KODAWARI MENYA – BEST UDON IN KAGAWA, JAPAN – Grand Opening in Malaysia @1MK Mont Kiara Kuala Lumpur

 

One of the best Udon from the Kagawa Region –Kodawari Menya is here in Malaysia. Located at Mont Kiara opens its door to serve one of the most authentic UDON from Japan.

The grand opening was attended by a number of local celebrities which includes Datin Sofia Jane, Daphne Iking, Raja Atilia, Julie Woon, Vanidah Imran and Choo Mei Sze and others.

Kodawari Menya is the one of the leading UDON restaurant in Japan that offers full self service much like the one we frequent to the American Fast Food, where customers made their purchases over the counter.

There is a process which is clearly depicted at the entrance.

The most important factor is of course in the process and ingredient in making of the UDON itself and secondly it is the ingredients used to bring out the most flavourful broth that compliments perfectly to the UDON.

So, what makes a good UDON we asked during the launching of this first outlet in Malaysia. Kodawari Menya UDON. The key ingredients for making UDON, is simple it consists of superior wheat flour, water and salt. The skills lies in with how it is left to cure, cut and kneaded to a round fisted round chunks that has a soft and flexible texture. 

The next challenge would be the broth. For Kodawari Menya, the head chef took 383 techniques to create their signature broth using rare sugar which is both healthy and delicious.

The thinly cut scallions, tempura fritters and blended radish were a perfect add-on garnishing to the hot delicious Kake flavoured broth UDON.

 The firm quality of the UDON and delicious broth was superb, i.e. you can just eat the UDON by itself without any other add-on, it was that good.

As with any UDON meals, fresh from the frying pot Tempura pieces which you can order from the counter, is best to be complimented with.

We had the pumpkin, sweet potato and chicken (very meaty) tempura. You have the option to dip the tempura into the hot dipping tempura sauce.

There are 9 types of udon which are served at Kodawari Menya, for that, we will be coming back for a FULL review later. Watch this column.

Feng Fan Bak Kut Teh@ Kepong – An afternoon feast of Klang Style Bak Kut Teh in KL Review

Mention of Bak Kut Teh will invokes one mind to the birth place of this porky delicious soup, which is Klang. For someone who is born and breed in the centre of KL, it is mind boggling to want to sample some nice BKT in KL especially the dry version.

We had the opportunity to review a new establishment of BKT, right in the heart of Kepong which is Fen Fang Bak Kut Teh located at 130, Jalan Rimbunan Raya, Laman Rimbunan Kepong 51200 Kuala Lumpur.

We were told that there are no less than 100 of these Bak Kut Teh shops in Kepong itself, probably making Kepong as another capital for this soupy delicious delights. And the row of shops around Fen Fang, there are at least 10 of such establishment serving this exquisite dish.

So, how does Fen Fang measures up in terms of quality and taste of the Bak Kut Teh. To start off, we had the dry Bak Kut Teh version. Not many shop in KL actually serve this version, and even if it did, taste wise, there have not been able to match or better up over its Klang rivals.

The version here is full flavoured by the generous amount of slice dry squid that was used. It leaves a strong after taste that lingers around your mouth and the gravy was an excellent party to the white rice. I had just one bowl of rice just eating this dish alone.

Next, the soup version of the Bak Kut Teh, for me this was a little mild for my liking as the ones that I usually favoured, must have a strong herbal aroma and taste. That is how I like my BKT, but the owner claims that when he started here in Kepong, it used to be serving a much stronger and heavier broth, but was not well accepted by the customer in Kepong, so he switch to a milder version to cater to the local. 

Fen Fang Bak Kut Teh has another outlet which they started in Kuala Selangor which serves the more authentic and strong version of the Bak Kut Teh, which should be ok for me, as claimed by the proprietor.

As usual, there are many Bak Kut Teh side dishes, which includes the must have Tau Foo Pok, Chinese Dough Stick (Yau Char Kwai), Foo Chok (Fried Bean Curd), Button and Enoki Mushroom.

Unlike in Klang, where most Bak Kut Teh shops only serves Bak Kut Teh, it is totally opposite as most will serves other dishes as well to cater for a more balance and complete meal to satiate the different taste and flavours. 

Here at Fen Fang, they serve the Claypot Mushroom Sesame Chicken. This chicken has a gingerly and strong sesame taste and cooked with plenty of gravy.

Another porky dishes, we had was the Stewed Pork With Pickled Vegetables. The pickled vegetable was that of the sweet and the salty type Mui Choy mixed at the right proportion. It was cooked with a tinge of assam and dry chillies making it a little different (much akin to the taste of Choy Kiok) and different from the traditional Mui Choy Pork. 

The meat was cooked until it was soft and easy to bite on and with every bite, you are able to taste the combination of porky with Mui Choy taste.

This is then followed by a Thai Style Bean Curd. The bean curd are fried and cut into little triangle and top with a special sauce that was made in-house, which has a combination of the thai chilli with a few dashes of lime juice to give that tangy taste.

Serve with some garnishing of slice onions and cut scallions, this is a nice appetizer to start off any meals with. 

Next, we had the Kerabu Chicken feet, I love the silky, smooth and soft crunch of the deboned chicken feet, which is also topped up with the similar home made sauce used for the Fried Bean Curd.

Eggs dishes are very good compliment to rice, as such, here at Fen Fang Kepong Bak Kut Teh, they serve 2 versions of it, which is the Vegetable (Choy Poh) Omelette which we had, and the Onion Omelette.

Our finale dish was the Oyster Sauce Kai Lan.

Overall, it has been a balance and complete meal that literally have meats, vegetables, tau foo and eggs without the hassle of making a long trip, all the way to KLANG to sample some of these Bak Kut Teh dishes.

Our other Bak Kut Teh meal

Yu Yi Bak Kut Teh Jalan Imbi Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur

KONTIKI Restaurant FEDERAL HOTEL Bukit Bintang Official Opening and International BBQ Buffet Review

Many of us, probably remembered KONTIKI Pool Side Restaurant in FEDERAL HOTEL which is, strategically located at 35, Jalan Bukit Bintang 55100 Kuala Lumpur in the middle of bustling Bukit Bintang. 

Recently, KONTIKI Pool Side RESTAURANT has a modern contemporary design offering an extensive and specially selected buffet spread with open kitchen concept where you can literally watch the team of chefs preparing your lip-smacking meals right before your eyes.

It has the charms of New Zealand by putting up 2 giant Tiki at the entrance to greet guests to the restaurant with more indoor décor to enhance this theme.

The stylish setting offers a relaxing and refreshing view of the outdoor pool with a lush tropical garden setting. Guest can either dine outdoor beside the pool terrace or indoor.

The interior décor offers a minimalist design which gives plenty of space for guest to move freely without bumping in one another during your frequent trip to the buffet spread.

One of the key interesting furniture is the rattan “love seats” which set the tones for couples to dine in a carefree romantic setting environment. 

One of Its kind - The cylindrical BBQ station 

churning out perfectly grilled succulent meat and seafood.

Under the meat section there are limitless of marinated lamb shoulder, wagyu beef steak, chicken wings and satay to satiate the meat lovers.

While the seafood section for BBQ offers an abundance of Fresh Prawns, Squid, Clams and etc which is a haven by itself for seafood lovers.

Under the BBQ section, there is also pre-roasted/grill meat which includes the Roast Prime Beef, Roasted Lamb Racks With Herbs, Baked Whole Fish Salmon, Roast Chicken With Herbs and etc.

Next, is the Cold meat section which offers a variety of smoked salmon, smoked duck, chicken meat and prawns.

While the Seafood on Ice is a paradise for seafood lovers like me, which includes multi-layers of fresh poached flower crabs.

Mini Lobsters

Crayfish

Mussels

and a mountain of poached prawns is really awesome, all eaten with Thousand Island dressing or a tinge of Tabasco sauce with freshly squeeze lemon juice or just as it is.

Then, in the Japanese Food section which has a sizeable selection of sushi, fresh salmon and tuna sashimi for Japanese Food diners.

This is followed by the Chinese Food section, which serves the delicious General Tso Chicken. 

Fresh from a specially made brick oven, is the BBQ PeiPa Duck, Peking Duck which are grilled to perfect crispy skin and juicy tender duck meat by its Chinese Chef. from the Special Roast Duck Brick Oven.

For the local dish, the KONTIKI Pool Side Restaurant Federal Hotel Bukit Bintang also serves the Tunku’s Abdul Rahman (Malaysia First Prime Minister) favourite dish.

which is Udang Rebus Pucuk Asam.

As there were just too many dishes that are served in this buffet, we did not manage to try out all the other Continental and Asian buffet spreads which includes the likes of Piperade, Potatoes Cheese, Emice of Beef With Wild Trumpettes, Jingha Masala, Palak Paneer, Dal Malani – Black Lentil With Cream, Beef Rendang, Ikan Masak Asam Pedas and more.

For desserts, there were also too many choices to choose from i.e. cakes, puddings, jelly and etc which unfortunately we did not have the stomach to fill it up anymore.

Overall the KONTIKI Pool Side Restaurant Federal Hotel Bukit Bintang new setting offers a pleasurable and cozy dining environment.

So, if you are geared for an evening of abundant of food galore, you can make a trip to enjoy this specially cook dishes. But, make sure you have an empty stomach to fill up all this food.