Lot 10 KL is one of the best places in all of KL if you are a fan of Japanese food, the lower ground floor the 4th floor of this building is home to some 2 dozens Japanese restaurants, serving up anything from shabu shabu, to omakase sushi.
Today, let’s look at one of their less glamorous outlets at Isetan the Japan Store’s supermarket section – Hirashima Sushi.
Hirashima Sushi, Isetan KL, Lot 10
Hirashima Sushi is basically the sushi counter for the supermarket, with an open chiller section not unlike many grocery stores in the city – offering pre-packed sushi/sashimi cuts to go.
What’s different at Hirashima Sushi is that they happen to also have a small sushi bar offering sushi bowls and selected nigri sushi (menu below), priced from RM 36 to RM 88 and comes with free flow green tea.
toro kaisen don – tuna belly, uni, ikura
Being a huge fan of toro (tuna belly), I went for the toro kaisen don (RM 88). The bowl of sushi rice comes with four slices of tuna belly, uni (sea urchin), and quite generous amount of ikura (salmon roe).
Quality wise it was rather decent, and definitely packs a punch above it’s asking price if you ask me. There aren’t many places you can have this sort of combination below RM 100. I was well satisfied.
hotate kaisen don, Elizabeth
My dinner date for the day, Elizabeth, chose the hotate kaisen don (RM 68), basically the same set with raw scallop instead of tuna belly. I had a piece of the scallop and was happy to say that it definitely did not disappoint.
I have a feeling I’ll be going back to this place again pretty soon.
Address: Hirashima Sushi Lower Ground Floor
Isetan the Japan Store Lot 10 Shopping Mall Jalan Bukit Bintang GPS:3.146462, 101.711758
One of my weekday breakfast spots is this little old food court by the intersection of Jalan Loke Yew and Lorong Loke Yew by the name of Restoran Red Leaf, or also called Restoran Shoong City (confusing, I know..), and truth be told, I’ve always gone there for their Penang prawn mee, which was as good as any you can find in Klang Valley.
While paying another visit a week ago, the prawn mee stall was on leave, which led me to look for alternative, and that’s how I ended up trying the Penang char kuih teow here.
char kuih teow stall at Restoran Red Leaf, Lorong Loke Yew
As usual, whenever ordering a dish claimed to be from Penang, I always “test water” by doing it in Penang Hokkien, and happy to report that the proprietor had no problem verifying that he is indeed from the dish is claimed to be.
I then ordered myself and Rich both a plate of duck egg CKT for breakfast.
The char kuih teow came with almost all the essential ingredients – there’re three pretty good size prawns, cockles, bean sprouts, chives, kuih teow, but instead of lap cheong (Chinese sausage), we have sliced fish cake, which is not uncommon in some versions of Penang CKT, tho I always prefer the former.
Additionally, the dish is also served on a sheet of banana leaf, which is always a good thing.
char kuih teow with duck egg
The CKT indeed tasted like it was one from up North, plenty of “wok hei”, and in fact, perhaps slightly overly so. I thought overall it was pretty good, with the exception that it was just a tad overcooked, especially with the egg being a bit too done to my liking (then again I love the runnier version of CKT like the one at no. 5 in Macalister).
Overall though, I thought this was a more than competent enough version of Penang CKT and for sure I’d be happy to return (and with the instruction of having it less cooked).
prawns and cockles are of good more than decent size
Addresss: Restoran Red Leaf No 61 & 63, Ground Floor Jalan Loke Yew, 55200 KL GPS: 3.129614, 101.711412 Hours: 7am – 12pm
Mixed pork soup the lesser favored cousin when it comes to meat soup dishes compared to the likes of bak kut teh, or even beef noodle soup. They’re all made of meat and innards of either pork or cow, hence I think it’s appropriate to have a bit of mixed pork soup appreciation.
herbal pork soup at Wai Sek Kai
For those who aren’t familiar with this dish, mixed pork soup is as what the name suggests – a mixture of various pork parts, 3-layer pork, and coagulated blood bath in salted vegetable soup. The parts usually includes small/big intestine, liver, and stomach, and when you’re lucky, kidney too (not here at Wai Sek Kai).
When it is done right, like this version at Jalan Sayur, the soup carries a subtle porky sweetness with a salty note from the preserved vegetable, and the meat and innards properly cooked to a texture that’s never difficult to chew. Most importantly, the liver is separately blanched to get it just right and not overcooked.
mixed pork soup with a side of rice
The dish can be had as is, or with a bowl of rice if you’re not into the whole low carb/keto thingy. There’s condiment of old school chili sauce to go with the soup if you like it with a slight kick.
Address: Jalan Sayur, Off Jalan Pudu, 55100 Pudu, Kuala Lumpur GPS: 3.135208, 101.713051 Hours: dinner & supper
Many of you know that one of my favorite restaurants in the whole Klang Valley is this fish noodle place called B & Best at Kelana Jaya, a place I go without fail at least once a month. To me, a proper bowl of soupy kuih teow or mee suah with fresh seafood is the ultimate comfort food one can ask for.
Knowing my preference, Alan, a diving friend of mine texted and suggest that I should also give this other seafood noodle place a try – Pong Kee at Jalan Ipoh, so I did.
Pong Kee Seafood Noodle at Restoran 88, Jalan Ipoh
Pong Kee is a stall located at Restoran 88, a kopitiam at Jalan Batu Ambar, just off the main stretch of Jalan Ipoh. It is the biggest stall in the kopitiam, you can’t miss it. Parking can be slightly challenging at this area but shouldn’t be a problem if you’re willing to walk a few steps.
Like most seafood noodle places, they actually offers both noodle (kuih teow, yellow noodle, mee suah, mihun), and porridge to go with a selection of seafood, including different species of fish, lala, oysters, abalone, and so forth.
tiger garupa and fresh oysters with kueh teow
My choice of the day right after a rigorous futsal session was tiger garupa & oyster (RM 24) in kuih teow. The soup base was subtle, and the portion was actually pretty decent with probably a palm full of decent size oysters and expertly cut fish fillet. While there’s no awesome sambal like they have at B & Best, this version is more than competent in itself.
comfort food with fresh fish in soup and noodle
For those who are from this side of Klang Valley, this is definitely a worthy fish noodle place to check out, and Pong Kee also definitely has some die-hard fans. Check out the exchange below after I posted the short video on my FB page.
Address: Pong Kee Seafood Noodle Restoran 88 4-1, Jalan Batu Ambar, Taman Kok Lian, 51200 Kuala Lumpur GPS: 3.202415, 101.674460 Tel: 016-379 0181
A couple weeks ago I was invited to check out Mo-Mo Paradise at J’s Gate Dining at Lot 10. Do read up on J’s Gate Dining here if you haven’t heard about this fantastic new Japanese dining area before. It is literally a paradise for those who loves food from the land of the rising sun.
Mo-Mo Paradise at J’s Gate Dining
Back to Mo-Mo Paradise, this latest outfit at J’s Gate Dining offers shabu-shabu and sukiyaki in a no-frill, all-you-can-eat buffet style within 100 minutes. In another word, eat as much as you want, or can, during a 100 minute period and pay one all inclusive price for the food offered.
At Mo-Mo Paradise, the asking price is RM 68++.
The restaurant is founded in 1993 at Shinjuku Kabukicho in Tokyo with the aim of providing the ultimate shabu-shabu and sukiyaki experience by focusing on a wide variety of fresh and high quality ingredients. On top of the traditional ingredients, they also aim to provide a modern and inviting ambiance with good hospitality to diners.
From our experience, I think they got it down quite well at this outlet.
all-you-can-eat in 100 minutes, with all these beef & pork slices too
Well, what do they really offer then in terms of food?
First off there’s a vegetable bar where you get all your greens in self served style. There’s a good selection of vegetables, tofu, mushroom, onion, and even fuchuk and some fish balls.
Then there’s obviously the most important ingredients – the meat. For this session we were served 3 different types of beef and pork each, with a total of 6 varieties. My favorite was the “bacon” cut of pork (probably isn’t the best for my cholesterol level?) but all 6 types of thinly sliced meat were all so delicious.
We had the shabu with ponzu and gomadare sauce, and raw eggs for sukiyaki.
great food is best enjoyed with friends
We ended the night with a couple scoops of ice cream (included in the package), and I thought the experience overall was rather positive, good was very good, and while it isn’t the cheapest meal option, it does offer pretty good value and way above average in terms of quality. Will return.
