When it comes to Japanese food, you can’t really find a higher concentration of restaurants than Hartamas and Subang SS15. With the former, there’s at least quite a big community of Japanese expats living around Mont Kiara area, but with Subang, well, there isn’t an easy explanation.

It just seems like there are more and more new Japanese restaurants opening at the area every year, Jyu Raku being one of the newest kids on the block that already packed no less than some half a dozen outlets.

Jyu Raku, with classy deco and a rather extensive menu

Incidentally, the first Japanese restaurant I blogged about all the way back in 2005 was Rakuzen, situated right next door to Jyu Raku. In fact, it was the former Japanese head chef from Rakuzen that opened this restaurant.

an extensive sushi bar with grilling area at Jyu Raku

You can really see the resemblance in the menu as well as the restaurant layout between Ryu Raku and Rakuzen. An extensive sushi bar with grilling area connected to the kitchen, about half a dozen tables on the ground floor, and bigger dining area on first floor as well as a couple private rooms.

Photos you see from this blog post were taken from two separate visits, but I have been to Jyu Raku probably at least half a dozen time since. Quality of food has been pretty excellent, and there is a wide selection of dishes to choose from.

sashimi, jyu raku roll, Sheryl

The sashimi (kame, RM 48) has always been very fresh and served with grated wasabi. Wasabi makes a heck of a difference when it comes to enjoying sashimi, and once you had freshly grated wasabi to go with the raw fish, there’s no turning back.

Their signature Jyu Raku roll (RM 28) is something not to be missed too, unagi, prawn, and sashimi and lettuce wrapped with a very thin piece of cucumber and topped with salmon roe. Really luxurious and positively delicious.

ebi maki, cha soba, gyu tan, and that grated wasabi

The cha soba (cold green tea noodle) here is as good as anywhere, smooth silky, and absolutely delightful especially on a hot day.

One of my favorite parts of cow – the tongue, is served at Jyu Raku too. The tongue has a slightly firmer but smoother texture compared to meat, and carries a slightly different taste to it that to me, equals some of the best cuts of meat. A place for cheap gyu tan is at Daidomon (buffet style), but quality aren’t as good as Jyu Raku.

Cheesie with her mentaiko (marinated pollock roe)

Mentaiko, or marinated pollock roe, is available on the menu but somehow aren’t available most of the time. The Ebi Mentai goes for RM 15, but when Cheesie asked for a bowl of mentai without the prawn, the restaurant obliged too. Mentaiko is quite a lot smoother than the more common ebiko (shrimp roe), and usually has a bit of a spicy kick to it. I love it.

cold inaniwa udon, beef with shimeji mushroom, green tea ice cream

Other dishes I’ve tried here include the inaniwa udon that is consumed much like cha soba, but a lot more subtle in taste (doesn’t come with wasabi). Beef with shimeji mushroom was pretty delicious too, but I’d imagine if we had ordered wagyu instead, it’d be even better, but alas, I don’t have a limitless wallet.

Jyu Raku is located right across from SJMC

Since the menu is rather extensive, there’s quite a lot more that I haven’t tried from Jyu Raku, yakimono, kushiyaki (skewed grill) wagyu, salad, and so forth. Those that I tried hasn’t been disappointing, but according to masak-masak, the tempura should be avoided though.

Address:
Jyu Raku
13, Jln SS15/5A
47500 Subang Jaya
Selangor
GPS: 3.074770, 101.586370
Tel: 03-5633 3819

Tags:  beef,  cheesie,  Japanese,  mentaiko,  sashimi,  sheryl,  soba,  subang,  udon

Posted by KY | 30 Comments »

One of my favorite restaurants at the Curve is Waroeng Penyet that serves the pretty unique ayam penyet (flattened fried chicken) that was completely new to me only slightly over a year ago. I have been there quite a few times since but always loath the idea of having to brace the traffic and having to pay parking to get my favorite Indonesian food.

So when I spotted this place on the way home after a round of hitting golf balls everywhere at the Sunway driving range, I immediately suggest to Horng that we should just have our dinner there.

clean and air conditioned interior

The set up of Ayam Penyet AP is just a notch above your normal kopitiam. There are a few tables alfresco style for those who might want to have puff after meal, and also plenty of tables for those who prefer air conditioning. The restaurant is clean and comfortable tho there isn’t any effort being put in interior decoration.

The menu here is a bit more extensive compared to Waroeng Penyet, other than the standard Ayam penyet, they have beef, cat fish, prawn, bakso (beef ball), mixed vegetable, and a few types soups too.

ayam penyet, ikan penyet (keli), and terung penyet

We ordered ayam penyet, lele penyet (keli, cat fish), and terong penyet (eggplant) to go with two rice for dinner.

The ayam penyet (I had the drumstick) was just as tasty as their counterpart at the Curve. Crispy, flavorful, and with that very addictive hot sambal. I also like the fact that they give more crispy bits.

The deep fried cat fish too was not bad in its own, very aromatic and soft in texture. And as a person who loves eggplant, I absolutely adore the terung penyet. The crispy bits and sambal works very well with the contrasting soft texture of fried eggplant. Very delicious.

satisfying dinner

Ayam penyet was priced at RM 7 (already the most expensive item in their menu!), the fish was RM 6.50, and eggplant only RM 2.50. Two plates of rice at RM 1.20 each and you have a very satisfying dinner for way less than RM 20.00!

I am sure this is one of the places I would visit repeatedly.

you can see Ayam Penyet AP from LDP just before heading up to the suspension bridge.

Other than Mentari, they have another outlet at Subang Jaya (No. 74, GF, Jln SS15/4, Subang), and Bangi (No. 9, GF, Jln 15/1D, Section 15, 43650 Bandar Baru Bangi) as well.

Address:
Ayam Penyet AP
No 17, GF, Jln PJS 8/17,
Dataran Mentari,
46150 PJ, Selangor
GPS: 3.076950, 101.613282
Tel: 019-577 5399

Tags:  ayam penyet,  chicken,  eggplant,  fish,  horng,  indonesian

Posted by KY | 52 Comments »

Time to take a little break from writing about Bangkok and lets talk about something closer to home for a bit. After all, this site has the reputation of being a food blog of sort, no?

Well, this dining expedition happened late last year when Kerol decided to lead myself and Horng to this little hideout that is F4 Fish Head at the relatively unfashionable part of USJ, within the light industrial area at the back of Summit mall, otherwise known as the traffic death zone during rush hour.

F4 Fish head, next to USJ badminton hall

The restaurant occupies a small industrial lot, which is rather big by kopitiam standard. By the time we got there at around 6:30, it was already 80% full despite located in a rather hidden area.

We sat down and ordered a steamed fish head with ginger and onion, a plate of potato leaves with balacan, and a clay pot port belly with salted fish.

fish head with ginger & garlic, potato leaves, pork belly with salted fish

Food did take a while to arrive but it wasn’t unacceptably long.

The steamed fish head with ginger and garlic(not exactly sure the type of fish used) was very delightful. Now fish heads are usually prepared with curry, but if you have good quality and fresh fish heads, steaming would be a preferred method. The fish was soft, and as it was almost 1/3 of the fish instead of just the head, there were plenty to chew from.

The clay pot pork belly with salted fish too was a very commendable dish. Saturated with the goodness of 3-layered pork that is skin/fat/meat and salted fish in dark soya sauce and dried chili. It was a good contrast to the fairer taste of the steamed fish head.

KY, Kerol, and Horng

As for the potato leaves with balacan, well, it was decent but nothing particularly outstanding. A good accompanying dish to counter the meat and fish. But I do feel that perhaps a steamed soup might serve us better.

F4 Fish Head is hidden within Subang Jaya Industries Park

Total meal came to something like RM 60, very economical for what we ordered. I need to go back there again to try out other types of fish head dishes they have. They’re open for lunch as well as dinner.

Address:
F4 Fish Head
Lot 776, Sub lot 3,
Jalan Subang 4,
Subang Jaya Industries Park,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.04651, 101.59724
Tel: 012-325 9111

Other reviews:
Yiling

Tags:  fish-head,  horng,  kerol,  kopitiam,  pork,  subang-jaya,  USJ

Posted by KY | 28 Comments »

If my memory serves me correct, this should be the third time Cheesie and I went for a seafood dinner. Together with Cindy, we decided to give South Sea Seafood a try instead of Lala Chong, which we went on the first two occasions.

There are a few more seafood places in the vicinity and I have a feeling it’s only a matter of time before we sample all of them.

South Sea Seafood, very big selection of live seafood

South Sea Seafood is located just next to the runway of the old Subang Airport, parking is a relatively painless affair as the restaurant has a dedicated free car park right across the road with friendly parking attendance ever so eager to assist you. Definitely a plus point.

There are plenty of aquariums with live and some pretty exotic seafood on display at this restaurant, snow crab, abalone, mantis prawn, geoduck, etc. Pretty similar to Pantai Seafood in this regard.

baked crab, steamed red snapper with ginger, two-style kailan

For the three of us, we ordered a couple kilograms of baked crabs, a pretty good portion of steamed red snapper, and a two-style kailan to go with some rice. Crustacean, fish, vegetable, balance and complete.

The size of the baked crabs was very good. The top half of the claws were as big as Cheesie’s oversized shades, and most importantly, they tasted so succulent and flavorful. By having crabs prepared this way, you get the natural flavor of the seafood, and thus freshness is most important since there are no strong spices and other ingredients masking the original taste. For good quality crabs, avoid having them with fancier preparation methods.

Cheesie, Cindy, and Yours Truly having a crabby time!

The steamed red snapper is topped with a layer of finely chopped garlic and spring onion. The greenish sauce goes well with the fish and gives it a slightly spicy and fresher taste.

Deep fried shredded kailan leaves topping the more conventional sauteed vegetable of the same kind looks like a pretty weird combination, but they actually tasted rather nice. The crunchy deep fried leaves carries a texture not unlike dried Japanese seaweed and gives the normal kailan dish another dimension. I liked it.

South Sea Seafood is located by Subang Airport runway

The girls had some ice cream as desserts to conclude the dinner. Everything came to a total of a little over RM 100, a pretty average bill for what we ate. Cindy also wrote about the experience here, where she tried to play with a small boy during our dinner (small boy didn’t want to layan her).

Address:
No 229, Jalan 2A,
Kampung Baru Subang,
40000 Subang, Selangor
GPS: 3.140688,101.54691
Tel: 03-7846 1401

Tags:  cheesie,  cindy,  crab,  fish,  seafood

Posted by KY | 33 Comments »

During a particular Saturday evening a few weeks ago, I was loitering online and saw Eiling came on. As both of us were feeling hungry and haven’t had a plan for dinner, she decided to introduce her favorite Steamboat restaurant to me, Wan Hou at SS14.

look at the lady enjoying

The air-conditioned and clean interior is a welcoming change from most other steamboat places. I’ve always found steamboat goes best with clear soup, and the soup here is rather flavorful, I suspect the involvement of pork bones in preparing them.

order set, or ala-carte. love the condiments

For two of us, we ordered a set for one, a big portion of their famous meatballs, half portion of fish ball, and another half portion of their fish wantan look-alike thingy.

When you are at Wan Hou, do remember to ask for their special sauce that is made with sesame oil, fried shallots, garlics, chili padi, and if I remember correctly, apple vinegar. This condiment goes really well with clear soup steamboat, you just have to try it.

oh, glorious pork meat balls!

The ingredients were fresh and the set actually pretty big. There were plenty of vegetable, tofu skin, assortments of fish balls and meatballs, prawn, egg, noodle, and even half a corn. A pretty nice combination.

However, the most important thing at this steamboat place has got to be the pork meatballs. Larger than usual and very firm and juicy. It tasted just like how pork meatballs should, succulent and flavorful, it was probably the best I’ve had. I will go there again just because of this!

Wan Hou Steamboat is opposite Metropolitan College

I believe we spent less than RM40 there and yet came out very satisfied. There are other items in the menu I haven’t tried, but I am sure that wasn’t the last time I go to Wan Hou.

Address:
14, Jalan SS14/2,
47500 Subang Jaya.
GPS: 3.072833, 101.591499

Other review: YiLing

Tags:  eiling,  fish,  meatball,  pork,  ss14,  Steamboat

Posted by KY | 39 Comments »