Sushi Sora – Premium Japanese Omakase, Naza Tower KL
Words: Jacob Weber
Photos: Han Sen Hau
There are sushi restaurants, and there are sushi restaurants.
And then there’s Sushi Sora.
This exclusive private dining space sits proudly on the 48th floor of Naza Tower in KLCC, with a formidable view of the city skyline — quite literally levels above the competition.
Sushi Sora KL
Originally an invite-only affair, this intimate and sophisticated modern fusion sushi restaurant features an eight-seater sushi counter with a front-row seat to some of the finest edomae-style cooking you’ll find in KL.
We’re in the expert hands of Chef Kikuchi, who prepares everything before us methodically and masterfully, delicately and deliberately. He quietly goes about his business and lets the quality of the ingredients and his own experience do the talking. His knife skills speak volumes. His able deputy, Chef Luis, is on hand to explain everything as Chef Kikuchi is slicing and dicing.
Omakase Menu
We’re here for the Omakase menu (RM1088++) — 13 courses of premium Japanese cuisine with a few personal touches. The first thing we see as we sit down is Chef Kikuchi grating fresh wasabi, which is always a good sign. Quality wasabi—not the fake stuff that’s usually horseradish with food colouring—has a real pungency but a mellow taste, and nothing but the best and freshest will do for top-quality sushi.
The first course is the Treasure Box, and what a treat it is. Sushi rice, perfectly seasoned, is topped with chopped chutoro tuna and Iranian caviar. The caviar comes from the Caspian Sea, where the unique combination of fresh and saltwater produces a taste and texture unlike any other. There’s even some golden flake for that extra touch of luxury. There’s a beautiful balance of sweet, salty and savoury, and the tuna is chopped so fine it’s almost minced—an excellent start.
The Hirame is deceptively complex: a fresh, clean cut of flounder fillet with a sour Japanese soy sauce to give it a little extra acidity without dulling any of the brightness of the white fish.
Hokkigai Isobeyaki takes us in a different and equally delicious direction: rich and salty soft clams, lightly grilled with soy sauce and dried seaweed.
The Kaki course is Yamaguchi oysters that taste as fresh as if they’d just been caught from a magic pond downstairs. They’re just stunning, and a little kick from the yuzu pepper sauce lifts everything off the plate and onto your palate beautifully.
Talking of palates, there are personal portions of fresh, handpicked ginger for everyone to refresh their taste buds between each course. I thought sorbet was a fancy palate cleanser, but this is really classy.
The Kani Toast is a delightful little morsel: a perfectly fluffy slice of white bread that offers a satisfying crisp and a crunch on the outside before you get to the creamy middle of rich, succulent crab meat.
The Three Kinds of Premium Sushi (round one) are tuna otoro, Spanish mackerel, and buri (yellowtail). There’s a cute little towel-slash-napkin-thing that is apparently for delicately cleaning your fingers between bites. (Guess who tried to wipe his mouth?)
First up, the otoro is lovely, fatty, and creamy, with soy sauce and fresh wasabi subtly buried between the layers of rice and fish. The rich Spanish mackerel is wrapped in seaweed and handed directly to you personally by Chef Kikuchi — another lovely personal touch. The buri is expertly prepared (of course) and finished with Japanese mustard for more contrast in taste and temperature.
The presentation goes up another gear with The Bird’s Nest, served in a little glass jar filled with swirling smoke. Removing the lid reveals a portion of tilefish cooked in very hot oil to make the flakes extremely crispy without ruining any of the mild and flaky fresh. It’s been smoked in applewood chips for extra depth, and again, the contrast is excellent. Crispy, but not hard; smoked and still fresh.
The Queen of the Sea further demonstrates the quality of cooking on show. Abalone is usually very hard to get right, but this is straight out of the top drawer; precisely the right chewy texture. It’s pan-fried with butter sake and soy sauce and served with abalone liver sauce.
Monica then gets all excited because a cocktail shaker appears — but that’s the “surprise” element of A Crabby Surprise, which is two crab’s legs presented in a cocktail glass. The shaker is actually full of dashi soup, and there’s a special vinegar on the side for extra delicious dipping. The dashi broth, which can be sipped after you’ve devoured the fresh crab’s legs, is light and full of umami.
Regular service is resumed with Three Kinds of Premium Sushi (round two). Soft and sweet aori ika (squid) is topped with salty caviar for a luxurious medley of flavour profiles, followed by sea urchin in a seaweed shell and a dab of fresh wasabi. Akami, the leanest cut of tuna, rounds things off very nicely.
At this point, Chef Kikuchi is handling an incredible hunk of meat that I can only mistake for a massive steak — until Chef mentions that tuna can weigh up to 200 kilograms. I tend to forget that when I’m looking at cans of the stuff in the supermarket. The Tuna Truffle Cheek is a premium fatty cut sliced to perfection and briefly marinated in a truffle sauce before being seared on a hot stone grill.
And just to hammer home the premium point, a small Louis Vuitton ‘treasure trunk’ (of course, I had to look that up) is opened to display some intimidatingly good-looking truffles, which are freshly shaved on top.
This has to be my highlight of the menu. The fish is so soft and tender it falls apart to the touch — and we are eating this with wooden spoons. The truffle is the real deal; none of that cheap truffle essence or oil you’ll find on ‘fancy pizzas’.
The final savoury dish is the Fresh Water Crunch. The ‘fresh’ is the unagi, the ‘crunch’ comes from the seaweed, and a special caramelised unagi sauce is finished with mirin sake. What’s the Japanese for ‘magnifique’?
Lastly, the appropriately named Sweet Ending. The Monaka wafer with crisp and creamy sea salt ice cream, handmade in-house and absolutely excellent, opens things up before making way for the Japanese strawberry and ripe melon. After tasting these, I now understand why they fetch such ridiculous prices in upscale supermarkets — even if I still can’t bring myself to consider paying them.
Drinks Menu
We also select some items from the drinks menu to wash it all down. Of course, there’s sake; we get a 5-year-old Born Tokusen (RM140/carafe, 550/bottle), which has a nice crispiness to it and lingers in the mouth a little longer than usual.
I can’t resist a couple of imported beers and try both varieties of the premium lager. The Karuizawa Clear (RM45) is light and fresh; even Monica says it’s not bad, which is praise indeed from the dark-and-bitter Negroni queen. The Karuizawa Dark (RM45) is a nice contrast and as full of flavour as its deep reddish colour suggests.
Sushi Sora Review
A deep bow to Chefs Kikuchi and Luis for their outstanding display, and it’s time for us to come down from cloud nine and head back down to street level. Still, if only for a few hours this afternoon, we were certainly in sushi heaven.
Reasons to visit Sushi Sora: exclusive, intimate, stylish private dining space with a unique ‘sky dining’ appeal; excellent, attentive and knowledgeable service; top-quality preparation and the finest ingredients from expert chefs; a creative and extensive menu showcasing traditional sushi with some playful modern twists; an all-round premium sushi experience.
Sushi Sora
Unit 2-48 level 48 Naza Tower,
Platinum Park no. 10 Persiaran KLCC
50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
@sushisorakl
+60 13 203 3824
Sushi Sora Opening Hours
Monday to Saturday: 6:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Lunch 12 pm – 2 pm Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday
Find more Japanese restaurants in KL here and stay up-to-date with the latest gourmet and travel recommendations for Malaysia here and here.