Cari Makan: Rakuzen @ SS15

It is that time of the year again.  There is traffic jam everywhere, the restaurants are fully booked and everyone is out to have fun.  When the clock strikes midnight, cheers will be heard echoing from all directions and the night is celebrated with 20 minutes of fireworks magnificence. What else could it be if it is not the eve of a new year? This time, instead of an eventful night with the guys, it was going to be a family affair. Mom, dad and I and a good restaurant as our host.  We picked Rakuzen without much hesitation as my mom patronises this restaurant often.  Unfortunately, we were at a different outlet and not the one in KL which my mom frequents.  The good news came with the sight of Japanese men expertly handling an array of fresh seafood with their razor sharp sashimi knives.  A great sight it was.  I had the same vibe like I had when I sat at the sushi bar in Kanta while watching Akira-san fix up the perfect chicken roll.  Whether this restaurant is good or not, that will be at the end of the page :D!

Daddy and Mommy.  Thanks for the dinner ::)!

On the dining table, we had:

Some artsy wares which contained the soya sauce, Japanese spicy condiment, and  toothpicks.

Too much publicity for a wasabi but I liked how Rakuzen has put enough care to ensure everything is done up nicely.  Attention to detail!!

Leaf shaped wasabi paste!

Mom gave us rabbit food to start our meal.  Surprisingly yummy! Edamame (Rm8)

Tasted somewhat buttery with a fresh after taste.

To fill our tummies, we ordered a California Roll (Rm18) and a Soft Shell Crab Sushi a.k.a Spider Maki.

Lovely. Avocado and prawns with well seasoned  sushi rice.  And Rakuzen is generous on what they give for their rolls.

This photo was taken from a bad perspective but the sushi itself was good.  The soft shell crab was really crispy.  Now that I think of it, the soft shell crab pasta from Plan B did not turn out this crispy at all :(!  However, this soft shell crab roll comes in second place when compared to the one served at Zen Sushi @ Subiaco!

What was to come next turned out horrible! The Chicken Katsu-don set.   Oh and the picture turned out horrible as well.  :(!  But no worries, the set came with silky smooth Chawan Mushi which costed only a fraction of the set meal price =.=!!

Om nom nom! The Chawan Mushi had shiitake mushrooms, fish cakes and minced meat.  Pretty good for an side dish!

Oh and there was a Hokkaido seafood festival going on at the moment so my dad thought, “Why not try something else,” And so he chose an oyster dish after carefully inspecting the menu .  Fried oysters serve on a lettuce leaf and drizzled with Tonkatsu flavoured mayonnaise (Rm18)!

I was a bit intimidated at the start.  Despite being fried, it was still oyster by nature and its juicy as always.  Luckily, mayonnaise + soy sauce = FTW. :)!

The last dish to come was the assorted Kushiyaki and Yakitori (Rm35).

Looks good aye?  BUT IT SUCKED.  Dry salmon :( Tasteless Meatballs :’( Where do I stop ranting?  The only thing which I thought was nice was the skewered chicken meat (Yakitori).  Lesson learned!!  No skewered meat unless you are at Jun @ Perth!

Last of all was the dessert. The frozen strawberries stuffed with ice cream!

Picturesque, good to bite, fair to taste, bad to tooth.  Something I would try once, but not recommended for seconds.  Hell yeah it ached when I bit into it.  Tried to raise the temperature with hot tea.  And the chemistry was wrong.  Tasted horrible @.@!

Ok peeps, sorry that this post have to end abruptly, but I’m in a bit of rush because I have to wake up early tomorrow.  5.40am to be exact =.=!  I’ll be spending the weekend over at Taiping and soon after, hohohohoho!! I’ll be meeting the little darling.  Oh yes!! Finally ;)!!!

To conclude this, the meal at Rakuzen was pretty good.  But if I could change the evening, I would have taken the Katsu-don and skewered meats of the menu.  Instead, I would have opted for a few other dishes found on the Hokkaido Festival specials!  I would have preferred freshly baked salmon, more scallops, and why not some Teppanyaki style diced steak served with garlicky fried rice.  All in all, this place was worth the price and definitely worth vising for a second time.  Lots more to try on the menu!!

Happy New Year to all my dear friends, readers, family and humans.  May our resolutions for the new year, heal us and the ailing nature.

Over and out!

WenY

D3100: New Player in Town.

It’s 2.30am and I’m not really up to anything so I thought, “Why not come on?”. And so I did.  Here I am now, going to show to all of you, my new camera!! :P! A big gift from the little darling and my mates.  Much thanks and love to the little darling.  And my friends, arigato!!!! Since purchasing it, I have been using it quite a fair bit and boy its not simple.  I thought like my camera, all it does when I take a photo was one click.  But apparently not.  When I press the shutter, it does a double snap with a noise that goes like  *grr*  *grr*.  Sounds like its asking for some doggy treats but sorry.  Don’t see any mouth to feed treats into it.  Ok now I’m really talking rubbish! HAhahah!

D3100.  Bought it for RM1900 at Damansara Uptown on top of the bicycle shop next to Park Village Cafe.  Owner was super nice and friendly!

I have not been using it to its fullest potential just yet.  I have tinkered with the aperture, manual and shutter speed priority modes as of now.  Been having some problems with macro.  And I found that I get the best macros when I use the manual mode and with the auto-focus switched off.  Which means I need to focus the lens, zoom the lens and click the shutter after I set the ISO, the shutter speed and the aperture.  Oh god bless me.  But I LIKE IT.  I feel involved at every level of photography mechanics.  And fortunately, my favourite subject, food, has no problem staying still for me!:P

The camera also boasts one of the friendliest guide mode in its class. This mode is perfect for people who have absolutely no idea what the camera is capable of. It has features all packed into one mode.  It is pretty much an auto mode but lets you spin one of the dials hoping to make you feel like a professional.  But all you really do is just control the shutter speed/aperture.  HAhahahaha.

On a different note, the little darling is somewhere in Switzerland skiing and hitting kids with her ski rods.  Sounds fun!  And now, there are more reasons to like the IPhone4.  Free calls anywhere, so long as there is internet :)!!

The little darling.  Her hair seems a little bushy. hahahaha.  The frost probably got her Keratin all hardened at molecular level.

And that’s me, and the toy. 

Ok now, only 10 minutes have passed.  God the night is long.

WenY

Cari Makan: Chan Meng Kee @ SS2

It was about 3 years ago that I wrote an entry about one of the tastiest and most well-made wanton noodles in the KL area.  Reminisce it here. Apparently, mid-way through 2009 he closed his stall in Mel’s Corner @ Section 17 and went incognito for awhile before going big in the SS2 area sometime this year.  This guy’s shop is located along the row of shop house behind Nasi Kandar Pelita.  I have not been a big fan of wanton noodles until my dad brought me to this one in my college days 2006/7.  But ever since, he decided to shift his restaurant to a better location in 2009/10,  the quality has been inconsistent.  Nevertheless, check out what this place still has to offer.

I liked the yummy noodles with well-made Char Siew pork (bbq pork).  The pork tries to maintain a 50-50 balance between fat and meat. (and it used to have a crisp skin).  Most wanton noodles in Malaysia do not use sesame oil which might be preferred by others Asians especially people from Hong Kong.  But this one uses pork lard with crispy bits of pork crackle to mix with the noodles.  A worrying cause of course for the health conscious, but no dramas.  The 50-50 balance and pork crackle has a magic to bring your worries away.  Unless it sucks that is ahahhaha.

And it is not called Wanton Noodles without Wantons is it not?

To accompany the meal, Chan Meng Kee also offers additional serves of meat such as soy chicken, pork roast, roasted duck and wild boar curry.  But I stuck to the classic and had one more serve of the barbecue pork!! ohhhhh yeah :P!  Ok, peeps, over and out.

I’ll try to get more goodies up when I find time to go out.  Spent three mornings with a report and now I’m pretty much free besides the pesky IELTS!

WenY