KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — A new face in the changing neighbourhood of Section 17, Ossu! Kushiyaki opened in April driving an irresistible bargain: kushiyaki – Japanese skewered and grilled meat, for as low as RM3.90 per stick.
Located above a Magnum lotto, you’re greeted by a divided dining room once you go up the stairs. Most tables have been partitioned into clusters of three or four, while the walls are plastered with everything from beer adverts to movie posters in Japanese – including the Audrey Hepburn classic, Roman Holiday.
A helpful staff member directed our attention to the tablet with which we could order, a feature common in many similar Japanese restaurants that’s helpful when you inevitably add more to your order repeatedly throughout the night.
In addition to yakitori and other meats on skewers, you might start your night with a few small bites and appetisers; the menu is filled with typical otsumami – a Japanese word for drinking snacks, more commonly known as sakana.
Yakitori is also a popular example of this drinking food, but smaller snacks like chuka wakame (RM5.90) and okra in ponzu sauce (RM8.90) are great ways to kick things off.
Eihire, grilled stingray fin (RM18.90) is another classic sakana that’s characteristically salty – the perfect drinking food. It was also the single highest-priced item we ordered that night, which at RM18.90, tells you how budget-friendly the entire menu is.
We continued with bouncy little balls of breaded and fried chicken gizzards (RM9.90), which are made even better with a squirt of lemon juice. Make sure to ask for it.
Our skewers arrived, some on their own plates while others were mixed together. The best of these included the chicken skin (RM3.90), chicken tail (RM4.90) and pork belly (RM4.90).
The skin was grilled to a glassy crisp, before shattering in the mouth to give way to salty delight. The latter two were fattier parts; each bite was succulent and coaxed out more gorgeous, greasy goodness.
If you’re a fan of the lush, rich texture of egg yolks, the chouchin (RM9.90) is a must-have. These are skewers of chicken meat accompanied by a yolk, dangling on the end of the skewer like an overfilled water balloon about to burst.
Pop the whole sac in your mouth for a burst of velvety yolk that cascades over the bits of grilled chicken. Be warned: there’s only a limited amount of these skewers each day, so it's best to be early.
Some skewers missed the mark. At its best, chicken heart (RM3.90) should be tender with great depth of flavour – somewhere between dark meat and red meat – but these had been grilled into stringy, dry nubs of iron.
Soft bone (RM3.90) is a yakitori classic, but these had been cut so thick that the joy of crunching down on the cartilage was lost.
Thankfully, both the chicken and pork tsukune (RM7.90 each) cleared up any lingering disappointment. These delicious morsels of meatballs were glazed in a sweet tare and had a chunky, rough texture that was perfectly complemented when dipped in the rich yolk. You’ll be ordering a few rounds of these.
Wrapping things up was an unexpected choice: garlic fried rice (RM6.90), which came strongly recommended by a little birdie on social media. Light, fluffy and with a surprising amount of wok hei, this was a pleasant surprise to close out what had been a satisfying meal, in most aspects.
Ossu! Kushiyaki
938-1, Jalan 17/38, Seksyen 17, 46400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Open daily, 4.30-11.30pm.
Tel: 011-5933 1738
Instagram: @ossu.my
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
* Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.
