Hello everyone!

Decided to "colour" my dormant blog today, hence the pictures. :)

If you've not been to Garden's newly-opened Hokkaido Ichiba, you should give it a try.

Brought to you by the same folks who brought you the likes of Sushi Zanmai, Pasta Zanmai & Shojikiya, Hokkaido Ichiba is catered to the slightly more premium market.

(Which means food could be a little more pricier comparative to the former two).

But there's always a positive side to that - they serve really fresh sashimis & they have additional items sold like sea urchin sashimis! :D

Was there on the first night of its opening and here are some pictures to go :

They have an ice cream corner right beside the main restaurant where they serve a selection of hokkaido ice creams! Didn't get to try this then, but will certainly do soon!

We weren't really big eaters so we had minimum orders that night. Pictures here :

Where it's located :

Hokkaido Ichiba,

T-210, 3rd Floor,

The Gardens, Mid Valley City.

If you know where Sushi Zanmai is on the 3rd floor of Gardens, just walk towards the middle court on the same floor, you'll see Hokkaido Ichiba right at the escalater's end. :)

Uni Uni Uni

Guess what I discovered on the day of my birthday?

I discovered I'm a year older, and many more older years to come. And that I'm only in my 20s, but it feels as if I'm already in my 30s. All the ladies stuff. Duhh.

Ok. No la... I actually discovered that sea urchin sashimis are quite tasty!

Yes! I tried!

But no... no photos to show you.

So I have to steal a picture I googled randomly to show you how it looks like.

Ta-da! We call them 'Uni'.

Yeap, it looks like that - like tao fu pok cut into slices. Haha.

I'll tell you what was my first reaction seeing the bowl of sashimis.

"Eeeyerrrrrrrr"

Yea, that was my response. That is... until I nom-ed them. Haha.

So there, another milestone in my Jap gastronomical journey.

Next in my must-try-before-I-die Jap delight - Fugu sashimi!

You don't get pufferfish sashimi here, because it's almost lethal if it's not prepared properly, so chefs are licensed to be able to prepare fugu sashimis.

Apparently if a human consumes poison from the deadly pufferfish, he can practically die in 10mins.

-_-

So there, my next wishlist. Haha.

Of Our Revenge With Soya!

Okay. The story goes like this.

Wanted to look for a good light supper in SG, so we thought we should head over to Geylang to try Yong He's famous dou jiang you tiao. So with hopes running high, and a few rounds of going around the many lorongs in Geylang, we found Yong He. Locating Yong He was easy at Geylang. Locating a carpark, on the other hand, was effortful. When we finally found one, some kiasu gal actually stood there, in the middle of the only parking space available, literally stood there, to "reserve" the place for a car that's not there yet. Brr....

So anyway, ended our struggle with a carpark further away from the shop, and we found ourselves seated impatiently waiting for our soyas!

Yong He. Let me tell you why we're so excited and all wanting to try out Yong He.

If you don't already know, Yong He is one very famous place you can have duo jiang you tiao in Taipei.

So we were given the menus.... Food.

More food.

But we decided to go with the basics & the essentials.... (or so we thought). So we went for dou jiang

& you tiao....

But you know how we ended up feeling? Disappointed. One word. Fullstop.

Don't know why we bothered driving all the way to Geylang for this.

I'd rather have went for the tin gai porridge.

So...

With a broken heart, we set out to seek for revenge!

And so we ended, on the same night, at another spot, for dou jiang you tiao. Hah! Take that, Yong He!

Damn tak puas hati. So we had to satisfy that poor crave of ours.

This came to our rescue!

Rochor Original Beancurd! You see... damn packed & crowded the place.

We thought no more seats left and we thought we had to disappointedly leave :(

(p/s : guy in red shirt on the right, that's Sean, our local "tourguide")

But! Turns out they had plenty of tables & chairs in the back alleys behind the shop!

Lucky or what?

So even with a somewhat already soya-filled stomach, we still ordered these.

I like the tau fu far..... Very nice lor. Definitely puas hati this time!

Have to thank Sean for 'recommending' us to this, our saviour to our cravings... haha

Shokudo - Japanese Food Bazaar Concept, SG

It's 1.15am!

My eyes are this (.) close to dozing off. But.. but, I patiently waited for all the below photos to be uploaded for you to feast your eyes. Am I good or wat? Haha. (Actually, it was because I've not been diligently posting any photos here for a while now, so might as well... err, make it colourful).

Okay, here goes. Was in the land/island below one of the recent weekends, and am still recovering from the pain of my purse's injury. Not like GSS is already here, it's just we've been spending so much on yummy-delicious food like these! Sinful!

I'll try posting these places on separate entries (if I continue to be diligent that is, haha).

Here's my first "blood-flowing-from-the-purse" experience from the trip.

Behold...

Shokudo. It's a japanese food bazaar - where they've got similar concepts with Marche, the marketplace. Only with lots and lots of jap food! I like! :D

Okay now, on to the concept :

You walk around, spotting counters and stalls to hunt for your preference.

Stuffs like these....

Or these...

And then you present your card (you'll be given each a card upon entrance)...

To the guy over the counter, they'll swipe your order value, prepare your food... (You'll pay your total swiped upon exit at the counters).

A few random interiors & exteriors :

I was at the one in Heeren. There are quite a number of branches across Sg, you could find out more here on their website.

Random wall deco....

At the check-out counter...

Random umbrella deco hanging over the counter...

Alright, it's time to make you hungry! Nyehehe.

(But before I go on, I have to say, the thing about back-dated food posts, is that you kinda forget what these dishes are called, by the time you blog about them. So please just feast on the photos). We ordered to feed an army!

This one I know... sashimi - we've got a mix of salmon, octopus, yellow-tail, and tuna.

There were a few different combos to mix with, so you could choose according to what your taste buds prefer...

Can't remember what's this called. But that's a fish. And check out the glistening egg-wrapped rice (something like nasi goreng pattaya la...)

Yakitori - we had a stick of beef, and another stick of scallops. (Scallops super nice, I tell you!)

Okonomiyaki - I think we ordered this with Idako & Shitakes. Can't quite remember. But I do remember these are super tasty too! Not like the ones we have back here!

Double-layered chicken burger - from the counter where it sells rice burgers! Don't underestimate them, these are so huge that we had trouble biting that the chef had to cut them into pieces for us.

Macha with lots of azukis at the bottom!

(But a little too milky, I felt it made the green tea bland)

Me like this! Banana milk! And I thought milk ma... but when I opened the lid, got 'pssshhh' sound - carbonated! Special or not? But very nice lor... Don't know if we can find it here - shall hunt for it!

Dessert - obviously the green thing half-falling is the macha ice cream, followed by lots of shaved ice and huge azukis.

Not gonna tell you how much all these costs, 'coz then you'll start converting our ringgit value into SGD and feel the pain to splurge. Haha. But seriously, worth the try... not as expensive as you think. Give it a go the next time you're down south!

Shi Fu Wantan Noodles @ Cheras

Spent my Saturday noon having lunch at this restaurant over at Cheras, near Leisure Mall.

Not gonna do a long write up on this one, let the photos tell you stories instead!

(Haha, actually am malas to write today).

We sat by the entrance, near the check out counter. This was our view - Check out their oriental/nyonya kopitiam-like theme.

Taken this jiu pai, thanks to BC for pointing out jiu pai is the most significant picture I should be taking. Haha. It reads Shi Fu Yun Tun Mian, I think. =D

The many newspapers/magazine reviews framed & lined up on its wall.

Gkai had this. Looked really yummy. Judging by how there was still leftover in the bowl despite his mighty appetite (and the number of tissues he had used up), I think it's quite spicy. Or at least for him. Haha.

And so... to ease his burning tongue, he ordered this. I kid you not, those red beans supply really looked like they're never-ending lor... Banyak lor...

My soya-cincau. To go with....

....THIS! I think it's called Second Spiciest Pan Mee or something along the lines.

This was the culprit that made me lao sai for the whole following day! Serious! Spicy until stomach also burning lor... (I know I know, siapa makan cili dia rasa pedas. Literally). But was really tasty!

Their version of fu zhuk yi mai.

The must-try wantan mee! (BC's verdict : quite good!)

Soup that goes along with the wantan mee.

Okay folks! That's it for today's lazy post! =)

Muhibbah Seafood Restaurant, Kuantan

This is how I spent my very first day of 2010.

Dinner with the family, at this locally famous chinese seafood restaurant called Muhibbah Seafood Restaurant. We somehow have a habit to call it Sha Yu Restaurant, and I'll tell you why in a bit.

The point is... if you happen to visit Kuantan someday in the future, don't forget to drop by and give this a go. Confirm no regrets wan, haha. It's a little difficult to locate though, as it's sitting right in the hub of an industrial area. It's almost impossible to reach for its many narrow turnings leading to this restaurant, but come 7-ish, it never fails to be fully thronged by hungry locals (and some from the outstations). It helps to make a reservation before you go, you can even pre-order your dishes, else be prepared to wait at minimum 30-45 mins if the crowd happens to be big.

Doing a test shot of the plate of peanuts served as typical starter in most chinese restaurants.

Fried sotong served with Lingam-alike chilli sauce. Sadly, unlike every other day, this wasn't very satisfying that night.

This, my friend, is the reason we call the restaurant Sha Yu Restaurant. Don't miss their stir-fried shark, as it's their jiu pai (specialty) dish. I've not tried any nicer servings of this to date. =)

You have got to have some greens on the table.

And yes, this. We indugled in yummy crabs that evening.

Okay, enough of food for now. Erm, sadly, I don't have the address to this restaurant. I mean, I've always taken for granted we've been there countless times, so it never occured to me to actually take note of the real address, except for that few landmarks nearby, just so I don't lose my way. Anyway, if you are interested to drop by, give me a call. I should be able to lead you there. : )

Must Love Restaurant, Kepong

I've been spending a lot of my weekends in Kepong recently.
And happily doing a lot of food-hunting around... Haha.
You'll get to see some of my 'hunting' outcome here on and off.

My 1st post on Kepong list of food to go for.

Behold...Must Love Restaurant (Yea... You must love it, honestly)

Their famous Bitter Gourd Vermicelli. Very nice... Even nicer for bittergourd lovers.

Just nice for me, not too bland, nor too bitter.

This is also another must-have. XO Loh Mee. Got a lot of seafood liu too!

Tried their Hot Plate Taufu too.

I'm not biased... but it's also one of the best hot-plate taufu dish I've tried in a very long time.

This is recommended by the lady who took our orders. Apparently it's a seasonal kinda dish and not in the menu (I didn't check). So we gave it a go. It's a combination of 3-meat-dish (there were chinese bullfrog - or what we know as tin kai, prawns, and calamari) cooked with assam sauce. Not too bad either... some new combination to try with. I like the sauce. :D

enter

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If you're salivating in front of your monitors, or hear your stomach growling now as you look at the pics, go on and try out this restaurant when you're in Kepong!

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Locate them at :

Address : No.16, Jalan Medan Putra 4, Medan Putra Business Center, Kepong, KL

Tel No : 012-384 4089

And guess what I just found out?

Found a link to a video by HoChak! recommending this restaurant too. Click here to watch!

Restoran Seng Kee @ Chinatown, Petaling Street, KL

Meant to put these pics up a week ago. And I'd been holding off until today. LOL.
Anyway, will keep it short this time. Pictures of dinner session to go... minimal words. Enjoy : )

Must-snap menu (not to show you the food price, but to show you the name of the restaurant... we never knew it's called Seng Kee until that very day I snapped this photo).

Hokkien-Mee. Ordinary.

Apparently, for some reasons, I learned that we ordered this for the love of Ryan's must-order-fried-rice practice. I haven't asked him why yet. : )

Claypot Loh She Fun. Best-seller of this restaurant. But heard that quality's been deteriorating since don't know when.

We ordered some yong liu to go with too. Fu Cuk, my favourite within the portion. :D

Leafy greens. (For a healthy balanced diet, konon..)

Partner-in-crime. Left - Ryan [a born joker], right - Kellie. Don't ask me why he's scratching his head, thinking of how to eat his Lo She Fun. Candid ma...

Ermm... New found kawan, we call him Ah Lin (haha) but already kena 'pijak' until like dunno wat. [Another born joker].

Chin Chin posing nicely (already not candid lor like that... haha) to show she's enjoying the food.

Had a fun time bloating our stomachs full. With lots of wind. Effect of laughing too much. Too many jokes at the dinner table to swallow. Haha.