Clarissane reviews: Suki-Ya & En Ginza Café, Tokyo Street Pavilion KL

A way overdue post, I’ve finally stop my procrastination. I am back!

Blogospheres spotted all around have many reviews about the still-quite new Tokyo Street in Pavilion KL which opened mid this year. I’ve read all the rave about Santouka Ramen (which Ronnycakes & Wils have reviewed) and the new Café Takahashi that I’ve both yet to try! Haven’t been there for a while now.. my food trips have been very rare these days sigh!

Anyways, if you are a fan of Shabu Shabu and Sukiyaki (like me!!) and cannot get enough of it, this is the place for you. Priced reasonably at RM 29.90++ for lunch (different prices for dinner) it’s an eat-all-you-can… literally eat till you drop.

Limitless amount of meat is made to order with beef, lamb and chicken for you to choose. I of course stuck to my usual beef. The lamb slices for that day were not available for some reason with the chicken slices being the usual.

Choose from three choices of soup: Sukiyaki, Shabu Shabu or Kimchi. I went for the Shabu Shabu and Kimchi. Needless to say, the shabu shabu was delicious but the kimchi was mediocre.. could do much better with more seasoning and taste.

Wide variety of vegetables, mushrooms and beancurd with some fishballs thrown in as well.. makes for a balanced meal.

Side orders are available as well like the above Shrimp Tempura (another crowd favourite!).

Different people have different ways of eating shabu shabu. Some just dump everything in (like the Japanese, and apparently this is the way to eat it) but I prefer dipping the meat into the hot soup, simmer for a few seconds till its half-cooked and voila, ready to eat with just the right texture and juiciness.. ahh heavenly!

Finish the meal by adding an egg, vegetables and noodles into the soup that has been used to cook the meat.. and you get a very VERY tasty meal with all the flavour leftover from the meat. Typical case of saving the best for the last! ;)

Now I know where to get my fix of limitless beef slices! Oh, and they do have desserts as well.. chocolate or green tea ice-cream.. a perfect way to end your meal!

En Ginza Café, another Japanese inspired outlet is great for chilling out sessions with the girlfriends over a cup of coffee. My cappuccino was nice, frothy and thick with the perfect taste of being sweet and bitter at the same time.. just how I like my coffee to be.

The Ice-Blended Green Tea was something out of the ordinary.. I found it a little too milky for my liking though, but if you’re a big fan of green tea and love milk.. I’m pretty sure you would enjoy this.

And of course, a café would be incomplete without the usual buns and pastries. I’m not sure if this is how Japanese breads are supposed to taste like but I found the bread texture dry and hard. A personal preference, I prefer my breads soft and fluffy :D

I would probably come back for their coffee and ambience but I’ll definitely give their buns a miss. They do serve hot main meals as well.

P/S: Forgive me for the not-so-clear photos.. haven’t downloaded a good photo-editing software since my old laptop got stolen. I promise better photos in my upcoming posts! :)

Address:
Suki-Ya and En Ginza Café,
Level 6, Tokyo Street,
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.

Wils reviews: The Steamboat, Ketam Village @ Ikano Power Centre

Ever had those days, where you are feeling under the weather under treacherous conditions, only a wholeful soupy meal can satisfy those buds? In comes the idea of hot pot, better known as steamboat with ingredients that can leave you with a long lasting aftertaste of wanting more. Look no further than at The Steamboat, Ketam Village located in Ikano Power Centre.

I must say, I received mix reviews from different people about the place. However, thanks to the power of conviction from Clarissane, I just had to be there to know how good she claims it to be.

At first glance, you will notice that its not your typical style of steamboat. Each individual are allocated to his/her personal hot pot, very much like shabu-shabu (Japanese steamboat). The place is very well lit & decorated, clean and tidy for your eating pleasures. Most Chinese steamboat restaurants out there cannot assure you that important custom. Being a huge fan of red meat, I opted to give the Sliced Beef Noodle Set a try. At RM9.80, it is a bargain considering the freshness of the beef and amount your slices you’re getting. Accompanied with that is a serving of fundamental steamboat ingredients such as fish and beef balls, quil egg, fried foochuk, Japanese tofu, prawns, noodles and cabbage.

After ordering the set of your desire, you are given the option of Clear Soup or Tomyam Soup. Clarissane was telling me how incredibly spicy the Tomyam Soup was so as a first timer, I chose the Clear Soup just so I can have a distinct taste of the food I ordered.

Lunch was served not long after, nicely arranged as seen on the menu (most times, what we see is not what we get. I’m sure many of you out there can relate to that).

On a stomach crying for food, you can’t help but salivate with a sight like this.

The conventional way of eating steamboat would be to dump all the ingredients in to boil so that the soup will develop into a much richer flavour. However, this being a set with beef slices, it is highly recommended that you dunk the beef slice one by one only at the time that you are eating them. Only a short dip in the soup is needed because it cooks very quickly and you will want to avoid it being overcooked and too tough to eat. A very peculiar way of eating every red meat lovers should take note.

On a bowl, screaming to be consumed.

A satisfying meal will not be complete without a refreshing drink. The Chinese Herbal Drink; RM2.00 hits the spot where it matters most. Since its not too sweet, it bodes well to both the young and old.

All thanks to Clarisanne, I was left with only good things to say about my experience there. It is definitely a meal that I do not regret one bit but look forward to coming back to have a go at the other sets they serve. A place suitable for individuals, small and large groups on any occasion, it is no wonder that not a day goes by that it isn’t packed. I kid you not, you WILL come back for more.

Address:
Ikano Power Centre
Lower Ground Floor (opposite Q Jelly)
Mutiara Damansara
Petaling Jaya

Map *here*

ronnycakes reviews: Jade Pot Steamboat, Sri Hartamas

Someone once told me that what makes a steamboat meal delicious depends heavily on three things: the soup stock, the sauces, and freshness of ingredients.

I’ve never been a true fan of steamboat but after trying this outlet, I’ve constantly been bugging my mum, friends, boyfriend into bringing me for steamboat meals… :p
Trust me on this one, the soup is THAT GOOD. Everyone has given their double thumbs up (and quadruple if they had that many thumbs) for the soup and sauce, even Clarissane who’s also been to this place a couple of times. :D

The interior is modern, clean, and fully air-conditioned. The temperature is quite cool too so no worries that you’ll be huffing and puffing and sweating after the hot piping steamboat meal! Service is also very prompt and friendly, all the staff are always smiling and very attentive: filling tea once you finish it, or taking away used plates and such.

Jade Pot offers three set combinations for the lunch crowd, mainly combinations for two pax, four pax, or six pax. Pricing is as follows:

Two pax: RM39.80++
Four pax: RM75.80++
Six pax: RM109.80++

For soup choices, Jade Pot offers three different soups, the first of which is Jade Pot Superior Stock, Tom Yam Soup, Fish Head with Yam Soup. You can choose either to have one soup or two, and they’ll serve the steamboat with a dual-section pot.

I swear by the Superior Stock which is a bit like an ABC soup, with tofu, potatoes, tomatoes, corn and onions. The base of the soup is pork meat and bones which explains why it’s so full of flavour.
The Fish Head with Yam is quite good, suitable for the more health-conscious as the base of the soup if from fish bones and definitely has less cholesterol than the superior stock. The only thing about this soup base is that the herbal taste is quite strong and when it gets cold, it can have a slight fishy smell to it.
As for the Tom Yam Soup, I tried it quite a while ago and was not at all impressed. The tomyam was much too mild and was sweet instead of sour. I don’t know whether they’ve made improvements to it yet but try this one with caution.

The sauces! On the left is the chili flake oil, which is my favourite. Slightly salty with bits of shallots, it is very very aromatic as the chili is fried in oil to release all the flavours. On the right is Sang Har Jeong (red chili sauce), very finely blended red chili.

My favourite. :p

The other two is the Fu Yu sauce (fermented beancurd) which is not really my sort of thing, so I haven’t tried it. But the staff recommend that diners mix the fu yu sauce with the chili flake oil which produces quite an interesting taste that is definitely acquired. The last one is the Thai green chili sauce which is my mum’s favourite, finely blended green chili that is smooth and tangy. The sauces here are good enough to rival Coca Steamboat which has sadly dropped standards in recent years.

Ingredients are very fresh! The set lunch for two comes with pairs of everything, pairs of shrimp wanton, pork wanton, yong taufu, prawn ball (which has a salted egg yolk filling yay!!), Foochow fish ball (pork filling hehe) and deep fried fish ball.

Fried Foo Chuk.

Shrimp watercress dumplings, eggs, watercress, and yee mee.

In my opinion, the best vegetables to eat with steamboat are watercress! Because of how watercress have hollow stems and become soft when boiled, so it absorbs all the goodness of the soup and when you eat it, all the soup comes spilling out. :D

The glorious soup!! So good I can’t stop drinking it. XD
A note, soup is refillable for free!

Shit I’m feeling hungry just looking at it. :p

The set lunch also comes with a small dessert so at the end of the meal when everything has been chomped and all the soup finished (I suppose that’s just me :p), the waiters will serve a small bowl of ai yu bing, or lemongrass jelly, the type that you can get from pasar malams.

Just nice; something cold and tangy to end the meal!

It’s not the most value-for-money around, but prices are justifiable by the freshness of the seafood, service, and ambience. Do try this place out if you’re in the area! It’s highly recommended by me! :D Great for rainy days when you need something to warm your insides up.
Also, the soup is really good. I may have mentioned that once, twice, a few times. :p

There’s also a branch in Old Klang Road, which also serves dimsum which I’ve never tried. I’d like to go try some time!!

Address
Sri Hartamas Branch:
No. 5, Ground Floor Plaza Prismaville,
Jalan 19/70A,
Desa Sri Hartamas

Old Klang Road Branch:
No 413, Batu 5,
Jalan Kelang Lama