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My colleague’s birthday was a few days back. Today, we treated him to a belated birthday lunch at Tosaya Japanese Restaurant in Wisma Cosway. It took a while for us to decide on this location but Chee Leng finally made the decision and reservations for us. And so at 12.30, we walked out of the office and headed over.

All in, there were thirteen of us, as some of our colleagues were on leave or on duty overseas. The place is quite popular during lunch time. When we arrived, most of the tables were already occupied. It was a good thing that we made reservations, else they might not have been able to find a table large enough to acommodate the lot of us. But as it was, we were given a long table just inside the main entrance.

We took a good 10 minutes to look through the menu and decide on what we each wanted. The waitress serving us was nice enough to stand by patiently waiting for our order. Kudos to her for the service. Having been here once before, I was keen to try the Saba Steak Set. This was what we ordered:

We were all starving by the time the orders were placed and the waitress had walked away. The food (when it started turning up) arrived in waves. First the chicken teriyaki, then the mini chirashi, then the chicken tepanyaki, then the saba steak and so on so forth. Between each was a rather long break of about 5 minutes. At the end of the line was the Kenko (vegetarian) set which arrived a good half an hour after the orders had been taken. That’s a very long waiting period. The reason for this was probably because each set is cooked fresh (e.g. the meats and vegetables are not cooked until an order is made).

Fortunately for me, my Saba steak was part of the third wave, so I didn’t have to wait as long as some. My colleague had requested for the tail end of the fish. I got the filleted part without the bones (YAY!). The meat was fresh and cooked just right, although the teriyaki sauce was a tad too much (and sweet) for my taste. In addition to the main dish, most sets come with rice, soup, vegetable salad, fruits, and complimentary green tea. I also stole some chicken teriyaki from another plate which tasted almost like charsiew (barbequed pork).

To celebrate Sze Hau’s birthday, we ordered for him a bowl of green tea ice cream with red bean (recommended by Chee Leng). After he had taken a few mouthfuls, we each took the opportunity steal a bite. The ice cream was a little sweeter than I had expected (maybe from the accompanying red bean).

The meal set us back a good RM309.35 inclusive of 5% government tax and 10% service charge. A hefty sum, no doubt. As far as taste goes, I found everything to be a little too sweet for my taste, but otherwise the quality and quantity was just nice. Service was fairly good, although it deteriorated once all the sets had been served. No one came by to refill our empty cups after a while.

I do recommend the place for small gatherings (3 - 5 persons) but not for large groups (like the one we had). If you go in a large group, you’ll notice the lag between service and it spoils the mood when people have finished their food and have to wait for others (or vice versa when you have to watch people eat their meals while you wait for yours). I’ll definitely go back there if I have an occasion for it.

Tosaya Japanese Restaurant
Ground Floor, Lot G22-24,
Wisma Cosway,
88, Jalan Raja Chulan,
50200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 603-2148 9390, 603-2144 3146