Review: Ume-Tei Japanese Restaurant @ Amcorp Mall

It's not surprising to find affordable food in Amcorp Mall including Japanese food. In this case, Ume-Tei Japanese Restaurant is one of them. Located on the 3rd floor, it's quite easy to spot them being diagonally opposite the big boys toy shop. The staff is friendly and service is efficient even during lunch hour. Their set meals are value for money indeed.



These are some of the sets that I've tried and I've to say they're rather good and definitely value for the amount you need to fork out. This one is Soba Set (RM15.00) that came with 2 lettuce and cucumber handrolls; a bowl of soba; a side dish of shredded turnips, carrots and black fungus; plus the usual piece of fruit. A simple meal but quite hearty.

The Ramen Set (RM18) have a bowl of simple ramen; a bowl of rice which we asked to be sub with garlic fried rice; fried chicken chop; side dish; pickle and fruit. The garlic fried rice is absolutely fragrant. It's quite a whole of stuff to be eaten in one seating.



Tori Karaage Set (RM20.00) consist of tuna and salmon sashimi slices; deep fried chicken pieces; rice which we sub with garlic fried rice; 2 side dishes; a bowl of miso soup; pickles and fruit. Value for money or not?? Even though the tuna and salmon sashimi is not of superb top class quality, nevertheless, they're much better than the usual conveyor belt cuts. The deep fried chicken pieces are crispy on the outside, moist and tender inside. Yum!

For this kinda easy on the pocket prices, I'm not complaining. They're certainly not Japanese fine dining quality but it's acceptable to satisfy ones hunger for Japanese food in the mall.

They charge 10% service charge and 5% Government tax. Green tea or plain water is complimentary too which the wait staff diligently kept topping up.


Ume-Tei Japanese Restaurant
3rd Floor Amcorp Mall
18 Persiaran Barat, Off Jalan Timur
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 603-7954 1397


Technorati Tags: Japanese food

My Version of ABC Soup

**Non-Halal**

The usual ABC Soup contains potatoes, carrots, onion and tomatoes but my version have a couple more of ingredients - corn and beetroot! The corn gave the soup an extra sweetness to it whilst the beetroot lent a tinge of pinkish trace in the soup. Beetroot is supposedly to good to cleanse the body and rich in Vitamin C and A, on top of a host of other nutrients.

I've used pork bones which I've cleaned and parboiled to get rid of the scums. They're washed again before they go into the pot. Next, dumped in all the vegetables and boil on low heat for 3 - 4 hours. Alternatively, you can use the pressure cooker but I didn't this time. I liked my soup to be slow boiled. Towards the end of cooking, adjust tasted with some salt if you like. Sometimes, I'll add some white peppercorns at the start of cooking but since the weather was hot, I omitted them.



There... the utmost nutritious and flavourful soup filled with vitamins A, B and C hahaha... BTW, this soup tasted better on the next day.


Technorati Tags: soup

Roasted Duck and Baby Tomatoes Angel Hair Pasta

I was home alone one evening and was too lazy to go out for food. I rummaged my fridge and found some leftover roasted duck and baby tomatoes. Decided to turn them into a quick pasta dish.

All I did was fry some chopped garlic till fragrant in olive oil, taking care not to brown them. Add in shredded roasted duck and stir. Next, dump in halved baby tomatoes. Sprinkle in salt and freshly ground black pepper. Lastly, add in cooked angel hair pasta and mix thoroughly. Dish up and serve hot with another dash of freshly ground black pepper.

Dinner in a jiffy - less than 10 minutes including minor prep work. Heh...




Technorati Tags: pasta

King Crab Restaurant Charity Drive For Sichuan Earthquake Victims

This morning, I'm up to some pimping. I got a mail from Precious Pea about a string of charity dinners over at King Crab Restaurant in aid of Sichuan earthquake victims. Details as follows:

Restoran King Crab PJ (opposite Kelana Jaya LRT Station)
7:30pm, Tuesday, 3rd June 2008, 40 tables in 1st floor banquet hall.
7:30pm, Wednesday, 4th June 2008, 40 tables in 1st floor banquet hall.


Restoran King Crab JB
7:30pm, Thursday, 5th June 2008, 60 tables in 1st floor banquet hall.


The donation amount per ticket is RM100 or RM 1,000 per table (10 tickets).

The collection of the ticket sales will be 100% donated to the China Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fun.


Restoran King Crab
No. 103 - 107, Jalan SS25/2
Taman Mewah Jaya
Petaling Jaya
Tel No: 603 - 7808 2388

Sorry I do not have the JB contact. Please lend your support with your friends and family. Thank you.

Cooling Drinks Series: Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit

The weather in Kuala Lumpur has been tremendously hot. I guess it's time to continue my cooling drink series. I was meant to boil this Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit (loh horn guo in Cantonese) tong shui (sweet soup) featured in Amy Beh's cook book but I didn't realised I ran out of dried longan so I sub it with some white fungus instead just for some substance.

Anyway, I just boiled them in a pot for an hour plus instead of double-boiling. I added the rock sugar towards the end and I doubt I've used that much of sugar since Buddha's Fruit will sweeten the soup. So add little by little till you achieve the sweetness that you prefer. Best when eaten cold.

Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit

250g fresh sea coconut (to obtain toddy palm seed)
4 red dates, pitted and halved
25g dried longan
1 whole Buddha’s fruit, lightly cracked
150g rock sugar
500ml water

Remove the hard shells off the fresh sea coconut. Tear off the membrane and cut the toddy palm seed into thin slices.

Put rock sugar, red dates, longan, lo han kor and water into a double boiler. Cover and double boil for 1 hour over medium-low heat.

Add toddy palm seed slices and continue to double boil for another hour. Serve hot or cold.

Technorati Tags: tong shui

Review: Restoran Sai Kong (HQ @ Kepong Baru)

**Non-Halal**


The day before Mother's Day, we attended my boiboi's school family day, somewhere around Batu Caves. I've arranged to have the rest of my family to meet for lunch at Pan Heong, the yummy porridge and noodle place in Batu Caves since we haven't gone back there like many years, wayyy before they got so famous... wayyy before they're so crowded! Darn, we waited like 15 minutes and nobody bothered to even bat an eyelid on us. The other poor souls were resorted to standing behind the patrons watching over their shoulders like hawk with the kinda "when are you going to finish and move your butt outta there" stare!

Hating such scene... we decided to move on elsewhere for lunch sighhhh had to say good bye to the delish sang har meen. My brother suggested to go to Restoran Sai Kong in Kepong Baru instead and off we went. When we reached there, my parents were pleasantly surprised that they've became so "big". The last time they went, Sai Kong were still operating from a shack nearby. For myself, I've only been to the Medan Putra outlet. The Kepong Baru outlet is of 3 shoplots with an upstairs space to boost too.

Since it was to celebrate Mother's Day, we asked the big shot to dictate the order and here were what we (7 adults and one child) have for lunch...

Mom asked for a Sweet and Sour Fish (sek ban, not sure what's in English cos I'm a noob when it come to fish. RM25.00), Marmite Pork Ribs (RM10.00) and Angled Loofah Tofu (Seng Kua Dau Foo RM6.00) to suit the boss boiboi. Sadly the amount of gravy that came with the fish was so little to be enjoyed all round. I had walloped most of them for my boiboi hehe... Anyway, the fish was fresh and this dish was a thumbs up. The whole fish was gone from the plate by the end of lunch!



I've no idea when my boiboi had developed a liking for pork ribs cooked in Marmite or just in fact in almost similar style. He just loved them and so did we.



I liked the homemade tofu here. It came in quite a huge piece. Since it was small portion, it was still enough to go around the table.



After deciding the dishes for the fart, we now have adult dishes heh! We opted for the recommended Assam Prawn (RM20.00). It lacked of the assam tang and a bit on the sweet side for me but overall it's still yummy. Best when ladle the gravy and all on the rice to be eaten together. The prawns were fresh and excellent with the accompanying asparagus, ladies fingers, onions and tomatoes.



Next came a quite standard dish, the Four Heavenly King (RM8.00). Sai Kong's version have long beans, four angled beans, ladies fingers and of course my fave petai! If only the sambal they were fried in, is spicier, it would have been perfect but luckily it's not, otherwise my dad won't be able to enjoy it as much.



Lastly we have a non-spicy Romaine Lettuce Fried with Fu Yue (fermented beancurd, RM6.00) where the vegetable came crisp coated with just the right amount of fu yue.



Lots of dishes there but most of them were of small portion with 4 bowls of rice (we're not farn tung - rice bin kekeke) and a pot of King of Tea (char wong RM9.00), the bill came up to RM92.00 after a 5% Goverment tax. WOW!!!! My first under RM100 makan (eating) session with my family in a restaurant like this hahaha... mmm very satisfying indeed!


Restoran Sai Kong
23 Jalan Helang Sewah
Kepong Baru
52100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-6273 2242
Coordinates: 3°11'42"N 101°38'40"E


Technorati Tags: malaysian food

Stir-Fried Eggs with French Beans, Baby Corn and Carrots

Pheewww that was quite a mouthful!



This is another variation of frying eggs where instead of turning the combination into an omelette, just stir-fry all the ingredients. Stir-fry diced french beans, baby corn and carrots in some oil. Sprinkle in some salt and black pepper to taste. When they're cooked, pour in some lightly beaten eggs. Let the eggs cook and set. Then stir-fry them all until well mixed. Dish up and serve.

There, another easy peasy dish from the lazy me.


Technorati Tags: egg