Review: 2014 Parent's Day Menu @ Hakata Ippudo Ramen

**Non-Halal**


Seems to be happening now to celebrate Parent's Day rather than separately on Mother's or Father's Day which is a good thing to consumer as we now get to enjoy many promotions for over a month rather than just 2 days :D

So went on to Hakata Ippudo Ramen to check out their Parent's Day menu. The outlets at Pavilion KL and The Gardens have this special menu that goes for RM99++ that is good for 3 person. For this menu, you'll get to enjoy 2 appetisers which you can select from 6 choices; 3 bowls of ramen which you can choose from 3 options plus 3 glasses of soft drinks or juices. Value for money definitely I would say ;-)

There's no secret that we love our ramen and virtually tried quite a number of them around town. Capt'n Hook loves the strong broth taste, hence if by any chance there's a ramen place around, we will definitely be heading there for dinner. So by now, we have a few favourites and are so happy that we can find Ippudo at The Gardens and the latest outlet at Bangsar Shopping Complex. Don't need to weave through the traffic jam to Pavilion KL.

To start off, BoiBoi picked Curry Cheese Harumaki and the Buta Karaage as our appetisers. All of us love the Curry Cheese Harumaki. To me, it reminds me of curry puff but this comes as deep fried spring rolls with a filling of mild curried potatoes, mince pork with cheese.



The Buta Karaage turned out to be deep fried pork loin which is juicy on the inside but yet crispy on the outside. Best when dipped in the special sauce.



There were 3 types of ramens to pick from but the waitress recommended us to order all the three so that we can share and taste all of them. How sweet of her and pretty wise choice I would say.

Let's get the low down of ramen here in Ippudo. One can pick the texture of the ramen ranging from soft, normal, hard to very hard. Apparently, normal and hard are KLites' favourites. They even have straight or crinkled noodles. As for the broth, all of them have the basic cloudy white tonkotsu (pork bone) broth. The variations would have different ingredients added changing the basic flavour completely such as the addition of miso paste, spicy miso paste or fragrant garlic oil. The toppings have the standard pork loin slices, kikurage (black fungus strips) and spring onions. You may add soft boiled egg or chashu separately.



As for the condiments, there will be a bowl of fresh garlic that comes with a garlic press, sesame seeds that came in a grinder and Togarashi. Try the broth on its own first before deciding if you need to add any of these.

They started us off with the mildest flavour, Shiromaru Motoaji with the basic tonkotsu broth paired with normal thin noodles. The broth is not overpowering at Ippudo, just nice for me but for someone like Capt'n Hook, he pressed in one pip of fresh garlic. I took a sip and gee the fresh garlic took the broth to another level. We were given the soft straight noodles here, nice.



The next bowl of ramen, Akamaru Shinaji. This bowl has a special miso paste and fragrant garlic oil added to the tonkotsu broth. This miso paste is mildly spicy and we loved it that the garlic oil is so fragrant that Capt'n Hook does not need to press in any fresh garlic. I quite like the normal noodles texture.



I have some comments written by BoiBoi on his phone while we were in the midst of eating and he emailed to me so that I could put up here, so those in block quotes and in blue were written by him ;-) atta boy!

Akamaru Shinaji ramen is a bit spicy here. Well, it consists of pork belly (of course it's obvious), thin noodles, some kikurage, spring onions and special blended miso. This tastes better when sesame seeds were grounded over. Mmmmm.........spiciness during the cold weather is best.

Our last bowl is Kataka-men which has spicy miso, minced pork & some chopped cashew nuts over tonkotsu broth, paired with hard wavy noodles. Personally, I quite like this combi but would opt for normal noodles as I find the hard noodles a bit high on the al dente side. I would say adding extra grounded sesame seeds lend a nuttier taste to the broth.

This is "The Spicy" ramen among the three. It seems to be Ippudo's original tonkatsu broth with spicy miso, cashew nuts and ground pork. It too also has pork belly and some garlic. Good for keeping away Dracula. Actually, it's not that spicy though. My spiciness level is divide the nasi lemak sambal by 2 and add some garlic anddd voila! You got that spiciness.

When we first tasted Ippudo's soft boiled eggs not long after their opening, we got disappointed with the over cooked yolk. When we gave Eddie, the Outlet Manager, the feedback, he quickly got us one egg to try. Needless to say, the egg fans in the family were mighty glad to report that this time round the egg was made perfectly. It has soft white with runny yolk... BoiBoi called it lava overflowing heh!  Photo was taken by him.

I have got an additional review here! Yayyy. This is a lava egg (lava egg = runny yolk) that has been broken into 2. Bad news for Humpty Dumpty.

My BoiBoi has the comical side of him of commenting on Ippudo's on a whole as I did asked him how did he liked it this time round. Other than the food was yummy...

The service was a whopping 9 out of 10 (GR8). They provide music, air conditioning of course otherwise I would have sweaty armpits. Hehe...

*rolling eyes*

Please note that this special Parent's Day menu is only available at Pavilion KL and The Gardens outlets going at RM99++ until 15 June 2014. We'll be sure to head back for another round before promo ends. As for Bangsar Shopping Centre outlet, as the menu and concept are totally different, the sets available are different as well. We can't wait to give this outlet a try soon, very soon ;-)

We have heard someone commenting The Gardens outlet is very hot but happy to announce that the issue has been addressed. So please give it another go :D

Thank you to Eddie for being the perfect host and Sharyn of Ippudo Malaysia for the invite.


Hakata Ippudo Ramen

Pavilion KL

Lot C4.07.00

Connection Level 4 

Tel: +603 2110 6233

Opening hours: 11.00am - 11.00pm

The Gardens Mall

Lot T-218 Level 3 

Tel: +603 2201 6238

Opening hours: 10.30am - 10.00pm

Review: Ninja Joe (Pork Burger)

**Non-Halal**




Let's start the year with something porky. It's just some fast food in the form of burgers, nothing fancy but these pork burgers by Ninja Joe really rocked our bellies. They have been around for a while, just that we never get to blog about it earlier since almost every non-Muslims in the blogsphere have written about this joint.

Their set ups are pretty simple and seriously this is a home grown brand even though banging on a ermm Japanese theme and they're not a foreign franchise. Even their menu is quite basic with just 3 types of pork burgers to choose from which is great so that people who are indecisive can quickly make up their mind :p, a few side orders and a small selection of drinks and ice cream.

The basic burger is named Ninja that is just pork burger patty on a split bun with tomato slice and lettuce. The specialty is the choices of sauces available ranging from original, oriental, teriyaki, spicy, black pepper and sweet & sour. The Ninja is rather small in size, for myself, one Ninja would be sufficient but for Capt'n Hook... he can go between 2 to 3 Ninjas. I supposed it must be due to it's sheer size, the pricing comes in either solo, 2, 3 or 6 with the price of RM5.50, RM9.90, RM12.90 and RM29.90 respectively. So far I've sticked with either original or teriyaki sauce which both were great with the pork burger. Not very sloppy but good enough.



Even our BoiBoi likes one and he does not go for the normal ones aka Ninjas. He has such a good taste bud that he tends to order The Big Boss or Brucely. Now, I'm beginning to wonder aloud as in what would "The Big Boss" or "Brucely" have got to do with ninjas or joes? (Note that "The Big Boss" and "Brucely" sounded like a reference to Bruce Lee, perhaps the owner is a big fan of Bruce Lee Xiao Long!)

The Big Boss (RM8.50) has pork patty, a fried egg, onion slices, lettuce and tomato slice in between buns. You can opt to add bacon for RM1 and cheese for RM1. For BoiBoi, he usually would ask for both! I think he's on a grow spurt these days. I'm cringing that he may get taller than me by the end of the year for now his head had reached the top of my ear!!! That means I've to get new sets of trousers for him *sobs*



Then there's the Brucely (RM9.90) which I quite like too, the difference is instead of pork patty, this burger has a slice of pork chop, tomato slice and lettuce. Again one can opt for the extra bacon and cheese with the addition of RM1 each. Even though it's a piece of pork chop, rest assure that it's very tender and juicy. Sorry no pic on this one cos I can't find it :p

For all pork burger orders, just pay an extra of RM3.90 for the set that would include a cold drink and fries or RM4.90 for Zing Soda and fries. We didn't quite like the thick fries so we usually do not take the sets. I've asked for Zing Soda once which you can see in the first pic, I think that was an orange flavour. Just the usual soda with added orange syrup for flavour. The thing I like is I could actually get green tea to go with these lovely pork burgers.

I've ordered one of the sides, a Shuriken (5 pieces for RM4.90). I was given a number plate as they need to fry them up upon order. Even arrived piping hot, these potato and pork croquettes are really disappointing. The texture is mushy and very oily. After that one experience, we just couldn't be bothered with the fries and sides and straight hit the pork burgers.



I'm so glad that there are more Ninja Joe branches these days with the latest being opened in 1 Utama. Other than that it can be found at Tropicana City Mall, Sunway Pyramid and The Gardens. Our only gripe is The Gardens outlet does not have a wash basin to wash our hands before and after a burger or two. Not very convenient as we need to wait for everyone to finish up before heading towards the washroom to wash our hands. Thank goodness there's one at Tropicana City Mall and I think Sunway has it too but I can't really recall. We haven't been to the one at 1 Utama and I really do hope they have one install in this outlet due to convenience and hygiene reason.


Ninja Joe's Branches:

• LG-233, The Gardens Mall (Mid Valley)
• LG-113, 1 Utama Shopping Mall
• First floor, F1.93-95 Sunway Pyramid (Next to TGIF)
• LG-18, Tropicana City Mall

Opens Mon - Sun 10.00am - 10.00pm

Review: Zun Express Restaurant @ The Gardens

**Non-Halal**


We always patronise Zun Kitchenette but up till now we have never stepped into Zun Express Restaurant at The Gardens until last week. You won't miss Zun Express as it's just next to Eu Yan Sang as expected since both Zun restaurants are under Eu Yan Sang's umbrella.

Even though we were there for an early lunch but the restaurant was already packed to the brim. There was a short queue but luckily it moved fast and we placed our order quickly. As compared with Zun Kitchenette, Zun Express does really lived up to it's name literally. Service is quick and prompt here. Turn over of customers are rather fast so that more people could patronise especially during peak hours.

Since Chinese New Year is round the corner, they have this Lap Mei Farn set at RM19.80 that comes with a double-boiled soup, mixed waxed meat rice, and a dessert of the day. Capt'n Hook had this set. There was a choice of 2 double-boiled soup and he picked a Yuk Chuk Chicken soup. A clear broth with a nice natural sweetness of the chicken and herbs.



Capt'n Hook gave top marks for the waxed meat rice! The glutinous rice is soft enough but yet retained it's fluffiness and chewiness. You can see the grains are whole and separated instead of one lump of soft mess. Very flavourful indeed especially with the lap yuk (waxed pork belly), lap cheung (Chinese sausage), and yoon cheung (liver sausage). I can't remember if there is any waxed duck.



The dessert served on that day was Pumpkin Soup. I had a few sips and oh my, I can clearly taste it's made purely from pumpkin with little or no sugar at all! There were a few slices of lily bulbs for some crunch. It's light, fabulous end to a heavy meal.



I reckoned this set will only be available during Chinese New Year season. If you really do like lap mei farn, do give this place a try. On our way out, I checked the menu for the individual prices for the soup which is RM10 and dessert was RM6! Value for money or what? You tell me!

As for myself, I went for Shrimp Wantan Noodle in Soup (RM10). Well to be honest, this noodle paled in comparison with the rice kekeke cos the rice came first and I tasted a bit of it before my noodle arrive. As you would know, Zun doesn't use MSG in their cooking hence the soup is kinda "ching" (clear). Well, I don't really mind as the huge shrimp wantans which I've lost count of the number did made up for it. What I liked is there are quite a number of pieces of carrots, mushrooms and xiu bak choy.



I had wanted the hot chrysanthemum tea but it wasn't available yet. The only hot drink at that time was Lemon with Longan Honey (RM5) which is equally good. They did not scrimp on the amount of honey I would say.



5% service charge and 6% Government tax were charged and our total bill came up to RM38.65. No wonder this place is packed and popular during lunch hour for service is quick and prices to me seems reasonable for the quality of herbs used in the soups.

By the way, if you're not aware, Eu Yan Sang had pledged that they would only sell genuine and good quality products. It's something that the family have uphold since their business had started generations ago. The family had published a book and it's stated in this book about this pledge. I guess everyone could buy items especially herbs "tanpa was-was" (Malay for without hesitation) at Eu Yan Sang.


Zun Express Restaurant
Lot LG-231, Lower Ground Floor,
The Gardens,
Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-2283 3178

MidValley City New Car Park Rates

For the benefit of Joe and others, here are the new car park rates which I managed to capture the week before for MidValley Megamall and The Gardens effective from 1 November 2010. I think the price is the same just that there is no more ceiling rate! I wonder what's the rationale... so they don't encourage shoppers to eat, shop and watch movie in one long stretch???

Review: Hokkaido Ichiba @ The Gardens

Hokkaido Ichiba (the ice cream parlour) with it's neighbouring Kita no Zen (the restaurant) and Shojikiya (the snack shop) specialises on Hokkaido ingredients on the 3rd floor of The Gardens. These three are part of Super Dining and Super Sushi group of restaurants - read Rakuzen, Sushi Zanmai, Pasta Zanmai etc! Gosh they are really building an empire especially in Midvalley City! lol

We actually have our dinner at Sushi Zen (which is also part of the group located on LG) as we do not wish to queue at either Sushi Zanmai nor Kita no Zen (yes yes the queue is lonnnggg here too!!! Amazing!) *chuckle* Since we promised BoiBoi some ice cream after his tooth extraction, we took him to try out Hokkaido Ichiba. We first tried Hokkaido ice creams at MOF in Pavilion and we were sort of expecting similar stuff here. There were a bit of similarity but in terms of flavours there were more here!

BoiBoi and I were glued to the ice creams and sherbets ice chests right up front of the store. So many choices but so little stomach space :p BoiBoi was quick as usual since he almost always pick his fave Vanilla and this time another scoop of white chocolate ice cream. These double scoops are 40ml each and costed RM6.80 and we have to add another RM1 for a cone. There are options of single scoop that goes RM4.80 for a 60ml size or RM3.80 for a 40ml size. Sounds reasonable you might think but the 40ml scoop is actually a rather small scoop but perfect size for us after a meal. No pic of his cone cos he walloped before I could whip out my phone for a pic. My compact cam need to be hospitalised :( I managed to try a teeny bit of the white chocolate flavour and it's quite chocolaty rich.

Capt'n Hook did the same with his Macha Ice no Hokkaido Milk Parfait (RM8.80) so what you see is almost half eaten portion! Just imagine his concoction has a small scoop of creamy green tea ice cream served in a pool of Hokkaido milk with 2 chewy glutinous rice balls (all gone), green tea jelly cubes topped with Hokkaido red beans.



I had earlier on tried the Niagara Wine Sherbet and I really liked it! It's refreshing indeed and not as sweet as the real wine, well if they had really meant ice wine but I'm not really sure here. As I flipped thru the menu, I stumbled upon this Hokkaido Melon to Niagara Wine (RM8.80) and ordered it.



One small scoop each of Hokkaido melon ice cream and Niagara wine sherbet on an emptied honeydew melon skin with some rock melon balls on the side. The melon ice cream is only slightly creamy and loved the wonderful melon taste and smell, a perfect marriage with the sherbet.

Seems like a good first experience for us and I can't wait to drop by again to check out the other items on the menu! Well, if only the parking fees have not gone up in MidValley City sighhhh... gonna be a pain as there is no maximum rate from this month onwards *ouch*

Hokkaido Iciba
T-201, 3rd Floor,
The Gardens,
Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-2283 3060

Review: Discover Set Lunch at Sage Restaurant & Wine Bar

**Pork Free**


You see, we usually don't celebrate much of our birthdays or anniversaries. If we do, it's usually a spontaneous thingy. Hence, on the morning of  my birthday this year, Capt'n Hook decided to treat me to a nice lunch so he called Sage Restaurant & Wine Bar but I supposed it was too early for any one to start work at the restaurant as no one answered the call. He called The Gardens Hotel then and was told they'll pass his lunch reservation to Sage later on.

An hour later, I picked up a call and was asked if we're confirmed for lunch at Sage. Out of courtesy I asked who is on the line so that I can thank him and gosh who called??? It was Chef Daniel himself hahaha. Wow what a treat on my birthday!

Anyway to cut the story short, we walked into the restaurant on the 6th floor of The Gardens (take the elevator on Isetan side) and saw Ciki having lunch with Paranoid Andriod. Not surprised to see PA since he dines here on a weekly basis hehe. Loved the unobstructed full length windows, great for photography heh, didn't need to do much to my pics except for resizing.



Service was as expected, prompt and attentive. The moment we sat, we were served a citrusy welcome drink. An instant perk-me-up on that hot afternoon. We decided on our selections on the lunch menu that week. Oh yeah, the menu changes on a weekly basis, do follow PA's blog on the weekly menu :D.



We got our warm bread which Chef Daniel explained they made the bread fresh everyday. Served with a basil olive oil dip.



Our appetisers came which I offered my Warm Capellini Pasta with Trio of Seafood and Spices in exchange of Confit of Smoked Salmon with Garden Vegetables and Salted Kelp since Capt'n Hook don't really fancy raw stuff. After so many years I can read his face very well when it comes to food, his face read "icky" when the salmon was served to him hehe.



I didn't mind the salmon at all. It's really delicate that went well with the kelp. I took a bite of the pasta and oh my I really liked it. Even Capt'n Hook was nodding his head for someone who doesn't like tomato based sauce! The trio of scallops, prawns and fish are generously portioned.



We sipped on our wine whilst waiting for our main course. We both picked pan Fried Mullaway Seabass with Beignet Oyster Cepe Mushroom Sauce as Capt'n Hook is particular with his lamb and I would prefer something light since we have been feasting non-stop with so many birthdays celebrations in the family. The fillet is done just right with the skin lightly crisp and paired well with the mushroom sauce. The sauce on its own it's slightly salty for me but was all right when eaten with the fish. The oyster was done ala tempura with a super light batter.



Since Chef Daniel was aware that it was my birthday, our choices of desserts were transformed into this platter. Other than dessert of the day Roasted Plums Fruit with Banana Crumble and Vanilla Ice Cream, we were served Spanish Melon, with Honeydew Sorbet and White Wine Jelly; Ginger Creme Brulee and of course a specially made chocolate cake.



Of all the choices, we both loved the creme brulee with a lovely hint of ginger and of course the chocolate cake which is quite light. The crumble is not at all spectacular. The honeydew sorbet is quite ordinary except that I do like the wine jelly.

The lunch set at RM100nett which is quite a steal for the freshness and quality of ingredients served, coupled with the excellent service. Chef Daniel urged us to go back for their dinner where the menu would be more extensive and special, I guess most prolly next month?




Sage Restaurant and Wine Bar
The Gardens Residences Level 6,
The Gardens, Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +603 2268 1328
Email: sagekul@gardenshtlres.com
Opening hours:
Lunch (Mon-Fri): 12pm-2pm
Dinner (Mon-Sat): 6pm-10.30pm
Closed on Sunday

Review: Sushi Zen @ The Gardens

**Pork Free**


Of late, BoiBoi has taken a liking to Japanese food especially sushi. His fave is inari even though he has tried a bit of this and that. I'm glad at least now he has one more item added into his reply whenever we asked him what we would like to eat. It's very refreshing indeed after the same old replies of spaghetti, pasta or fried rice!



In one of our recent dinner trip to Ichiban Boshi, as usual he would go for his sushi plates and gyoza. When my cold soba arrived, he was looking at me curiously on how I ate the noodles even though I've ordered this numerous times. I offered him a bite, letting him doing all the work. After lifting the strands of noodles from the soba tsuyu and into his mouth, the sentence that rang out was utmost sweet... "hmmmmm nice". Ever since that experience, I think he's really hooked! So far he got us detoured at least a couple of times just to have cold soba and over a period of 1.5 weeks, he had them thrice!

Last weekend, we were in The Gardens cos someone wanted to get his leopard from Machines. Come dinner time, BoiBoi says he wanted to eat cold soba. We usually visit Sushi Zanmai but their queue is almost always rather long be it at 1U or The Gardens. Remembering there is a Sushi Zen at the lower ground level, we headed there instead. After all, both of them are from the same operator, SuperSushi, which was spawn off from Rakuzen.

Ahhh no queue... perfect but we have to wait for a short while for them to clear a table. Capt'n Hook and I spotted the banner promoting their Bento for the month of May and we both went... wahhhh really value for money!

BoiBoi have his usual Cha Soba (small portion RM8.80) and Chicken Gyoza (RM9.80). He slurped his noodles happily. The chicken gyoza to me is just so so and have very little fillings.



Capt'n Hook placed the order for the Bento of the month which costed only RM28.80. Actually I didn't want to eat but I'm kiasu not to be outdone... I followed him and order the bento as well :p BIG mistake cos when the food arrived I knew I'm screwed. The portion is really like a lot, even the so called mini udon is to me... is normal!



The entire bento set consists of chawan mushi, a bowl of fresh salad, bento box that contained lots of goodies (will get to that later) and a bowl of mini hot udon in soup. Loved the light eggy custard and has lots of ingredients in there when you dig deep. The bowl of udon can be just my main course as it's rather a big portion!



The bento box contained 3 tempura pieces - inoki mushrooms, prawn and salmon! The last one was a bit of a surprise and under the tempura batter, I saw an orangey shade which I thought is the usual sweet potato. In the box there were also 2 large pieces of tamago, 1 shishamo (pregnant fish), 1 piece of chicken karaage (deep fried), a bunch of edamame beans, a piece of cold tofu wrapped in raw salmon, 2 pieces of gyoza and 7 various types of sushi. You tell me, a lot or not for RM28.80?



Heh not only I struggled so did Capt'n Hook. We ended up asking for take away container to pack up most of the sushi and tamago pieces.

We paid RM89.95 for all the above items plus 2 cups of hot ocha after the additional 5% Government Tax and 10% service charge.

Pardon the photo quality as it's taken with my SE W800i.


Sushi Zen
LG-K02 Lower Ground Floor
The Gardens, Mid Valley City
Linkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (+603) 9492 3080

Review: Alexis Bistro and Wine Bar @ The Gardens

I've been to all Alexis outlets but I'm liking it here at The Gardens. The place is spacious with high ceiling, food is good and best of all service is at its best on the day I was there. I also noticed they have tapas here in the menu.

So we have one serving of button mushroom (RM15) from the tapas menu. The mushrooms were halved swimming in a creamy garlicky gravy. Toasted french loaves rounds that came with it were great in mopping up the tasty gravy.



BoiBoi loved his Club Sandwich (RM20) but who doesn't when there are thick layer of chicken slices, ham (I can't remember of which kind but definitely not pork since this place is pork free), fried egg, and green salad leaves in between 2 slices of fresh toasts. The portion is rather huge as it came with a side salad and tonnes of fries. Thank goodness I did not order any mains since I have to perform my *ahem* Alam Flora duty that evening by picking up the salad and bits and pieces of his sandwich but he wallopped quite a fair bit though.



Capt'n Hook who is not a fan of pasta asked for a Penne Carbonara (RM32). He gave a rare full praise for his carbonara that have pieces of ham and mushrooms. I took a bite and I guess I know why... the sauce is not sickly rich which is great as it doesn't make one feel "jelak" quickly.



We were rather full but as usual BoiBoi would loved to have dessert to end his meal. What more when he had already spied the cake display as he went "browsing" around. I had to manipulate and control his ordering so that we won't end up with something rich. Since he loved pavlova, I managed to convinced him into having a Chocolate Nutty Meringue (RM15). It's our first time trying this as we'll usually stuck at Tiramisu :p This is a brilliant dessert with light marshmallowy chocolate meringue in between light chocolate cream and chopped pecans and macadamia, lots of them oh yum! There are a lot of nuts on top as well! I'm sooooo gonna make this one day!!!



Ahhh another good food option at The Gardens ;-) other than The Yogitree, Yuzu, Gelatissimo, I Love Yoo, Nyonya Colors, Belanga, Fong Lye, sbread, Shihlin...


Alexis Bistro and Wine Bar
Lot f209 1st Floor
The Gardens
Mid Valley City
Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) 2287 2281

Review: The Yogitree

The Yogitree in The Gardens has been one of our fave place to chill out whilst having delicious meals be it for lunch, tea, or dinner. This is another marvelous creation of Chef Ekachai of The Social, Planter's Jim and T Club. For this cafe, they're serving healthy dishes using fresh, natural and mostly organic ingredients without using addictives.



As usual, when most people, well especially like Capt'n Hook, see the words healthy and organic, they'll immediately have words like bland, boring, tasteless crop up in their mind and are usually very skeptical about the taste. Asking them to eat these kinda food is like dragging a cat for a bath!



Somehow one day Capt'n Hook and I decided to dine here for dinner. He was squirmish but after his first taste, he took a liking to the food here. Once, we were here for dinner and we opted for their set dinner which is really value for money.

They have Oriental Set at RM49++; Fish of the Day Set at RM65++ and Western Dinner Set at RM69++ (click the link to see sample menus). You can opt for a glass of wine or fresh juice. Starters are usually soup, followed by a few choices of main course to choose from and ends with a dessert which you can pick from the cake display.

We tried the Oriental set where we opted for a juice. Watermelon juice was served and seriously, it's refreshing and tasted naturally sweet.



That day, we were served Beef Herbal Soup which has clear broth and 2 springy beef meatballs.



Capt'n Hook opted for Ayam Perchik Nasi Ulam which was surprisingly good. He usually doesn't fancy the multigrains rice I cook but he has no complain here with the brown rice eaten with the freshly chopped ulam (leafy herbs). The chicken is baked before perchik gravy is slathered on it. This is tasty and he wished they gave more of the gravy. In the platter was a piece of fried fish marinaded in turmeric. Quite a huge portion I would say.



As for myself, I asked for Beef Noodle Soup. Adoi, I found out the soup base is actually the same soup that they served as the starter. *roll eyes* Sighhh they should have serve a different kinda of soup eh??? The taste is similar to Vietnamese Pho but the herbs and spices taste are stronger.



As we were too stuffed, we packed our desserts back. Since the cakes were served with ice-cream, they allowed us to have the ice-cream there. We picked a Carrot and Orange Cake with Cream Cheese frosting and Peach and Banana Crumble. The carrot cake is moist and packed with carrots as you can see below. I liked the crumble a lot as it contained thick layers of peaches and bananas!





On another occasion, we were there with BoiBoi in a weekend. I shared a Soup of The Day which is Cauliflower Soup (RM16) and Grilled Organic Chicken on Toasted Ciabatta with Basil Mayonnaise and Tomato Salsa (RM20). Both portions are quite large, luckily we were sharing. The soup was just normal but loved the crispy garlic toast that came with it. The sandwich has a lot of thickly shredded chicken inside. The sandwich is so tall that was kinda messy to eat up hahaha BoiBoi was busy wiping up after each bite.

BoiBoi had a Very Berry (RM12) juice which has strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, cranberry and carrot. It was indeed a very berry combi and tasted a little on the tangy side.



Capt'n Hook ordered the Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding (RM39) which is only available on weekends. The beef was roasted perfectly to his liking. The meat was tender, almost melt in the mouth texture. I will definitely order this again.



We ended our meal with an old school cake, Pineapple Upside Down Cake served with vanilla ice-cream. Hmm very moist and the best part is they uses fresh pineapples and not canned ones!



With attentive service, great and healthy food... Yogitree will continue to be one of our fave haunt in The Gardens ;-)

Since today has such an auspicious date, I just wish Yogitree will have a long life like Planter's Jim and The Social!!!


The Yogitree
Lot F-237B, 1st Floor, (Isetan Side)
Gardens Mid Valley,
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) 2282 6163


Technorati Tags: malaysian food

Review: Yuzu Japanese Restaurant

**Pork-free**



Yuzu Japanese Restaurant is a sister restaurant of Ninja Jones, tucked away in a quiet corner besides Isetan. The interior oozes a warm and welcoming ambiance. As one walked in further, you'll noticed the restaurant is rather large with each corner decorated in a different setting altogether. There are "rooms" or rather separated dining area for groups according to sizes as well if you requested for one. Their menu seems extensive and there is monthly promotion as seen on their bunting outside the restaurant.



That evening we decided to go for the set dinner which I opted for Yuzu Gozen (RM48) that came with assorted sashimi and sushi; tempura; beef cubes grilled on a stone; teapot soup; chawan mushi; the usual pickled and side dishes plus a couple slices of watermelon to end the meal. The quality of the sashimi was good since they just arrived. The tempura were light in oil. I kinda liked the beef cubes that were set sizzling on a slab of black stone. The grilling and caramalising of the beef smelt great.





Capt'n Hook who is not really a fish person ordered Salmon Yuzu Kosho and Saikoro Beef Set (RM40). Some how he liked how the Japanese treat their salmon ala shioyaki and he seems pretty pleased with Yuzu's version. His set came with beef cubes in a hotplate; teapot soup; chawan mushi; pickled and side dishes pluswatermelon slices. As he sipped on his soup... I heard him went "ahhhhhh..." <-- sounds of approval???





As it was a week night, service was attentive since the restaurant is not crowded. Capt'n Hooked even have time to learnt how to say "chei-zu tin-bar-te" (thank you in Myanmar language) from the waitress kekeke...

Once we were done, she asked if we would like to take a look around the restaurant which we obliged. We bumped into their chef who is a local Chinese. He went on showing us these strange looking fishes on display. If we have seen these earlier, perhaps one of these would have been on our platter.



10% Service Charge and 5% Government Tax will be imposed on your bill.


Yuzu Japanese Restaurant
T236, 3rd Floor
The Gardens, Mid Valley City
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) 2284 7663


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