Cheras Food: Haru Japanese Bakery Cafe Ikon Connaught - Your Japanese Neighbourhood Bakery Review

Japanese have perfected the fine art in terms of creating nice bakery and pastries; as can be seen by the many Japanese inspired bakery cum restaurant in the Klang Valley. With that +BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to taste out one of the latest bakery produce from Haru Japanese Bakery Cafe located at G-08, IKON Connaught, Jalan Cerdas, Taman Connaught, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur

What makes Haru Japanese Bakery Cafe different is the type of flour that is used to prepare the dough? The flour that is used at Haru Bakery is the High Protein Flour which are imported from Japan.

Using the right technique to prepare the bread dough will determine the fluffiness, soft and moist texture of each buns. There are many flavors of bun that are served at Haru Japanese Bakery Cafe and the following are the one that we tasted.

The first is the Amazing Chestnut Bun (RM3.80).  For chestnut fans, you will find the filling very nutty. Nice to be eaten with a cup of coffee.

Next is the Butter Croissant (RM 3.80). For those that love their croissant to be less buttery, you will find this just nice for you. It has that crisp layers and fluffiness texture.

Caramelised Apple Bun (RM 3.40). Balance of sweetness of caramelized apple filling with the soft sweet bun texture. 

The above is the Cranberry Cheese Bun (RM3.60). 

Fruity Red Bean Banana. This bun is banana flavoured with a red bean paste filling. 

Mexico Cheese Bun. This is a fusion of the popular Mexico bun but with a topping of walnut and almond chips.

The above bun is called the Mini Pizza (RM 5.90). Why this bun is called the mini pizza is because the fillings of this bun are tomatoes, sausages, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and topped with a sliced cheese are all the ingredient that made up a pizza.

Spring Lady (RM 3.80) has spring onions, cheese, mayonnaise and ham as its filling.

Japanese Curry Onigiri (RM 3.40). A fusion bun which consists of bonito flakes, mayonnaise and seaweed on top of the bun with a Japanese curry sauce.

For non bun lovers or you would like a more savoury meals at Haru Japanese Bakery Cafe, you can try out the Squid Ink Pasta (RM16.80). This pasta has a light touch of squid ink although I would have prefered a stronger dose of squid ink for this dish.

The other pasta which we tasted was the Wafu Mentai Spaghetti (RM14.80). Loves the ebiko topping on the light wafu sauce. 

For sweet tooth fans, the Go Banana (RM 15.50) dessert is your dream dessert.  Served on a special Haraju Toast topped with slices of cut bananas, a scoop of ice-cream and Chantilly cream drizzled with chocolate sauce.

While the Mary Berry (RM 18.50) is topped with mixed berries, Chantilly cream, vanilla ice cream plus some sweet mixed berries and raspberry sauce was the perfect end to our food review.

Cheras Food: Hot and Spicy Chinese Hunan Cuisine at China Private Kitchen Pertama Residency

Many Malaysian seriously believe that we can eat very spicy food, but your guess and mine is totally wrong. The China Hunan Chinese has a very much more higher tolerant spicy level compared to most Malaysian. With that +BestRestaurant ToEat  was invited to taste another real spicy Chinese Hunan Cuisine @ China Private Kitchen located at Pertama Residency Jalan 3/92B Taman Kobena 56000 Cheras, Pudu Kuala Lumpur. It is located just off Jalan Cheras 4th mile (turn in when you see the Shell petrol station before Taman Pertama roundabout).

China Private Kitchen is a strictly a no frill set up; what is more important is the quality of food that are served to its customers.

The chef which hails from Jiangsha Hunan in China motto; first using good quality ingredients, village home style, authentic taste and cooking with passion forms the core values of each of the dishes that are served at this restaurant.

With that, we started our spicy journey starting with the Seaweed Salad (RM 5). This appetizer which is spicy and has a slight sourish sweet taste does whet out our appetite.

The first main dish on the table is the Hunan Farm Chicken (RM 36). Using farm "Kampung" chicken which has a firm texture was cut to small pieces and using fresh ingredients such as ginger, garlic, scallions and fresh red chilli padi to cook this dish which has a spicy pungent fragrant but really appetizing taste.

This is then followed by the Braised Pork Trotter (RM 28). This pork leg are first slow braised for 3 hours to soften the meat texture with spices, ginger, garlic and chillies. Before serving it, the cut pieces of the pork trotter are then wok fried with dried Chillies to infused the spicy flavour and aroma to the meat. The gravy was so addictive that a second helping of white rice was needed to slurp it down to the last drop.

For vegetable we had a Stir Fried Lotus Root (RM 22). The firm and crunchy lotus root are cut to a thin slice and then stir fried together with freshly cut chilli padi.

Next on the table is the Claypot Bullfrog With Hunan Chilli (RM 48). For bullfrog dishes, we are usually more accustomed to either the ginger steamed or Kung Po style. This Hunan style version uses a specially imported preserved chillies from Hunan China. Served on a clay pot, the broth is a clear but spicy type while the other colourful chillies set the spicy tone of this dish. The frog meat was firm with a bouncy texture and it was really delicious.

The Homestyle Fried Pork with Green Chillies (RM 22). This is a dish that every family in Hunan China will know how to cook this dish. It is like the must eat dish in this province of China. Although you see that there are some many green chillies that are used to cook this dish, it was nevertheless not that spicy too and good to eat with the white rice. 

We have eaten a lot of Chinese Carp Fish Head i.e Ginger steam, Assam style and so forth. The version that is served here is the Steamed Fish Head With Pickled Chilli (RM 68). As again the special pickled preserved chillies are minced with fresh ginger and topped with premium soya sauce as the base gravy. The spicy level has been tone down a little for us to enjoy the fresh meat of the fish.

Another popular version of the Hunan style for fish dishes; is using water to slow braise the fish in a pot. This ensure that the fresh fish flavour are immersed with the ingredient to get the most flavour for this dish. For us we had the red Tilapia In Water Broth Sauce (RM 68). Using this method to cook the fish; uses a less salt and less oil style as the fish are cooked slowly to extract its natural fish flavours.

Another traditional village style dish from the Hunan China is the Hand Peel Stir Fried Beijing Cabbage (RM 18). The people of Hunan like to hand peel the cabbage as this gives the cabbage a better texture compared with the knife cut method for the cabbage, It retains a crunch feel and does not becomes soggy too quickly.

The final meat dish is the Sizzling Hot Sliced Beef With Chillies on Hot Plate (RM 36), is topped in terms of strong spicy fragrant level. Before the dish arrives at the table, we can smells the choking super rich and chilli musk fragrant of the Dried Chillies choking us down the throat. The wafer thin slice cut of the beef was well mixed with the coriander and served piping hot with the sizzling sound; was a real treat to this super spicy dish.  

We end our review with a very simple Fried Yee Mee with Prawn (RM 15). Loves the bouncy texture and the pieces of scrambled eggs intertwined between the noodles with the nice aroma of the wok hei of the fried noodles. Simple but tasty.

For desserts, we had the Deep Fried Pumpkin Bun (RM 12 for 6 pcs). Another simple desserts that is 100% pumpkin. Fried to a golden yellow crisp, with a balance sweetness level, it was a good end to our food review.

Spicy food enthusiast will find the dishes serves at China Private Kitchen @Cheras Pertama Residency as a real authentic Hunan style treat in Malaysia. 

Premium Dim Sum @Bandar Mahkota Cheras Sg Long - A touch of Traditional Classic Dim Sum

With a name as Premium Dim Sum one has a very high expectation of the quality of the Dim Sum that will be served at Premium Dim Sum Restaurant located at 2, Jalan Temenggung 29/9 Bandar Mahkota Cheras, a strong throw from AEON Bandar Mahkota Cheras.

At Premium Dim Sum, the decor is very different from the classic Chinese Dim Sum Restaurant but one that exudes a very modern style setting with comfortable leather chairs and marble table top. With an open kitchen concept, one can experience the sound and bustle of watching your Dim Sum being prepared and cooked.

We have tasted a lot of Dim Sum from street type to old kopitiam to restaurant and up to hotel restaurant. From Dim Sum that are served from the trolley, to ala carte; the difference is clear on the difference of quality in the serving. Each of the restaurant have certain specialty Dim Sum but at Premium, we were treated to the taste bud of traditional Dim Sum.

With 2 main Dim Sum specialist chef; with more than 30 years of experience using choice ingredients to serve you ala minute Dim Sum (please allow a 10 to 15 minute) at a very reasonable prices (ranging from RM5.00), you can't get any better than this.

There are a few specialty Dim Sum that retains its originality in terms of taste and serving; which we will be highlighting in this blog. For me, we love to start with the steam dishes, the first among many is the Siew Mai (RM 5.50) - which has a generous amount of meat and prawns topped with ebiko to gives you a popping feel with every bite.

Next, we had the Prawn Dumpling (Har Gao King - RM5.50) - which has a bouncy, succulent and chewy smooth texture.

Other highlights under the steam section are the Shanghai Xiao Long Bao (RM6.50) which was served in a special spoon. The broth in the dumpling has a strong Chinese wine aroma with vinegar taste; it was a real treat slurping it into our mouth while it is still piping hot.

Another Dim Sum that we love is the Steam Bacon Roll Dumpling (RM5.00). The filling in this Dim Sum is the succulent prawns, which when married to the slight salty bacon, gives it a very nice savoury taste.

Next, we move to some Pau Dim Sum - we love the Ma Lai Ko (RM5.00), as the texture was very fluffy and soft; which literally melt in the mouth feel. With a spread of melon seed topping, it reminds us of the original taste of this simple Chinese cake.

We then had the Fish Paste Dumpling (Yu Mai  RM5.00). The fish paste has a firm and chewy texture which we like. Unlike most other restaurant which will serve this Dim Sum with a bed of Chinese cabbage; the Chef choose to use baby spinach as the base.

After that it was the Steam Beancurd Roll (RM5.00). Wrap in the beancurd roll is the fish paste which has the same quality like the Yu Mai.

For the Steam Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun (RM6.00), you can have yours either with Prawns, Char Siew or a mix combination of Prawns and Char Siew.

Another favourite among us, was the Custard Bun (Lau Sa Pau RM5.00); the texture of the free flow custard was superb with a well balanced taste of the salted eggs in the custard cream.

The Char Siew Pau (RM5.50) was next on the table, we love the evenly breakoff of the dough which show a perfectly time steaming of the Pau to get to this texture.

For the fried series of Dim Sum, we love the XO Fried Raddish Cake (RM6.50), it was fried to the right precision without being overwhelmingly oily, while the generous portion of the Chinese chives (dog vege) was good and cooked to the right precision with the eggs and the preserved vegetables.

We also love the Fried Beancurd Roll (RM6.00), which has a nice crunch with a succulent prawns wrapped into it. Best eaten with some mayonaise sauce.

Another of my favourite is the Century Egg, Oyster, Pork Porridge (RM5.50). The texture of the porridge was so fine, silky and flavourful. Mixed with the condiments, this porridge was indeed tummy warming to start off with.

This next Fried Dim Sum which is Fried Sticky Rice Dumpling (Ham Tsui Kok) does spring a surprise to me. When it landed on the table, we did not touch it as it looks too simple and from the look of it; was not too impressive. Upon some coaxing, we decided to taste it and it was very nice with a balance of soft crisp and the filling which has pork meat was very delicious.

Other Dim Sum that we tasted was the Lotus Leaf Rice.

and the last Fried Dim Sum that we had was the Fried Sesame Ball.

In most Chinese Dim Sum restaurant; the normal tea that are served are usually the Chinese tea, but at Premium besides ordering these Chinese tea; you can try out their special Flower tea (RM8 for 2 pax) which were the Lavender  Chamomile, 3 Combination Chrysanthemum, Pink Rose + Jasmine, Peach Fruit Tea, Apple Rose Fruit Tea and the Blueberries . Each of these tea are served in little coffee cup and has a very unique flavours, aroma and taste. We love the Blueberries tea.

Make a visit to Premium Dim Sum at Bandar Mahkota Cheras for some traditional Dim Sum in a modern setting.