The weather has been pretty miserable lately. The road is wet, sky gloomy, and laundry always damp and damned. However, this exact sort of pitiful weather is perfect for a bowl of hot porridge or some steamboat goodness. Which is why Cheesie and I decided to head to Nagomi Shabu Shabu at Jaya 33 for the most fitting dinner last Friday.

we ordered the duck set

In addition to Shabu Shabu with various type of meat (including Kobe beef), Nagomi also has a pretty comprehensive offering on fresh sashimi and sushi dishes. For the two of us, we ordered a duck shabu shabu set, sake deluxe maki (salmon roll with ebiko), and sake toro sashimi (salmon belly).

duck shabu shabu set, sake deluxe maki, sake toro sashimi

We chose the Nagomi soup, a miso based soup (I believe) for the shabu shabu. The duck shabu shabu set came with minced duck meat at the center holding a up a raw egg, sliced duck breast meat on the side, a bowl of rice rice, and a plate of raw vegetable, mushroom, tofu, and glass noodle. The sliced duck meat took only seconds to cook while the minced version had to sit in the boiling soup for a little longer, but they were delicious. I particularly like to have it with the foyu (fermented tofu) instead of the chili or soya sauce.

the three types of sauce

The sake deluxe sushi maki tasted very good too, with huge chunk of salmon and generous amount of ebiko (shrimp eggs) covering the roll. It was very good to lace our stomach with while waiting for the soup to boil.

Sake toro sashimi, of course, didn’t disappoint either. There were six slabs of salmon belly sashimi with a hint of the distinctive silver belly skin lining visible. As with tuna, the belly meat is most fatty and flavorful. The buttery texture with some wasabi and a dip of soyu, bliss!

awesome shabu shabu porridge!

Just as we were almost done with all the raw items, Cheesie suggested that we make porridge out of the now very flavorful soup base. It was an ingenious idea I’ve never gave a thought before!

We poured the rice into the steamboat; threw in the last pieces of meat, vegetable, and tofu; turn up the heat, and stirred. The rice swam lazily in the soup, but in about 15-20 minutes, the once solid rice fused with the soup and became porridge. It actually tasted so good with the concentrated flavor from the reduced shabu shabu soup. You should give it a try sometimes!

Nagomi is located on the ground floor of Jaya 33 in PJ

It was certainly a very good dinner. The bill came to RM 90.30 with the set costing RM 31, sushi and sashimi RM 16 & RM 25 respectively. Though not exactly cheap, I would rate the price as pretty reasonable, a place I would revisit.

Nagomi are can be found at Hartamas Shopping Complex and Menara Hap Seng too. Their website is here.

Adress:
PG-02B, Jaya 33,
No. 3, Jalan Semangat,
Seksyen 13,
46200 PJ, Selangor
GPS: 3.110274, 101.637139
Tel: 03-7986 2330

Tags:  cheesie,  duck,  Japanese,  ky,  ringo,  sashimi,  shabu shabu,  sushi

Posted by KY | 8 Comments »

Some of you might know that I play sports on a fairly regular basis. It all started from badminton, with my Monday evening group being the longest lasting session that has been going on for at least two years now. We always collect extra money each month, and every few month the pool is used for a feast. After all, that is why we exercise, right?

seafood, glorious seafood!

One of our regulars (who was also an ex colleague) was leaving the country last month, so it was a perfect excuse for the group to indulge ourselves in the farewell dinner.

The destination: Pantai Seafood at Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara.

I’ve heard much about this place, and even tried to go there once (but it was full.) The choices of live and swimming seafood is astounding, the number of aquariums is no less than the seafood restaurant I went to at Kota Kinabalu a couple years back. Huge grouper, abalone, lobster, geoduck, mantis prawn, and all sorts of shell fish swimming helplessly begging our mercy for a swift and delicious death.

huge live oysters, and geoduck sashimi

Anyway, for the 11 of us, we ordered a Mexican Geoduck set dinner that includes live oyster, geoduck sashimi, steamed fish (barramundi/siakap), boiled prawn, butter chicken, vegetable (lotus root), fried rice, and dessert (sea coconut). We also added sweet & sour crab and salted egg crab, as well as a big plate of noodle to fill us up.

The 10 oysters were really huge and juicy, reminded me of those I had at Kensington, Seremban. You know, the sort of seafood juiciness that is at the same time, void of any unpleasant smell.

It was also my first time having Geoduck, that unsightly shell fish that is similar to a baby elephant’s wiener, and it was very good! The meat is cut in little sashimi slices, wasabi is provided if you prefer to have it raw. Boiling chicken soup too if you want to have it slightly cooked. It was very sweet, something similar to scallop but even sweeter, the texture slightly chewy but similar to cartilage. I love it!

steamed siakap, boiled prawns, butter chicken, lotus root

The other dishes were a bit smallish in size if you were to actually feed 10 without having to order additional food. The steamed fish and prawns were obviously very fresh and tasted very good as well. Butter chicken didn’t disappoint either, if not a little unhealthy. Lotus root too, provided a refreshing change of taste from all the seafood and meat taste.

fried rice, crab with buns

The crab dishes we ordered were pretty good too. Salted egg crab is always one of my favorites, with the richness of salted egg yolk enveloping the shells, you can almost feel the cholesterol building up your arteries as you lick the goodness off that unfortunate crustacean. I love it.

The man tao (bun) goes very well with the sauce from the other crab dish as well. Sweet and slightly spicy crab sauce with the deep fried bun might seems like an unlikely combination, but any seafood lover (especially Chinese) agree to the awesomeness of it.

the noodle, dessert, and the gang

After all those goodness, we stuffed ourselves with fried rice and yee mee (noodle) with xo sauce. The fried rice was pretty ordinary and the noodle slightly disappointing with the amount of toppings rather limited. However, I’d still rate it a very good meal over all, I still can’t forget that geoduck experience.

The set was RM 398++, with the crab, bun, noodle, and tea, everything came up to RM 571 for 11 of us. A pretty decent value considering the variety we had. I believe I would return for more.

Address:
Lot 13575, Jalan Chempaka PJU 6A,
Kg. Sg. Kayu Ara, 47400 PJ
Selangor
GPS: 3.125756, 101.609126
Tel: 03-7725 5099

Tags:  badminton,  crab,  fish,  geoduck,  prawn,  seafood

Posted by KY | 36 Comments »

I had a food review at Bruno’s last week, and pinkpau Su Ann was the partner in crime. The appointment was on 8pm, and knowing how well this girl is with punctuality, I had told her to make it 7:30pm, but it didn’t deter her from arriving at my place only 5 minutes before 8 though…

Anyway, lets get back to the topic.

Bruno’s is one of the new Western restaurants that serves non-halal food, a trend that is slowly emerging in the market, following the good receptions of places like Jarrod & Rowlins and Bermuda &Onions. A trend that I particularly welcome! The restaurant actually shares the same owner as Food Foundry (one of the only places that sells Mille Crepe)

classy deco, and Su Ann, the very hot and cute thief of time

The unique thing about Bruno’s is the Iberian pork they serve. The black Iberian pigs are allowed to roam in the oak forest and raised with a diet of grass, herbs, acorns, and roots. A few months before slaughtering, the animal is fed only acorns. As a result, higher level of oleic acid is found in the meat, which is supposed to be a good thing that lowers your bad cholesterol (LDL) while increasing the good HDL.

Now who said eating pork is necessarily a bad thing?

Spanish ham, glorious pork ribs

Our host of the night was none other than the famous Daphne Lee (who hit off with Su Ann in a long and amusing gossip session) of the Drams Project. We started our dinner with a plate of Spanish Ham and Sausage Platter. The meat were slightly salty and tasted something between dried meat (bak kua) and ham, they go very well with some bruschetta in between. A good selection as appetizer, though a taste that needs a bit of acquiring.

Then it was our main dish, the BBQ pork ribs. I’ve had BBQ ribs with beef, but nothing came close to having it original, pork, as it was meant to be. The portion was huge and it came with potato, french beans, and salad. The side dishes were meant to give your taste bud a chance to refresh, alternating between the juicy and meaty ribs and the freshness of vegetable. We finished the entire rack without much trouble at all, it was good. I think next time I should have some beer to go with this.

Zarzuela (soup), dessert, and linguine with prawns

Zarzuela, the name of the soup I probably won’t remember in the next 5 minutes, was very nice. There’s scallops, mussels, clams, squid, and prawns in the clam and tomato broth. Very sumptuous, very delicious, and probably nullified the effect of the whole oleic acid business.

We also ordered the linguine prawn with spicy white wine butter sauce, unfortunately it was a too spiced up and the prawns were a bit overcooked to my liking. Despite the very nice presentation of this dish, it was a disappointment for the night.

the dessert, the girl, and the wine

Dessert was the very sinful Valrhona chocolate lava cake, with this little orange fruit that I absolutely love. The chocolate cake went very well with the white wine we had.

It was a very good dinner, and with the most gossips I’ve heard since forever. I’m sure I’ll see you again somewhere, Daphne!

Jaya 33 is just a couple minutes off Federal Highway

While not cheap, prices at Bruno’s is still fairly reasonable. Entrees are from RM 30+ onwards and you can have gourmet sandwiches or salad for RM20+. Of course, that huge rack of pork ribs costs a bit more than that. They also serve steaks, seafood, paella, and a selection of tapas.

The review session was arranged by foodstreet. More pictures can be found on my flickr set

Address:
PG-01 A, Ground Floor, Jaya 33
Jalan Semangat Section 13
46100 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.110274, 101.637139
Tel: 03-7960 2663

Tags:  delicious,  gourmet,  iberian,  jaya 33,  Petaling-Jaya,  pinkpau,  pork,  review,  spanish,  su ann

Posted by KY | 29 Comments »

Some of you might recall that I absolutely love the popiah at Melaka that comes with the very sinful fried lard. Well, now I have finally found one worthy Halal version here at PJ thanks to Kelvin.

the very old school food court

This popiah stall is located at the wet market food court next to the PJ Digital Mall at Seksyen 14, for those who are a bit challenged geographically, it is one street behind the opposite of the new Jaya 33 mall.

According to Kelvin, the popiah stall has been in business more than some bloggers have been alive. Still with the same owner serving the same very best popiah basah (wet spring roll).

ahh, glorious popiah!

At just RM 1.00 each, the popiah comes with the traditional ingredients of bean sprouts, tofu, and I believe Chinese turnip (mangkuang), kunyit and perhaps a few more ingredients I can’t name. A sweet brown sauce topped the roll and you can have chili paste according to taste as well. I usually love mine a bit spicier than normal, I think it goes very well with the brown sauce. The juiciness and the satisfaction from this traditional snack is something worth way more than the RM 1 you have to pay.

now you know how to get there from Federal Highway

The stall is open on afternoons, give it a try especially if you find yourself at Digital Mall.

GPS: 3.109652, 101.635863

Tags:  food-court,  halal,  hawker-food,  popiah,  snack,  spring roll,  traditional

Posted by KY | 36 Comments »

After spending way too much energy and sweat on our futsal last night, we decided to head to the famous Jalan 223 nasi lemak place for some well deserved recuperation session. Even though it was already past 11pm on a weekday, the Selera Jaya 223 food court is bustling with activity, there are so many hungry ghosts packed in the area you would think there’s a sideshow going on.

futsal buddies: Dree, Jeff, Shiang, and Terence

The main attraction at this place is the nasi lemak. There are two types, the nasi lemak with blue print a little sweeter and wetter, while the red print version is slightly drier but more spicy. They come with half a hard boiled egg and some fried anchovies. Since there are so many customers dining at the area, the nasi lemak is always still hot for consumption, a nasi lemak panas is always better than the nasi lemak at room temperature.

I’ve tried both versions and they are really tasty, with no fuss and no frill. You can’t beat the value at RM 1 per packet either.

2 types of nasi lemak, otak-otak, and a set of half boil egg

Half boiled egg is another item that they do very well here. Just look at the picture above, perfect boiling, and you don’t even need to crack the eggs yourself. My buddy Shiang insisted that using the half boil eggs as gravy for the nasi lemak is the way to go. I didn’t try that myself, sinful, sinful.

the most “Kao” milo ice ever

As for drinks, the milo ice is definitely the most “kao” you can get anywhere. I thought filling 1/3 of my glass with milo powder is pretty “kao” already, over here they do it at almost 1/2 glass. It is a bit crazy if you ask me.

The otak-otak, while fresh and served hot, is really not up to par as compared to those I had in some other places (most notably those Suanie brought from Johor). However, I do eat it once in a while just to refresh my taste bud. They do taste a little too sweet.

the food court is situated just across Amway building at Jalan 223

If you’re looking for a midnight indulgence with an original local theme, this is definitely the place to be.

Address:
Medan Selera 223,
Jalan 223, Petaling Jaya
Selangor
GPS: 3.100482, 101.633223

Tags:  egg,  jalan 223,  mamak,  midnight snack,  milo,  nasi-lemak,  otak-otak

Posted by KY | 37 Comments »