Zen Japanese Sushi and Teppanyaki

Zen is one of the few Japanese restaurants in Malta. It is located at the Portomaso Marina, which means a high-end restaurant. Their main chef is a Japanese, with a few Japanese waitress as well. This is not our first visit there, but we always forgot about the photos the moment we saw the food.

They have created a very Japanese layout with sushi bar counter seats, normal table seatings, and teppanyaki area. I like the ambience, which gives you a really ZEN and peaceful feeling. If you are able to get a table by the window, you got a marina view. That is awesome dinner with a view!

If you are a Japanese or someone who know what exactly you want to order or how you want it done, you can talk to the chef directly and get it prepared your way. Our Japanese guest liked this place very much too.


Starter:

We started off with handrolls, sushi and softshell crabs.

Zen Japanese Malta

I had the Unagi handroll and Prawn tempura handroll, while Elson had the Tuna belly sushi and Unagi sushi. Their unagi was really good. Nothing seems to go wrong with unagi. I do not quite fancy the prawn tempura handroll though. It was a little bland for me. Tuna belly sushi was so fresh and melts in your mouth.

If you are a sashimi person, do try their sashimi and beef carpaccio. We tried that the previous time, it was so good.

Zen Japanese Malta: Soft Shell Crab

 
Soft shell crab was good too. Their crab is quite meaty, i could taste quite a bit of crab meat inside. Although it was fried, it was crispy outside but moist and tender inside. I like this dish. 

Zen Japanese Malta: Chicken Terayaki Maki

Due to the fact that I cannot eat raw food at the moment, I chose chicken Terayaki Maki out of my normal choices. Amazingly, it was good. The chicken was so tender that I finished it in seconds. This is a good choice for people who doesn't enjoy raw fish.


For the main course, we had Pork Katsu Don and Tempura Soba. Sadly, we forgot about the picture again. Pork Katsu Don was pretty normal, nothing fantastic about it. Given a choice, I would not order that again, and would rather go for more sushi. I had mixed feeling towards Tempura Soba though. Their Soba in soup was really good, but I didn't quite like the tempura that day.


They have a separate menu for teppanyaki, so do ask for it if you are interested. In their main menu, their choices are mainly sushi, handrolls, sashimi, and more starters. Their choice of noodles or rice dishes are pretty limited. My suggestion will be to go with the main choices and leave out the rice and noodles, unless you really want it.