Hokkaido Ichiba at One Utama and Mid Valley Gardens are two of the latest restaurants to be opened up by one of the largest Japanese restaurant chains in the country – Super Dining.
The group started out with their Raku Zen restaurants at SS 15 and other locations, then ventured into lower end conveyor belt style restaurants in Sushi Zanmai, a Japanese pasta chain in Pasta Zanmai, a higher end hotel-restaurant in Kura, and now, sitting between Zanmai and Raku Zen – Hokkiado Ichiba.
Hokkaido Ichiba, One Utama branch
The menu at Hokkaido Ichiba is rather extensive, there are sushi, sashimi, various bento, maki, ramen, udon, and even small side dishes that you normally wouldn’t find in ordinary Japanese outlets.
California temaki, anglerfish liver, spicy oyster ramen
For the two of us, we ordered an oyster ramen, a chirashi sushi, California temaki, and something that I haven’t eaten since 5 years ago in Vietnam - anglerfish liver.
The service was pretty brisk on a weekday night at One Utama, and we got our dishes within 15 minutes or so upon ordering.
The California temaki was Haze’s appetizer and reportedly quite tasty. The anglerfish liver though, was a tad too dry for me, though still retaining that distinctive taste that I can only describe as a blend of liver with a fishy (in a good way) undertone and has a texture between that of foie gras and pork liver. If you haven’t tried it before, this is a place to do so in an affordable way.
The spicy oyster ramen was a pretty decent dish as well, spicy and rather flavorful, though slightly lacking when compared to dedicated ramen shops such as Santouka or Marutama. This is perhaps due to the home made ramen used in other outlets, or the amount of effort poured into the making of ramen broth.
chirashi sushi, with scallops, amaebi, salmon, ikura
My chirashi sushi though, was a steal at RM 30. It has two amaebi (sweet shrimps), hotate (scallops), ikura (salmon roe), salmon, and a couple crab sticks. The ingredients were pretty fresh and I thought it was a very good bowl of chirashi sushi especially considering the price point.
Haze and KY at Hokkaido Ichiba Japanese restuarant
Overall, Hokkiado Ichiba really does find a niche in this pretty saturated Japanese restaurant market. The food is pretty good, prices reasonable (RM 77.70 for everything, including green tea). If you are at One Utama or Mid Valley Gardens looking for reasonably affordable Japanese food and not wanting to fight with the crowd at Sushi Zanmai, this is a place worth checking out.
Address:
Hokkaido Ichiba
Lot T-201, 3rd Floor, The Gardens,
Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 KL.
Tel: 03-2283 1060
Hokkaido Ichiba
Lot LG 101, Lower Ground Floor Promenade,
1 Utama Shopping Centre, No 1, Lebuh Bandar Utama,
Bandar Utama Damansara, 47800 PJ.
Tel: 03-7727 0020
A couple weeks ago a bunch of us were invited to Al-Amar Express at Fahrenheit 88 for the Happy Hour promotion and a bit of food. The event turned out to be a definition of excess, and a textbook reference of good times.
Al Amar Express at Fahrenheit 88
Like most people, I had the unfortunate generalization that Al-Amar Express is a middle eastern food joint (which was correct), and hence must not serve alcohol (which wasn’t).
cocktails at Al Amar Express
In fact, the Al Amar “lets meet up…” wines and cocktails menu has several selections of Lebanese wines, popular beers, whisky, spirits, and some 10 different types of cocktails.
From 4pm to 8pm, buy 2 cocktails and get 1 free. The same thing applies to beer as well.
Lebanese wine, strawberry margarita, Corona beer
Before food was being served, we already got the night started with some mojito, Corona beer, wine, and margarita. Perfect start to the evening if you ask me.
hummus, Lebanese chickpea and eggplant dip, pita bread, haloumi salad
After a bit of chit chat and making sure everyone had something to drink, the food arrived.
We started out with some warm pita bread. Dipping them into hummus (RM 12.90) or those very interesting chickpea and eggplant (moutabal RM 12.90) as you would with chips and salsa, except the experience is quite a bit richer, and definitely more refined (for something that is eaten with hand)
The haloumi salad (RM 20) is another exquisite dish that I’ve never tasted – with fried haloumi cheese, herb crust crouton, cherry tomato, and vinaigrette dressing on top of a bed of rocket. The fried cheese was a revelation, slightly crispy on the outside, and definitely cheesy within. It was very good!
tabbouleh, warak enab, grilled chicken salad
Tabbouleh is a uniquely Arabic salad with finely chopped tomato, Italian parsley, and mint. The taste was very… refreshing.
Another salad we tried was the grilled chicken salad (RM 20), and this came with a generous portion of grilled chicken breast topped with aioli dressing. The marinate definitely leave a Lebanese signature in this dish.
Warak enab is these spring roll look-alike with ground lamb, rice, and spices all chopped up and wrapped in grape leaves. I find it a little too sour and salty, perhaps it is an acquired taste, or just a case of Al Amar sticking to the traditional recipe too closely.
spinach fatayer, cheese roll, lamb sambousik,
Spinach fatayer, cheese roll, and lamb sambousik (RM 8.50 each) were definitely the type of finger food best with some beer or cocktail. I don’t think further explanation is needed. Deep fried food always go well with alcohol.
Lebanese pizzas, shawarma and flame grilled chicken
And as we thought our collective stomaches were starting to get a bit full, the main dishes came.
First to be served were spicy chicken cheese (RM 17.90) and kafta with cheese manakeesh (RM 17.90) were both very delicious. They looked exactly like pizzas, but the taste was definitely different, a tad of saltiness, a kick of spiciness, and that savory taste from the meat. If I could only get these delivered…
The other main dishes were grilled whole chicken (RM 38) that comes in spicy and non spicy versions. The portion was enough to be shared between 2-3 adults. They too, carry the distinctive Lebanese taste.
Finally, we also tried the chicken and beef shawarma (RM 24.90 each). They were a bit like the kebab meat, but served loosely on a plate with pita bread.
a bunch of guys and gals who are completely full and half drunk
The session at Al Amar was rather enjoyable, there were good food, drinks, and excellent company. Ultimately, I thought the food at Al Amar was a little bit too one dimensional if you will. Everything stays very close to a distinctive taste that is undoubtedly Lebanese.
For a food review session, it gets a little bit monotonous, but to have a change of pace from other cuisines, a dinner at Al Amar surely wouldn’t disappoint, just don’t order the warak enab.
Address:
Al Amar Express
Fahrenheit 88
Lot G44, Ground Floor,
Buking Bintang, KL
GPS: 3.14748, 101.71283
Tel: 03-2141 3814
While on the way to Penang for Cheng Meng last week, we stopped by Ipoh for a quick dinner. The choice of noms for the night was the famous Menglembu Honey Chicken.
famous Menglembu honey chicken stall (shop now)
While I’ve had the honey chicken wings many times (usually tapao by Horng) The last time I visited this place was at some 10 years ago, and instead of that little small hawker stand, it is now a whole shop by itself, with ample workers to cater for their booming business.
The mainstay is their honey chicken wings (RM 2), but you can also order chicken skin (RM 2), honey bbq pork (RM 3), fried mushroom (RM 2), drumstick (RM 3), chicken breast/ribs (RM 3), and whole quarter chicken leg (RM 6).
the best honey chicken wings there is
We ordered a 2 pairs of honey chicken wings, 2 fried drumsticks, and a plate of deep fried chicken skin to share.
The honey chicken was as good as remembered. Sweet, succulent, and sticky in a good way. The meat gets torn off the bones so easily you can feed this to someone toothless. Chicken skin too would make very good beer food.
As for the deep fried drumsticks though, they were very ordinary, and play second fiddle to my favorite KFC.
If you’re willing to detour a little on a late evening drive between Penang and KL, do stop by this place and get some honey chicken. I assure you the extra 10km drive is worth it.
Address:
Menglembu Wai Sek Kai (Glutton Street)
Tranchell Street, 31450 Menglembu, Perak
GPS: 4.56333, 101.04480
Tel: 012-5161411, 012-5070005
Operating Hours: 5.30 pm – 11.00 pm
Koay Chiap, or braised duck noodle/porridge (鸭粥粿汁), is one of the lesser known Penang hawker dishes that is almost impossible to find outside Penang. (if anyone found one in KL, do let me know).
In fact, even in Penang itself, there are probably less than 10 stalls offering this unique dish, and it is not getting any more popular these days either. This is mostly due to the ingredients making up koay chiap, but incidentally, is also the very reason I love it so much.
lebuh kimberley koay chiap
As the name suggests, instead of normal noodle, koay chiap uses “koay”, the same substance with koay teow, but in a thicker, almost pan-mee style form. The “chiap” refers to juice, or a mixture of ingredients mainly made up from duck.
koay chiap goes well with the sweet peanut soup
In a bowl of proper koay chiap there’s duck meat, skin, intestine, blood, and braised duck egg. All immersed in a light herbal soup used to braised the duck. The dish is often served with a special chili sauce, but sometimes with chili padi too (like the koay chap at ayer itam)
this makes me a happy camper
The koay chiap at Lebuh Kimberley is as good as they come. It has everything that’s supposed to be in a bowl of koay chiap for RM 6, and unlike most hawker dishes in Penang, this one really fills you up. The meat are properly braised and soup isn’t bitter or overly flavored either. Best of all, the coagulated duck blood was simply superb.
I love it with a serving of sweet peanut soup (RM 1.30) to counter the meaty taste.
If you are in Penang and already had your fair share of laksa, curry mee, and char kuih teow, it is time to try something slightly out of the comfort zone, no?
Oh, while you’re at Lebuh Kimberley, check out this braised chicken feet place too.
Address:
Lebuh Kimberley (just before the food court)
Georgetown, Penang
GPS: 5.416537, 100.322473
Operating Hours: 6:30pm – 11:30pm, close on Thursdays
Pizza Hut is one of those places that always has a special place in my heart. My very first experience with pizza, like many Malaysians, was from Pizza Hut, and all throughout the year, I’ve attended big gatherings there, had friends who worked there, and celebrated farewells and other occasions at Pizza Hut as well.
Pizza Hut at Pavilion KL
To me then, Pizza Hut is always associated with friends and sharing, a place that is comfortable, affordable, and by the way, has pretty darn good food – the type of pizza that I grew up with.
The other good thing about Pizza Hut is that they are constantly coming up with different pizzas and/or other offers as well, like the brand new Triple Chicken Sensation that a bunch of us were invited to try.
the glorious Triple Chicken Sensation pizza from Pizza Hut
Fresh off the oven is the glorious Triple Chicken Sensation pizza – a combination of succulent chicken salami, delightful chicken loaf, and fluffy chicken floss topped off with mayo sauce, caramelized onion, and toasted sesame.
The result? My best description would be that it is almost similar with those excellent chicken floss bread from Bread Story, but something like 3x better with the addition of chicken salami and chicken loaf, not to mention the other ingredients. If you even remotely enjoy those chicken floss bread (which I do), you would love this pizza.
the side dishes at Pizza Hut, check out the new Triple Sensation Platter
Of course, Pizza Hut is not just about pizza, there is a whole menu’s worth of other dishes to enjoy too, and together with the triple chicken sensation pizza is the Triple Sensation Platter. Other than that, we also tried Hut’s Platter (tempura prawn, calamari, criss cross fries) and my favorite smoked deli wings.
As for drinks, I always order the assam boi fizz, a drink where I’ve never seen available from anywhere else. 
Audrey, Abang Nara, citigal, Redmummy, Rachel, Cheesie, KY
It goes without saying that we, again, had a great time at Pizza Hut. Sumptuous, great company, good times!
For the pizza lovers, do check out this brand new Triple Chicken Sensation pizza. Head over to Pizza Hut facebook page for more information or just start planning your lunch at Pizza Hut now!
Also, the first 5 person that leave a comment stating their first pizza hut experience gets a voucher from Pizza Hut. So do share and you could get some free pizza!
Good eating!
