Saturday, May 23, 2009

Yaki Yaki Japanese Barbeque Buffet Restaurant @ Jalan Bukit Bintang

It was the special month of two birthday girl - Ling and Cat. YC decided to try out the food at Yaki Yaki Japanese Barbeque Buffet Restaurant located in Jalan Bukit Bintang as she was recommended by her friend through a blog http://www.vkeong.com/2009/food-drink/yaki-yaki-japanese-barbeque-buffet-restaurant-jalan-bukit-bintang/. The food looked so yummy in the photos. In addition, they were having special promotion of 50% discount in that month and after so many good comments of "new kid for Japanese buffet" - Tenji Japanese Buffet Restaurant, we had no hesitation to give it a try. We thought they would have the same quality.

But the dinner ended up to disappoint us and we will never ever go back again unless they've improved on the food and service. You'll know what I meant after reading this. Sorry, I didn't take many photos as I was very upset with the food served and service. So, you might not be able to see how bad I experienced

As I stepped in the restaurant, it was very crowded but the dark environment made me felt not so comfortable. Although the restaurant was very spacious, I thought it was the "tactic" and strategy to design in such a way, so that customers were hard to reach for food. Maybe I was wrong, but can you imagine how much food could be served with only four corners of tables? Sigh...

豪豪 and I dashed to the cold section to get the most expensive food. Disappointment, no sashimi was displayed on the tray. The chef was slowly slicing the salmon and tuna to the queued up customers. Strange, we had to hand him our plate, and then only he gave us a portion of sashimi. I was not sure the idea was to maintain the freshness of food or to limit customers from taking more. But why Tenji and Jogoya can do so? Not many choices on the sushi too, only 6 to 8 types and the appearance did not give me an urge to try. So, I just took some cold dishes and sadly walked back to my table. 豪豪 took 2 plates of fresh oysters and I saw him enjoying it. He commented "Oklar, still can put in the mouth".


My second attempt was to another corner which displayed the uncooked items for barbeque. They have a wide range of meat - marinated or non marinated, fish, prawns, corn, mushroom and skewered sausage. The funniest thing was they put 9 of us on a joined table but only with 1 barbeque pot. All of us were squeezed to a corner to grill the food, but once Big Kent joined in, there was no space for the others. The barbeque pot also got dirty very fast but you can request to change a new one. I didn't enjoy the barbeque because I was too lazy to wait.

The worst thing was the food and coconut were replenished real slow especially the coconut. They opened one carton from the kitchen and brought to the bar counter, all the coconuts vanished in a minute. We had to wait for another 20 minutes for another opened carton. I gave up and just helped myself to get a glass of juice from the beverage corner. Luckily Chuan and Big Kent managed to "secure" two coconuts for me at last. Thanks ya!

I walked to the cooked food corner, most of the pots were empty and had yet to be replenished. Another corner served normal soup noodle which I felt nothing special about it. There were only 3 fried items. No soft shell crab!!! They served fried pandan chicken. Duh, how does this pandan chicken relate to Japanese food?

Finally, I decided to go back to cold section for more sashimi. I only stuffed myself with sashimi, cooked prawn and some grilled lamb at that night. All of us felt so disappointed after the dinner although we just paid RM48+/person for the food, we felt not worth the money at all. During the whole night, no one came to our table to clear the used and empty plates or glasses for us. We had to help ourselves to move those “unused” dishes to next table. So, what was the service charge for?



However, my cousin commented it is a good restaurant after my visit. He experienced the freshness and variety of food. Perhaps there were too many bad comments about the restaurant and they have improved it. We really wish they can do something so that the consumers do not feel cheated like what we felt. I want my money back....Sniff...sniff...

Hawker Food @ Pudu “为食街”

After a tiring day of work, we made our way to Pudu hawker stalls street for our late dinner. A place that I've not visited for long time where my parents used to bring us to have dinner or supper after a good movie at 增光戏院. The cinema was no longer there but was turned to a mall which trading the most famous things here - electronic components and parts. Miss the cinema so much, this place shared a part of my childhood memories.

Ok, come back to food. 豪豪 was a hungry and greedy man that night, he wanted to try all the food. I only ordered the “Ice Kacang”, he did the rest. First, he ordered "mixed pork" soup to go with rice. Then, here came the curry "chee cheong fun", fried carrot cake and Soup Kambing!
A bowl of icy “Ice Kacang” really quenched my thirst. Not too sweet and with lots of peanuts! Love it!

Honestly, I am not so keen on the "mixed pork" soup because of the "porky" smell. But this soup was so clear and good. A few slices of salty veggie made the soup tasted more flavourful. I could take the pork intestine and pork stomach like the ingredients used in "Bak Kut Teh" but pork liver is a no no to me. Pork blood will never been found in my food dictionary. So, I left all these to 豪豪.


“krock..krock...krock...” hmm...the dried shrimp and fried shallot on the curry chee cheong fun were so crispy. No other ingredients, just dried shrimp, fried shallot and curry gravy could make this simple chee cheong fun so tasty! A few sprinkle of sesame seed made it perfect. 豪豪 also add a piece of fried pork skin in the chee cheong fun. Hahaha…eating own skin. Ahem, you know what I meant!

Next, was the fried carrot cake – also a famous food here. Not bad. But it was a bit oily. While I was stuffed, our next dish arrived in front of me – Soup Kambing. It smelled so gooood. The soup was very rich, rich with mutton flavour. Although I was full, I couldn't help myself from scooping one after another spoon to my mouth. This bowl was very value for money. Looked at the chunky bites of mutton, so soft to chew. Thumbs up!


Lastly, we finished the food and walked to our car with full stomach. Greedy me...the smell of grill sotong and dried tau fu attracted me to stop there and ordered 1 set to bring back home. This stall was actually recommended in the food show of “Ah Xian”. The auntie was so happy when I took photo of her stall. She knew I'm going to “advertise” her stall to others or put on blog. Ok Auntie...I really want to give a credit to your stall. The grill sotong and dried tau fu were so crispy and the sauce was very yummy. Although I brought back and had it at home, the food was still crunchy and fresh. Good, good, good!

I faced difficulty to sleep that night as my stomach was too full. Luckily, the next day was Saturday. I could stay late and woke up late too! Hooray...

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

King Crab @ Taman Mewah Jaya

After reading Precious Pea's blog, I always wanted to try the seafood from King Crab, Taman Mewah Jaya which received many compliments from the bloggers. The food looks so delicious from the photos too. So, we planned to have our dinner in the weekend with Choong and her boyfriend.
It was pouring cats and dogs but it did not stop me for searching good food! We sat down and started to order quickly because I could sense someone was going to kill me as a result of not being punctual. (Sorry to keep you waiting, JW)
Before I elaborate more on our food, let's have a look at what seafood they offer. They have all kinds of crab - snow crab, spider crab, shanghai hairy crab (not the season yet) and mud crab. Oh, Canadian Geoduck! Understand from the bloggers, one geoduck normally costs about RM200+, luxury dish. Look at the abalones, they are sooo huge!

Not long to wait for our food, I guessed they have quite a number of chef back there to cater the crowd. Here came our first dish - Stir Fried Asparagus with Prawn. The prawn was fresh and meat was succulent. But I thought this dish was a bit expensive (RM35). I rather to spend more on other dish next time and order a plain stir fried veggie instead.
Cockles - a no no to me! I couldn't imagine the liquid (I called it blood) "burst" in my mouth, yuacks...I didn't even try one. But since JW and the rest liked it, I did not put a stop to it. A full plate of steamed cockles with thai chili sauce. I could see JW enjoyed peeling the shell and did not mind it dirtied his hand. Bravo, he almost finished the whole plate of cockles! Salute, salute!
Normally we will not order mantis prawn while eating out with my mum. Mum always comments that it is not meaty yet expensive. I don't mind to have this dish while dining with friends. We ordered salt and pepper mantis prawn. The flavour was quite good but I felt the meat was too little. Quite disappointed that the meat was coated with more flour instead.
Another dish was Guinness Stout Pork Ribs. It tasted very good especially when ate with the cilantro and spring onion. Although it was slightly sweet, not a single piece of meat and drop of gravy left on the plate.
We have been long waiting for....~ta-da~Buttered crab with fried breadroll. The thick gravy was very rich and very well to go with the breadroll. The breadroll was hot, crispy at the outside and soft inside! hhmm....heaven! We ordered two breadroll and JW even had 2 bowls of rice went with the gravy. Choong was nagging him "Oi, fattening, fattening...". Haha..but we just could not resist it.

Satisfied with the meal before we heading to CineLeisure for Jacky Chan's new movie. Definately will come back to try on other dishes. I am looking for Geoduck and hairy crab next round, hmm..

Monday, April 13, 2009

台湾火锅城 @ Jalan Imbi

豪豪看了中国报的美食推荐版, 就吵着要去试一试。台湾火锅自助餐,一人消费RM38.90。这店很新,在做着半价优惠 (但是只是在星期一到星期五),一人才RM19+。反正我也拿了假,不妨去试。妈妈,豪豪和我一早就到了这店子。不过还有两台人比我们更早。

这里有石头火锅、沙茶锅、麻辣锅和涮涮羊肉锅。店员给我们介绍了石头火锅。所谓的石头火锅就是用了六公斤重的石头锅来炒香了洋葱和肉,放下高汤来做涮涮锅底。虽然火锅料不算是很多,但是元化还蛮好。有鲳鱼肉、石斑肉、鸡肉、猪肉、海虾、明虾、吊片、鱿鱼、青蚝、啦啦、猪杂、牛肚、芋头、南瓜、菜类、各种各样的火锅肉丸类。这里好的是所有火锅料都放在冰厨里保存新鲜。


店员教了我们怎样掺沙茶酱 – 是用厨师特制的沙茶膏掺进了葱花、芫西、辣椒粉、酱油和一粒蛋黄,搅拌成浓稠稠的酱。我们一口气拿了很多料放进锅里煮。

因为太饿了,只挂着吃,没有拍到我们的“一品锅”,很可惜。
大多数在吉隆坡的火锅都是吃了很口渴。这里的汤底很清,没有味精,可是就是没有什麽特别的味道。但,这儿胜在吃了不会一直灌水。海鲜都是蛮新鲜,粘上了沙茶酱,更野味。没想到用芋头和南瓜来煮火锅是那麽的好吃,松松甜甜的。很失望的是牛肉没有货,没有的涮牛肉。

吃着吃着,老板出来“客串”解释怎样吃石头火锅。老板是台湾人,他说这店也有卖台湾出名的牛肉面。在台湾卖两千五百台币 (马币二百五十),因为汤底很难熬,一天只能卖十碗。现在这店优惠只卖RM15.80。他还说将来弄个有气派的饭店来卖这个“名贵”牛肉面,收费二百五十马币。哇,有那麽贵吗?我想老板是大口气了一点!

虽然店里有“Häagen Dazs” 雪糕 (有巧克力,咖啡,Vanilla Macadamia Nuts 和Orange Sherbet),但是全部都很硬。出了九牛二虎之力还是没办法把雪糕挂出来。只好拿了一点点Vanilla Macadamia Nuts和Orange Sherbet。老板啊,你应该处一处理放雪糕的冰厨。有名牌雪糕也没用啦!
下次我想试一试台湾出名的麻辣火锅。但是,不是在这家店,有谁可以介绍给我好吃的台湾麻辣火锅呢?

Friday, April 10, 2009

Pasta de Gohan

Pasta de Gohan, a japanese casual pasta and cafe restaurant located in Sunway Pyramid. I was attracted to food displays at the entrance.


See...the variety of pasta, really boost up my appetite. The pasta and pizza were mainly cooked with seafood - prawn, mussel, salmon, fish fillet and scallop. There was also chicken and beef variants. But the seafood was just so indulgence! Too many choices, didn't know which one to choose. Unfortunately, 3 of us couldn't really order too many things to try. Finally we ordered seafood marinara pasta, prawn and scallop mini pizza and spicy roe scallop baked pasta.

We were given a bowl of Miso soup as complimentary. The soup looked different from the normal one, it was brown colour but nothing special about the soup.

I felt that the seafood marinara pasta was not al dente, a bit bland and watery. But the seafood was very fresh. I liked the creamy sauce of the baked pasta and it was cheesy! With the fish roe and fresh scallop, it was perfect! Love it!

hhmm...I liked the pizza too because it was light, not oily or heavy like the traditional pizza dough. The crisp was good and I tasted butter in the pizza dough. I supposed this is why the dough was so flavourful.
We were too full to try the tempting ice cream dessert. Nevermind next time then. Next round I'm going to try the bacon and egg pizza and other types of pasta which look very appealing to me too.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Noble House @ Jalan Delima (阳城酒家)

豪豪在一个星期前预先约了我跟他的家人和亲戚到阳城去吃晚饭。听说这个饭店很豪华,东西很好吃。我很期待。


一踏进这饭店, 我们给带到二楼的饭座。这饭店的装设和环境还蛮不错。我们点了个十人套餐。还没吃过整个鲍鱼的我,等到口水都快流出来了。

第一道菜是北京片皮鸭,Captain把鸭皮薄薄的一片片切下来,包在一片薄薄的蛋面皮 (crepe)。这道菜是配特制甜酱,葱花和青瓜一起吃。脆脆的口感很爽吃。厨师把鸭皮封得很干才拿去烧,所以很脆和一点也不油腻。
期待了很久的佛跳墙终已出场了!上次吃过了Nilai 隆盛佛跳墙,觉得也不外如是。但是这儿的佛跳墙很丰富,有鱼翅、海参、花胶、花菇、响螺片、乌鸡、鳐柱及鲍鱼!!!汤底很清,很浓的海味味。不知道那鲍鱼是几头鲍, 但是真的很美味。肉质很“弹”,味道很鲜。赞!
接下来的一道是骨香演鲳鱼头。厨师将鲳鱼肉起了,用了类似“XO 酱”来伴甜豆、芦旬和红辣椒一起炒。一道很野味的菜,我想伴饭吃真的是一流。这牒菜好在连骨到肉都能吃光,因为鱼骨都炸到很脆。

一粒粒精致的翠云罗汉布袋里装着蚝士、香菇粒、萝卜粒及马蹄。味道还不错。
突然间豪豪看见Captain 在煮着东西,就飞身去拍照。原来他在煮着鲍鱼!很可惜那不是我们的菜,只好在旁流口水。
你一定很奇怪第一道菜的鸭只用了鸭皮,那鸭肉不是很浪费吗? 那会浪费,厨师用了那些鸭肉做了这道富贵炒鸭菘。但是大家都觉得光用来包生菜是太咸了,用来捞饭吃应该不错。很可惜我们没叫饭。
最后一道菜是剁姜金稻蒸生虾。意思是露米饭上放了铺满姜蓉的生虾,一起来蒸。Captain 教我们把虾膏刮出来伴饭吃,味道会更好。但是我觉得除了虾膏好吃外,虾肉和露米饭是有点儿老和硬。我想是因为蒸得太久了吧!
吃完了丰富的一餐,饱得连裤子也快要暴了。但是也得试一试甜品 - 红莲贡梨炖银耳芝麻炸汤圆。这糖水不会很甜,感觉很润。听说红枣可以补血,贡梨可以化痰、滋润,银耳犹如燕窝的功效。我当然来了两碗啦!最赞的是芝麻炸汤圆。味道很像槟城出名的“麻芝”。不同的是外皮沾了脆脆得芝麻,汤圆里包着浓浓的黑芝麻沙。我也无法抵挡地吃了三粒。哇,太饱了!

在等着拿车的时候,我们看见很多大老板和漂亮眉美也用完餐了。大多数都有司机接载,坐得多是名牌车如BMW, Mercedes, Mazda 等等。是谁说现在经济不好嘛?!?这餐是不错,不过我觉得有点贵。一座是RM1188,加了tax 是 RM1407!这餐吃得真是很豪华!

NOBLE HOUSENo.19, Jalan Delima, Off Jalan Imbi, 55100 Kuala LumpurTel : 03- 2145 8822 Fax : 03- 2141 3822
http://www.orientalrestaurants.com.my/noble.html

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Hawker Stall Behind The Beach Club

It was lunch time again! “Apa mau makan Ros”. As usual, we asked each other where to have lunch. “Ayam goreng Pak Cik!”, Ros yelled with a big smile on her face.

Ros, my colleague who is a “die hard” fan of this fried chicken, suggested having our lunch at the hawker stall behind The Beach Club. Yup, she reminded us of it’s been long time we have not had lunch there. We always wanted to go there but we were too lazy to walk so far and that stall is always crowded with people during lunch time except Friday. And, it was Friday!
What is so special about this stall? It is the Ayam Goreng Berempah. A huge piece of chicken only costs RM2.00. They also offer up to 20 types of dishes. If you go there from Monday to Thursday, you have to queue up before 12:30pm. If not, the fried chicken will be all finished off.
Let me elaborate more about this Ayam Goreng Berempah. This chicken was very well marinated with ginger, garlic, special seasoning from Pak Cik and coated with spices mixed with flour and egg. That’s why the chicken was so crispy and flavourful. I don’t know how Pak Cik can make the fried chicken meat be crispy yet tender and juiciness still retains in the meat. Even I had the chicken breast, the meat was not tough at all. I found the bone was crispy too and I chewed it all. Yummy!
I decided to get 1 piece for 豪豪 to try. He tried and said it’s better than KFC. Hmm, I felt the same way too.