KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 — A little over a year ago, a shop on the ground floor of 1 Mont Kiara became home to an outpost of popular Japanese gyoza chain Gyoza Izakaya DanDaDan.
Today, that same space is now home to Unagiya Edonadai AMON — an outpost of, you guessed it, another Japanese franchise.
The Tokyo-based brand specialises in unagi and has 10 outlets spread across the country, from Fukuoka to Kagawa, but this is the group’s first overseas foray.
On paper, the gyoza venture seemed very short-lived, with the pace of restaurant churn unusually fast, even by Kuala Lumpur and Mont Kiara standards.
A deeper look, however, offers some possible theories. Above the restaurant’s signage is the shop’s actual sign, which reads “Taste Food Japan” in plain white capital letters — unchanged since the DanDaDan days.
Information about the company in English is sparse, but its website states that it offers a “trial store opening service” to Japanese restaurant businesses looking to expand to Malaysia, with support for work visas and, most notably, locations.
A blurb about its role in supporting Hide-Chan Ramen’s six-month pop-up at Lot 10 mentions that this service is “also currently underway at the 1 Mont Kiara shopping complex”, which may shed some light on the quick turnaround of Japanese chains in this particular location.
With this in mind, I resolved to visit sooner rather than later to see what the fuss was about.
Amon’s signature offering is unagi grilled kabayaki-style, with soy sauce sourced from a brewery in Kyushu.
Soy sauce from Kyushu is typically sweeter than other styles, a characteristic that shapes the flavour profile of the unagi here.
The Ippon unaju (RM130) comes with one whole eel, enough for one hungry diner or two smaller eaters, a dab each of wasabi and pickled ginger on the side, and, for an additional RM7, soup made with the eel’s liver.
The flesh is soft, grilled to a buttery texture, but the overarching flavour is one of rich sweetness from the Kyushu-style soy sauce.
This is where the wasabi comes in, delivering a nasal punch that lifts each bite.
Alternatively, there is a bottle of whole sansho peppercorns on the table, which you can grind fresh over the eel for its characteristic citrusy, tingling sensation.
Wash it all down with the soup, which carries a subtle but refreshing bitterness from the liver.
Do yourself a favour and skip the unagi bone crackers (RM20). Known as hone senbei in Japanese, these deep-fried eel bones are typically served with salt and make for a good drinking snack with beer.
Unfortunately, that is not the case here. What arrived had a fishy quality that was simply off-putting.
There is, however, a range of other eel-related dishes to sate your appetite beyond the unaju, including grilled unagi liver, a stew of unagi with sansho pepper and simmered unagi liver with burdock root.
Or come solely for the unaju; it’s not a budget option by any means, but a whole eel to yourself, grilled to sweet, sticky perfection?
There are maybe only a handful of restaurants in KL that can match that. Having AMON join the ranks is a real perk.
Unagiya Edonadai AMON 1 Mont Kiara store
G-23A, 1, Jalan Kiara,
Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.
Open daily, 11.30am-2.30pm, 5.30-9.30pm
Tel: 014-398 7572
Instagram: @unagi_amon_malaysia
*This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
*Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.
*Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more musings on food and occasionally self-deprecating humour.
