Go Noodle House 有間麵館 | One Utama

I wasn't a big fan of noodles but I heard that this noodle shop was highly recommended and it is always packed during the lunch and dinner time. I guess I just have to make a trip there and try out their speciality noodles and meat balls. Their first outlet is actually located at Jaya One, they opened another outlet in One Utama, which is located at Lower ground floor beside the escalator and Reebok outlet. You will spot it easily with the big Chinese style entrance.

The place is almost full by the time we left. We reached there before 6pm for early dinner.

Herbal Tea- RM 2.80

In House Pu Er Tea- RM 2.30

Can you guess which is which? Both looks exactly the same colour, but tastes different.

Trio Special Dark Sauce Pan Mee- RM 9.50

I always prefer dry pan mee over soup pan mee, but not everyone can prepare a nice mixture of the dark sauce for the pan mee. Go Noodle did  good job on the taste and texture of their noodles. Even though I am not ordering their famous superior soup pork noodle, but this is definitely a must try item. I would recommend to add on their bursting meat ball or pork ball as the noodles come with only a handful of extras as you can see.

Bursting Meat Ball with homemade spicy soup- RM 10.90

Add on Pork Ball- RM 3.00

If you like spicy then you should try out their spicy soup. The spicy soup was however a bit too spicy for him. Nevertheless, their mian xian noodle is good in terms of texture and taste, it is a thick version of noodles with a nice chewy bite. The bursting meat balls were delicious, I love the texture of the meat ball, bouncy and juicy. The bursting meat ball is basically a layer of meat ball with pork meat inside.

Pork Roll- RM 5.60

Last but not least,  pork roll as the appetiser. Crispy and nice are the two words I will describe it.

Overall the price is quite reasonable especially for a food outlet in shopping mall. If you are a noodle fan, I would recommend you to try it out.

Go Noodle House 有间面馆

Address: LG 308, 1 Utama Shopping Center, Bandar Utama, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel. No: +60 19-316 8866

Business Hours: 10.00am to 10.00pm

Hong Kong Sheng Kee Dessert 香港盛記甜品 | One Utama

I wasn't a big fan of dessert but when it comes to Hong Kong dessert, normally it will comes with dim sum which I won't reject at all. I visited this place sometime ago in One Utama Shopping Centre when I'm looking for light meal for lunch. It is located at Lower Ground floor at the new wing side, near to Obahmi and Old Siam Kopitiam. 

This Hong Kong Sheng Kee Dessert is a dessert chain from Singapore with around 18 outlets and they started the first outlet in Malaysia at One Utama Shopping Centre. They served a range of authentic Hong Kong style desserts, snacks as well as noodles and rice.

Let's check out what I have ordered!

Char Siew Sandy Bun- RM 7.50

This is one of their signature bun that you can spotted easily on their advertisement in the mall. The char siew sandy bun is not the crispy version but more like soft and chewy sandy custard bun with sweet char siew inside. I personally prefer it to be crispy on the outside. 

Crispy Salmon Skin with Pork Floss- RM 6.50

Another signature dish that I have to try it out. It taste quite nice with the super crispy and airy salmon skin texture, a nice snack before the main dish. However I would prefer if it is less oily. 

HK Siew Mai- RM 6.50

I wouldn't rate it as the best Siew Mai in town but it is decent and nice to have. I think the Siew Mai won't go any wrong if they stated themselves as Hong Kong dessert shop, there should be certain standard to achieve.

Yuan Yang Paste-RM 7.50

One of their signature sweet that my friend ordered. The warm black sesame and almond sweet dessert that is placed in a yin and yang figure, nice presentation. Overall taste is acceptable.

Chilled Snow Fungus with Snow Pear-RM 8.50

I ordered this lovely chilled fungus sweet dessert. Overall taste was not too bad, the level of sweetness is just right for me too!

Hong Kong Sheng Kee Dessert 香港盛記甜品

Lot LG 311b, Lower Ground Floor,

1 Utama Shopping Centre,

Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hongkongshengkeedessert

Website: http://www.shengkeedessert.com/

Cantin | Midvalley

If you happen to shop in Midvalley and at the same time craving for some local delights, no worry, you can now find in Cantin which is located one floor below the cinema area. This is a restaurant that I spotted few months ago, a small cosy place with bright light bulbs all over the place that caught my attention. 

I'm going to recommend you this place where you can find most of the local delights from nasi lemak to Penang prawn mee, Hainanse Chicken Chop, basically everything that you love about Malaysian food. And the price won't cause you a heart attack too when come to food in the mall!

Here is their menu, simple yet unique way of presentation using the feel of school's exercise book as their menu cover.

I compiled their menu, you can have a look on what they are serving.

Here are what we have ordered!

Barley-RM 3.70, Ambra with Sour Plum-RM 4.90

Signature Hainanese Chicken Chop-RM 16.50

This is one of the chef's recommendation dish. The chicken chop come with either rice or fries that you can choose from. My man actually love this dish. The deep fried chicken chop was very crispy and juicy, topped with their signature tomato gravy, simple yet delicious! 

Nasi Lemak Pandan with Ayam Brempah- RM 10.90

Nowadays, I can hardly find green pandan rice even in some Nasi Lemak you can hardly have the pandan fragrant. This is where we were quite impressed, nice pandan fragrant rice with the fried chicken and sambal. The only thing that is lacking in this dish is my favourite fried anchovy (ikan bilis), that is the must have item in Nasi Lemak that making the dish incomplete.

Penang Prawn Mee -RM 9.90

This is also one of the chef's recommendation dish that we must order. Since they have stated 'Penang" for their prawn mee, as a Penangite I will need to use the Penang's standard to judge this dish. At the first look, this isn't the authentic Penang prawn mee because we don't put fish cake in the prawn mee except for KL style. Overall, I think it is still not bad but comparing to Penang Authentic prawn mee, they are still far more away from the taste. Keep it up!

Sweet and Sour Chicken- RM 10.90

From all the dishes that I have ordered, this is least favourite dish although it is stated as one of the chef's recommendation dish. One of my favourite food in my food list is sweet and sour chicken rice but this is quite disappointed. Although sweet and sour sauce looks and sounds easy to make but it is actually quite a big challenge to make it really nice. Forget about the sauce, the real disappointment here are the fried chicken and egg. The fried chicken is over cooked, hard and dry, and the egg too is hard (feels like it had been there for quite sometime). 

All the above comments are basically my own personal views on food. Overall ambience, food and beverage from this restaurant are quite good, but there are rooms for improvement that I hope they can realise it soon. The price are reasonable too for a restaurant in a mall. I'll definitely will come back to try out more food! 

If you have tried the food from this restaurant, share your comments below too!

Cantin

T-026, Level 3, Mid Valley Megamall,

lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 KL

03-22014611

Osaka Day 2: Osaka Castle,Tsutenkaku Tower and Shinsekai

Second day in Osaka, we decided to slow down our schedule to have more time to enjoy the sakura and our stay. We visited two places- Osaka Tower and Tennoji area. 

Osaka Castle:

Entrance Free: Castle tower- 600 yen, Nishinomaru Garden- 350 yen (peak season)

Opening Hour: 9am-5pm (Closed on Monday)

There are two ways to get to Osaka Castle:

• Use Tanimachi Subway Line or Chuo Subway Line to Tanimachi 4-chrome Station
• Take JR line (JR Loop Line) from Osaka station to Osakajokoen Station, around 10 mins.

Before you get to the Osaka Castle, there is a park towards the castle, it is also one of Osaka's most popular hanami spot during the cherry blossom season which you shouldn't missed. The entire Osaka Castle Park covers about two square kilometers with lots of green space, sport facilities, a multi-purpose arena (Osakajo Hall) and a shrine dedicated to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The recommended approach to Osaka Castle is through Otemon Gate at the park's southwestern corner.

Beautiful Sakura in the park. Some Japanese even picnic in the park.

He managed to capture this beautiful moment, this bird actually belongs to an old man. He brought his bird to the park to enjoy the sakura flower.

Finally we have reached the Osaka Castle. You will need to walk around 5-10 mins from the park as the place is huge. 

No entrance fee to enter the park, however you will need to pay 600 yen per person to enter the Castle. 

Miniatures that tell the story of Osaka Castle 

Top view from Osaka Castle

Next, we took the train to Shinsekai. Shinsekai (新世界) also known as Osaka's "new world," a district that was developed before the war and then neglected in the decades afterwards. At the district's center stands Tsutenkaku Tower, the nostalgia evoking symbol of Shinsekai. When you are in Shinsekai, one of their best known speciality dish is Kushikatsu that you must try.

There are few ways to get to Shinsekai:

• Use JR Loop Line to Shin-Imamiya Station, short walk to Shinsekai from the station
• Use Midosuji and Tanimachi Subway Lines to Dobutsuen-mae Station
• Use Tanimachi Subway Line to Ebisucho Station.

Spotted this place while walking down an alley. Hardly can see any of this nowadays.

Tsutenkaku Tower from Shinsekai street

The famous Billiken, as known as "The God of Things As They Ought to Be". You can see the statues everywhere in Shinsekai.

Hungry? What to have for lunch? Of course the not to miss Kushikatsu!

If not mistaken the English name of this shop is Daruma Kushikatsu, there is always a man statue holding Kushikatsu in front of the shop. This is their logo also mascot for the shop. There are a few outlets in Japan where you can find easily other than in Shinsekai. Just for your information, Kushikatsu is actually deep-fried skewers of any ingredients from vegetables to mushrooms and meat.

Simple layout and small area. We visit the place after lunch hour, so the place is quite empty. However, don't worry if you cant speak Japanese, some of the waitress actually speak Mandarin to us. I think some of them either are from China or they learn Chinese to communicate with China tourists.

In the menu, you can picked either ala carte or set. We ordered the Shinsekai set and added a few ala carte.

They will served you a bowl of raw cabbages and kimchi to go with Kushikatsu. A big bowl of sauce is also served at the table. You will have to dip your Kushikatsu into the sauce before you bite. Please remember of the hygiene, no second dipping into the sauce after you have bite.  

I don't remember what have I ordered extra other than the set, but to be honest, no matter how many you eat, it won't fulfil your stomach. So, just eat for fun and not for your lunch! After awhile, you will feel bored on the taste because everything is deep fried using the same batter.

After our lunch (a.k.a snack), we visit the Tsutenkaku Tower which is just walking distance from the restaurant. We just follow the tower and walk toward it without using any map. You will need to take a lift to underground to get to the top. The place actually look quite old and run down, you can actually google the story behind this tower that made it look like this today.

You will need to pay an entrance fee of 700 yen. Their opening hour is from 9am to 9pm.

The view from the top of the tower.

They actually display the history of Glico Group in the tower before you exit. You can see the original packaging of Glico since 1922 until now. There is also a small shop in tower that selling limited edition Pocky and others Glico products that hardly can find outside. Although the price is a bit higher, but you can choose to buy just those limited edition products.

I actually bought the limited edition Giant Rainbow Pocky, Giant Pretz with Takoyaki flavour and Glico curry for cooking (forget to take the photo). I love the most is the curry, can't find Glico brand curry in Malaysia. I'm sure to get more when I'm back to Japan again.

After the visit, we took the train back to Dontobori area for dinner. We were looking for something different today and found this Chinese restaurant in one of the alley. The super big and bright signboard captured our attention.

We were given a seat at second floor since 1st floor is all full. Although we were given a small table, our orders eventually filled up the whole table as we were so hungry after the lunch (snack?). The overall food here is so-so but if you are craving for Chinese food, don't mind to give it a try.

All tables will automatically come with a jug of cold water for free. You can still order others drink if you like some green tea or hot drinks.

Dim Sum -162 yen

Finally found the dim sum without glutinous rice! The fully meat dim sum, taste wise not bad.

Gyoza (6 pieces)- 216 yen

The gyoza is a bit oily but overall taste is still alright. Don't expect it to be super delicious although we are in Japan. This gyoza is the Chinese style gyoza.

Fried Chicken- 518 yen

I still prefer the Malaysian fried chicken, crispy and juicy!

Mapo Tauhu- 432 yen

He sure very excited every time when mapo tauhu appears in a menu. He will sure ordered it! The best Mapo Tauhu we have was in Kyoto at one of the Chinese restaurant in Porta Dining. This one was quite disappointed, the sauce was very gummy and the taste was weird. Not sure is this really mapo tauhu.

Fried Rice topped with Fried Egg Crab- 594 yen

I ordered fried rice with fried egg but it came out to be one of our Chinese style "Man Fan". I actually quite like this dish because it contained all my favourite food- fried rice, egg and soup! Normally for "Man Fan", they always use white rice and cooked with seafood gravy to pour on it. But when it change to fried rice, the whole thing taste so prefect.

While walking back to our hotel from the subway station, there are rows of shops at the underground. We spotted this Studio Ghibli Store with lots of Totoro merchandises and we were crazy with all of it. How I wish I can bring home everything. At the end, we bought only a set of the Totoro merchandise as souvenir since our luggages already quite full before arriving in Osaka.