The OMG Burger, Daily Grind

Review: Ramen Santouka @ Tokyo Street, Pavilion KL

**Non-Halal**


When we were invited for this review of ramen chain Ramen Santouka, little did I know it was actually a preview prior to the opening day of Tokyo Street on Level 6 of Pavilion KL. When Capt'n Hook and I arrived at 6.15pm, there was an entourage of people leaving the stage area on Level 6. Not knowing what's happening, both of us just followed the crowd in while I call FatBoyBakes who forwarded us the invite. The next thing I know, the security guards closed up the temporary gates to Toyko Street. Hmmm... but we wandered in further :p letting the crowd in front of us leading the way.





I looked around and saw the Pavilion's management staffs whom I recognised from the print medias. The next thing I know, apparently the Japan's Ambassador to Malaysia was there to officiate Tokyo Street! Whoa but not all the shops were ready and opened though. Anyway, we took a look round the area and was impressed with the number of Japanese restaurants and a few stalls selling snacks. Some of the smaller lots are selling Japanesecrockery. Then there's a Daiso towards the back but it wasn't open yet, so was the Japanese mart.



It was only after the look-see, we both went to scout out David at Ramen Santouka. We were then introduced to Julian and Inggrid. Next we were led into the restaurant. Inggrid informed us that we will be served based on a selected menu of ramen and side dishes. The other dishes will only be available after the official opening. Sounds promising already when I scan through the menu card. While we were waiting for the rest to turn up, we browsed the actual menu that have some pictorial guide on top of some mock dishes shown up front of the restaurant.





Our server suggested that we order our choice of ramen and all the rest of the side dishes showcased will be served to us. Sounds great already. As our noodles arrived, the rest of the food bloggers arrived and started ordering their ramen.



For pork based ramen, the soups are made by simmering pork bones for 20 hours before adding vegetables, dried fish, kelp and etc. The colour of ! the soup s are milky which indicates long hours of simmering of bones. If you're not into pork, don't fret as they have chicken versions and they do not contain pork at all. The soup served here are not boiling hot and is maintained at a certain temperature so that one can enjoy the noodles without scalding themselves.

For pork based ramen, there are 4 flavours of soup available ie. Shio (salt flavour), Shoyu (soy sauce flavour), Miso (soy bean paste flavour) and Kara Miso (hot soy bean paste flavour). The ramen comes in 3 different sizes - small, regular and large.

Marion Eu, Capt'n Hook and I tried each other's soup base. All of us decided the Shio and Shoyu came out tops. The soups were a tad too salty but we gave our feedback on this and hopefully it has been rectified. The ramen have a bouncy texture but do eat up quickly before they turn soft in the hot soup.

Everyone loved the signature Shio Ramen (S RM22.50, R RM25, L RM29). The small bowl came with a thick slice of char-shu, sliced bamboo shoots, seaweed, a slice of naruto (fish cake) and shredded spring onions plus a pickled plum. I can clearly taste the robust flavour of the soup base.



The Shoyu Ramen (S RM22.50, R RM25, L RM29) is another clear winner. This was Capt'n Hook's fave. The soup is made from a mixture of pork and soy sauce. The accompanying condiments were similar to Shio Ramen with the exception of the dried seaweed is used instead and there is no pickled plum.



Miso Ramen (S RM22.50, R RM25, L RM29) soup ! is made with the addition of miso paste. This was the saltiest of the lot but as we dig in, the saltiness just went melded in. The condiments are exactly the same as Shio Ramen except that there's no pickled plum.



Kara Miso Ramen is the only hot flavoured soup amongst all. The price is RM2 more. I did not get to taste this so no comments at the moment. Perhaps can check out Cumi Dan Ciki since they shared one.



The sliced cha-shu in all pork based ramen is simmered in soy sauce which is so tender and delicious. It was really a pity that we only get one slice in the small portion. It was that good that FatBoyBakes kept lamenting why there is only ONE slice served when it was sooo good. Inggrid mentioned that for small portion, one sliced is served, 2 slices for regular and 3 slices for large!

As for the sides, it's slightly unusual to have Caesar Salad in a Japanese restaurant. Santouka's version has a coddled egg on a bed of lettuces, crispy croutons, parmesan cheese with creamy dressing drizzled over.

We loved the Komi Tamago (soy boiled egg)!!! It came whole like hard boiled egg but the yolk is still a bit ru! nny. Can taste the soy sauce coating the egg beautifully.

Tori Karaage (deep fried chicken) came looking a bit dark to me. Looks kinda over fried but the 3 pieces of chicken are still juicy and the skin... oh so crispy.

Then we have Tori Gyoza (chicken dumplings or pot stickers). The sizes are rather largish as compared to other Japanese places and they served the pan-fried side up instead. The minced chicken is loosely packed and as compared to Chinese dumplings, can taste the garlic flavour in the fillings here.

Okie, I'm saving the best for last... the Tokusen Toroniku which is pork cheek simmered in soy sauce. As each pig has only 2 cheeks, hence this meat is rather rare. So each day, there's only a certain amount available! David explained that the raw cheeks are perfectly marbled hence these cheek slices are really very tender, almost melt in the mouth texture. To me, this is a must order definitely!

Other than as a side dish, one could actually have them in ramen but the cheeks will be served separately and not inside the noodles. Tokusen Toroniku Ramen is priced at S RM33.50, R RM36 and L RM40. I can just tell, it's really worth it.

These were the items served to us and from the menu, they do have chicken soup based ramen, rice dishes and some sets which some have great combination of rice and ramen ;-) I can see the menu is very friendly for our BoiBoi. Will definitely bring him here soon.

Hopefully by now, a week after our tasting session, things would be running smoothy and most importantly the soup has been fine tuned.

Thanks so much to David, Julian and Inggrid, and of course FatBoysBake for the invite.

I know, I still haven't posted up the theme for this year's Merdeka Open House as I was still deciding which to go for. So give me a day or two to finalise the theme and we'll be good to go. I will try to publise on The Star to get in more participants :D


Ramen Santouka
Tokyo Street, Level 6 Pavilion KL

168 Jalan Bukit Bintang

55100 Kuala Lumpur,

Malaysia

Tel: 03-21438878

Opening hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm

Joe can cook! Season 2 Episode 1: A heart clogging French Toast

I remember when I was a kid, my mom used to make good old french toast for our breakfast or lunch boxes. Those days, it was rather simple; white bread dipped in eggs with sugar and butter and off to the pan.


Fast forward years (quite a few too) and you see french toast that comes to many forms; from the Hong Kong ones which are deep fried with a filing of melting peanut butter to the French ones where they use brioche and all sorts of wonderful topping that stops short of murdering you on your table.


So what better way to kick start the recipe side of my blog with a simple french toast recipe that you can make while the other half is still in bed (the subtle hint).

In the quest to make a perfect french toast as possible, I stopped by the french bakery to get what else but a loaf of brioche. These babies are not cheap, a decent sized loaf is about AUD10 but will probably yield 8-10 slices. However comparatively a plate of french toast with all the fancy toppings will set you back AUD15 anyways.

Whisk up some eggs, 50-75ml of milk, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a pinch of cinnamon. If it needs a bit of sugar, add a teaspoon of it. For the whole loaf, you will probably need 3-4 eggs, if you need more "mixture", you can substitute with a bit more milk. Feeling more indulgent? A spoonful ! of cream in it will do the trick.

Soak the brioche slices in until it has absorbed as much egg mixture as it can and pan fry on low heat with butter. Yes, you read right "B U T T E R". What's a french dish without butter?

While it could have done with more colour, I couldn't wait and had to take it out and sink my teeth in it.

I can tell you, we were both satisfied to eat this on a Sunday morning. So don't let me catch any of you asking what to eat for breakfast on Sunday!

Joy the Baker Podcast, Episode 12

Red Flags: lifes little warnings. Sometimes red flags are subtle sometimes red flags are a sonic boom.

This week on the Joy the Baker Podcast, Tracy and I unpack lifes little warnings. We unpack them, laugh at them, throw them in the dirty laundry hamper and try to learn from our mistakes

Empty restaurants. Rustic hotels. Men with lady hands. Let us discuss.

Joy the Baker Podcast, Episode 12.

Thank you in advance for putting up with this ridiculousness.

Print this Recipe!

Ippudo (and Ippudo X Tao)

We arrived late in Osaka from the Tottori prefecture, exhausted, but our Japanese colleague insisted that we still head to this shop for a taste of Hakata-style ramen. This colleague of mine is a foodie and so far, his recommendations had not been disappointing. In fact, they were excellent. Despite the late hour, the restaurant was still packed to the brim, a contrast to the quiet, dark street where its located. We were fortunate to have found seats at the communal dining table that resembled an old, big tree trunk. There were jars of condiments on that table preserved vegetables, pickled ginger, soy sauce and chilli powder. On that cold, early autumn night, I waited eagerly and hungrily for my bowl of ramen, unknowing and uninformed of the ingredients and taste.

When I had my first taste of the tonkotsu broth there, at in 2003, I knew my life would be changed forever. The broth was white, but it was not from evaporated milk that we so conveniently pour into our fish soup noodle to enrich the flavour. Instead, the tonkotsu, in general, is the result of long simmering of pork bones and fatty cuts of meat. Served hot, the aroma from a combination of lard in the broth and garlic oil was heavenly. Topping the ramen were some crunchy slices of wood ear and melting soft pork belly. I said this exceptional noodle dish changed my life forever because until today, the aroma and taste still linger in my mind and Ive never stopped craving for it. For me, the choice of broth is quite obvious whenever I drop by a ramen shop.

Perhaps too indulged in my first bowl of tonkotsu ramen, Id forgotten to inquire how the kanji words of are pronounced. It has, for a long time, remained as the nameless, excellent ramen chain that Ive been proselytizing recommending to my friends and family back home.

is pronounced as Ippudo, as Id discovered recently whe! n I visi ted their first shop at the Mandarin Gallery. By now, Id tried more than a dozen tonkotsu broths in town; some better, mostly not. I was interested to compare the tastes; between now and my first experience in Osaka, eight years ago. The condiments offered in Osaka back then were not found here. And instead of the rustic, rather unkempt interior, this branch seemed to have been jazzed up with a touch of contemporary zen. I prefer the rustic design, actually. One thing remained the required snaking queue.

Ive been revisiting the Ippudo branches in Singapore rather frequently, not because of my now tamed addiction to their tonkotsu, but of requests from visiting friends from abroad. The perpetual queue at Mandarin Gallery is repulsive and at times, almost drove me to turn to Ootoya at Orchard Central, which could possibly guarantee a crowd as well. Ive been enlightened by some websites to visit the UE Square branch. And since then, snaking queues were never again an problem for me.

Ippudo Shiro, which means white in Japanese, refers to the tonkotsu broth. Despite the difference in presentation (the bowls look strange but ergonomic now), essentially, the flavours and aroma were very much similar to what I had years ago. It was a good trip down memory lane. The strands of ramen were cooked to my desired texture - springy, but on the soft side. I guess in Ippudo, that kind of texture is termed medium.

What's new to me was the incorporation of Tao in the UE Square branch's name. Previously, I thought Tao was the name of another famous Japanese ramen joint and that this branch serves both ramen from Ippudo and Tao. And I've been telling my dining companions (all of them!) of this too, partially to impress them with my ramen knowledge.

Actually, Tao refers to a famous Japanese drum group! According to the website, IP! PUDO TAO is a synergy of two Japanese traditions: ramen and drum performance and At IPPUDO TAO, one can enjoy TAOs live performances via a huge screen while having ramen that have been created exclusively in the spirit of TAO. I'm still digesting the concept while burying my embarrassment in misinterpreting the restaurant's name.

I tried the Tao Aka (red in Japanese), which consisted of curlier egg noodles in a tonkotsu broth with the addition of spicy miso paste. Previous dining experiences had taught me to take spicy lightly (and sweetly) in Japanese restaurants but this particular paste was, though far from a habanero chilli, rather spicy. Although I still prefer the shiro, this serves as an interesting alternative, especially on a cold, rainy night, like now.

For me, it's hard to explain how good is a tonkotsu broth. It's a measure of density, richness, lightness, aroma, flavours, patience and skills. Although the last few years have seen ramen shops sprouting across the island, I've not had one version of tonkotsu that embodies all the said characteristics. I won't be surprised if some shops use powdered tonkotsu flavouring too.

I can't and won't say that Ippudo serves the best tonkotsu or Hakata-style ramen in town but this is definitely one of the very few outstanding ones.

Ippudo Singapore's website

Belgian Endives And Ham Au Gratin

Last year when I was living with my daughter in the Delft, Netherlands( the Netherlands isratedby OECD in May 2011as the 'happiest country' among the top 34 richest countries in the world), I enjoyed cooking and eating many kinds of European veggies which I've never even known existed before. Belgian endive, known as witlof in the Netherlands, is not a veggie I grew up eating. Once in a while the salads on hotel buffet tables have some endive leaves tossed in them but I've never eaten them as a dish.

With the limited ingredients in my daughter's little 1 meter kitchen, I caramelised endives in butter and sugar and we both found a new veggie to love. European veggies are undoubtedly more flavorful and tasty than Australian ones (American veggies aren't any better, I'm told by a friend back from California), and much cheaper too.

Two Saturdays ago, I visited Lim Lee Seng Wholesaler in Penampang, near Supertanker Restaurant. I was allowed into their storage rooms, which was fun, because they were stacked to the ceiling with boxes of imported veggies, most of them from Australia. The 4-degree C temperature was a respite from the 35 C heat we are recently having. I came away with lush portebello mushrooms, asparagus, potatoes, a couple of cheeses and of course, endives. Prices at Lim's are about 30 to 40% cheaper than in supermarkets.

I think it was reader and blogger Lianne who told me about endive and ham au gratin, a very French way of cooking endives. The endives are sauteed or boile! d until soft, then wrapped with a slice of ham each and topped with a white sauce of Gruyere cheese and baked. I bungled of course by typically cutting corners. Instead of sauteing the endives, I boiled them (as stated in the recipe in allrecipes.com) and I think that probably resulted in the endives tasting more bitter than expected. I didn't taste any bitterness in the endives I cooked in the Netherlands. The next time I cook this dish, I would simmer the endives in some butter and sugar before baking them. I'd also look for the whitest and smaller endives. Still, the dish turned out lovely and would've been even better, if not for the bitterness.


Belgian endives look like little Napa/Chinese cabbages with tapered tops but they are really a very different species because endives have a tuber root as big as the plant. The whiter the leaves of the endive, the less bitter it will be. Endives are grown in the dark and below soil level to prevent them from turning green and bitter. The ones I bought were too big and the leaves had too much color, probably because they weren't wrapped in paper to block out light.



Belgian Endives And Ham Au Gratin (for 4 persons)
4 Belgian endives
4 thin pieces of leg ham
3/4 cup chicken stock e.g. Swanson's
1 T unsalted butter
1/2 T caster sugar
1/4 t salt

The cheese sauce*:
2 T butter (or 1/2 butter 1/2 veg oil, if limiting use of butter)
2 T plain flour
200 ml fresh milk
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
1 t Dijo! n mustar d (optional)
100 gm Gruyere, grated coarsely
1/2 T finely chopped parlsey
1/4 t (or to taste) salt and a pinch of freshly ground white or black pepper
*I made too much sauce so this recipe is half of what I made.

1. If the endives are big, cut them each into half lengthwise. Put the endives cut sides down into a frying pan and add the stock, butter, sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes for cut endives, 15 min for uncut. Let cool.

2. Lightly press some of the liquid out. Wrap each endive with a slice of ham and place on a gratin dish.

3. Melt the butter (and oil if using) in a medium sized pot. Add the flour and stir well, about 3 minutes in low heat. Slowly drizzle milk into the flour-butter paste, stirring with a small whisk and adding more milk each time after the milk is absorbed. If you add the milk too quickly, the sauce will be lumpy (like mine) so be patient. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens.Remove from heat.Add 3/4 of the cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Pour the sauce over the wrapped endives, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and the parsley and bake for 25 minutes in a preheated oven at 220 C until golden brown. Serve hot.

Good Evening Bangkok, Authentic Thai Food in a Mall

Ah Mui Have Shifted from Kepong Baru to Taman Kepong

The Hakka Mui's Tai Chow has moved from Yew Lee Coffee Shop, Kepong Baru to this place.

My previous posting of this Hakka Mui's cooking can be seen here.

A simple white Tofu with golden fried shallot, spring onions and soy sauce.Our favourite deep fried Mak Yeaw Yee with brinjal, dried tofu, spring onions and delicious gravy over it.Vinegar pork trotter one of her delicious Hakka delicacies.Four Heavenly King veggies of petai, long beans, brinjal and minced meal, another gorgeous fried.And finally a slice of papaya to complete the lunch.

Ah Mui's Tai Chow

Furniture Mall

Jalan Utara

Taman kepong

GPS : 3.208064,101.640073

Mamink Daeng Tata (Makassar Cuisine)

Mamink Daeng Tata is a famous Indonesian restaurant, with mostly food from Makassar, Sulawesi. They have branches in Tebet, Permata Hijau and Pasar Minggu. I tried the one located on Jalan K.H. Abdullah Syafii'e, which is quite easy to find: Coming from Jalan Rasuna Said, you need to follow Jalan Casablanca, pass Park Lane Hotel and Harris Tebet, then a fly-over bridge, and if you look carefully on your left, you will see it.

Daeng Tata is a very simple place, not fancier than a warung, and it brings a mixed crowd of Indonesians from various social backgrounds. You may see a few expats, but it is rare. During the day, it can get hot since there is no AC (at least in the one I went to), so it's best to come at night, with some mosquito repellent.

While most customers come for its Barbeque Ribs, I advise you to try their Coto (Soup) or their Konro (Soup with Boiled Ribs) as well, two specialties from South Sulawesi. The service is very fast, I didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes to get the food on my table, and apart from the BBQ Ribs which were slightly burnt, the whole meal was a feast. They will put various sauces, seasonings and other ingredients for you to add to your dishes. You should try them all, they make all the difference between an average and a great experience.

Coto (Rp15,000 Konro (Rp29,000)BBQ Ribs "Daeng Tata" (Rp29,000)

Overall: Very recommended, but you'll enjoy it only if you don't mind no-frills restaurants, with their occasional bumps and misses. It is cheap: A meal won't cost you more than Rp60,000 with drinks.

Opening Hours:
Everyday from 9am to 11pm (until 2am on Friday and Saturday)

Mamink Daeng Tata
Jalan Casbalanca - K.H. Abdullah Syafii'e No.33, Tebet
Phone number: +62-21 831 7777 / 8379 3333

Website: http://maminkdaengtata.blogspot.com/
Facebook: Daeng Tata Indonesia
For delivery: Call +62-21 831 5555/6666/7777

Other branches:
Jalan Soepono - Alteri Permata Hijau 25, Simpruk
Phone number: +62-21 7017 0000

Jalan Pejaten Raya
Phone number: +62-21 799 0008

Jalan Dr. Setiabudi No. 153, Bandung
Phone number: +62-22 201 7019