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I first learned about the Dato’ Keramat ikan bakar from my Malay colleagues when they tapao some all the way to KLCC for lunch. Fast forward a couple years later, I finally managed to convinced one of my colleagues to follow me there for a quick meal.

Mat Teh ikan bakar at Dato’ Keramat

After a bit of searching and asking about at the market, we finally located Mat Teh Ikan Bakar, with the stall situated within the Dato’ Keramat wet market, facing the parking area.

We immediately knew that we were at the right place, the place was packed, and on the grill was at least 30 pieces of grilled fish in the process of cooking, all neatly wrapped in banana leaves for that extra flavor.

huge slab of ikan pari, soup, and ulam

For this trip, I ordered a piece of ikan pari (stringray), which also comes with a generous amount of ulam (Malay style salad) with sambal, soup, and a plate of steamed rice.

The fish was thick and huge, it was probably meant for two person, which also explained why it cost something like RM 14-16 (but definitely worth it). The cooking method utilizing banana leaf ensures that it was plenty juicy and flavorful, and with those accompanying sambal, I was more than satisfied.

the place is very busy, and with good reasons

Mat Teh stall also offers some pretty good juices, I had a glass of mango juice which complimented the meal very well.

This is definitely a place I want to go again, but this time I’ll make sure to share the fish with someone else, Shabana can’t be just an observer drinking teh ais again.

shabana – my partner in crime

If you’re in town looking for some good ikan bakar, this is one place to check out. Getting there is as easy as taking the LRT and getting off at Dato’ Keramat station.

Address:
Mat Teh Ikan Bakar
Dato’ Keramat Wet Market
Opposite Dato’ Keramat LRT
Jalan Dato’ Keramat
GPS: 3.166079, 101.730992
Tel: 016-336 2123

A week or so ago, I was lucky enough to get invited to one of the more exclusive dinner previews in town – to sample the All Kansai Festival dinner at Kampachi Pavilion KL.

The festival runs from 15th – 23rd of February 2014, including traditional street performances, takoyaki workshop, stage performances, and of course, Kaiseki dinner, which happens on 19, 20, & 21 February 2014 (priced at RM 300+)

All Kansai Festival, only at Kampachi, Pavilion KL

The festival is exclusive only to Kampachi at Pavilion. For the tasting session, we had a subset of the menu. Instead of the full 9 course dinner, we sampled 6 dishes, mainly due to the fact that certain ingredients for other dishes will not arrive until the slated days to ensure freshness.

Anyway, lets get started.

Fresh Oyster with Ponzu Vinegar Gelée, Clear Soup with Clam

Our first course was Kaki no Ponzu Jure (Fresh Oyster with Ponzu Vinegar Gelée). Served on a bed of ice, the oyster was huge and succulent, with the ponzu gelée giving it that extra sophistication. This version is the best way I’ve had oyster yet, beats the usual lemon or worse, tabasco sauce by a mile.

Next up was Hamaguri, Uguisuna, Harinegi, Kinome (Clear Soup with Clam, Japanese Mustard Spinach, Julienned Leek & Young Japanese Pepper Buds). This was not your ordinary miso soup, it was subtle and very refreshing. The huge clam certainly provided an unmistakable seafood sweetness to the clear soup.

Slices of Raw Fish – Tuna, Ark Shell & Yellowtail

No Kaiseki menu is complete without sashimi. We had Maguro, Akagai, Hamachi (Slices of Raw Fish – Tuna, Ark Shell & Yellowtail). The premium raw seafood was served on a bed of ice with grated wasabi. My favorite out of the three was the ark shell, fresh, crunchy, with a blend of sweetness and savoury taste. Excellent.

Grilled Yellowtail with Teriyaki Sauce

Tennen Hamachi Teriyaki Manganji Togarashi Syoyuzuke (Grilled Yellowtail with Teriyaki Sauce garnished with Marinated Manganji Green Pepper) came next. While it was a more than decent dish on its own, I believe that with wild Amberjack (as intended during the festival) would elevate this dish to a new height as the texture of Amberjack would be superior to Yellowtail when grilled.

Boxed Sushi with Seabream, Prawn, & Conger Eel

Sushi came next, in the form of Sanshoku Oshizushi (Box Sushi with Sea Bream, Prawn & Conger Ee). To be honest, this was the first time I had pressed sushi, the texture is a quite a bit different from the usual nigri sushi (hand made rice ball with raw seafood on top), maki (rolled sushi), or temaki (hand roll). The rice in boxed sushi is a bit denser, providing a different experience.

Yuzu Mousse, Kampachi Signature Peanut Mochi

Our dessert was Yuzu Mousse (Japanese Citrus Mousse), refreshing and perfect for a sweet ending.

We couldn’t help ourselves and asked for Kampachi’s Signature Peanut Mochi as well. The mochi is served warm and covered with mountain of crushed peanut and sugar, similar with the traditional mochi found in Penang’s hawker scene, except more refined. I find myself enjoying this very much.

The seats for Kansai Festival dinner menu is fast selling out (I believe 21st Feb already sold out), so book yourself an awesome dinner if you’re a fan of Japanese food. Check their website for full menu and other information.

we had a great time sampling the Kansai Festival Menu

Address:
Kampachi
Level 6, Pavilion
Jln Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
Tel: 03-2148 9608
Website: www.kampachi.com.my
Hours: 10 am to 10 pm

Before the gourmet burger craze that seems to be sweeping through Klang Valley, there was Ramly burger.

While many Ramly burger stalls offer the same set of menu with standard beef and chicken patties pairing egg, cheese, and the usual lettuce/cabbage, onion, chili sauce, and mayonnaise, there are some that steps up the game.

One of such places is Burger Bobby Simpang 3.

Burger Bobby Simpang 3

Burger Bobby was started by the man behind the stall some 10 years ago. Located at Lembah Keramat (a few minutes away from Zoo Negara), it is a burger stall with a few tables under a canopy set up in front of the proprietor’s house.

Prosperity Tiesto Single Special Cheese

The menu is pretty extensive for a burger stall, other than the usual beef, chicken, fish burgers and hotdogs, there’s also some messier options such as their “Prosperity” range of Tiesto (lamb) and Lambo (beef) burgers.

Prices for normal burger starts at RM 3.50 for single patty to triple special cheese prosperity Tiesto burger at RM 19.00.

For dinner just before my futsal session at Ampang Sports Planet, I ordered a single special cheese Tiesto burger (RM 9.00).

it’s a messy affair and I loved it

The burger was about twice the size of standard Ramly burger, and at least thrice as messier, a cacophony of lettuce, onion, plenty of chili sauce with a decent sized lamb patty wrapped in fried egg and cheese wedged between sesame bun. It was actually rather delicious.

Good thing that they have a hand washing area by the side. Looks like I’m going to be following my futsal buddies there more often next time.

Address:
Burger Bobby Simpang 3
No 5 Jalan AU 5C/1
Lembah Keramat 
54200 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.202145, 101.754651
Tel: 013-640 2237
Hours: 4pm to 4am daily

While Japanese affair at higher end restaurants can be pretty damaging to the pocket, many of those places also offer a lunch menu with much better deals. One of the places we visited a couple times for lunch over the past few months was Hanare Authentic Japanese Cuisine at The Intermark.

Hanare at The Intermark

The restaurant is located on the ground floor, just below the lobby of Double Tree by Hilton. The interior is tastefully decorated, with open kitchen, a sushi/sashimi bar, and a teppanyaki bar.

This place has a great ambiance, but terrible cell data service. Luckily, wifi is available for those of you who can’t eat without staying online with your smartphone.

combination set – sashimi and teppanyaki ebi hotate

One of the more popular lunch options here is the combination menu. For RM 48++, you get to choose from any of these two options:

• sashimi mori (3 kinds of sashimi)
• shake sashimi (salmon)
• yaki sakana (grilled fish – cod, mackerel, or salmon)
• unagi kabayaki
• tori katsu (deep fried breadcrumb chicken)
• tempura mori (assorted tempura)
• kakiage (deep fried kakiage prawns and vegetables)
• teppanyaki ebi hotate (teppanyaki prawn & scallops)
• tori teriyaki (chicken teriyaki)
• kaki fry (deep fried oyster)

The set also comes with appetizer, salad, chawanmushi, and a dessert. This is pretty similar to the deals at Ozeki Tokyo Cuisine and Coco-Tei Japanese Restaurant.

chicken teriyaki, grilled cod, sashimi, custard

While the portions look rather small individually, the combination of them really does fill up the stomach.

Other than the combination set, there are sushi bento (RM 70), makunouchi bento (RM 55), a light salad lunch (RM 38), and dedicated lunch sets with sushi (RM 70), sukiyaki (RM 75), mixed fried seafood (RM 48), steak teppan (RM 80), and more.

bara chirashi sushi, one of my favorites

Another entry in the menu I tried here was the bara chirashi sushi (RM 45). It is similar to the basic chirashi sushi but with the seafood usually cut in cubes instead of the traditional sushi/sashimi cuts. The choice certainly did not disappoint.

Prices at Hanare is actually a little on the higher side when it comes to lunch sets, but for the quality of food as well as the ambiance of the restaurant, I think that this is a fine option.

Address:
Hanare
Lot G 06, Ground Floor
The Intermark
348, Jalan Tun Razak
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.16154, 101.71996
Web: www.globalfoods.com.my

I don’t often venture out to Jinjang, in fact, Jinjang is sort of a place we always joked about as a “kampung” within KL. Whenever we see a particularly  badly dressed young female, we’d say that she must be from Jinjang.

But like many older part of the Klang Valley settlements, Jinjang, and the whole Kpong area, spots some pretty good old school eateries, and Restoran Seafood Ho Kee is one of them.

Restoran Seafood Ho Kee, Jinjang

We were brought here by Haze’s aunt, a lady who is well versed with good old fashion Chinese food around the city, often with very reasonable pricing too. She was also the one who introduced us the equally good Zhen Liew Siang restaurant at Sentul.

Ho Kee is located at a row of shop lot on Jalan 1/32 at Jinjang, which is just off Jalan Kepong. The restaurant has a pretty simple set up, with plastic chairs, wooden tables, and plastic liners. Surprisingly, it is also air conditioned and smoke free.

sambal fish, kulou yok (pork)

One of the speciality dishes here is their sambal fish, with tilapia coated in generous amount of sambal all wrapped up in aluminium foil. The whole concoction is then lit up with a bit of alcohol when serving, probably a bit gimmicky and unnecessary. That doesn’t matter tho, cos the fish was very delicious with the potent sambal, and goes superbly with steamed rice.

The kulou yok (sweet and sour pork) here is definitely one of the bests I’ve had anywhere, we ended up ordering an extra serving. Crispy yet juicy pork with those savoury tomato sauce, yummy!

steamed ginger chicken, Japanese tofu with egg, pork belly with salted fish

Another dish on my must-order list would be their steamed kampung chicken with ginger. This version is as good as the one we had at Bukit Tinggi’s Loong Sing restaurant, the minced ginger will surely open up your sinus, in a good way.

Pork belly with salted fish is worthy worthy dish, but one that is perhaps not the best I had, for a better version, try Lucky Loke at PJ SS3.

The Japanese tofu with egg provided a welcoming change in taste, a more moderate note to balance out the stronger tasting dishes.

fried cuttle fish with dried red chilli

Ho Kee also offers one of the rarer dishes out there – fried cuttle fish with dried chili (in Cantonese “si jiu chau yau”, also means getting fired from work). The cuttle fish perfectly cooked, fresh tasting and crunchy while not being rubbery, the flavour of dried chilli and ginger permeated in the seafood, making a uber delicious choice.

If you want a good old fashion Chinese cuisine and don’t mind a bit of a wait (It was some 45 minutes for us), give Ho Kee a try. The owner/operator/chef cooks every dish, ensuring quality though sacrificing time. Pricing is rather reasonable as well, I believe it was less than RM 20 per pax.

Address:
Hoi Kee Seafood Restaurant
Jalan 1/32, Taman Jinjang Baru,
Jinjang, 52000, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.20814, 101.65765