Mei by Fat Spoon @ Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur

One of the most recommended F&B outlet by friends to me of late was the Mei by Fat Spoon where I was told they serve very interesting Japanese fusion food. I had in the past saw recipe book by this 2 sisters that runs Mei, where the recipes shared are beyond the ordinary ones, and they cleverly add different ingredients to add twist to the otherwise could have been ordinary dish. With that, great anticipation surrounded me when I headed towards this outlet last week. 

I somewhat missed the spot when I passed by for the first time as the sign of their name was mainly on the glass door. Much sunshine goes through its glass window by the front and side of the outlet.  A feeling of freshness gushed through me as I stepped in. Just loved the simplicity of the place where they used mainly whites as part of their interior design. 

The outside of Mei by Fat Spoons 

Certainly very packed during lunch time

Drink counter and cash register area 

Overall, I find that they have good selection of food and drinks. Plus point is that, their prices are reasonably priced, as compared to many other F&B outlets. I liked how they name their juices, from Red, Green, Orange, Yellow and White, describing the colors of fruits used to derive with the juices. 

I ordered the Red Juice, which comprised of red dragonfruit, watermelon, apple and goji berries. Tasted naturally good, with dragonfruit taste being more apparent than the rest. 

Dina ordered the Yellow Juice, which comprised of passionfruit, honey pineapple, banana and lemon. Slightly sourish, this was just the right drink to open up anyone's appetite.

Red Juice. Price-RM12, Yellow Juice. Price-RM10

As starter, we took the Hokkaido Scallop and the Lychee Tartare. Just imagine yourself eating sashimi scallop, where you get to taste the largely chopped scallop, coupled with canned lychee, placed on top of lightly blend sauce, and accompanied by cuts of spring onions and fresh baby tomatoes. Refreshing offering.

Scallop and Lychee Tartare. Price-RM28

Sashimis are always welcomed by Japanese food lovers, and me being one, couldn't resist to order their bowl of rice that seemed to offer many good stuffs in one order. 

I was absolutely happy with presentation of the bowl of rice, mainly because the freshness of the fish and ingredients which seemed to brimmed onto me, and I love the combination of the colors. Natural and bright. 

Freshness indeed is the most crucial when it comes to Japanese food, and thus, this order certainly fits the bill. Generous amount and size of salmon were provided, avocado, japanese cucumbers, pickled, ikura (I just love the feeling of my tongue bursting them inside my mouth) and shreds of seaweed. The mixed texture felt by the tastebud was certainly satisfying. It ranged from crunchiness of the items, combined with softness and freshness of the fish, mixed with bits of wasabi to each bite - and all this combined, made a good bowl of rice.  

Within the rice, was the light homemade sauce which tasted just nice. Not too salty yet carried enough taste to give you a good balance of being able to taste the natural ingredients from all the good stuff that came with this order.

Salmon, Ikura and Avocado. Price-RM28

Salmon, Ikura and Avocado. Price-RM28. Upon mixed up, still look so good.

What my friend ordered was in fact very similar, with an exception of additional scallop and yellowtail fish. I love how fancy they have named this dish, the Summer Bara Chirashi Bowl. This would be much recommended for hard core fish lovers, as it had the salmon fish, salmon roe, yellowtail, and scallop as well.

Summer Bara Chirashi Bowl. Price-RM38

This place definitely calls for another visit soon, and when I stole a look at their spaghetti,, being ordered by a customer seated next to me, I have already planned in mind to have that the very next time I'll be here. 

Mei by Fat Spoon 
22G, Jalan 27/70A, 
Desa Sri Hartamas 
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-2300 3327

Business Hours : 11am-10pm 
Closed on : Mondays 

FB link, click here

Sozo @ Sunway Giza, Kota Damansara, PJ

I don't really fancy buffets, but being a regular to visit to Groupon website, this particular deal caught my attention. Priced at RM56.90 per person for Japanese buffet, I found this deal enticing, as 1 order of few kinds of sashimi could have costed us this much. 

For a friend's birthday celebration, I suggested to try out Sozo buffet. I liked the fact that this is an entirely ala-carte buffet, whereby all orders were made fresh upon ordering. For those who prefers non buffet, they can select from their ala-carte menu, however, in comparison to the prices, its very much worth it to actually go for their buffet. 

This place actually got crowded close to 8pm, and I love their simple clean environment inside, and ample of outside seating available. 

Inside & outside of Sozo

With the 3 of us, we looked through their hundreds of items list in their menu. We do not want to overeat, thus we pace our orders according to capacity of our stomach. 

Actually arrangement of food are not in sequence of the eating time, as many food were served at the same time. 

The chawanmushi despite not being too smooth, tasted divine with generous portion of salmon roe on top. I love how the roes were crushed by my tongue.

As for the fried shrimp, crispy and aromatic. Good start to our dinner.  

Koebi Karaage and Ikura Chawanmushi

We were indeed very pleased with freshness of each of the items that were served to us. I loved their handroll with tempura prawn, filled with just enough amount of rice, wrapped with crispy seaweed. 

The appetizer being the Chuka Lidako (octopus), Chuka Kurage (jellyfish), Chuka Hotate (scallop) were all served chilled, and love the crunchiness of each.

The mango soft shell crab were absolutely fresh and the soft shell crab were fried till really crispy, with apparent size of it. It has a vinegar-ish taste of its homemade sauce.

The shisamos were in just the right size, and fried till real aromatic. I liked the feeling of biting the eggs in shisamo's stomach. Hehe..

 

From top left (clock-wise) : Handroll, Chuka Kurage, Chuka Hotate, Mango Soft Shell Crab Salad, Edamame, Chuka Lidako, Shishamo

 

We ordered a plate of the Sashimi Moriawase that came with 5 kinds of raw fish plus salmon roe, to be so-called taken as our starter. They were cut to generous size, and we could totally taste the original raw taste of the fish, which ranged from salmon, tuna, and raw prawns.

Despite it being a norm for Japanese meal to be well presented, the placement and effort on all these sashimis always gave me a much pleasant feeling. We absolutely can't wait to dig in. 

Served chilled on ice & what a lovely presentation

We also placed additional order of raw fish, salmon belly and oysters to fully satisfy our fondness of these raw goodies.

Second serving of sashimi, salmon belly and oyster that we had

The Saba Shioyaki tasted so fresh, that we could taste each part of its flesh. Pan fried till superbly fragrant. 

Oyster wise, it was truly lip smacking. To be frank, too small size makes you feel like you are not eating anything, but too big, will give the effect of overwhelming. Sozo served just the right size of oyster, that made us slurping them right into the mouth, yet chewable and tasted so rich in its vitamin. 

Also separately ordered another extra 5 pieces of salmon. Yummy yummy. 

Saba Shiyaki, Salmon & Oysters

To be frank, we were so enticed with their pictorial seen in their menu, and tempted to order more, yet, we had to suppressed our greedy desire, but gave in to one last order of the unagi roll. I loved the crispness of the bbq eel  that was used on top of this roll, and compact sushi rice wrapping around the crabstick and tamago (grilled egg). The entire roll was drizzled with teriyaki sauce to complete the 'look'. 

Unagi Roll

Upon the dinner ended, and despite the overfulfilled stomach capacity, we took some risk by still trying to squeeze in small scoops of ice-cream. Burp burp burp! 

This is definitely THE recommended place for Japanese buffet. As freshness and deliciousness of food is present in every way.

Food - 10/10

Price - 10/10 

Service - 9/10 

Ambiance - 9/10

Sozo 

13-G, Block A, Sunway Giza, 

Jalan PJU 5/14, Kota Damansara, 

47810 Petaling Jaya. 

Tel : 03-6143 712

Business Hours : 10.30am-10.30pm daily 

FB page, click here

Hokkaido Ramen-SANTOUKA @ Tokyo Street, Pavilion KL

Heard so much about Tokyo Street at Pavilion, that I just have to take a few hours off to head down to KL for lunch.

Before stepping in to Tokyo Street, not too bad an idea to pose with the macho Ultraman.

A pix with 'Ultraman'

SANTOUKA was the main reason I made this visit, as I've heard so much about the authenticity of taste of this ramen store.

Check out the display of what's await here

As we wanted to save our stomach for the other food outside, Shereen & I just took a set to share. Had the 'Small Ramen & Char Siu Rice Bowl Set' and took the 'Shio'/Salt soup base as were told this is the original soup base. The set too came with a cup of chawanmushi, pickle, salad and a cup of green tea.

Known for serving soup at the perfect temperature as the soup is not meant to be boiled, I do like the soup base that carries the pork bone taste. The elasticity of the ramen does spells freshness too.

The Char Siu served on top of the rice, tasted excellent. Love the aromatic taste, and tenderness of the char siu. NICE!!

The cup of green tea was also worth mentioning, as it has a fresh tea aroma. Liked this..

Small Ramen & Char Siu Rice Bowl Set. Price-RM33

Inside SANTOUKA

Love the very Japanese feel outside SANTOUKA

Its been so long since I last been to Pavilion, and its definitely a wonderful feeling to have seen how much it has improved, especially with creation of Tokyo Street, a place that combines everything Japanese.. Good 'FEEL'..

Hokkaido Ramen - SANTOUKA
Tokyo Street @ Pavilion KL
Lot 6.24.03, Level 6,
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur,
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 KL
Tel : 03-2143 8878
Fax : 03-2143 8879
Email : Santouka.Malaysia@gmail.com

Hokkaido Ichiba @ The Garden Mall, Mid Valley

Sis and I had the chance to go shopping, while the children stayed home. Taking opportunity of the off-peak time, we had our dinner at Hokkaido Ichiba.. Oh, just by the name of it, I so miss Hokkaido.. When will I go back to Hokkaido again? :)

We wanted something simple, so each of us ordered a bowl of noodle.

I love my fine chewy texture of ramen noodle in this bowl of miso soup. Along with it, was a half hard-boiled egg, lots of seaweed, corn and spring onion, and a few big hotate. Yumm. I just love scallops... With all this ingredients, I thought the price was rather fair..

Miso Hotate Ramen. Price-RM16.80

Sis being a spicy food lover ordered the Spicy Miso Ramen. It has similar ingredients as mine, except for this came with chunks of marinated chicken and spicy broth.

Spicy Miso Ramen. Price-RM14.80

We were drooling over its ice-cream menu which has such irresistible flavours of ice-cream, and told ourselves we ought to order these.. However, after the big bowl of noodle each, we changed our mine. Once a while, we are able to control to not over-stuff ourselves. :)

Hokkaido Ichiban
Lot T-201, Third Floor, The Garden Mall,
Midvalley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 KL
Tel : 03-2283 1060

Marufuku @ Jaya One, PJ

Met with Carol, my ex-college mate, for lunch last week. Since her office is near to Jaya One, we headed there. I heard about this sister outlet of Sanuki Udon (much has been read/written on how good looking the Japanese owner is ^^) being at Jaya One, thus wanted to give it a try. I can't remember the name at first, but it wasn't difficult, as once we reached here, we saw a few Marufuku's bunting stand.

Having reached here slightly before 12.30noon, we saw queue of people, waiting for their turn to order food. Being a self-service restaurant, we will have to key in our order (of main meal), into the machine near the entrance. After which, take the slip, and you may order the side order (which has been prepared prior), and then order your drink at the cashier.

Space comfortable enough, to fit, quite a number of staffs

The side dishes

I didn't really liked the onion and vege tempura, as it was cold, and pretty oily.

Onion and vege tempura. Price-RM2

Both of us ordered the Nabeyaki Udon, simply because it has the most ingredients.. hehe.. This bowl of udon was served hot in claypot topped with tempura ebi, fried tofu, shiitake mushroom, dumpling, egg and chopped spring onion.. As much as I enjoyed the piping hot broth, I find it a little salty to my tastebud, and Carol commented of the same, after our lunch. However, I still very much like the udon noodle which was springy...

Nabeyaki Udon. Price-RM10

Hmm.. the guys which were seated 2 tables from us, paid us a little attention, as they seem to look amused when we asked the staff from Marufuku to snap a picture of us. "Why, man? ^^"

Carol and I... I have always thought that Carol has this 'Japanese' look...

Marufuku
Unit L18-G-1, GF, Palm Square, Jaya One,
72A, Jalan Universiti,
46200 PJ
Tel/Fax : 03-7957 6368

URL : http://bit.ly/marufuku

Gonbei @ CHR, Cameron Highlands

Gonbei is not only available at Starhill Gallery, but also at Cameron Highlands Resort (CHR), Cameron Highlands. Proudly distinct itself, it is the only Japanese restaurant at Cameron Highlands.

Geared with a twist, this particular Japanese restaurant apart from the regular sashimi, soba, tempura, bento set, it also offer western set, and the ever popular, steamboat. Steamboat is extremely popular at Camerons, and yes, it is just so nice to have steamboat at Camerons, contributed well by its cooling weather.

We love it here at Gonbei. With the open air concept, where only blinds were used, fresh cooling air was the only thing we felt.

Gonbei, view from steps above

At Gonbei, customers can order their main dish, whilst the appetizer, which includes salad, sushi and dessert are on eat-all- you- can basis.

We ordered the seafood teppanyaki set. Extremely tasty. It comprised of squid, beef, fish, chicken and prawn.

Seafood teppanyaki set

The picture on the left was all that we can eat with steamboat order. To be frank, there was nothing too special about the ingredients, but the soup broth used, deserved a thumbs up... Has a natural sweet taste.

R-L : All you can eat with steamboat order, and sushi

To be frank, our stomach could occupy just the main meal, and we had to try hard to eat as much as we can 'afford' to, from the all-you-can-eat spread.
Notice the big size strawberry, they were just so sweet, and can be taken with the various nuts or can be dipped with strawberry sauce or the white chocolate sauce.

The yummylicious looking dessert

Gonbei

Cameron Highlands Resort

By the Golf Course,

39000 Tanah Rata,

Cameron Highlands, Pahang

大 海 Japanese Restaurant @ Tai Chung, Taiwan

Since it was my first day at Tai Chung, we decided to head to nearby area to source for food. Within walking distance of 10-15mins, we reached Sogo, and behind it, a wide variety of restaurants. The Italian and Japanese restaurants seemed to be highly popular there.

I liked the basic deco of the restaurant, and in the middle, a long table for sharing. Feels like being in a classroom.

The menu is in Japanese and Mandarin - seemed like no way for me to do ordering, thus, left it all to Shereen.. ;-P

Shereen, looks like taking exam here..hehe.

We ordered their ramen soup with pork for sharing. It was a really big bowl of noodle, filled with slices of pork, bean sprout, black fungus, spring onion and lots of sesame seeds... I love the texture of the noodle which was in between hard and soft noodle, and was springy...

Our bowl of ramen. TWD200(about RM20.50)

She also ordered the cold beancurd with egg. I loved this. Solid overall texture, and tasted really smooth inside. Yumm!

The version of char siu that we had was special. Chunks of pork, which was spicy and salty, yumm! Loved this too..

(From L-R) : The beancurd with egg, the restaurant from outside, and the char siu

大 海
Tel : 04-2328-9845

Rakuzen @ SS15, Subang Jaya

For a change, it was just me and my parents that headed down to SS15, Subang Jaya for lunch. Thought it'll be a good idea for them to break from their usual Chinese food, to try Japanese this round.

A relief to see that we don't need to queue on the Sunday noon to get into Rakuzen- as this place is all the time with long queue, especially during dinner.

The 1 Japanese salad I love the most ought to be the Kaori-hako crab and flying-fish roe salad with miso dressing. Every item on the plate plus every spoon of the salad sauce tasted good. The slight sourness of the sauce made a whole lot of difference.

Kaori-Hako Kani to Tobikko Salada. Price-RM18 (Large-RM28)

Tofu tempura with sauce. My parents really loved this, for the tofu was really soft, which was lightly fried on the outside.

Agedashi Tofu. Price-RM12

We also enjoyed the sweet tasting udon soup, and the thick udon noodles. Overall its good. Thought this set is really worth the price.

Nabeyaki Udon to Zen. Price-RM32

I have always love the Japanese clear soup in tea pot, thus ordered a pot for my parents to try. The only comment was, why such dainty small cup to drink the soup. Hehe.. I suppose that made the soup extra special - small cup so that you can taste every sip of it. The soup boiled together with carrot, fish, chicken, prawn, mushroom made it really sweet, and extremely, cleeeearrrrrr..

Dobin Mushi. Price-RM16

Bad lighting. Hehe.. My parents and I

My parents don't usually go for ice-cream, but they loved the fragrant red bean that goes so well with the rich flavored green tea ice-cream.

Macha Icre-Cream. Price-RM6

Overall they really enjoyed the meal.

Pasta Zanmai @ Sri Hartamas

I lost count of the number of times that I've visited the Pasta Zanmai chain. Were there prior to CNY with a few ex-colleagues. Liked it when I come in a bigger group, which means that we can order items from the menu, for sharing.

The sesame sauce pasta with tempura, plus the mini unagi rice set was part of the montly specials offered. The sesame sauce with slight sourish taste, slight sweetness and fragrant of sesame went really went with the pasta. In fact the same sauce is used for various menu items, including salad, pita bread roll (similar as california roll, but pita bread replacing the seaweed), and various different pasta. This seems like a really brilliant creation as the taste blend so well with almost any other items.

The chicken teriyaki was so-so somehow.

Pasta on the left above is part of the set, together with the Mini Unagi Rice (below). Price-RM22
Chicken is part of another set which combines a maki roll. Price-RM22

The unagi lightly grilled with teriyaki sauce, topped with half boiled egg, went well with the rice, when mixed together. The egg somehow just tasted so soft.

Mini Unagi Rice

We love the thin crisp pizza, which combined spread of tomato base, topped with lotsa mayo, onion, mushroom, scallop and squid. Love the taste of this pizza.

Hotate Pizza. Price-RM26

Towards end of the lunch, decided to order an extra item - the pasta in soup. A rather special dish - with slight herbal taste, this spaghetti was cooked together with mushroom, clams and cuts of fried garlic. We slurp the soup till the last drop. ^-^

Asari Wafu Special. Price-RM26

Though all of us are now working in separate company, its nice when there is such opportunity to meet together for Friday lunch. ^-^

From L : Kristine, Suan, Candice, Beng Geok and I

We had to order this choco banana for sharing. This creation that combines crunchy cornflakes, with chocolate flavour ice-cream, banana, whipped cream, and waffle is a truly indulgence. Guilt was taken out as this was shared among so many of us. Hehe..

The Heavenly - Choco Banana. Price-RM15

After so many visits, glad to find that quality of food is well maintained.

Pasta Zanmai
P-2C, Plaza GF, Hartamas Shopping Centre,
80 Jalan Sri Hartamas 1,
Sri Hartamas, 50480 KL
Tel : 03-6201 1610

Sabi Wasabi @ Bandar Bukit Tinggi, Klang

We usually will head to Subang when we felt like having Japanese (especially after trying Kinsahi at Jusco Bukit Tinggi, which tasted awful, and pricey-but that was when Jusco 1st opened. Unfortunately, then on, Kinsahi never had a chance to redeem itself).

On that night, we went to Sabi Wasabi, along the shoplots at Bandar Bukit Tinggi 2, opposite Jusco.

We had to move from downstairs to upstairs when the customers seated next to us was talking and laughing like they had loud speaker on. Hehe.

Qi Yao and I posing while waiting to be served

We love the Hakata Ramen, a highly recommended dish. It was served in a meat-based broth, with sliced pork (chashu), dried seaweed (nori), egg. Tasted delicious, and its noodle was also 'springy'.

Hakata Ramen. Price-RM16

We ordered the Nigiri Sushi to Chicken Teriyaki Zen set. A big portion of food for RM30, however the chicken teriyaki tasted so so only. The miso soup was also not hot when served.

Nigiri Sushi to Chicken Teriyaki Zen. Price-RM30

I especially love the Koebi Karaage - crispy deep fried shrimp, and with dash of lemon juice, it tasted even better. It was fried till real crispy, and love the slight saltiness of the crispy shrimp.

Koebi Karaage. Price-RM8

Qi, Yao, Wen - all ready to head home

After dinner, we head home to joined our relatives. My home was filled with people, and at a point, it got so noisy as everyone was busy talking to one another. Nice...^-^