushi #sashimi #publika #yakitori

A post shared by KY (@kyspeaks) on Jun 30, 2017 at 5:56am PDT

A week ago, we headed there on an invitation to try out what they've got to offer.

Okan Sashimi, they have air flown seafood too

We started with Okan Sashimi (RM 70), a sashimi platter with 5 different types of fresh seafood carefully arranged on ice. During our session, we had salmon, salmon belly, sweet shrimp, tuna, and I believe, butterfish.

While it may not be the super premium quality sashimi, (that'll be their air flown, LIVE seafood as displayed by Haze) the portions were generous and it was actually quite a treat for the price.

Una Chizu Roll, Robataya Teppan Roll

For those wholikes rolls, The Robataya Teppan Roll (RM 28) is one you should try. There's salmon inside, mayo, and grilled bacon on top! The taste was rather unique, and of course, anything is better with bacon.

Una Chizu Roll (RM 25) is a slightly more creative interpretation of your usual unagi roll, as they've decided to add cheese to the mix. I think the result was pretty good to be honest.

Salmon Oyako Sarada

Salmon Oyaka Sarada (RM 26) turned out to be one of our favorite dishes of the night. Laden with plenty of crispy salmon skin, the salad also have quite a generous portion of raw salmon in all those mustard leaves & cherry tomato in the rather awesome sesame dressing. I'd have this for lunch anytime.

various kushiyaki (skewers) & gyoza

You can't have a proper review of an izakaya without having some skewers. We tried teba (chicken wings, RM 6), buta (pork belly RM 6), uzura bacon (quail egg bacon, RM 6), banana bacon (RM 6), tomato gyumaki (tomato wrapped with beef, RM 7), tsukune (chicken meatball, RM 5), momo tama (chicken thigh wrapped with egg, RM 6), and negima (chicken with leeks, RM 5).

While these are some pretty good skewers, the one that stood out the most was the momo tama, the egg was prepared to a rather soft consistency and for some reason worked really, really well with the chicken thigh. We gobbled that up pretty fast.

San Ten Zeppin – pork belly, bacon, Australian beef

If you enjoy BBQ, there's only one way to improve the experience – by having it indoor, with air conditioning. The San Ten Zeppin sumiyaki (RM 55) gave us just that. There're pork belly, bacon, and Australian beef. The meat are pretty thinly sliced so they cook rather quick, if you mess it up, it's your own fault.

Teppan Ika Eeso, Spare Ribs Teriyaki, Akaebi Olive

As if those weren't enough food for 4 skinny Asians, we also tried their Teppan Ika Geso (cuttle fish, RM 15), Spare Pork Ribs Teriyaki (RM 33), and Akaebi Olive (RM 42).

The cuttlefish should make for a very good side dish for beer, and while I thought the ribs were a bit dry, I did enjoy the olive shrimp quite a fair bit, the olive gave it a bit of sweetness that complements the spicy deep fried shrimp quite well.

Haze, Calvin, Haze, Sim

Overall, we did enjoy our dinner at Robataya. There are actually 2 other izakaya at Publika, and it'll be tough to try to put a ranking on the list as they each have their strength and offers quite a different set of menu. You can't realy go wrong if you pick Robataya for a meal, or some sake.

Address:
Robataya Izakaya
D4-G3-09, Publika
Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.170961, 101.665721
Tel: 03-6211 2785