UOVO, Damansara Kim - PureGlutton

Located along a quiet road in Damansara Kim, Uovo’s nondescript exterior is somewhat misleading. Once you step through the door, the dimmed ambience spells understated chic comfort. I like how the brocade drapes, dark wallpaper and intricate hanging lights combine to portray a dining space that can be both casually cosy or comfortably formal!

Uovo’s menu is focused on teppan grill and desserts. Open only for dinner, the restaurant’s a la carte menu lists only a handful of dishes for appetizers, soup, salads, freshly-made pasta, meats, seafood and desserts. Quality meats are their pride as the a la carte menu offers only Japanese wagyu, free-range chicken and French-cut rack of lamb. None of the meats are frozen as only fresh chilled meats are available. Prices are reasonable, with wagyu ribeye and sirloin priced at RM125/100g.

Here are some of the special dishes from their a la carte menu…

Zucchini Flowers baked with mashed potatoes & cheese

Grilled King Oyster Mushrooms

What I found even more reasonably-priced was their Set Dinner menu. Besides the grilled meat, each set came with a soup (suimono), lightly cured salmon sashimi, steamed tamago tofu, pickled cucumber salad (sunomono), simmered vegetables (nimono), meshi rice and dessert. The silky smooth texture of the steamed tamago tofu (which looked like chawan mushi) was a result of a delicate balance of eggs and soya milk in the recipe.

Japanese-style side dishes to complement the teppanyaki meat set meals

Although there’s no wagyu on the list, the Black Angus Beef set (RM99) was very decent. Grilled to a perfect medium rare, the cubes were tender and bursting with juicy beefy flavours.

Only medium to medium rare done-ness would do justice to the excellent beef!

The Kurobuta T-bone Pork Chop set (RM59) was equally satisfying. The meat texture was succulent yet yielded easily to the bite and again, the natural flavours were incredibly tasty.

Be sure to clean out even the bone to fully savour the flavours!

What really impressed me was the Free-range Chicken set (RM59). Boneless thigh meat was used and it was grilled in such a way that the skin had puffed up to a golden crispy shield, much like what a good roast pork (siew yook) skin should be. I was told this skilful execution required the chicken skin to be laid out perfectly flat on the grill to obtain that even golden crisp. The meat beneath was firm with a good bite to it and yielded that exquisite flavour which only free-range chooks aged a minimum of 62 days possess. Uovo sources these from special poultry farms in Bidor.

Just look at that golden crispy skin!

The Grilled Salmon Set is another good bet

There were 2 pasta dishes listed and I tried their Japanese Pasta with Mushrooms (RM28) which turned out to be really good. The fresh pasta was beautifully al dente and coupled with the fragrant mushrooms, it’s one of life’s simple pleasures.

Nothing beats aromatic fresh mushrooms cooked with freshly-made al dente pasta!

Even though the set meals came with a dessert – a piece of soft cottony Japanese sponge cake, I checked out a couple of their regular desserts.

This simple spongecake was just scrumptious – I wouldn’t mind another piece!

The Molten Lava (RM24), served with blood orange sorbet and salted caramel passed the test – there was a good flow of sticky Varlhona chocolate lava to it.

Varlhona chocolate lava made my day!

For an interesting take, the Chocolate Affogato H2O (RM24) was a good choice. Hot liquid Varlhona dark chocolate was poured onto a thin piece of chocolate of chocolate covering a glass of vanilla ice cream and salted caramel. Once the chocolate has melted through, scooping up and savouring the delightful mess was immensely gratifying.