The Ramen Experience @ Ichiran, Tokyo

I'm not a big fan of ramen (too reminiscent of instant noodles), but I must admit that I wanted to try some of these noodles after reading this blog about tonkotsu ramen last year. Mind you, I was pregnant with Zak at the time, and although I had no cravings for any particular things, my huge appetite had grown even bigger. For some reason or another, we never did get around to visiting one of those ubiquitous ramen shops that satisfy many a sarariman ("salaryman") and oeru ("office lady") in search for a quick, filling and cheap (albeit unhealthy) meal during and/or after office hours.

My younger sister Honey recently arrived in Tokyo, and was told by a friend that she must eat the tonkotsu ramen at Ichiran (coincidentally - or not - the same one I'd read about last year). This past weekend, Honey and I were in the area near the Roppongi branch of this Fukuoka-based tonkotsu ramen shop, and that was where we headed to for lunch that day. It was an interesting experience. There's a vending machine near the entrance into Ichiran where customers order and pay for their ramen, and the machine will spit out tokens. We took the guessing game out of how to order, and instead requested English order sheets. There is also a lit display of the restaurant layout indicating empty stalls, which makes it easy to find a seat quickly. The whole process was very efficient, that I felt I was lingering a bit too long in my little booth while waiting for Honey to finish her bowl after I had eaten mine.



The ordering sheet gave us the options to choose our desired flavour strength, richness (fat content), amount of garlic, amount of green onion, with or without roast pork, amount of "secret sauce" and noodle's tenderness. We could also order extra noodles, boiled egg, extra pork and a range of other ingredients to have with our ramen. I ordered my ramen with medium flavour, light richness, regular garlic, strong green onion, with roast pork, half "secret sauce" and medium done noodles. I also got a ni tamago (boiled egg) for 100yen extra.



So how was it? Well, I thought it tasted just like instant noodles (and I'm no fan of those packets either). Honey loved the ramen, so maybe it's just me. I honestly don't understand the ramen craze, and could quite easily live without it. This ramen experience may have been lost on me, but ramen fans would love these tonkotsu ramen at Ichiran.

Sydney eats: Chinese @ Zilver and Spanish @ Encasa

I'm still catching up on blogging about our trip, but this is the last post relating to the trip. We headed to Sydney after our Malaysia trip for another wedding, where we enjoyed a more relaxed itinerary to recover from our busy (and gluttonous) schedule in Malaysia. We enjoyed more 'home' time with my immediate family in the suburbs than going out, but we did make the trek out to the city a few times where we enjoyed good dining experiences.

Zilver Restaurant

Since my immediate family had gathered in Sydney for my sister's wedding, we decided to have an early celebration for Zak's 1st birthday so that my family won't feel like they missed out on his actual birthday two weeks later when we're back in Tokyo. I wanted a banquet-style setting that would be comfortable for a baby, and my Sydneysider sisters suggested a rather swanky Chinese restaurant called Zilver. The restaurant was quite full despite being a week night, and I took this to be a promising sign that the food would at least be good. Dishes are quite pricey for Chinese cuisine, but the food were delicious made from good quality produce.

To start with, we got a BBQ Tasting Platter with barbecued pork, roast suckling pig, roast duck, soy-sauce chicken and jelly fish salad. I enjoyed it, all the different flavours and textures of each type of meat on the one platter. I wanted a claypot dish, and the Braised Pork-stuffed Bean Curd with Pickled Mustard Greens and Peas was a hearty but healthy choice.

Combination BBQ Platter and the Pork-stuffed Bean curd:


Not so healthy but very yummy were the Crispy Skin Chicken with Ginger and Shallots in Soy Sauce and the Sizzling Shredded Beef Peking Style. The crisp-fried chicken skin contrasted the tender flesh, and the shredded beef were very more-ish much like potato fries where you keep going back for more.

Crispy Skin Chicken and Peking-style Beef:


To make up for the not-so-healthy dishes, we had the Braised Seasonal Vegetables Wrapped in Lotus Leaf and Stir fried Scallops with XO Sauce and Snow Peas. Both dishes were cooked well which made healthy eating quite enjoyable.

Vegetables and Scallops & Snow Peas:


Some at the table requested a carbs dish, and the Zilver Chef's Special Fried Rice with Crab Meat and Fried Scallop satisfied that need perfectly. This dish reminded me of the Japanised Chinese-style fried rice you can get in Japan, with stuff in thick sauce served atop the fried rice. After the meal, we enjoyed a Taro Birthday Cake which we'd picked up from a Chinese bakery in nearby Chinatown on Dixon Street. Zak had a little taste of it and enjoyed it a lot!

Special Fried Rice and Taro Cake:


We enjoyed good food and good company that night!

Encasa

Rob's dad and his wife flew into Sydney from Brisbane for a weekend to spend some time with us. We had lunch on a Friday at Encasa, a Spanish restaurant on Pitt Street. This is another popular restaurant located in a good location, and the waitstaff were kept quite busy during the lunch period, so service was understandably quite slow. However, the waitstaff were friendly and we were given good service. We shared tapas as we sipped on sangria, a red wine punch that was quite sweet and rather enjoyable to drink. We ordered quite a few tapas, and our waiter had to stop us from ordering more than we could finish. Everything were delicious, and the ones that I particularly liked were the scallops and the croquettes.

Glasses of sangria; and Chorizo a la Plancha (grilled Spanish sausage):


Pinchos de Pollo con Mojoy (chicken skewers); and Pinchos Morunos (prime lamb fillet skewers in Moroccan spices):


Albondigas (beef meatballs in almond sauce); and Vieiras en Azafrán (scallops in the shell with saffron, shallot and cream sauce)


Croquettes; and Supreme Pizza:


It was great of Rob's dad and his wife to fly into Sydney just to see us. Once again, we had good food and lovely company!

Zak is 1!

Has a year already gone by? It has been an unforgettable year full of happiness and frustration, and it really is amazing watching Zak grow up from a tiny helpless newborn to a 1 year old capable of doing so many things. Zak is now no longer a baby, but a little boy who is constantly bringing such joy and delight to our lives. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we had a small gathering at our apartment with my younger sister Honey (who arrived a few days prior) and a couple of friends.

A couple of simple entree that Honey quickly put together - Camembert Cheese with Crackers, and Pineapple Ham; and Chicken, Spinach and "Ricotta" Cannelloni (Rob bought mascarpone by mistake, but it worked out well), salad and Improbable Quiche prepared by Rob, Honey and me - yes, it was a tight fit in the tiny kitchen with the 3 of us in it.:


The birthday boy and the birthday cake - Apple and Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, which is baby-friendly and perhaps a bit too healthy for a birthday cake:


Happy birthday my little Zippy!

Korean @ Han Woo Ri BBQ, Malaysia

After all that eating we did in Kuching, we flew back to KL for a couple of nights before heading on to Sydney. My auntie's birthday fell on our final night in KL, so we went out to dinner at a Korean restaurant to celebrate. My auntie and her daughters have a favourite Korean out in Petaling Jaya, but because we had a grumpy baby on our hands, we decided to go to one nearby her house (where we were staying at) in the Taipan business area of USJ (Subang Jaya).

Han Woo Ri Korean BBQ is quite a nice spacious restaurant, with attentive staff who gave really good service. Rob said that he was rather surprised at the level of service which, in his experience, is not a common occurrence in Malaysia. Of course, it was a Thursday night in a relatively empty restaurant so we got more of the staff's attention, but I still think that the restaurant's service is worth commending. The barbecue items range around the RM 20-30, side dishes around the RM10-20 and main dishes around RM30-40. Our fellow diners' previous experiences with Korean cuisine were limited to the BBQ meals, so we ordered a number of non-barbecue dishes in addition to the barbecue ones (BBQ Chicken and Tueji Galbi (pork ribs)).

After we ordered, the banchan (complimentary side dishes) were placed on our table - no less than 12 small plates, more than the number of banchan dishes I've ever had in Korean restaurants in Australia, US or Japan! And the nicest thing was that we got a complimentary dish of Pajeon (seafood pancake)! Rob and I had wanted the others to try it, but decided against ordering it because my cousin is allergic to seafood. The manager said that he'd throw in that dish on the house, which meant that we all got to enjoy it anyway.

Wide array of banchan surrounding the barbecue plate, where the pork ribs were being barbecued; and the condiments to go with the barbecue dishes:


Ddeokbokki and Japchae:


Pajeon; and complimentary fruit and sweet for after the meal:


This was perhaps the most affordable Korean dining experience we've had - delicious food and great service, and we had wonderful company.

Kuching trip III: "wild" eats and oodles of noodles

On the morning of our second day in Kuching, our guide S wanted to have an early start at 7am to have breakfast then head to Semenggoh Forest Reserve for the orang-utans' 9am feeding time, but we had a late night the previous night and by the time we were all ready to go, it was already 10am in the morning. We had brunch instead, and went to the orang utan sanctuary for the 3pm feeding time.

Brunch @ Jit Hin

S took us on an hour's drive out of Kuching centre to Tebakang, to a kopitiam called Jit Hin to eat some unusual and interesting dishes. He actually wanted us to try a type of fish, but it had sold out by the time we arrived at 11ish in the day. Jit Hin is a no-frills place, in a "kampung" (rural) setting, and it is definitely not the decor that draws the crowd to this family-run business. Jit Hin serves up organic-grown and wild-caught dishes, with some unusual items like deer and bat meat, and is very popular for its seafood.

The shopfront:


Dishes we ate included:

Tortoise in Soya Sauce - tasted like pork; and Drunken Ginger Prawns - the prawns were delicious, but too much shaoxing wine was used which was a bit overpowering:


Wild boar in Soya Sauce - tasted like pork, but leaner; and Kampung Chicken in Soya Sauce - "kampung" is Malay for the word "village", and this dish is basically free range chicken with firm meat that is not at all fatty:


It was good trying out all the unusual dishes, but having almost everything in the same soy-based sauce made everything taste (and look) the same.

Drinks and snacks @ a kopitiam:

After checking out the orang-utan at the sanctuary, we had some icey drinks to cool down and ate some delicious Kuching cucur (fritters). White Lady is a popular drink in Kuching, and we had the Black Beauty drink mostly out of curiousity.

Black Beauty (blackcurrant flavoured) and White Lady (pineapple flavoured) - icey milk-based drinks with jelly and flavoured syrup; and Mixed Cucur - fritters of prawns, sweet potato, tofu and yam (or was it taro?):



Home-prepared Breakfast

The housekeeper at my auntie's house where we stayed put together this meal on our last morning in Kuching. We asked her to cook Char Kuey Teow, and boy can she whip up a delicious one! She also bought some Pulut Panggang (grilled glutinous rice in banana leaves with grated coconut filling) and Chai Kueh (vegetable dumpling) from the nearby market. We'd gotten some Kuching Kolo Mee and Sio Bee (the Kuching siu mai the previous night, but we were far too full to eat them after that big seafood feast, so the dear housekeeper steamed up both of them for our breakfast - they were both delicious even though they were bought the night before.

Clockwise from top left: Char Kuey Teow, Pulut Panggang, Chai Kueh, Kolo Mee and Sio Bee - now, this is what I call a breakfast feast!


Lunch @ Madam Tang's

S had to work on our last day in Kuching, so his mum kindly drove us to the airport. We had a quick lunch at Madam Tang's, where we ate some delicious Kuching Laksa. This type of laksa is quite different to the common types of curry or asam laksa as it contains sambal belacan (a chilli shrimp paste).

Kuching Laksa - a must try for anyone who is visiting the area; and Beef Noodles, one of Madam Tang's specialties:

Kuching trip II: Seafood Galore!

Surely I must have consumed more cholesterol-laden seafood in the two days we were in Kuching than for the whole of our 3 week holiday. Kuching is blessed with abundance of fresh and delicious seafood, and our guide S made sure we filled up on a lot of it.

Ling Loong Seafood Stall

For our first dinner in Kuching, S brought us to Ling Loong where you get to pick your choice of seafood and vegetables to be cooked to order. I like this concept of being able to choose the freshest looking ingredients for your table rather than be at the mercy of your chef who may try to use up the oldest stock first (which can be avoided anyway by going for popular stalls where turnover is high). Dinner included:

The fresh produce on display to entice customers; and the coral trout chosen for dinner


Mani Chye in Hokkien or Cangkuk Manis in Malay - I don't know the English term but I do know that it is a delicious leafy green; and Sambal Kangkung - my all-time FAVOURITE leafy greens! Not easily available in Tokyo, and when it is available, it is very pricey:


Seafood Soup full of umami deliciousness - it was so good, I burnt my tongue drinking it; and Venison aka deer, which was surprisingly tender and did not taste as gamey as I thought it would:


Butter Prawn, not so healthy but so yummy - I was eating these whole, head, tail, shell and all! Rob was giving me his prawn heads too, which did not help the excessive amount of cholesterol I was consuming! And the Steamed Coral Trout, which was also delicious.


Rock Road Seafood Restaurant

On our second (and final) night, we went to Rock Road Seafood Restaurant for dinner, and we had the honour of dining with S's parents.

Fresh fruit and vegetables and live seafood on display. Check out the size of the claw/pincer on prawn in the tank! We had three of these babies for dinner:


Midin, a type of vegetable unique to Sarawak, which I've been informed is a fern - crunchy texture, similar to eating skinny asparagus; and Stir-fried Sweet Potato Leaves with Garlic, which has a silky soft texture when cooked - have I said how much I like my leafy greens?:


Stir-fried Bamboo Clams with Curry; and Baked Crab with Cheese. Both were yummy:


Thai-style Fish (I forget which fish) - deep-fried crunchy with a sweet spicy sauce, I was happy to munch away at the fish head too; and Crab in Spicy Sweet & Sour Sauce - messy eating, but so so good:


Scrumptious Fried Oyster in Special Batter; and the above-said Prawns in Satay Sauce, which is the restaurant's signature dish. It's served with fried mantou bread to mop up the delicious sauce:


Apologies for my amnesia. I really should have taken more detailed notes rather than relying on my memory. Kuching really is the place to go for fresh seafood that don't cost a bomb.

Coming up in this blog - kopitiam eats!