From OMI Australia to OMI Malaysia – get ready to tuck into this famous premium wagyu rice bowl at the latest new shopping mall in Damansara.
Being awarded the Most Popular Japanese Restaurant in Australia 2022 by World Gourmet, Best Japanese Restaurant 2020 featured by the Age, National Winner for Emerging Franchisor 2022 by Franchise Council Australia; along with featuring by Herald Sun, Channel 7 News, TVB Hong Kong, SBS Radio, Zomato Top Reviewers and over 300 food influencers – we are more than eager to check out OMI Malaysia for lunch during our virgin visit to Pavilion Damansara Height, also the newest mall in town.
OMI is a big name in Australian dining industry. Their premium wagyu rice bowls has taken the food world by storm back in Canberra, Melbourne and city. They use only highest quality wagyu raised on a unique all-natural grain diet, sourced from renowned Australia Wagyu supplier. While chefs at OMI optimize the meats to create delish wagyu dishes – with a low melting point for a juicy, buttery meat texture.
Came early to avoid queue. We reached at 11AM on a Sunday and the restaurant was empty, but was filled up quick within an hour. OMI Malaysia menu is pretty straightforward, where you can order rice bowl or udon bowl as your main dish, then add-on appetizers and side dishes if you want.
Ordering is through QR code system. Simple 2 steps for main dish:
Step 1 : Choose your bowl between rice or udon
Step 2 : Pick your sauce from a total of 9 options – Truffle Mayo, Salted Egg, Black Truffle, Mentaiko, Signature Teriyaki, Spicy Mayo, Sambal, Black pepper and Singapore Chilli Crab
Without second thought, we picked the Ultimate Wagyu with Black Truffle. Portion is really hearty with generous topping of meat slices, 65°C custard-like yolk, edamame, pickles – all on OMI specially selected Koshihikari Japanese short grain rice known for its aroma, firmness. and natural sweetness.
OMI Malaysia offers 2 types of wagyu bowl- the Signature Wagyu Bowl with standard portion of their award-winning wagyu seared to perfection; and Ultimate Wagyu Bowl which is an up-sized version.
Other protein toppings for OMI Malaysia rice bowls and udon include Chicken Karaage, Teriyaki Chicken, Aburi Salmon, Japanese Grilled Unagi, Soft Shell Crab, Tempura Prawn, Fried Tako, Torched Tofu. Chicken Karaage is one of their best sellers, but we went for Japanese Grilled Unagi – to get our craving fixed.
Tempura Prawn
For sides, we had Tempura Prawn and Aburi Salmon. Both are surprisingly pleasing in taste especially the former. The batter is light and crispy, pairing really well with the magic South East Asian’s favorite sambal sauce.
Aburi Salmon
Couldn’t really decide what sauce to have for our Aburi Salmon as we are not into mayo, and we thought that Singapore Chilli Sauce sounds interesting. Nice choice, love the pairing of sweet, sour, spicy sauce with medium-rare salmon.
Beef Tataki, Tamago Egg with OMI Sauce, Fried Okayama Oyster with OMI Sauce, Fried Okayam Oyster with OMI Sauce, Japanese Chicken Gyoza with OMI Sauce all looks good too. Will save for next visit.
For dessert, we couldn’t find it on the physical menu, but you can browse from the QR online menu. Wanted to have Japanese Daifuku but Houjicha Burnt Cheese Cake is the only sweet treat available, and staff told us that business was very good the day before, almost everything sold out. WOW.
Quench our thirst with Yuzu Fizzy, and Matcha Latte with Matcha Ice Cream – double the matcha joy. Hehe.
Overall, food in OMI Malaysia is quite okay, love the fusion touch like having Singapore Chilli Crab Sauce and Sambal Sauce to go with their Japanese dishes. Price wise, medium range, considered acceptable for the location in Damansara. Just that the parking at Pavilion Damansara Height can be on the high side, with no maximum cap. We visited only for lunch and paid RM14. Lol.
OMI Pavilion Damansara
Address:
Pavilion Damansara Heights
Level 1, Lot 1.35,3, Jalan Damanlela,
Pusat Bandar Damansara,
50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Opening Hours
Mon – Sun: 10am – 10pm
