CHU by Chef Nickt KL — Restaurant in Petaling Jaya

Chu by Chef Nicky is poised to be this neighbourhood's favourite meat destination. On top of their famous Josper-grilled meats, one can expect Japas, Tonkatsu, as well as Claypot rice (yes you read it right!) at this new restaurant.

While Honest Butcher is more suitable for big group dining given the size of their meat, Chu focuses on smaller groups. Opening its door at Section 17 PJ, this restaurant is Chef Nickt's second outpost - his goal is to have seven (ask him why if you ever talk to him).

Beef takes centerstage in this restaurant with cuts from UK, USA, Argentina, Australia all the way to Japan (Miyazaki, Kobe, Kagoshima, etc) & expensive Korean Hanwoo beef. Of course, non-beef eater will have poultry and lamb options.

◾Signature Truffle Fries RM29 - if you asked me, they ought to improve on the size. Imagine paying close to 30 for something to share that even a 10-years old could finish on her own. The truffle aoili was good and fries were crispy though. ◾Hokkaido Scallop & Lobster Bisque RM29 - plenty of lobster heads leftovers from Honest Butcher so it was only logical to make this soup and topped with flamed Hokkaido Scallop, french cream and toast. It's been a while since I had a good lobster bisque. ◾Tonkatsu - XXL chicken katsu's (RM39) size lived up to its name; while sashimi grade miso salmon katsu (RM69) were deep fried so nicely that the centre was still raw (nice!). Came with complimentary rice and unlimited refill of miso soup & salad. Five sauces option to choose from. ◾Hot Claypot Rice - I could not resist ordering claypot rice if I ever see one. The Engawa Aburi RM79 had the aromatic oil from the flamed flounder fin seeped into the rice mixed with the raw egg yolk resulting in creamy, smooth and rich combination. Unagi Kabayaki RM59 on the other hand had no muddy taste and the MO was same with other variations. Each Claypot serves two. ◾Special handroll sushi in the form of Engawa got everyone raving. ◾Argentina Black Angus RM69-119 was good enough with the beef eaters. ◾I had the Aussie Bone-in Lamb Chop RM69 & NZ Drenched Lamb Cutlet RM99 where both were grilled perfectly to medium doneness, and with minimal gamy taste.

Corkage is charged at a respectable RM5 per head. Two "private room" are available - but not that private lah since separated by...

Disappointing would be the word for this restaurant.

Was excited to hear there was another place opened by Chef Nickt and we wanted to give it a try.

Right from taking our orders. I ordered an Ikura Garlic Fried Rice, and then to be told that they do not serve it. She then suddenly remembered they offered this. She muttered something which i assumed was an apology. But my issue with this is that she was actually training another waitress.

Then we asked a question to the trainee waitress who took our order on 2 separate occasions, but she ignored our questions.

The trainee waitress was filling the Ocha for us. My mother had a spill, which this waitress saw. She did not bother to wipe it, we had to ask the trainee waitress to do it.

Constantly had to get the attention of the waiter to refill our Ocha which feels like it might as well not be refillable.

The Kobe Oysters which we fell in love with at Honest Butcher was thankfully still good! BUT how utterly disappointing to get an oyster that was not defrosted properly and finding ice bits in my frozen oysters.

The Ikura Garlic Fried Rice was wet BUT the white sushi rice served with the Tonkatsu was dry. That was an absolute disaster.

Upon payment, who knew it could get worse? Well it did. The waiter was serving us, and then asked us “how was the food”, right after this question he just left the payment counter to go to the sort of private room as he overheard something. I think this was downright insulting, especially at payment.

Still unsure if I would ever be coming back, we shall just see how the reviews are coming back. Oh wait! That can’t be trusted either! You know why? They encourage you to leave a 5 star review to get a free ice cream. That is just dishonesty all the way.

Disappointed....

Came by with fairly high expectations, been to honest butcher before and had a good experience back then. Decided to try out Chu for a family occasion.

Booked for 7.30, arrived at 7.20, but up until 7.30 our table was not ready. Not entirely the fault of the restaurant but room for improvement in terms of crowd management. Overall service during our dining session was lousy, they were severely understaffed. I counted 4 pax in total managing the floor and it seems they were all over the place. Trying their best but really making up for some big service gaps.

After cleaning the trolley goes around the tables as well. Not like they can help it but just felt abit disturbed since there's not much space between the tables, and on that note, the tables are actually quite big.

Food was ok, some were good some were misses. Presentation could use some help, maybe the kitchen was understaffed as well.

What I personally enjoyed: Engawa claypot rice, was good had a very nice char to it and something different from the usual engawa sushi. A5 Chuck Ribeye, cooked just right and went well with the condiments. Capellini, was as good as I remembered it from honest butcher. Wagyu burger, for the price, surprisingly it was a really good burger. Would come back just for this.

They also missed out our gyukatsu that they put in last min and told us it would be ready in 5-10. It came with the meat almost raw, after cooking it on the stone the batter was soggy probably from soaking up the juice from the beef? All in all, not a good experience. Would come back for the burger and the...