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Monday, January 27, 2014

KyoChon 1991 [Food Review]


2 weeks ago, there were a huge K-pop Sensation in One Utama. If you are a Super Junior fans, you probably were there as well for KyoChon 's soft launch. I am very please to get invited to the official launch the next day these K-pop sensation visited, thought I have close to 0 interest in meeting. My sole purpose is their 22 years old friend chicken recipe.



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Located on LG-311 (opposite Cold Storage), New Wing 1 Utama, Damansara, Petaling Jaya, KyoChon is backed by their 3 promises:
1. We Promise to never serve fast food
2. We promises to use 100% natural Ingredient
3. We promise to use only the freshest ,healthiest Chickens


  
There are total of 4 flavor of fried chicken, which is:

Original Soy Series


Salsal Series


Red Series


Honey Series

These 4 different series are AMAZING. I can't pinpoint which is the best because each of them are very unique. For me, my favorite is the honey series: succulent juicy chicken, crunchy salty skin, coated with sweet sticky glaze. Oh... can you imagine this? >.<
Come close to second that almost equal to Honey series is the Original Soy Series.Crunchy outer skin is the 1st experience. Then comes the garlic salty and later soy sauce taste. The chicken might be overpower by the saltiness causing hatred by  "healthy living" philosopher, but that's the same reason I love it SOOOO much! The soy after taste is so alluring, luring me for second piece.
Third in my list the red series. I love spicy food, but it's very hard to get a perfect balance between tingling sensation on the tongue and forest fire that can numb your senses in seconds. For me, Kyochon is red series slightly exceed the limit. During my tongue numbing and snivel flowing experience, I still can taste the vague sweetness and saltiness aside from spiciness.
My least favourite is Salsal series. No doubt it's a very creative cuisine. But using a block of dry chicken breast is not going to bring out the best of crispy rice cracker outer later.

I gave high rating to KyoChon on my Instagram and get a lot of interest from people around. Le boyfriend even wanted to try it out the same night. I have no reason to reject, plus I get a RM 20 voucher from the launch earlier. Shortly after, I regret deeply on my decision.


Blueberry salad RM 15.90 
I really don't understand this. There are no blueberry (or any kind of berries) inside, no any kind of meat. Yeah, you can add RM 6 for additional chicken, but RM 15.90 for ONLY vegetables and fruits (cherry tomatoes), a small bowl of it @.@ I don't want to condemn, but I highly suspect the bitter taste from the lettuce and arugula are from the chemical insecticide. But they say they use natural ingredient.... I never saw an unnatural lettuce... maybe they mean they eat plastic vegies?


Original Wings (small), 5 pieces, RM 9.90
Although the taste is really great, I don't think spending RM 10 for 5 small pieces of Chicken is worth.


Honey Stick (small) 2 piece, RM 10.90
Drum stick is awesome as well. THe tste is as great as what I tasted on the lauch earlier. However, do you see the dark color patches? It's blood, my mate.

Other than the items I have tried, I also realize there set as well, but it's only for lunch time.


 

 

 

However, my PR agent haven't prodive me any info about their price. That's also the reason I got shock when I bring le boyfie to dine in.HOnestly, I REALLY like their chicken, price wise, nah....


Saturday, January 25, 2014

Jyu Raku [Food Review]

A series of unexpected incident and an impromptu decision take us (my makan kaki) to this place. I wasn't giving too much expectation. It turn out to be a extremely expensive place that is impressively scrumptious with comparably cheaper price than it's same level competitors.  


When you first walk in, there will be a row of sashimi bar on your left. Although people are screaming "irasshaimase" which also means "don't let him go out unless he spend all his money~~~~!"(Dayo WOng reference), all in my mind was damn.. those plastic painting are getting real! Or  not, because they are real! Slurps.
There are 2 floors in the restaurant.
When you reach the end of the passage, there is a stair leading to upstrais

There are booth,

normal western tables set,

or even tatami.
But no worries, no need to crooked your knee and sit on the cold hard floor. It's alter to suit our comfortableness.

The complimentary appetizer is a scoop of potato salad on lettuce. I can do better but I am definitely not complaining to have such warm hospitality.

Soft Shell Crab Temaki, RM 8
Handroll is like a very common Japanese dish that needs no introduction. The nori (seaweed) sheet is still dry and crisp. Some of the time, cook from outside of Japan put steaming hot rice on the sheet, makes this sheet soften. This is not the case. I though the crab will be crispier, but it was just ok.

Hotate Kushiyaki Shio / Tare, RM 12
2 stick of  skewered scallop in sweet sauce. You can either choose sweet or savory sauce. The scallop is huge (not the largest I have seen but comparably huge to what you can get outside) and full of scallop roe. I am a bit disappointing that it has lost it's umami. Since it is not completely rubbery, so that keep me going, which is nice.

So, these are the only 2 Ala Carte item we ordered. All the item below belong to a Bento set.
Sakura Bento, RM 80

Salad
Fresh and crispy iceberg lettuce goes well with anything and everything.

Sashimi
From back to front,  Sake (salmon), Hirame (fluke) and Maguro (tuna)
I enjoy the thick cut and the minty shiso leafs. However, it could be better to preserve the texture and the mild sweet juice in the fishes. I think the salmon sashimi has left for a while, not the freshest but I can live with this.

Sushi:  maguro roll, Ikura gunkan-maki, ika nigiri, salmon nigiri, Hirame nigiri, maguro nigiri
I am surprise by the size of ikura (salmon roe). I never served with such huge ikura in my life, though I know they exist. The mild salty taste increase it's marks sky high.

Fried Saba
Japanese has this skill to fry fish w/o over frying them. Though the skin is dry, crispy and flavourful, the inside is still firm ans juicy not like what we have in our local restaurant whereby our fish is dry like gnaw stick~

Cold Udon
I bad experience with Udon, exspecially cold Udon. I have been served tasteless warm soft udon for countless times in my life. There are even incidences when they put ice-cube in my soup @.@ This is so much better. With firm udon noddle, flavorsome cold soup/sauce dip, I finally found a decent cold udon in Malaysia.

Tempura
Pretty decent tempura. Thin cut makes it to easy to absorb the dip and soften

Tempura dip and cawanmushi
Although it's not shown here, you may add shredded white radish to the tempura dipping sauce. It will makes it less salty and more sweet.
As for the cawanmushi, the egg are REALLY software and bouncy, just like pudding. But I guess it can take a bit more seasoning.

Grill mushroom and scallop
Well seasoned, I love it a lot.

Oden
The herbal mushroom soup is the reason this is my favorite dish of the night. When winter is coming on the northern globe and West Malaysia on raining monsun, a warm bowl for dinner is no doubt the best meal I can have. Shitake, konjac (devil's tongue), red carrot, etc might be the secondary element in Oden which can be replace by any other ingredient, but proves it's value with all the flavor it absorb that gave so much soul to this bowl of Oden.


Fruits

Choco Monaka (waffer ice-cream) RM 12.00
I have no idea how to made this, thought the are only 3 key ingredient: vanilla ice-cream, chocolate and waffer. I never know such simple ingredient can bring out such interesting combination and enjoyment.


Address:

13 Jalan SS 15/5a, Ss 15, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
Phone: 60 3-5633 3819  
Instagram: Jyurakuss15
(funny they have Instagram but don't have Facebook)

Overall: 9/10 [Totally recommended, but plese prepare your purse for liposuction]
Taste bud indulgence: 9/10 [Amongst the good taste level in it's category]
Purse Saver: 8/10 [Slightly expensive than most Japanese franchise in Malaysia]
Location: 7/10 [Located on a street full of international cuisine, you might change your mind of the last second you step in when you know there is a cheaper Rakuzan next to it]
Service: 10/10 [Fast, efficient, knowledgeble, polite. What else can I ask for?]



Sunday, January 5, 2014

The Steak House [Food Review]

When the last time you had had steak with a sip pf wine/whiskey? Yesterday?Last week? Not for me, I am a poor cheap-ass Engineer that has no time, no money and no energy to enjoy life. Hence, I appreciate every little nice things in life and I don't have cats. Frankly, I don't have much steak house experience in my life, which is like just a handfull. I was thrilled (not literally)  when I hear the boyfie got invited to a food review session and bring me along.
Thanks The Steak House for the awesome dinner again.
Our party was a little big, i took some time for everyone to reach, so the manager treat us some soup and bread. The bread might be delicious coz we were hungry, but the soup was really not that good. The mushroom was just coarsely chopped, not puree.

The manager offered us some selections of wine. I was asking for Champagne or Prosecco, but the only mild alcoholic beverage available was wine, red or white, so I just go with it. It isn't my cup of tea wine. I can't accept the level of bitterness.
Shrimp Cocktail RM 28
I rarely never get any salad serve in a high glass. That's kindda interesting for a village girl like me (XD)The Thousand Island Salad sauce gave the a slight citrus hint to the shrimp. It was not the least expected thing and the shrimp was also not at the optimum level, but the size is one thing I respect. It's not easy to get shrimp with this size in Kuala Lumpur. Put aside the 3 jumbo shrimp, the rest of the smaller one are really (=.=)|||. They are so crunchy to a level that I am suspecting those are chemically enhanced seafood.
Fresh Live Oyster on ice with Shallot-Wine Vinaigrette RM9/piece
However, the oyster was not disappointed. Size and freshness is pretty acceptable. Vinaigrette is very Ok too.

Oyster Rockefeller RM 12/piece

If you don't like fresh oyster, I probably can link to your preference that you don't like slimy stuffs. The breadcrumb like topping can neutralize the slimy texture, but I still prefer it to stick to it's natural texture and flavor.

Escargot RM 32 (6 piece)



Pretty decent, no comment.

Panfried Duck Foie Gras RM 42
(Whatever organisation you belong to, if you want to condemn us for consuming Foie Gras, please respect our freedom to choose, just like we respect your freedom to voice your comment)

Average RM10 per-piece of taste like pork lard but smells like roast duck(goose) fat.

Grilled Black Cod Fish RM 58
Flaky, succulent, brisk but slightly fishy. The fishy smell can be taken away by cooking longer, but it will affect it's texture and flavor, how would you choose? Maybe some fishy smell is acceptable.

I think fish especially large fish fillet, such as Salmon, Cod, Tuna is very easy to get it right, yet I have tasted the worse fried Cod fish in one of the world largest fish restaurant franchise.



New Zealand Lamb Chops RM 68

Chilled Australian Grain Fed Striploin (10oz/300gm) RM 68 
I tried a bit of Ben's meal. I like the texture, it's a bit rubbery but not tough, the marination does work far too well, not to mentioned the glaze. I literally have to lick my knife, not even worry about embarrassing myself.

Chilled & Aged Black Angus Medallion (7oz/200gm) RM 98
Best steak in my life, EVER! Ryan has it rare. When the steak have enough resting (we took a loooong time photograph each and everyone's meal) the juice flow very well. The sweet juices still resides in the meal when cutting when cutting, but when I have my first chew with a bit pressure, I can feel the sweetness of the Angus flows through my whole mouth.

Chilled Australian Grain Fed Rib-Eye (10oz/300gm) RM 78
I mistakenly order medium well instead of medium rare. My steak was ruined. T_T but that's not that bad at all. Thought it's a bit less juicy, the steak has most smell that beef hater hate removed. The texture is flaky and dry, so I recommend you to get medium rare on your visit.
On the other hand, the roast vegies side dish id pretty awesome. It's crunchy and flavorful at the same time. Usually, if you want a well sate vigies, it will loose it's crisp, but here, they do it just fine, a great balance.

For all the steak you order, it comes with side and sauce.
From 12 o'clock, clock-wise. Black Pepper, Bearnaise, BBQ, Red Wine and Mushroom.

Baked potato

Mashed potato
As for side, my fellow dinning mate love the mash potato a lot, but I think there are just average. The flavor is very mild, I still can taste some chunks in between. I personally prefer baked potato (above). The are well seasoned, dry on the outside but mushy in the inside.


Belgium Chocolate Fondue RM 35
I am a distress with the foundue. From the picture, it's very clear that the semi-liquid is still lumpy, not silky smooth like the chocolate fountain we always see.

However, the lady fingers and fruits are acceptable. BUt seems that didn't realise that the orage is weet ans chocolate will not sick to wet items :(

Baked Cheese Cake RM 22.50
I think the cheese cake average but people around me keep praising it. Yes, it's dense, but I can get the same quality from a local cake franchise few years back when their quality is till tip top. I don't say the cheese cake here is back, but I think it's not their specialty that stand out from the rest.

Classic Italian Tiramisu RM 22.50
On of my favorite dessert of the night. The coffee scent is vague and intense at the same time. Pardon me, I am not able to clearly describe the taste. It's very complex but in a good way.

Mango Serbet
Beeing a sour lover, this is a fun experience. The acidity is balance by the sugar level;the texture when it was compressed between my teeth, awe yeah....

Andreas Special RM 22.50
Another sister dessert to this is the Werner's special. However, due to shortage of a certain product, we have no fate on it.You can see that the chef gave a lot of thought in layering the flavour that represent by different color, from bitter, sweet and sour. You can have a hundred ways to eat it, with different taste every time. I totally buying the surprise.



Address: 48, changkat bukit bintang, kuala lumpur, malaysia

The Steak House is the sister restaurant of Werner's, El Cerdo & Dinning in the Dark. I have visited Dinning in the dark, the post is available here.

Overall: 9/10 [If I can dine for free, I wouldn't mind coming back here every weekend, but one meal can easily cost me a quarter of my salary.... so no... but yes, I would come back for a special occasion]
Taste bud indulgence: 10/10 [The only complain would be no specialty/uniqueness of their own, but not every good restaurant has their specialty, so I can totally life with that.]
Purse Saver: 7/10 [No doubt its food is exquisite,  and it's price tag is reasonable, but for a nobody like you and me, how often will me dine here?]
Location: 9.5/10 [Located at the high street of Kuala Lumpur that centralize the finest international cuisine from the world. Even some of the rated hotel can't offer food with these standard.]
Service: 8/10 [If you ordered western food, be prepared to wait]