Crab Croquette @ Isetan Foodmarket, KLCC

I love how Isetan always showcases Japanese specialties and that's one reason why I love working so close to KLCC - I get to pop in for a quick bite whenever there's any special promotion! =D One of the products on offer was Potato Croquettes made by a Japanese lady. We had the Kani Korokke.

Kani Korokke (RM 5)

See the golden panko crumbs? It is as crunchy as it looks and sounds d^_^b

Yummy!

As you can see, the insides are super creamy and just waiting impatiently to ooze out. Not much crab meat though but the croquette is definitely awesome!



PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Dough


Isetan Food Fair

Food Hall
Isetan Foodmarket
Concourse
Suria KLCC
Tel: 2382 7777

Zakuro 2 Japanese Cuisine @ Scott Garden, KL

Zakuro 2 is located at Scott Garden and it is quite easy to spot this if you came from the main entrance. If you, like us, entered through Tesco, be prepared to get lost in a maze as the escalator is not easy to find at all. I thought Zakuro 2 could be linked to the Japanese restaurant along Jalan Ampang but after trying its food, I doubt that's the case...

      

         

Interior

     
Nice interior but we could see the kitchen through the opening and I couldn't spot any Japanese chef...
         

Pickles

   
The pickles tasted slightly different from the usual yellow ones and were very sour but I guess they're homemade.
      

Chawanmushi

   
Nice piping hot and smooth chawanmushi with a sprinkling of ebikko which totally enhanced its taste.

       

Mixed Furai Set (RM 40)

   
The Mixed Furai set came with miso soup, appetiser and dessert. The appetiser tasted like fried fish crumbs but I can't be sure - quite addictive though.

      

Mixed Furai

     
The Mixed Furai plate consisted of deep fried chicken, salmon, crabstick and prawn coated with panko crumbs. The insides of these agemono were not dry, thankfully, but the exterior layer was over-fried due to the slightly sparse coating of crumbs. The side salad provided a cooling respite in contrast to the heatiness of the deep fried items but there was too much mayonnaise squeezed over it - good for dipping the furai though.

       

Saba Shioyaki Set (RM 30)

   
The Grilled Saba set came with the same appetiser, miso soup and dessert.
      

Grilled Saba

   
The grilled saba was very moist and well grilled but a tad too salty.
   
An average restaurant, not one that I'd be returning to in the long run. Plus it is located somewhere inconvenient for me.

 
   
PawPoints: 2 Paws
Pawket: Olive
         

Zakuro 2 Japanese Cuisine

The Scott Garden
Lot 1-36, 1st Floor
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 7987 8148
Mon - Fri: 12pm - 3pm, 6pm - 10.30pm
Sat - Sun: 12pm -3pm

Lucky Sichuan Cuisine @ Kota Damansara, PJ

After my awesome meal at Empress of Sichuan in London, I have been craving for some spicy Sichuan food back here in KL. There are many Sichuan restaurants in Imbi but the area looks dodgy so I have not been there to try any food. My dream is to one day dine at Si Chuan Dou Hua at Park Royal Hotel but as it is quite expensive, I'll have to make do with a cheaper version from Lucky Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant at Kota Damansara.

Shop Front

Stir Fried Rape (RM 12)

No, that's not a typo. No, I'm not illiterate. No, I know what it is its real meaning. That was what was written in the menu and being bananas, we had to wait for Maggot-chan's boyfriend to help us translate. We decided to order it anyway just because of the name =P It was a good thing we did too because it was the only non-spicy dish we had and the vegetable disappeared in mere seconds. But truth be told, it was a pretty average dish and we would not have gobbled it up if not for the spiciness of the other dishes =.=

Ma Po Beancurd - Extra Spicy (RM 12)

Ma Po Tofu is my favourite dish but those in other restaurants can't even touch this by a km-long stick if they tried, spiciness-wise. I didn't expect it to be so spicy and actually it's not. The main problem with this dish was its tongue-numbing effect which renders you unable to eat anything spicy for a while. There was also this weird pungent taste that I dislike which I suspect contributed to the tongue-numbness. I didn't touch it at all after the first bite but Maggot-chan liked it a lot.

Yu Shiang Shredded Pork (RM 15)

This is one of my favourites as its spiciness was bearable and the tender pork is well flavoured with the scallion-chilli combo.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Hot Chilli (RM 28)

The bomb O.O When it arrived at our table, everyone literally stopped eating to stare at this mountain of deep fried chillies. The popcorn chicken were all buried underneath this heap of spicy hell. This dish was the most addictive for everyone although the crispy yet succulent chicken was spicy just through skin contact with the chillies. Can't remember if we ordered spicy or extra spicy but it was such a waste that I didn't eat more as my tongue was still numb from the wretched tofu > . < Not good for those who dislike oily food as you can feel the oil squirting out when you bite into the popcorn chicken...

Spicy and Sour Soup (RM 12)

They were very generous with the soup which had tons of ingredients such as tofu, wood ear fungus, ginger and scallions. The soup was very sour and spicy and definitely opened up our appetites for the other spicy dishes. The portion above was sufficient to feed 6 of us and some had more than a bowl.

Griddle Cooked Chicken with Pepper (RM 38 - Medium)

This chicken dish was quite pungent and spicy with the numerous dried chillies and lots of spicy sauce at the bottom of the heated pan. It was tasty although I felt the high price tag was not really justifiable. Another favourite of Maggot-chan.

Remains of the popcorn chicken

This was the aftermath of the Stir-Fried Chicken with Hot Chilli. We resorted to clearing out the "landfill" in the end and dug out as many bobs of chicken as possible.

Oh well, I found out my spiciness tolerance level was not as high as I thought it is. I guess this is as authentic as you can get since the staff seem to only be able to speak Mandarin with a China accent and judging from the typos in the menu (Stir Fried Rape above, The Potato Burns the Beef and Fine Fried Colon are some notable examples), the team probably came from Sichuan province. Anyhow, I'll definitely return to try the other less spicy dishes such as Stir-Fried Chicken Dices in Hot Chilli, Deep Fried Spicy Prawn, Stir Fried String Beans and Griddle Cooked Bullfrog in Spicy Sauce. And we'll definitely order Stir-Fried Chicken with Hot Chilli again =D

PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Tomato


Lucky Sichuan Cuisine

19 Jalan PJU 5/12
Kota Damansara
Tel: 03 6140 7755
Daily: 11am - 3pm, 5.30pm - 11pm

Breakfast Spread @ Premiere Hotel, Klang

Today's is a short post. I've had quite a number of friends holding their wedding reception at Premiere Hotel in Klang. Since it's quite far for us PJ folk, my friends and I decided to book a night's stay there for some girly catch-up. The room is far better than I expected and the washroom definitely meets my standards =P Here's what I had from the complimentary breakfast buffet.

My kind of breakfast (RM 32)

Nasi lemak for breakfast yum! They've also got beef and chicken rendang which are awesome and totally melt-in-your-mouth. Love the spicy sambal, crunchy anchovies and fragrant coconut milk infused rice too! Basically they've got the perfect nasi lemak. Apart from that there are also some western breakfast items such as chicken sausage and hash browns, pastries and toast. Chicken noodle soup is also available if you prefer something warm and soupy in the early morning.


PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Olive



Premiere Hotel
Bandar Bukit Tinggi
Klang
Tel: 03 3325 6868

Fukuya Authentic Japanese Cuisine @ Jalan Delima, KL

I have been longing to dine at Fukuya ever since I found out it was fine dining and saw night shots of its front lawn. Unfortunately we went there for lunch as lunch sets tend to be cheaper and the glamorous-looking front lawn looked...mehhh...in the glaring light of the sun.
          

Signboard

           

Entrance

       

Menu

     
I love their unique menu which has a piece of bamboo stick as a page binder. The front cover is also made of Japanese washi paper and looked very authentic.
         

Table setting

     
It is not very visible from the above picture but their tables are covered in leather which gives a slightly luxurious feel. The lighting, however, was too dim for us as we were seated at a dark corner which looks out to a dark, slightly rundown garden > . < The quality of the wooden chopsticks was quite bad, in my opinion, for a fine dining restaurant...even Senya has much better chopsticks than this.

      

Salad

   
The above salad came with both lunch sets and was served extremely chilled. It was very refreshing with slivers of raw ebi and its son, ebikko. The dressing drizzled over a mountain of lettuce, alfalfa sprouts and tomato wedges had hints of wasabi.

      

Chawanmushi

     
The piping hot chawanmushi had a piece of chicken, mushroom, gingko nut and even prawn (which is a first for me). It was extremely smooth but a lot firmer than the average chawanmushi...I prefer mine to be slightly bouncy.

      

Appetiser

   
The appetiser consisted of boiled horenso aka spinach mixed with bits of either tuna sashimi or bonito flakes. The dish was unique and tasty but it was a tad too cold as my teeth felt rather sensitive.

     

Seiro Set (RM 43)

   
The Seiro set consists of a choice of steamed rice with grilled eel (you can opt for grilled salmon or scallops as well), sashimi, tempura, miso soup, homemade radish and cucumber pickles (that were extremely sour) and dessert. Although not stated in the menu, the set comes with chawahmushi, salad and appetiser too.

      

Sashimi

   
This is the sashimi that came with the Seiro Set. Although no doubt it is top grade sashimi, I felt extremely letdown as they were served at room temperature and not even the slightest bit chilled. It was warm and Fukuya was not as generous with the sashimi as other restaurants. This could probably be because they've already given lots of unagi at extremely cheap pricing.

      

Grilled Unagi on Steamed Rice

     
I highly recommend you try this! The eel was basted with a lovely sweet sauce and its skin was slightly crisp from the grilling whilst the meat was succulent and tender. The fine bones embedded in the eel were also meticulously plucked out. Its aromatic and yummy gravy penetrates the rice and bed of egg roll strips as it is being steamed which results in an awesome meal on its own. This itself is definitely worth the entire price tag of RM 43.

       

Tempura

   
The soft shell crab tempura looked really good but probably because I squeezed lots of lemon onto it and took my time eating it, it was a little soggy. I didn't mind though as the lemon juice gave it a whole new dimension and made it very yummy. A unique addition was a shiso leaf tempura that remained extremely crispy.

       

Fuku-Fuku Lunch (RM 40)

   
The Fuku-Fuku Lunch Set came with appetizer, chawanmushi, salad, steamed rice, homemade radish and cucumber pickles, miso soup and dessert. There is a choice of two main dishes and we had the tuna and salmon sashimi and grilled saba mackerel.

     

Sashimi

   
Similarly with the sashimi served in the Seiro set, this did not give us the wow factor as it was served at room temperature =( What a huge disappointment =(

        

Grilled Saba

     
The grilled saba mackerel was really good and juicy with crispy skin. It came with a lotus root pickle which was surprisingly very crunchy and yummy.

       

Miso Soup

     
The miso soup was just nice with lots (and I mean lots) of wakame and tofu. Nothing spectacular but just wanted to show this unique lacquered bowl with red lacquered insides. Very outstanding indeed.

       

Dessert

     
Dessert was two honeydew and watermelon cubes. Quite disappointing as I had expected at least green tea ice-cream like other fine dining restaurants. Oh well, I guess they've got to make some profit with their relatively affordable fine dining lunch sets.

      

Service was not very good as it seems that Fukuya only has a few staff who know good English and have impeccable manners. It was difficult to get them to take our order as they were quite busy and the other wait staff kept pretending not to see us waving. When one finally did come over, she had a heavy accent, probably Thai or Filipino, and I couldn't understand what she was saying at all > . <
   
One thing is for sure though, although the food at Fukuya is no doubt good and of high quality, next time I opt to go for fine dining, I'd definitely go to Cocotei instead.
 
 
PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Cheese
         

Fukuya Authentic Japanese Cuisine
9, Jalan Delima
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 2144 1022
Mon - Sat: 12pm - 2.30pm, 6.30pm - 10.30pm
Sun: 6pm - 10pm

Restoran Makanan Laut Yoke Heng @ Seri Kembangan, KL

We were going for the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale at Seri Kembangan and since we go there like once in 10 years, our main aim was to try some local awesome food. It also helped that it was a predominantly Chinese area with guaranteed delicious hawker fare.
   
Thanks to JS, our target of the day was a restaurant famous for its claypot loh shu fun. It is so well-known, in fact, that there are many pictures of celebrities posing with the owners adorning the wall.

      

Shop Front

       

Claypot Loh Shu Fun

     
Their infamous Loh Shu Fun is served in a rustic claypot with a rich eggy gravy similar to Loh Mee. When it arrived at our table, you could smell its aroma a mile away as the dish had a generous serving of extremely crunchy deep-fried dried shrimps plonked right on top of the yummy mess. There were also plenty of sliced shiitake mushrooms to add flavour to the yummy gravy. I'm not too sure but it tasted as though a bit of XO sauce was included. With a dash of black vinegar, the slippery and silky smooth loh shu fun slithering about in the aromatic gravy tasted absolutely awesome!!! It's definitely the best I've ever eaten.

      

Yummy mess

       

Stir Fried Clams

     
The clams were stir fried over high heat with lots of garlic and bird's eye chillies. It smelled amazing and tasted extremely delicious - also the best I've ever eaten and that's saying a lot considering it's just normal stir-fried clams. I absolutely hate garlic except when it's spread on garlic bread but the garlic in this dish is so yummy! It didn't taste like garlic at all and was super fragrant and crispy. The dish also contained lots of deep fried dried shrimps which totally enhanced its flavour.

       

Honey Glazed Ribs

     
I felt the ribs were forgettable but JS loved them. The ribs were coated in dark caramelised honey and baked until the meat was tender. The freshness of the ribs was also a plus point as the meat fell off the bone easily.
     
I know Seri Kembangan is extremely far away (for me, at least) but if you're in the area, I highly recommend you drop by Yoke Heng and try their Loh Shu Fun and Stir-Fried Clams - they definitely don't disappoint!!
   
   
PawPoints: 5 Paws
Pawket: Onion
           Restoran Makanan Laut Yoke Heng
33 Jalan SR8/4
Taman Putra Indah
Serdang Raya
Seri Kembangan
Tel: 03 8943 8753

South Sea Seafood Restaurant @ Kampung Baru Subang, PJ

South Sea Seafood is a halal restaurant serving all sorts of sea creatures imaginable. It is located near the old Subang airport with huge signs directing you to its location.

       

        

Stir-Fried French Beans

 
The french beans which were sauteed over high heat were springy and crunchy.

    

Deep Fried Mantis Prawns with Salted Egg Yolk

   
We said we wanted "lai liu har" and one of the managers promptly corrected us, giving us a lesson on the different types of prawns. Anyway we got what we wanted in the end and this dish was awesome. Each prawn had a thick coating of salted egg yolk and was deep fried till crispy.
        

Yam Puff with Assorted Vegetables

   
I quite like this dish. The assorted vegetables included baby corn, green peppers, carrots, onions, chestnuts and mushrooms. It also came with chicken pieces. The yam puff was very dense and yummy even though I prefer a fluffier version. The deep fried meehoon also provided extra crunch to the dish.
      

Crabs in Butter Sauce

   
The crabs were very sweet and fresh and the thick, milky butter sauce was very aromatic and flavourful. Extremely good when mopped up with deep fried buns, as pictured below.

       

Deep Fried Buns

      

Tofu and Minced Meat

   
I love tofu dishes like this. Each tofu piece is deep fried till its skin is golden and its insides still fluffy, and is bathed in an aromatic and savoury sauce flavoured with minced meat, pickled radish and minced mushrooms. Absolutely wonderful with rice.
   
Dining here is quite expensive though but the dishes served were all really good and I highly recommend this place. Best to reserve a place for dinner as it is always packed to the rafters and you don't want to end up in disappointment after a long drive.
   
   
PawPoints: 5 Paws
Pawket: Cheese
          
     
South Sea Seafood Restaurant

229 Jalan Dua A
Kampung Baru Subang
Tel: 03 7846 1401
Daily: 11am - 11pm

Tokyo Kitchen @ Sunway Giza Mall, Kota Damansara

Tokyo Kitchen is a quaint little place, with lots of zakka stuff on display. It is located outside Sunway Giza Mall near Full House.

       

                

Exterior

              

Cute plate

                 

Sashimi

                 
The sashimi was, we felt, their redeeming grace. They were very generous with the sashimi as evidenced by the thick slabs of salmon and butterfish. The sashimi was cold and juicy too. Definitely fine dining standard.
                         

Ebidon

             
The Ebidon came with 4 big pieces of ebi tempura. It was sufficiently good but nothing particularly outstanding. Also there was way too much rice that even a rice lover like me couldn't finish it. Perhaps they should cut down on rice and prevent a bit of wastage there.

               

Katsudon

             
The Katsudon was a disappointment. The chicken katsu were hard and the smell of reused frying oil was evident. Didn't enjoy this at all.
             
Both the Ebidon and Katsudon came with a bowl of miso soup which was salty to me. Other people would probably find it very salty since I have relatively higher salt tolerance.
               

Please come visit us!

           
Hmmm I guess it's quite a unique place to come for a meal but I will probably head to Sushi Zanmai instead...
           
           
PawPoints: 2 Paws (5 Paws for Sashimi)
Pawket: Cheese
                      
                      
Tokyo Kitchen

Lot C-01, Sunway Giza Mall
Tel: 03 6151 1268
Sun - Thur: 12pm - 11pm
Fri - Sat: 12pm - 12am