Just before heading to Bangkok, I had the chance to do a review at Pearl International Hotel’s Sunday Japanese Buffet. Being a fan of Japanese food, I naturally accepted the offer without any hesitation.

glorious oysters, mussels, and crabs

The Sunday buffet is actually something new for Pearl International Hotel. I was a little skeptical on the quality and choices of food as the hotel does not have an in-house Japanese restaurant. However, I was proven wrong on both assumptions when I reached the hotel at around 12pm. A writer from NST was joining us for the review session as well.

wide variety of food, including desserts and fruits

The buffet is set up at Deli Corner, the restaurant right by the main lobby with seating capacity of around 200. The setting is rather large, with almost every type of Japanese food on the various buffet lines. From raw oysters, sushi and sashimi, to tempura and sukiyaki, the selection was impressive.

the raw stuff: sushi, sashimi, oysters, and chuka idako (baby octopus)

The proper way to start off with a Japanese buffet is, of course, by attacking the raw bar. I got myself a few pieces of raw oysters, some mussels, and a couple steamed prawns to go with a serving of sashimi. This is to ensure that the taste buds aren’t contaminated by the stronger flavored cooked item.

soba, sukiyaki, tofu, and green tea ice cream

The oysters, mussels, and prawns were very good. As for the sashimi, the standard is rather normal. Then again I’ve never had really outstanding sashimi from a buffet. The finer cuts are usually only catered to ala carte menu where a plate of sashimi moriawase costs more than a ticket to this buffet, so I guess it is only fair.

noodle, tempura, chawanmushi

I then moved on to sample some chuka idako (baby octopus), tempura, tofu, vegetables, and terikyaki sticks. I particularly like the way they serve chuka idako in a soup spoon. Very exquisite and yet easy to take, easy to eat, and without the chance to make a mess. These cooked food didn’t disappoint me, they are at least on par with the midrange Japanese restaurants.

ahh, some sake to go with everything, perfect

I had the chef made me a very delicious bowl of sukiyaki with beef too, and another serving of raw food before calling it a meal. At the end, I couldn’t resist the green tea ice cream for dessert, 2 scoops of sweetness, bliss!

Pearl International is situated right next to Plaza OUG at Old Klang Road

The meal is priced at RM 48++ per person, seniors can get in for RM 40++ and kids at RM 30++. Pretty decent price for the amount of offerings you get to have. Currently it is only on for Sunday buffet lunch, but do give them a call as the F&B Manager Lawrance Khoh told me they are planning to expand this operation looking at the strong demand. Give it a try!

Invitation arranged by FoodStreet.

Address:
Batu 5, Jalan Klang Lama
58000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-7983 1111

Tags:  Buffet,  dining,  food,  idako,  Japanese,  sake,  sashimi,  sukiyaki,  sushi,  tempura

Posted by KY | 33 Comments »

It’s been a while since I last went for a buffet steamboat, in fact, it was Talipon in May. I guess it was because buffets always left me unable to walk. Then came the noobs suggesting that we head for the rather famous Yuen buffet steamboat at Sunway Mentari. I have passed the shop a few times and there was always a huge crowd, I guess it must be pretty good. So, why not?

huge crowd all the time

Except that I was rather hungry, and when we got there at about 8pm, there were about a dozen tables’ waiting list ahead of us. It was about 45 minutes later when we were called for our table. Note to self: donot go there without reservation on a weekend when too hungry.

Once seated, we were asked for the choice of soup. Unlike, say, Shabu Shabu King, we were able to have both the tomyam and clear soup in the same hotpot. We headed to the buffet line right away. The selection of items in this restaurant is bigger than the previous two restaurants mentioned, and they are not stingy on the more expensive items either. Plenty of big shrimps (both salt and fresh water), crab, squid, and shell fish for the taking. They were all pretty fresh too.

they didn’t skimp on the offering

The tomyam soup was particulary good, with the right amount of spiciness and sourness, it gets even better as you boil the various raw ingredients in the soup. I suggest always starting off with some crab or shell fish to give the soup base a stronger flavor.

Other than a few dozen types of seafood seafood, you can find poultry, beef, various types of fishball and fishcake taste-alike, more than half a dozen vege, kuih, fruits, ice cream, noodles, fried meehun and fried rice. I believe no pork is served.

chicken wing was really good too

The claim of fame for this restaurant though, is not merely its steamboat offering, you can get that in many other places. It was their honey chicken wing. We stalked the cooked buffet line for quiet sometime before the chicken wing came out of the kitchen steaming, and it was some 30 seconds before the tray is empty again. We only managed to get a couple pieces per person. The tiny chicken wings were indeed very delicious, with strong taste of honey properly marinated in the wings, it was something you’ll have to try for yourself.

so now you can go there too!

The dinner costs RM 18.80 per person, add RM 1.00 for the free flowing Chinese tea and it’s still less than RM 20.00, a very reasonable for the type of food served. Yuen buffet steamboat only serves dinner.

Address:
32A-1, Jalan PJS 8/6
Mentari Plaza, Bandar Sunway
46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.076211, 101.612098
Tel:016-2086678, 56375825

Tags:  Buffet,  hot-pot,  mentari,  seafood,  Steamboat,  sunway

Posted by KY | 31 Comments »

My colleague invited me to this talk thingy at Hotel Equatorial a while back, lunch included. Who would want to miss a free lunch at one of the nicest hotels, right? However, I didn’t expect the host to offer such a lavish lunch at Nippah CoffeeShop. According to my colleague, most of the time similar functions usually only offer fried mee hun and the like. Lucky me.

very nice ambience

Nippah Coffeehouse is located at the basement of Equatorial Hotel, a giant staircase from the lobby will lead you directly to the restaurant, as you can see from the right bottom corner picture above. The ambience is really nice, the quiet and calm environment provides a striking contrast to the busy afternoon. The round tables at the center are fitted with steamboat pots, while the surrounding tables are rectangular and do not come with such fixture. There are probably around 30 tables in total.

some of the buffet lines

While not as big and lavish as Jogoya at Starhill, Nippah CoffeeHouse does pack an impressive array of buffet lines. There is a raw and salad bar, with oysters, clams, and other cold dishes. A grill bar with grilled fish, oyster mornay, satey, steak, and seafood thermidor. Then there’s the local dish area with various types of curry and other local cuisine such as beef rendang and crab with curry sauce (highly recommended). There are also a line offering raw food for steamboat, and also a dessert bar.

fresh seafood steamboat, raw oysters too

The food itself was excellent. I particularly can’t get enough of the Oyster Mornay, freshly prepared by the chef. If you are sitting on a table with no steamboat pot, you can still pick the food from steambaot line and get a chef to cook it fresh, with a choice of tomyam or clear broth.

The curry crab is another must-try item, alongside with the mutton rendang and the grilled salmon, done in a perfect way with the inner part of the fillet still soft and not over cooked. You can even find air mata kucing as dessert. A slight let down though, was the lack of fresh juices or any variety of drinks with the buffet package.

just look at these oyster mornay!

The lunch was worth RM 75++ per person. According to the Equatorial’s website, the establishment won the Malaysian Tourist Development Board Award for Best Malay Restaurant (Cuisine). It certainly taste like it.

I think this is an excellent place to bring foreigners for a good buffet dinner that offers expansive local delights while providing a very nice dining experience with excellent ambience and interior decoration. You will probably like it too for a change from the usual Western (esp. Italian) and Japanese style buffets.

Hours (the restaurant, not the buffet lunch):
Sun - Thur 6.00 am - 2.00 am
Fri, Sat and public holidays 6.00 am - 3.00 am
GPS: 3.153575, 101.709216
Tel: +60 3 2031 3030

Tags:  Buffet,  lunch,  western-food

Posted by KY | 8 Comments »

So the suan felt hungry and wanted to go to Talipon, since she don’t really care about other options, we went there. Talipon is a steamboat and grill place with the buffet concept, the typical eat all you can, but will charge you extra if you are wasteful. You get a 2 in 1 grill + steamboat set up, with a choice of clear or tomyam soup.

can you see FA & Val, or did suan take up too many pixels?

It was ages since I last went to this particular restaurant despite the close proximity, I guess the slowness of shrimp serving on the last visit played a part in that (as in, the owner took her time to top up the shrimps on the buffet line, leaving that tray empty 85% of the time). Luckily, no such problem this time, I guess they figured out that wasn’t a good business tactic.

the selection

The selection of food at Talipon isn’t too bad. You have several types of meat such chicken, beef, and mutton. There are also shrimp, flower crab, squid, and several types of shell fish on the seafood side. As with every other DIY type of buffet, there’s a huge variety of fishball taste alike items too. Then you have vege, tofu, eggs, fruits, some local kuih for dessert, and even Vanilla ice cream. Not a bad selection for around RM 18 per person, drinks not included though.

Bestnya the chilli shrimp.. yum

Now, the best thing about eating at Talipon is the chilli prawn invented by yours truely a couple years back. It goes a little like this (refer to accompanying photos above):

• peel off shrimps
• dip in chilli sauce
• grill with some butter
• yum yum yum

Updated LRT map with Rapid KL logo, bestnya!

Address:
Jalan SS 25/2,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.113305, 101.605897

Tags:  Buffet,  hotpot,  kelana-jaya,  seafood,  Steamboat

Posted by KY | 15 Comments »

Running out of ideas on where to dine last saturday night, I suggested to the noobs that perhaps we go for MOMO at BU for their Japanese buffet. I have been to Momo some half dozen times since about 2-3 years back, it’s no Jogoya in terms of selection and atmosphere, but the food is great and the value is excellent.

sushi, sashimi, oyster.. yumm

We got there half past eight and got ourself busy right away. To start off, I usually head to the raw food area. The sashimi selection wasn’t huge, there’s salmon, tuna, butter fish, and another type of i-don’t-know-the-name fish, but they were all fresh and taste pretty good. Another raw item would be the fresh oyster. Several types of sushi were available, and you can get the chef to make you a california temaki (handroll) too. Kerol had two of that.

sukiyaki, teppanyaki, miso soup.. drools..

There were actually 4 buffet areas. The main line serves sushi, sashimi, a host of other popular Japanese food such as miso soup, chawanmushi (steamed egg), soba, grilled eel, grilled fish, etc. On the opposite, you have another line where you can find oyster, shrimps, baby octopus, sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, dessert, and fruits. On the outdoor area, you can find tepanyaki, teriyaki, and the excellent tempura selection, all freshly prepared. Last but not least, you can find ice cream, DIY chendol, and green tea on the refreshment line.

cold soba, green tea ice cream, chawanmushi, grilled prawn & tempura

The tempura were pretty good, crispy and fresh. There’s your usual lady’s finger, yam, pumpkin, fish, and prawn. Teriyaki is served on a stick ala satey style. Do remember to try their beef teppanyaki, they are excellent, I almost died from stomach explosion trying to down the last few of those beef cubes, but it was all worth it.

we were definately satisfied with bloated stomach

For dessert, there are fruits, ice cream, DIY chendol, and several types of Japanese “kuih”, Kenneth had a whole big plate of those. The green tea ice cream was very good and tasted very strong, highly recommended and especially fun if you hide some wasabi in it, as tested by one unfortunate noob.

For 10 sen less than RM 45.00 Nett (RM39.90 for Sunday lunch I think), Momo definately offers value for money and pretty darn good food. My housemate horny recommends this place over Shogun anytime.

what’s a food review without a map?

Address:
Lot F9 Centre Point Bandar Utama
Lebuh Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya
47800 Selangor, Malaysia
GPS: 3.137988, 101.610124
Phone:03-7725 9688

Tags:  Buffet,  centrepoint,  Japanese-Food,  sashimi,  sushi

Posted by KY | 24 Comments »