Hyotan was discovered accidentally during a fateful night. It was drizzling, and I had Japanese food in mind. I wanted to go to either Rakuzen or Jyu Raku at SS15.
As usual, there were no parking spot along S15/5A where those two restaurants are located. We were steered further and further away from where we wanted to be, and came up to an empty parking space right outside Hyotan that happens to be on the same road, another Japanese restaurant at SS15 that I somehow failed to notice all these while.
Hyotan Japanese Restaurant
Since we were already facing Hyotan and that the exterior looks pretty good, I thought we should just give it a try, judging book by the cover might not work, but judging restaurant by the exterior usually has a slightly higher hit rate.
My confidence level went up a notch when an old Japanese chef greeted us on the way in, always a good sign.
chirashi sushi, always one of my favorites
I ordered Chirashi sushi (RM28), basically a collection of seafood items sitting on top of a bed of sushi rice in a friendly bowl. Hyotan’s version includes butter fish, sake (salmon), unagi (eel), maguro (tuna), hamachi (yellow tail), tamago (sweet egg), and ebi (shrimp), and crab sticks. There’s also a bowl of miso soup despite this not being a set.
It was good, the fish was fresh and I particularly like the unagi here. That said, I still think rakuzen’s chirashi sushi with it’s excellent ika (squid ) edges out this one slightly.
yakitori and bento set at Hyotan
Haze ordered some set of which name I couldn’t remember. It came with sake, unagi, salad, tempura, chawanmushi, saba, bamboo shoots, and some other smaller dishes to go with rice. It was a pretty big set and judging by the look on her face while she was noming in, she was definitely happy with it.
Haze and KY at Hyotan
On top of that, we ordered 10 sticks of assorted yakitori to share (RM 48), while this isn’t Sumi Ka, the yakitori were still plenty awesome!
We had chicken liver, genko nuts, okra, quail’s eggs, chicken skin, chicken, mushroom, gizzard, some spring onion look alike thingy, and a hot dog thingy. Most items were at least on par with some of the bests I had, and for RM 48 it was a very good value too.
Hyotan is definitely a place worth revisiting. The ambiance is nice, the dishes I tried were good, and well, it’s easier to find parking compared to the other 2 outlets mentioned too. Just about the only complain I have for Hyotan was the fact that yakitori took a bit longer to served compared to the other dishes. Perhaps that’s just a one time thing.
One more places for Japanese food at SS15 for you!
Address:
Hyotan
63 Jalan SS15/5A,
47500 Subang Jaya,
Selangor
GPS: 3.081059, 101.592636
Tel: 03-5636 0326
Even while staring at the huge signboard that spelled out WONDERMILK in large and friendly white font, I didn’t have an idea what they offer inside.
In retrospect, however, I should have guessed that it must have something to do with cupcakes or coffee, since I was meeting Mellissa who’s obsessed with them.
WONDERMILK – proper coffee served here
I like the concept of WONDERMILK, with its mismatching chairs+tables, quirky interior, and not-so-serious art works displayed on the wall. This place reminds me of Melbourne than Malaysia, probably quite a cool place to bring your first date. Great ambiance.
lotsa cupcakes and cute little cookies & marshmallows
If I’m not mistaken, WONDERMILK is started from a blog at cuppacakes.blogspot.com. Now at Uptown, they serve freshly baked cupcakes (4 for RM5 mini, 4 for RM 17 maxi) that comes in all sorts of flavors and colors, coffee, tea, milk, cookies, mush mellows marshmallows, and more.
Ryan and Mellissa, KY & Haze, coffee & cupcakes
We ordered half a dozen cupcakes and I had a latte (RM7) while Haze got a butterscotch milk. The milk was good and I too was very happy with the latte that rivals what was served at Cafe Le Passione (Hartamas Shopping Centre.) Haze also bought some cookies & mush mellows back home, and they were very good too.
Give it a try if you love coffee, or cupcakes, or both!
Address:
41 Jalan SS 21/1A,
Damansara Uptown,
47400 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.135653, 101.621121
Tel: 03-7725 8930
As I was browsing the food map created by yours truly (if you don’t know what I mean, just look at the frigging thing on the right sidebar, I’ve spent lotsa time and effort to create it so make use if it gahhh! ops I digress.. ), I realized there’s a huge chunk of area devoid of any entries and yet famous for food among Klang Valley dwellers – OUG.
Hence, in order to gain some street cred, I’ve decided to venture into this side of Klang Valley that’s relatively unknown to me. This time with the help of Haze (who somehow knows the way around OUG and basically not many other places)
Restaurant Hong Cha at OUG
So a few days ago we headed over to OUG for dinner and ended up at Hong Cha Restaurant since the initial plan of curry mee did not work out (the restaurant was closed. Lately I’ve not had luck with a couple curry mee places I tried to eat, always closed goddamn, but lest I digress again..)
Restaurant Hong Cha is a pretty busy joint at OUG offering an unlikely combination of foods – pork noodle, seafood noodle, and interestingly – simple Japanese dishes. Since I rather have my Japanese food from proper Japanese joints, the session was confined to their pork and seafood noodle.
seafood noodle with extra lard!
To be honest, the seafood noodle and the pork noodle actually kinda overlapped each other quite a bit. In the seafood noodle you have lard, and in the pork noodle there’s prawns. Even the soup tasted quite similar – in this case, similarly awesome! The soup was rich, savory, salty, and very tasty, yums!
I had my seafood noodle in soup version with mee suah and it was loaded with quite a bit of squid, fish paste, fish, and prawns. they’re not exactly big in size but it also only costs some RM 5.50 or 6.50. And oh, you can ask for basically unlimited lard if you’re willing to walk over and self serve!
seafood noodle and pork noodle at Hong Cha
Haze ordered a dried version of pork noodle and reported to be very happy with it too! Pork slices, minced pork, liver, and even a few smallish prawns to add a bit more sweetness to the soup. Very addictive.
Haze and KY, old school dining, OUG
The dinner ended up to be something like RM 14 or so inclusive of drinks. As you can imagine, with excellent value and equally awesome food, this place is pretty busy, but they have the help of technology though – ordering is done via wireless PDA!
How’s that for progress?
This place is a must-try if you’re a lard lover.
Address:
Restaurant Hong Cha
No 7, Jalan Hujan Rahmat 3,
OUG, 58200 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.073334, 101.672083
Tel: 012-350 6755
In my previous job, I often had to travel. One of the most exotic places I’ve had the privilege of spending a few days was a little remote village at Myanmar by the name of Kanbauk.
the biggest hangout place at Kanbauk, no electricity during day time
Kanbauk is a very remote town at south western side of Myanmar, bordering Thailand. The place is accessible pretty much only by chartered flight, or you could drive there in about 12 hours.
at Kanbauk, no fear of getting knocked down by speeding cars
There are no tar roads, no electricity during the day, and the wooden shop coffee house in the picture above was the most happening hangout place in 2007.
I suspect things hasn’t changed since.
We stayed at a gas processing facility just minutes away from the village, so naturally the most happening coffee house became one of our must-tour spots.
the town of Kanbuak, where people and animals live harmoniously
Then again, it wasn’t like there was a lot to do in a place where some workers earn only US $1 for a hard day’s work.
One of the most things I always remember about Myanmar was their coffee drinking culture. The Burmese don’t brew their own coffee, everywhere I went, coffee meant 3 in 1 sachets. Tea, however, were prepared in the more traditional way.
Super 3 in 1 Coffee at Kanbauk, Myanmar!
As I dug back the photos from over 3 years back for the purpose of this advertorial, look at what I found – Coffeemix 3 in 1! That was exactly what we were served for US $0.25 or so back at the happening coffee shop in Kanbauk. Talk about coincidence. 
Even though I didn’t I couldn’t recall the brand of the coffee then, I remembered it to be full of aroma and had a good blend of creamer, sugar, and coffee. The picture now told me it was the Super Regular 3 in 1 Coffeemix.
Writing this made me want to have a cup of coffee now. Other than the Super Regular, there’re also Super Rich, and Super Regular (Reduced Sugar) 3 in 1 coffee, all selling at RM 8.50 per 25 sachets right here in Malaysia.
Which conveniently brings us to the message of this advertorial – the JJ 100 day Live Super Tour 2010 promotion brought to you by Coffeemix, JJ Lin of Halo Music is now the brand ambassador for Super 3 in 1 Coffee.
The music showcase for JJ 100days live falls on
If you’re a fan, there’s only one way to get entrance to the showcase where some of the songs from this latest album will be performed – by entering the contest! (Contest form can be downloaded here)
Simply fill up the form, attach a barcode from either one of the three Coffeemix packages and mail it to PO box no 5 POS Malaysia Masai 81757 Masai Johor. Contestants with the most entries win, it’s that simple.
Super Rich, Super Regular (Reduced Sugar), Super Regular 3 in 1 Coffee
Oh, other than the music showcase tickets, what else could you win?
If you’re a fan, this is your only way! Go join already. As for me, I’m going to have some Super Coffeemix
As far as birds go, goose is one of my favorites for consumption. For the rich and fehmes, you have foie gras; for the rest of us, there is always roast goose. Glorious glittering roast goose.
Yi Kee restaurant at Taman Connaught
Unfortunately for the goose lover among us, there just aren’t that many places that offers this glorious bird. More often than not, places like Canton-i or Soon Fatt at Pudu runs out of them rather quickly.
Yi Kee is an old establishment that’s been around for a while, I guess you can sorta count the experience of the chef by his wrinkles… (and perhaps the goose fat in between, anyway I shall stop talking crap and get on with the program).
glorious roast goose drumstick
We arrived at Yi Kee on the weekends just past prime lunch hours, and luckily there were still roast goose left. Haze and I ordered goose for two, a serving of roast pork, and rice. I’ve heard they serve some good steamed soup, but we tried not to over order that day for a change.
A couple minutes later we were served with a rather huge portion of 1/4 goose, dark meat with drum stick. I stared at it for a minute, admiring the glistering fats over the layer of crispy skin that screamed at me, teasing it a little.
Then a bite, oh my. Roast goose will be roast goose, I’m not sure how great they are in HK, but this one is tasty and this one’s available, that will be good enough for me.
roast goose & roast pork, Haze & KY
Goose and roast pork are served with plum sauce, dark sauce, and chili paste. All of which tasted authentic and home made. The plum sauce’s most definitely home made, not as thick as those off the shelve type but tasted quite a lot nicer.
The skin of roast pork here comes with super crispy skin, they are also fatty but the non fatty meat are the firmer type. Old style, nice, though not as addictive as the one at Wong Meng Kee at Pudu.
Yi Kee is situated along Connaught Highway just across from where UCSI University (stupidest name ever, since UC = University College). Our lunch coasts about RM 20 per pax, guess goose is never cheap, but it was worth it.
Address:
223, Jalan Sarjana,
Taman Connaught,
Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.082398, 101.734021
Tel: 03-9132 9968
