Other than the oh-so-famous Delicious and The Daily Grind, this Japanese restaurant with a quirky name; For Goodness Saké, has been one of my go-to places (… recently) whenever I’m in Bangsar.
Located at second floor in Bangsar Village 2, this particular restaurant might be easily mistaken for a western eatery (albeit there’s a Japanese word in its name) due to its simple modern-ish interior design. And unlike Umai-Ya, there are no Tatami seats nor would you feel like you are in a Japanese joint.
Instead, this restaurant is filled with Ikea-like wooden tables and chairs arranged in orderly fashion that serves common Japanese food… and good sakés.
Being something different, FGS serves fresh raw cabbage with special sauce as appetisers to their customers without any additional charge. Although the sauce was a lil tad salty, it went well with the cabbage.
Soft Shell Crab Maki
Pretty common in Japanese restaurants, decent in size / portion and good in taste, Soft Shell Crab Maki tends to run out of stock before the day ends.
Saba Shioyaki
Grilled to perfection, the lightly seasoned skin was crispy while retaining the moist in the flesh.
Enoki Maki
It is no strange as this dish is pretty common in Japanese menu. Sliced beef wrapped around a bunch of enoki mushrooms, it was done pretty well as the meat was grilled nicely.
Sake Sashimi
The moment the bowl arrived to our table, I was surprised by the thickness. They were darn thick compared to the ones I had from other eateries and definitely worth the price.
Hotate
Scallops grilled with some teriyaki sauce (I think). It was grilled pretty well as the scallops weren’t rubbery and dry.
Fried Unagi Maki
Recommended by the staff (or manager, I think) and being warned of spicy-ness due to the content of chilli padi in it, Fried Unagi Maki was something unique. A dab of wasabi (with shoyu), it’s all appetizing yet delicious which tingles the palates a lil bit.
Tuna Salad
Yet another surprise was the size of the ‘croutons’. They looked like garlic bread instead. Not really my favourite dish as they were heavy on the dressing and tuna tasted like those from ready-mix canned ones.
Koebi Karaage
These cute lil fried prawns can be eaten without having to peel of its shell. Nothing fancy about it as I reckon it will probably go well with beer.
Niku Udon
Kamo & Sansai Udon
Not the generic supermarket off-the-shelf thin type, these noodles (udon) were thicker and springy. With a wide variety, I would usually opt for either Niku Udon or Kamo & Sansai Udon.
Tori Karaage
Tori Karaage as known as deep fried chicken nuggets is probably one of my favourite dishes. Not many restaurants can execute well as they tend to cut the chicken into extremely small cubes and fry them till it’s dry and oily. But, this is not the case for FGS as they have done it very well. Chicken thighs were cut into decent size and marinated with their own sauce before frying them. What so nice about this was that they managed to encapsulate the flavour while retaining the decent amount of meat to fat ratio in it.
Umaki
Grilled eel wrapped in egg (ala omelette style) topped with bonito flakes. It was soft fluffy on the inside and it went well with the sweet sauce.
Gyuniku Nanbanyaki
These cube-size steaks were barbecued over charcoal till medium well-ish. The coated sweet sauce compliments really well with the tender juicy meat.
Mango Puree
Topped with pamelo pulps, FGS made it with a twist. With tiny mango cubes in the puree, it was thick and nice with a hint of vanilla essence in it.
Sea Coconut
Didn’t try this but I reckon it was alright.
Soya Milk, Tau Fu Fah & Red Bean Dumpling
It was supposed to be with sesame seed dumplings but they were replaced by red bean ones. Nothing biggie about it as the mixture of soya milk with tau fu fah (as known as soya beancurd) were pretty much the same as the ones from outside.
Overall, the items they served were simple, straightforward and nice. Staffs were friendly while the ambience were quiet. With the likes of udons, sobas, makis and yakitoris dominating the menu, in my opinion, it is the place to enjoy some simple light sushi without having to worry much about (big) portion size… even if you are there alone.
Address :
2F-29, Bangsar Village 2,
Jalan Telawi 1,
Bangsar Baru,
59100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel. No. : +603 2287 1566
