Springy Japanese Ramen At Goku Raku Mid Valley Megamall

Of late there have been numerous Ramen shops that have been setup in the Klang Valley. Each one boasting their uniqueness and flavors that will drives your loves for this hot slurpy meal that will guarantee to soothe your tummy.

We were invited for a Ramen food review at Goku Raku Ramen which is located at Lot S025 & Lot S026, Level 2, Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur. This restaurant amplifies the neatness and casual dining atmosphere the Japanese way. It is brightly lit and provides an open kitchen concept where you can watch your fresh Ramen been made right at the shop window or watch how they prepare your favourite Ramen. to ensure freshness of the Ramen, it is prepared fresh from this outlet.

Ramen is a very common food in Japan much like our wanton noodles in Malaysia. You can get your fix of these noodles almost anywhere in Japan. But, what makes a good Ramen and what it entails for a chef to prepare such a simple dish to arouse your senses. It boils down to every little steps and processes starting from the right quality ingredient to the timing and right up to the consistency in boiling the ramen to its perfection.

Of course, the other thing, which is of utmost important is the soup base. This is the defining moments of whether the Ramen will leave you totally satisfied or so so  or yurky as they say.

Starting off the night, we had the Shanghai Fried Ramen. Frankly speaking, I had never tried Ramen cook in this style as most of the time, it is always a soup base type which I preferred. Having the first bite of this Ramen reminds me of the Hot Plate noodles that are served at the food court, although those, uses the “Yee Mee” as compared to here that uses Ramen. The Ramen mixes well with the sauce that it was cook in. What I like most is that the chef had put in a lot of vegetables in the Ramen, the only set back was that it was hard to give it a good mix so as all the sauce are at the bottom of the plate.

Next we had the Ebi Goyza. Gyoza is the Japanese dumplings and this had the vegetable and meat filling. The dumpling is pan fried so it leaves a crisp at the bottom and soft top. The complimentary sauce was the hot sesame oil with soyu. I find the filling a little too soft, i.e. when you bite it, there is no oomph of eating real meat which I favored in my dumplings.

The main course for the night is of course the Five Star Aburi Char Siew, one of the specialty Ramen served here. The Pork belly topping is cooked and lightly roasted on the top to give it the Char Siew effect. It also comes with a half of a Nitamago (soyu sauce boiled eggs). 

According to the chef, these eggs are prepared using a very long and tedious process which have to be timed to perfection to ensure that the yolk are set in the middle and it should not be overcook.

The soup based was the TONKOTSU SOUP, which was prepared using fresh pork bones and secret ingredients that was added into as the base and brewed over a period of time. At the first slurp of the hot soup, which has a topping of kuro oil (black garlic oil) infused into our tongue, you will get the feeling of taking another spoonful after another. 

The soup was very addictive and complimenting it with the freshly made Ramen and Pork Belly was a perfect combination. For those that do not fancy such a strong soup base, you can try out the Tokyo soup base which is milder in taste as it uses chicken as the main ingredient for the broth.

Next, we had the GRR Pork meatballs. The meatballs are first fried and then cooked with a sweet and sour sauce. Taking my first bite, the crust was nice and blended well with the sauce but the inside filling, the meat was a little too soft for me, I always enjoy meatballs that are firm and which are of the bouncy type when you bite into it. 

Specially Just For You - Goku Raku is offering a 50% off for you to try out this GRR meatball from 9th May 2014 to 30th June 2014. You can print out the voucher to redeem it. Voucher is at the end of this blog. Enjoy Yourself and let me know your comments.

GET YOUR 50% OFF VOUCHER FOR GRR MEATBALL

(Details Below)

Lastly, we were served a Set Dish Meal called Set C, which has a combination of more than 10 separate dishes cook in small portion which you can share with friends. My advice is to eat these with either plain white rice or plain Ramen as it can be a little salty if you were to eat it as it is. 

My personal favorite are the Crispy Mayo Shrimp. The prawn was very fresh and you can taste the crunchy and succulent prawn feeling with every bite of it.

Pork Loin Rei Shabu. 

Here are the dishes served as part of Set C

Edamame

Aburi Char Siew

Chef Salad

Pork Loin Rei Shabu

Tori Momo Karaage

Crispy Mayo Shrimp

Siew Mai

Ebi Chilli

Sweet and Sour Pork

Utsunomiya Sui Gyoza

Garlic Fried Rice/Mini Ramen

Today's Dessert

Sesame Ball

SPECIAL GRR Pork Ball VOUCHER

Brazil Biggest Match of Year Kick Off At Domino’s Pizza

Ole Ole comes 12th June 2014, football fans around the world will once again rejoice to the feast of the Biggest Match of Year which happens once every four years. As they say, this is the greatest sporting events that are being watch by billions of people around the globe, making at least half of them to become zombies especially in Malaysia where our time zone are at the opposite side of the globe meaning they will be countless of late night for most of the football fans here.

Pizzas have been traditional, the food for football fans all around the world as it is a great wholesome food that can be eaten while watching your favourite teams battling it out right in the comfort of your home and with your buddies. And, you can order it using your phone and have it delivered right at your door step.

It is easy to order and it provides a variety of flavours to choose from that will suit almost everyone. At Domino’s, they are also celebrating this sporting event by introducing three special Biggest Match of Year flavours which are as follows.

For those that prefer a not so meaty stuff, you can try out Chickensaurus on Thin Crust which have the toppings of roasted chicken, chicken pepperoni and mushroom topped with Smoky Blended BBQ sauce and cheese.

If you can’t decide whether to go for chicken or beef then order the Smoky Beef and Chick which are topped with onion slices, green peppers, ground beef and chicken potpourri sausage and also topped with Smoky Blended BBQ sauce and cheese.

And lastly the Smoky Pepperoni and Mushroom which is topped with Beef Pepperoni and Mushroom and topped with Smoky Blended BBQ sauce and cheese.

Of course if you are a fan of Domino’s you can also order some of their all time favorite like the :-

Metasaurus on Classic Hand Tossed Crust – If you are really like me, loves a lot of meat in my Pizza then Go for this.

Or If you are a very into Malaysian makan taste then the Spicy Sambal with thin crust will keep you wide awake.

Or order some of their side kick - Drummet

To make it more exciting for this event, Domino’s is also organizing an online contest which is Domino’s Kick Off – it is an online game where customer can play this game (which is a football juggling) and score points from each game.

The grand prize is a FREE ALL EXPENSE PAID TRIP TO BRAZIL for 2. Also they have weekly winners where Domino’s will host you and 20 guest for a football viewing party with all the Domino’s Pizza you can eat.

Here is how you can join this online contest.

1.                  PLAY - Logon to dominos.com.my/kickoff and play the game.

2.                  EAT – Purchase Domino’s Pizza online to multiply your weekly high score.

3.                  WIN – Win the highest score at the end of the contest to win a trip for 2 to Brazil and also the weekly prizes to be won.

SPECIAL CHEAT SHEET TO WIN THE CONTEST

To make the contest more interesting and rewarding to Domino’s customer you can get extra points for each pizza that you order. So the more you play and the more Pizza you buy or eat the more chances of winning the weekly and grand prize.

ORDER Your Favorite Pizza At 

1-300-888-333

Traditional Malay Cuisine at Songket Restaurant Jalan Yap Kwan Seng Kuala Lumpur

Where can you find a restaurant that offers top quality Malay cuisine in the heart of Kuala Lumpur? Well, I was invited to the 4^th Anniversary of the Restaurant and a preview of the new menu.



Finding the Songket Restaurant which is located at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng can be a little challenging especially if you are not that familiar with this area. Having found the place, you will feel like going into a kampong like atmosphere as the restaurant is decorated to resemble a village house.


The ambience of the restaurant brings memories of our Malay kampong adventure. The venue is especially suitable for entertaining foreign guest as it will give them a cultural tour of a Malay kampong atmosphere while dining in exquisite traditional Malay Cuisine.



 So, the next time you would like to organize a corporate event, weddings or private function with a Malay theme, you should try it out at Songket. They can also arrange traditional Malay dance for your function too.

For the night, Songket introduce a few new dishes as part of the new offering which are as follow:



Ketayap Pandan Dengan Ice Cream

 
Kukus Mangga Madu (Ikan Siakap)



Durian Tiramisu

For the lovely evening, we were served a buffet spreads which consists of some of the specialty dishes like Ayam Rempah Bertumis, Masak Lemak Ayam Dengan Nangka, Daging Salai Masak Lemak Cili Api, Rendang Kambing as the main meat dishes.



The meat in the Rendang Kambing was cooked with the right amount of spices and the meat was tender enough to be eaten without much struggle.



We were also served with seafood specialty like Ikan Masak Lemak Tempoyak, Udang Sos Mentega and Ikan Lemak Asam Gelugur.



For fish dishes, Songket offers a variety of fishes that you can choose ranging from Ikan Siakap, Ikan Jenahak, Ikan Senangin, Ikan Bawal, Ikan Patin, Ikan Tongkol and Ikan Tenggiri. After choosing the type of fish, you can then select the style of your choice, which among others include the Masak Lemak Cili Api Dengan Mangga Muda, Masam Manis, Kukus Mangga Muda, Asam Pedas, Goreng Sambal, Masak Tempoyak Utara, Masak Lemak Asam and Gulai Kari.My personal preference was the Ikan Lemak Asam Gelugur that was served that night.



Most of the dishes that was served that night in the buffet was Songket signature dishes which you can order ala-carte from the menu.



To eat together with these delicious dishes, you can opt for either the white rice, Nasi Minyak and Nasi Kerabu



As part of the buffet spread they have dessert like the Ketayap, Sago Pudding and etc.Songket Restaurant is truly a place to be for traditional Malay Food. 

To complement and able to cater to other tastebuds, Songket also offers Western Cuisine too.

Authentic Korean BBQ and Traditional Korean Home Cook Jal-Dae-Ji at One Ampang Business Avenue

“안녕하세요 - Aann Yeong Ha Seyo”

When it comes to Korean food in Kuala Lumpur, where should one go for this delicious fares. The first place is of course in One Ampang Business Avenue. There are about 20 plus Korean restaurant serving BBQ and specialty Korean dishes.

We were invited for dinner at Jal-Dae-Ji located at B-41, One Ampang Business Avenue, Jalan Ampang Utama 2/2, Kuala Ampang, Selangor. What does Jal-Dae-Ji means in Korean, it literally translates to Getting Better. So if you meet a Korean friend or associates, the next time they ask how are you doing now? You can reply by saying Jal-Dae-Ji. 

To start off the night, we were shown on the right and proper style to savour our Korean BBQ meal. One of the best things as a food reviewer, is that we are not there just to try out food but to really understand the culture and to gain knowledge about food antics.

As usual, in most Korean BBQ meal, you will be served with green lettuce. Usually this is used to wrap your BBQ food but apparently, as Malaysian, we will eat it at its own, wrap with some side dishes or eggs servings and etc. This is a no no in Korean BBQ eating style.

For Korean BBQ, your first taste of BBQ should be to eat the meat as it is, with no condiments and any sauces. This is to enable you to taste the freshly grill piece of the meat as its best. From this, you will be able to taste the whether the meat is of quality and well marinated.

If you eat with sauces added to it, most of the time the taste is of the sauce and you can’t really savour the taste of the marinated meat.

Your second helping of the meat should be with the lettuce wrapping. Next, will be the meat with the dipping sauce (only for pork) with lettuce wrapping, a slice of garlic and spring onion, parsley salad. This will ensure that you will be able to taste each of the condiments and meats. Note: Another No No is the Korean does not eat their BBQ with rice.

At Jal-Dae-Ji, the proprietor is a Korean and has a strong passion in cooking and serving real authentic Korean fares i.e. he will not compromise to make the dish suited to local taste. Almost all the sauces and marinates are his top secret recipes (jokes aside, even his wife does not know how we made it). That is why, majority of the customers venturing to this restaurant are mainly Korean. To them, this is the next best to home cooked meal.

For BBQ, we started with Yong Yang Galbi (Marinated Fresh Marble Beef)

Daew Ji Galbi (Marinated Pork Spare Ribs) – marinated for 2 days

Dak Gla Bi (Marinated Boneless Chicken) – marinated for 1 day

GoChuJang Samgyoup Sal (Marinated pork Belly in Red Hot Pepper Paste).

The taste of all the meat was juicy and succulent even after grilling it. We had the pleasure of one of the staff to grill for us and making sure it was grill to perfection.

Side dishes are common in mostly Korean restaurant, these side dishes varies on a daily basis i.e. You don’t get to eat the same side dishes everyday except for one or 2 i.e, Kimchi (a must for all Korean food). We were told by the proprietor that they do l prepare about 100kg of Kimchi every week for his restaurant.

Rice is usually eaten with these side dishes which are a little tad salty. These side dishes are cooked without the use of oil. Thus, it is a healthy food.  Now, you know the secrets why majority of Koreans are quite lean. You seldom see many Korean which are extremely obese.

Next, we proceed to the Bulgogi Beef – it is a dish which is served with thinly slices of beef, marinated in with a special sauce and cooked with a variety of vegetables and the familiar soo hoon noodles.

Our next dish is the Kimchi Jiggae, which is a thick stew of Kimchi simmered in Pork. If you love Kimchi, this is the one of the dish for you to try out.

A Korean pancake (Kimchi Jeon) is really a great challenge for many chefs. In the past those that I have tasted was either too soggy, too much batter or somewhat not the right taste. Here at Jal-Dae-Ji, the pancakes was nicely made, it retains the flavors and blended well with the seafood infused into the pancakes. Taste wise, it was perfect especially the fresh squids. A dip of the pancake to the slight spicy dipping sauce was the perfect blend to this dish.

The next dish was none other than the tTeokbokki (similar to Chinese Chee Cheong Fun) but the noodle here is of the harder and tougher type unlike the chee cheong fun which have a smooth and silky texture.

Lastly, we had the Bibim Guksu which is Noodles with vegetable and Red Hot Pepper sauce. For me, this was an average fare, which I find the sauce a little too sourish and the texture of the noodles was not to my liking.

On the whole, the entire meal was very satisfying and I would rate it as one of the best Korean restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. So, the next time you carve for real authentic Korean food, head over to Jal-Dae-Ji, it sure will be “getting better”.

Tips. If you really want your Korean meal to be cooked by the proprietor himself, make way there on every Monday. It is when he will be helming the kitchen. Also if you are going there on a weekend, please make sure you  make a reservation well in advance else you might be left waiting for your place outside the restaurant.

“감사합니다   Gam Sa Ha Bni Da”

Signature KimChi at Jal-Dae-Ji

For more Korean Cuisine review, please click on the link below

Korean Wang BBQ Centre - SS2 Petaling Jaya - A New Korean BBQ Restaurant Review By Best Restaurant

Jang Gun Korean Buffet - Fahrenheit 88 Kuala Lumpur  KL Best Restaurant To Eat

Choi’s Don & Dak @Kuchai Entrepreneur Park Old Klang Road, Korean Teppan  BBQ Table Review