Ploy @Work Clearwater Fusion Thai Japanese Cuisine Review

Fusion food are much of an in-thing now; but to serves it with top quality ingredient and with a special taste that lingers on your tastebud is not an easy thing to achieve. +BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to taste; new fusion dishes created by their Master Chef at PLOY @Work Clearwater located G-02 Ground Floor WORK@Clearwater Changkat Semantan Damansara Heights 50490 Kuala Lumpur.

One of the unique thing about PLOY is that they put a lot of emphasis in the science of food preparation; i.e thru the use of special cooking techniques to create these dishes to tantalize your tastebud.

At PLOY, the emphasis is on elegant dining experience; here you can enjoy the quaint and modern decor while nibbling sharing platters dishes specially created for better bonding experience.

One of the concept of dishes served at PLOYs' are of snack plate sizes where you can share these dishes while having your favourite drinks and chatting away. The first dish on our table was the Sliced Cucumber (RM 8.50). Served as a cold dish the sliced cucumber are chilled and arrange nicely on the plate and topped with an aromatic sesame oil dressing with a special flavouring.

Next is the Thai Spice & Miso-Butter Fresh Corn Wedges (RM 10.50). It comes with 2 flavours i.e. Thai Spice and Miso-Butter. A special taste for you to experience compared to the standard corn on the cob butter style.

Next comes the special Chicken Curry Popcorn (RM 8.50). Smothered with curry powder and chicken seasoning, it is indeed a special preparation of popcorn. For this dish, you have to eat it real quick as the popcorn will lose its crunchiness after sometime. According to the chef, they probably have to add more caramel to maintain the crunch.

This is then followed by another Japanese appetizer with a twist i.e. the Sambal Miso Edamame (RM 10.50). Marrying the popular steam Edamame with pan fried sambal paste and topped with sesame seed gives you a spicy taste to this bean.

After the appetizer dish, we move to some quick bites dishes, the first of which is the Tender Honey Pepper Wings (RM 14.00). The winglet which was pre marinated with the chef house made broth to ensure the full penetration of the broth flavour right to the chicken wings. Before serving the winglet; there are then fried with a honey-based soya sauce and topped with fragrant sesame seeds.

The Seared Wagyu (RM 46.00) is a pretty interesting dish, as the beef are lightly pan seared to enable it to be slightly charred on the outside while the inside meat is still medium done. This ensures that the meat still retains the juicy texture and taste of this top quality meat. It is then seasoned with orange Ponzu, chili miso and chopped crispy garlic.

Well, to many Japanese seafood fan, octopus are usually served sashimi style but at PLOY, this thinly Sliced Octopus (RM 24.50) are served with seaweed. It is served with a sourish concoction sauce of shoyu, lemon, mirin and sake.

Next on is the Spicy Cold Tofu Blocks (RM 10.50) This dish reminds me of the Chinese style steam tofu but with a Thai inspired creation. The tofu are served chill with a special 'Thai XO sauce', ginger and crunchy ground almonds for a different feel and texture. Simple as it seems, we love this dish.

Tofu Agedashi (RM11.50) is another popular Japanese dish, but at PLOY it is served with a sweet and spicy broth which is made out of dashi, mirin, shoyu and a special imported togarashi (Japanese word for red chilli pepper). It is then topped with finely shredded scallion and a dash of fine grind turnip.

For the Main Dishes; we were served with the Stirred Fried Lemongrass Beef (RM 46.00). The tender Wagyu beef are fried with Japanese Shishito Pepper, Thai herb oil and tamarind sauce. We love the juiciness of the meat and this dish should go well with some white rice.

For the fish dish, we had the Assam Steamed Seabass (RM 27.50). We love the taste of the Assam, as it has a well balanced spicy level with the right sourish taste. As again, would have loved it eating with white rice.

The next dish is very special; it is called the Flaming Red Fish Curry (RM 42.00). This dish comes with a glass of whisky. When served to you; the waiter will first light up the whisky and then poured onto the curry. You can still see the lighted whisky on your curries. It is quite an experience to savour this dish which has a strong whisky taste.

Next we had the Crispy Negihama Maki (RM 25.50). The Hamachi is wrapped in the sushi and topped with Onions, Scallions and Crispy Rice.

As mention earlier, Ploy like to employs special cooking method, the next dish is a sample of their chef creation of special raw dishes which is the Tuna Ceviche (RM 35.00) The tuna is served with lime, shallots and cube turnip on a coconut shell.

Next is the Lemongrass Tuna Wraps (RM 27.50), This looks like the Vietnamese roll, but the actual wrap used is a super thin slice of  'Sa Kot' - turnip with avocado, chilli paste and crispy rice.

At Ploy, you can have a taste of some special rice and pasta dishes, which we got to taste; it was the Unagi Meshi (RM 49.50). We love the Japanese rice as the white round steam rice are mixed with sauteed fresh shiitake mushroom seasoned with a housemade sauce with pickled turnip to add a new dimension to a slight sourish taste of the rice. It is then topped with grilled eel with teriyaki sauce.

Next, we had a western style dish which is called the  "FUN GUY" Spaghetti (RM 31.00). It is cooked al dente with a generous amount of oyster and button mushrooms and topped with some special truffle oil to give it that extra mushroom flavour.

To end our review, we had 2 desserts the first of which is the Cracked Coconut (RM 21.00). We love the presentation of this desserts as it is decorated to resemble a beach sea theme style. We love to experience the creative use of the chocolate based ingredients in this dessert. This dessert is not only very pleasing to our eyes but also very nice to eat especially the coconut sorbet.

The final dessert is the Japanese Cheese Cake (RM 11.50). This cake is served with a raspberry sauce.

For those that really loves to explore new tastes and have adventurous taste buds, PLOY (Gems in Thai) will not disappoint you. 

Monkey Waiter Serving Customers in Japanese Restaurant

Would you mind being served by a monkey when you eat out at a restaurant. Now, in Japan, there is a restaurant called the Tavern Izakaya where you will be served by monkeys. Watch the video below from NTDTV news from Japan.

Comment below if you think this is a good idea.

Pelicana Chicken - New Flavour Launch - The Garlic YangNyeom Fried Chicken

Mention about Korean Fried Chicken, Pelicana Chicken brand will pop in mind. Recently +BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to try out a new flavour of this Korean Fried Chicken which is the Garlic Yang Nyeom flavour at the newly opened outlet at Atria Shopping Gallery T 23 A, Jalan SS22/23, Damansara Jaya 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

According to Pelicana Chicken Malaysia, more flavours will be making its way to Malaysia. This is to enable more Malaysian to enjoys this special sauce based fried chicken in Malaysia.

We started the review with The Garlic YangNyeom Fried Chicken (RM 9.50 (4pcs), RM 18.90 (8 pcs), RM 32.90 (14pcs)), which has a strong garlicky taste but this flavour is not spicy at all, although a little pungent from the garlic flavour.

The Chicken are first fried to a crisp and then coated with the special garlic sauce and topped with fresh garlic. For garlic lovers, you will find drool on this garlic infused flavour.

To complement the new Garlic Fried Chicken flavour, we had the Pure Chicken Breast Salad 

RM 12.90. This salad is laid with garden green lettuce with fresh cherries tomatoes,  an egg cut into quarters, and topped with fried chicken breast meat with a special mayo based dressing. 

Another new dish is the Pelicana Ramen, it has a creamy based soup based much like the nyonya laksa served with springy firm texture ramen (quite similar to the instant noodle ramen texture) and topped with shredded carrots. This Ramen is served with crispy chicken breast nuggets as a side dish.

For those that like to know about the other flavours which are offered by Pelicana Chicken, please click on the link below for our earlier review. 

Delicious Pelicana Fried Chicken Other Flavour

Shinjiro Izakaya Yakitori Restaurant @Tropicana City Mall Petaling Jaya

All over Japan there are many Izakaya which are Japanese informal drinking establishment that serves snack type food to accompany the drinks. Izakaya are casual places for after-work jamming. +BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to one of these new establishment which is Shinjiro Izakaya Yakitori Restaurant located at Lot G-06, Ground Floor, Tropicana City Mall, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

The decor of Shinjiro is brightly lit with Japanese motif and Hokusai design all over the restaurant. It gives you a sense of vibrancy and charm of a Japanese inspired Izakaya just like those that are commonly found in Japan.

Shinjiro offers not only a wide varieties of Japanese BBQ snack food in particular the yakitori but also a marriage of some of the western fusion dishes like pasta and salad with a Japanese twist.

We started our review with 2 salad, the first of which is the Mixed Seaweed with Baby Shrimp. Laden at the bottom are leafy salad with cherries tomatoes and are topped with 3 varieties of seaweed that has a different texture. With a vinaigrette type dressing and the extra fried shrimp added to it, it gives you a crunchy, crispy feel to the salad.

The second salad has more Japanese influence in it; which is the Salmon Avocado - Using fresh Salmon with fresh rocket salad, asparagus, red dates and feta cheese topped with a special avocado sauce; it was a real experience to our tastebud which has many different texture in one salad dish.

This is then followed by a Shrimp Bisque soup, the soup based has a strong shrimp taste and added with a white cream makes it a creamy affair. It would have been ideal if a piece of toasted bread/ baguette was to accompany this soup.

After that, we had a special Japanese soup which is the Bincho Rice with Seaweed and Tofu soup. The Bincho rice are first grill and laid into the soup; this gives the soup,  a smoky taste which are then paired with the seaweed and tofu.

At Shinjiro, you can have your choice yakitori with 7 different sauces i.e. the popular Shio (Sea Salt and Pepper), Sweet & Sour, Chilli, Garlic Chili, Salsa, Teriyaki and Sesame Pistachio.

We then started off with our first Yakitori which is the Chicken Wings with Shio sauce. The Chicken wings was grilled to a crackling crisp to the skin; The skills of the chef is sprinkling the right amount of sea salt is very important as this will determine the final result of the yakitori.

Next, is the sweet potato yakitori which was BBQ with a butter spread.

Followed by the Squid Yakitori with a special Pesto sauce. The thick squid meat was very firm and have a nice texture which are nicely matched with the sauce.

After that we had the Minced Beef Ball with Teriyaki sauce, the beef meat was still succulent and the sweet Teriyaki was of the right balance in terms of sweetness level.

The next yakitori will be a challenge to many as not many people know how to enjoy this delicacy which is the Beef Lung on a Salsa sauce based. The lungs meat were very chewy and the slightly sourish taste of the salsa kills off the slight gamey taste of the lungs.

The next one is the Sirloin meat with Shio sauce, we love the texture and the perfectly grill time of meat which was medium done; the meat still retains the juiciness flavour.

After that we had the Fillet with Asparagus; we love the different texture of the asparagus which was rolled in the fillet meat.

The last yakitori we had is the Fillet with Enoki. Like the earlier one that we had with asparagus, the enoki has a more watery soft texture which makes the fillet texture a little softer and juicier.

Besides Yakitori, Shinjiro also serves some rice(don) dishes, the first of which was the Salmon Sashimi With Ebiko. This is quite similar in taste like eating a sushi but in a bowl. Fresh salmon sashimi are used with Ebiko at the side, while the shredded seaweed are intertwined with the ebiko; giving you a special bite to each spoonful.

The next rice dish is the Shinjiro Fried Rice. Ingredient such as cube capsicum, celery and carrot are used to fried the rice, with a topping of thinly sliced fried lotus root and a poached eggs. Mixed them all; and your taste buds will be bursting with a different flavour and taste all in one.

We also had the opportunity to taste the fusion fettuccine pasta with Seared Salmon. The pasta is cooked with an in-house made special beef sauce.

and the other which is topped with Crispy Chicken,

Another fusion dish is the Oven Baked Oysters with generous portion of cheese and added with ebiko, it gives a real nice texture and taste; when eaten as the ebiko start to burst with every bite of the cheese infused oyster.

The next dish is another special creation at Shinjiro which is the mix Tempura. Instead of the normal tempura flour that are used, the chef have added chopped beancurd skin to the outer layer of the batter. This gives a different texture and taste to this fusion tempura dish. It is served with a special peanut sauce.

The final fusion dish we tried is the Reverse Seafood Roll With Baked Miso.

For desserts we had the Mochi, a combination of the different mochi which has its taste ranging from sesame, strawberry and so forth with sprinkles of freshly cut fruits that is laden in between each of the mochi.

The final dessert is the Nutty Chocolate fingers. We love the rich chocolate cake which has a bed of nut at the bottom and some fresh fruits at the side to gives you a refreshing taste to the cakes.

At the end of the review, Shinjiro will definitely be a nice place for a casual meetup with friends and associates as you will be able to dine slowly with small orders of snack sharing dishes as you drink and chat along the night away.

Sukiya Malaysia @Sunway Giza Kota Damansara Petaling Jaya Japan's Top Selling Gyudon

Although Sukiya Malaysia has set foot for more than 3 years, it has been relative unknown to many. +BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to taste Japan No 1 Gyudon from Sukiya Malaysia outlet located at 27-1, Jalan PJU 5/15, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, 47810 Selangor Tel: 03 - 6143303.

Sukiya Malaysia outlet setup is one of a fast food type, where food can be ordered at the counter and served quickly to the diners with minimum fuss.

As per the corporate mission of Sukiya; which is to bring delicious food at affordable price to the masses culminating from a proven process. The process from procurement, manufacturing and logistics of its food produce are meticulously followed. One really have to taste the food served here to authenticate this claim. 

We started off the food review with none other than their best sellers and signature GYUDON Beef Rice (RM 6.40 (S), RM 8.40 (M), RM 10.40 (L)). The thinly sliced beef are from the grain fed cattle from Australia which has an excellent fat to meat ratio. Coupled with a special rice (a little sticky) and with the special strong onion flavour sauce, it was a very heartwarming and delicious rice dish. The serving of the meat that came with rice has a very generous serving as pictured above.

To go with the Gyudon, one can order an add-on set i.e the seaweed set which has a miso soup, a cold seaweed salad and a drink. This add on set cost RM5.50.

This is then followed by Teriyaki Chicken Rice (RM 8.40 (M), RM 10.40 (L)); we like the Teriyaki sauce, as it was just right the balance without being too overly sweet. The chicken thigh was grilled and coated with the teriyaki sauce and topped with scallion which adds to fragrant of the rice dish.

For this rice, we had it, with an add-on of the Seafood Tofu Set, which has 5 pieces of the fried tofu surimi with Miso soup and a drink at RM6.50.

The last Gyudon that we tried for the night is the Triple Cheese Gyudon (RM 8.40 (S), RM 10.40 (M), RM 12.40 (L)). The rice is topped with the same onion beef but for this special rice bowl, there are 3 types of cheese that are topped to it. To eat it, mixed the cheese with the rice and you get a gooey cheesy rice dish. 

For those non rice fan, Sukiya also offers a new range of Ramen; we had the Tokyo Ramen with chicken (RM 8.40). The broth is of a chicken based and for us the ramen was just ok compared with the Gyudon which was much more flavourful and tastier.

For the Ramen, we opted for the Kara-age add-on set which has a 3 piece of Crispy Ginger infused Fried Chicken which was fried to a crisp on the outside while the inside still retains the juicy and succulent thigh meat. The set also comes with a Miso Soup and a drink priced at RM6.50.

We are not a real fan of Japanese curries as we find them to be on a sweet side and the spicy level is extremely mild. But the Gyu-Curry (RM 12.40 (M), RM 14.40 (L)) was somewhat different and the spicy level was at an acceptable level with the same signature Onion Slice Beef.

We really find great value in the Don (rice) dishes as the quality of the meat that was served tasted very delicious and flavorful. For just RM8.40, you can get a reasonably big bowl of rice with top quality meat.