As mentioned, this is a busy, popular and well-known eating house and except to wait. From my experience the turn-over time is pretty fast so even during busy period you won’t have to wait an unbearably long time.

And well I was only there to eat one thing – Black Pig Shabu Ramen – it arrived at the table fairly quickly, steaming hot and smelling heavenly.

It’s one of the few things I’ve eaten that TOTALLY lived up to the hype, in a way it was an ephinany for me. I’ve never really ‘got’ ramen and the whole hoohaa about it – it’s just some kind of expensive Japanese instant noodles no? And well yes it had been for me, up until this point.

It’s like the first time you eat freshly handmade pasta – you can really taste the difference, it’s a completely different experience. That almost reminds me that I’m sad Fasta Pasta closed down…but that’s another story.

The noodles are springy and have some bite to them, almost like perfectly boiled al dente pasta – it was quite different from any ramen experiences I’d had previously.

It was absolutely fantastic, even though I’m not a HUGE ramen fan I have to say this is the best I’ve had by FAR and the hanjuka egg was absolutely divine. I will be trying some other recommended ramen places in Singapore next time I’m down there as it seems to be very high quality over there.

I miss it…and I’m hungry now. So tell me, where are your favourite ramen place in KL?

WE loved the ramen at Tampopo and I’ll definitely go back, we give it a yummylicious We Ate This 9/10.

Address:

Tampopo
177 River Valley Road
Liang Court Shopping Centre, #B1-50
Singapore

Tel: 6338-3186

Website: http://www.cfc.com.sg/

Location on Google Maps (It’s at Liang Court).

Foursquare venue: Tampopo Restaurant

Others that wrote about it:

ieatishootipost
everyfoodweeat
alvinology
loveoishi
ladyironchef

We got invited to Favola restaurant at Le Meridien, KL Sentral recently for a cooking demonstration by Chef Fabrizio from the The Westin, Beijing Financial Street.

I really enjoyed his natural, simple way of cooking authentic Italian food with high quality produce and good technique. He really let the taste of the ingredients be at the forefront of the dish without over-seasoning.

It’s refreshing to see when most Italian food in KL is a horrible mash of cheap olive oil, canned tomato and over-cooked pasta.

We got to see him create a delicate tomato and eggplant millefeuille. The deep-fried aubergine really gave it an alluring texture alongside the tartness of the tomato.

A lobster and cherry tomato spaghetti, this is a really simple, elegant and tasty dish. Again using the small, fresh tomatoes allows the lobster to remain the star of the dish without getting coated in sauce.

And a seafood risotto, I learned something new here – the seafood was deep fried in semolina! It gives it a wonderful, grainy texture without being overpowering.

Favola serves some really good Italian food, I love their wood fire baked pizza – awesome!

You can check out Inspiring Italy at Le Meridien, Kuala Lumpur from the 4th until the 12th of June 2011.

Address:

Favola Italian Restaurant
Level 8, Le Meridien Hotel,
2, Jalan Stesen Sentral, Kuala Lumpur Sentral,
50470 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2263 7434

Website: http://www.discoverlemeridien.com/

Twitter: @LeMeridienKL

Location on Google Maps (It’s at KL Sentral).

Foursquare venue: Favola Italian Restaurant @ Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur

Others that wrote about it:

kimberlycun
cumidanciki
KYSpeaks
masak masak

The staff used to have a terrible reputation for service too, but glad to say they are have improved a lot too.

So we decided to give it a try, they have a few English treats too which tickled my fancy. And well it’s fast becoming one of our favourite places in The Curve to dine.

The interior is simple, nice and clean. Somewhat reminiscent of an English kitchen. The drinks are a little pricey and they’ve stopped serving normal water, only mineral water now. They do have a good range of beers though and their juices are nice.

But well, this is what we really go there for – the chicken liver pate! Just make sure you peel the layer of wax/fat off the top first, don’t try and eat it It’s served with plenty of bread and onion marmalade.

And our favourite of all – the Mussels, all the styles are great but this is “Apartment Style” which we love, slightly sweet, spicy and very garlicy. I have to say though we’ve been there about 5-6 times and the quality of the mussels has varied from SUPERB to just ‘ok’. It’s never been bad, but they have been slightly over-cooked.

This may seem like an odd combo, but it’s quite delicious – the duck and mango salad.

The desserts are pretty good, the Pavlova is a favourite of mine – but it’s very rich. Make sure you share it.

It’s definitely worth a go, especially if you like pate and mussels served with a mountain of fresh bread. I think it’s a great place to chat, eat and share some food amongst friends.

All in all we give it a We Ate This 7/10, if they could make the cooking of the mussels more consistent and the drinks cheaper (and give free water PLEASE) it could easily be an 8/10.

Address:

The Apartment
G72-74 and 152
Ground Floor and First Floor
Western Courtyard
The Curve
Mutiara Damansara
Petaling Jaya

Location on Wikimapia (It’s in the Curve).

Tel: 03–7727 8330

Website: http://www.atheapartment.com/

Others that wrote about it:

masak masak
limmeiyen
sooyin
jolcy
epicurious

An interesting concept this time, Japanese influenced Korean BBQ. Who says the Japanese and the Koreans can’t get along? I guess food solves all conflicts? The location was Jalan Damai, Ampang (if you know where Rahsia is, it’s on the same road just off Jalan Ampang).

The turn-out was quite good and the interior was nice and spacious and clean!

The food was coupled with sparkling wine this time starting out with the Jacob’s Creek Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir. The starter was Edamame, Morokyo (mixed vege), Tofu Salad & Gyu Tataki (slice roasted beef).

The sauces and marinades used were really tasty without being overpowering and went very well with the wine.

Following that the charcoal grill was fired up and we got to the white meat course; Tori (Chicken), Saba (Mackerel) & Hotate (Scallop).

We self cooked on the hot grill, you could get a nice smokey charcoal flavour with some careful maneuvering. The scallops were fantastic, and surprisingly I enjoyed the Mackerel (generally not a big Mackerel fan).

Following those delights it was time for some carbs! Onigiri (rice ball), Chijimi (Korean pan-cake), Kakuteki (pickled white radish), Moyashi (bean sprouts) & Chrisya (lettuce).

And then, what everyone had been waiting for! The meat course, delicious wagyu beef, cow tongue and much more served with Jacob’s Creek Sparkling Rose.

The collection above contains Jyo Tan (prime beef tongue), Jyo Bara (prime shortrib), Jyo Rosu (prime ribeye), Karubi (bone-in Kalbi), Wagyu Bara (premium Wagyu shortrib) & Wagyu Rosu (premium wagyu ribeye).

To be honest I wasn’t entirely sure which was which (apart from the tongue and the ribeye) but they were all delicious especially paired with the fruity sparkling rose which wasn’t too rich.

To finish was a simple dessert which reminded me of Chinese ‘tong yuen‘.

The lunch was a great bargain at only RM80 nett per person!

To get on the list you can call Yik Peng at 016 313 1873 or e-mail to:

RSVP – rsvp@millennium.net.my
Lenny – lenny@millennium.net.my
Yik Peng – yikpeng@millennium.net.my

Address:

Kannichikan Yakiniku Ampang Branch
51, Jalan Damai,
Ampang
55000
Kuala Lumpur

Location on Wikimapia (just off Jalan Ampang).

There are ‘higher class’ and more expensive Korean restaurants in Ampang than Woo Ga Chon – but I like the simplicity of this place and it’s cheaper than the rest (and still good!). Plus their pork is fantastic and the Bulgogi and Bibimbap is nice too.

The sign board is as nice and big and bright as the logo on www.partypoker.com or a Vegas casino so it shouldn’t be too hard to find, it’s at the other side from the 7-11 (Ampang Hilir) and you there’s always ample parking there.

The interior is nice and clean and simple, they have both kinds of seating with the Korean floor seating and the western table and chair arrangement.

As with most Korean restaurants you get a free flow of sidedishes (mostly varieties of kimchi) some of which are great, some of which are not so great (depending on your taste). 2 of my favourites are the claypot egg thing and the kimchi soup.

When you have the side dishes and your salad + condiments it’s time to get the meat on the BBQ! We usually go for pork as it’s delicious, maybe 2 pork (Dae Ji Gal Bi & Mok Deung Sim) and a beef. The pork is about Rm20-27 per portion, the beef slightly more.

One of my favourite things to eat at Korean restaurants is Bibimbap, something like the Korean version of claypot rice. The Bibimbap at Woo Ga Chon is very good, it has a nice crisp layer of rice on the outside and plenty of ingredients to get it nice and sticky and tasty.

My number 1 favourite thing to eat is Bulgogi and steaming hot white rice! The Bulgogi here comes as a single person portion along with a bowl of rice, good to order one for sharing with some other things.

Here’s the meat ready for consumption, dip it in the sauce, wrap it in a lettuce leaf with some kimchi and you’re ready to go!

We’d definitely go back to Woo Ga Chon even though it’s changed owners the quality is still great and you’ll quite often see Korean people dining there so the authenticity is pretty good. Expect to pay about RM20-30 per person for a satisfying meal (without alcohol).

We give it a We Ate This 7/10.

Address:

Woo Ga Chon Korean Restaurant
G20 Jalan Sulaiman 1, Taman Putra Sulaiman,
68000 Ampang

Tel: 03-4270 4211

Location on Wikimapia.

Others that wrote about it:
KY Speaks
Rojaks
munster

This is a restaurant I frequent quite often and have done for some time, it’s quite a unique place serving some proper typical Teow Chew food and a favourite of ours which is the Mee Sua Tow.

There’s a branch in SS2 near Lobsterman, that’s the first one I went to – but nowadays I tend to frequent the one in Aman Suria (or Sunway Mas depending who you ask) more often as it’s near my office and next door to the most awesome Char Siew in the world!

The interior is simple and clean.

Mee sua is a delicate noodle made from rice flour and is very brittle in uncooked form as the strands are really thin, in this form it’s cooked until it’s soft and the soup is very thick much like sharksfin soup consistency. This is their main dish on the menu, they have a variety of sides too – but of course the Mee Sua Tow is most highly recommended.

It’s packed full of goodies such as prawns, fish maw, crabsticks and much more.

It comes in at RM11 per pax, they also have a porridge option which is about the same but with rice instead of mee sua. And for the spicy food lovers they also have a Tom Yam Seafood Noodle.

They also have this fried oyster mee, which is a little more pricey at RM15 – but tasty.

They have a number of good side dishes too such as 3 taste oysters (sweet, sour and spicy), the octopus and my favourite the sweet/sour prawn.

If you’re really daring you can go for the yam/lard and ginko berry dessert known by Teow Chew people as Orn/Orh Nee.

A good meal, not too oily and packed full of goodies – I tend to get quite hungry after though so always order +1 pax on the Mee Sua Tow (for 4 people get 5 pax and so on). We give it a We Ate This 7/10.

Address:

78-1 Block F, Jalan PJU 1/3B,
Sunway Mas Commercial Center,
47801, Petaling Jaya

Location on Wikimapia.

There are other branches in SS2 (as mentioned above), SS14 Subang Jaya and Bandar Manjalara – Kepong.

Others that wrote about it:
KY Speaks
@lice
ugwug
verysedap

*THIS RESTAURANT APPEARS TO HAVE CLOSED DOWN AS OF NOVEMBER 2010*

Unsurprisingly our friend KY was also there, along with Eiling and I went along with Kimberly.

I think Chinoz on the Park (at KLCC) has recently revamped and renovated, I like the new look it’s very light and spacious.

The menu looked tempting and we got started with a sparkling wine, the Bin 555 Shiraz.

We got to meet a real chief winemaker too, Nigel Dolan! Quite an experience. Anyway with the Bin 555 Sparkling Chiraz came the Consomme – Wild Mushroom with Oxtail Ravioli. The Sparkling Shiraz was fab!

Honestly speaking the consomme made me think of marmite soup! The Ravioli was very nice though, it had a good texture and a nice solid meaty/salty taste.

After that came the Foie Gras Bon Bon with Caramelized Apple served with Show Reserve Cabernet Merlot.

An interesting meld of textures with the soft and the crunchy, but a bit of a waste of Foie Gras in my humble opinion, I found the wine a little dry for this course too.

After that came the main courses with an option of Salmon and Trout, with 4 of us we had two of each so we could sample. The Beef was Oven Roasted Beef Fillet with Caramelized Shallots, Roasting Jus.

It was cooked just nicely – pink in the middle and tender. The gravy (jus) had a strong rich flavour without being over-powering. The wine served with the Beef was the Show Reserve Shiraz – I really enjoyed this wine.

The Salmon was to DIE for, absolutely melts in your mouth. It was Confit of Salmon Trout with Poached Oyster accompanied by Dill & Cucumber Veloute – served with Show Reserve Chardonnay.

Dessert was served after that, nothing much to shout about – green tea and white chocolate mousse.

Group shot!

From left to right: Eiling, Me, KY, Nigel Dolan, Kimberly and Chris (who blogs at the cork brothers).

With the quality and amount of wine + some nice food it’s quite a bargain at RM100nett per person.

To get on the list you can call Yik Peng at 016 313 1873 or e-mail to:

RSVP – rsvp@millennium.net.my
Lenny – lenny@millennium.net.my
Yik Peng – yikpeng@millennium.net.my

Address:
Chinoz on the Park
Esplanade (G47)
Suria KLCC
50450 Jalan Ampang
KL

Location on Wikimapia (It’s in KLCC at the garden).

Tel: 03-2166 8277

Anyway there’s a superb Hakka Mee in Pandan Indah in Cheras, if you are looking for something not too rich, handmade and full of goodness I suggest you head over there.

Hakka Mee are basically handmade noodles (without the eggyolk and oil) making them healthy and springy, cooked on the spot with a light soup and some minced meat and spring onions on top. Usually served with fish or meat balls (your choice) and the deliciously tangy and spicy Hakka Chili Sauce!

The Chong Ko Hakka Noodle in Pandah Indah is apparently from the same family as a famous Hakka Noodle in Kuala Lipis. But thankfully this one is much easier to find (If you know where Steven’s Corner is you can find this place).

The interior is plain and clean and generally always busy.

The noodle itself is quite a plain fare as described above, but very tasty nonetheless.

I always go for it with a portion of meatballs, as seen at the back.

And the Sui Gau which are rather good there too.

But the way you have to eat it, really – is drenched in the special Hakka Chili Sauce. It’s got a kick though so be warned.

A solid favourite when in Cheras for breakfast, healthy and tasty and very authentic. We give it a We Ate This 8/10.

Address:

Pandan Indah near Steven’s Corner and Kin Kin.

Location on Wikimapia.

Others that wrote about it:
tallboyz
Rachel
Sin Tai Lim

It’s something like a buffet, but it’s not eat-all-you-can style, you get a ‘passport’ which you stamp as you take food and then pay for at the end (PLEASE don’t lose the passport as it’ll cost you RM200!).

Yes we do eat at The Curve a lot, but we haven’t even covered a quarter of the eateries there, there’s just so many!

When you find a table you can ‘chop’ it with the sign board as you’ll be wondering around finding food, it’s a good idea.

There’s plenty to choose from with section for potatoes, mushrooms, fruit, pasta, salad, meat, pizza, desserts and much more!

It does have a very market feel with lots of fresh/raw ingredients around and plenty of things to take pictures of.

Plenty for the meat lovers amongst you too.

We started out with the fresh mushroom soup, it was pretty good and plenty of croutons!

And the Caesar salad, it still can’t beat Italiannies though.

We followed that with the Lamb Shank, which was ok – served with potatoe wedges which were nice.

And the stone baked pizza, which was good – heavy and the toppings and lovely chewy cheese.

We tried a couple of desserts, both of which looked much better than they tasted.

All in all it was ok and quite expensive, I think for the price you can find similar types of food (but much nicer) even in The Curve itself and definitely outside.

They are always packed though, so they must be doing something right..Perhaps we just missed out on the good dishes. They have a kind of buffet deal on Tuesdays too, well they used to, I’m not sure if they still do.

All in all we give it a We Ate This 5/10.

Address:

G87, Ground Floor
The Curve, Mutiara Damansara,
47800 Petaling Jaya

Location on Wikimapia (It’s in Curve!).

Offical website: http://www.marche-malaysia.com/

Tel: 03 7728 9200

Others that wrote about it:
KL People KL Food
zestful
KampungboyCitygal
Meiyen
Ahmok

They came over from Japan a while back, they opened in their home country in 1999 and have been causing queues ever since then. It’s not cheap at RM3.30 per cream puff, but it is delicious! (it’s cheaper if you buy more too). This branch is in 1-Utama old wing, inside the Jusco food section.

The setup is simple and clean, the puffs are baked freshly in the store itself and the cream machine is kept in a large fridge at a certain temperature so it’s chilled, but not too cold and tasteless.

The cream puffs are freshly filled when you order to prevent them from going soggy, the default flavour is vanilla – I believe they have chocolate too but I haven’t tried that so I can’t vouch for it.

And they are garnished with a little sprinkle of icing sugar, served with a tissue if you wish to eat it immediately.

When you bite in the delicious cool creamy custard spills out, you can actually see the black bits of real vanilla in the cream.

Very refreshing after a rich meal! The combination of the super crispy outer choux pastry and the creamy cold custard inside is delicious.

I find it not too heavy and not too sweet, it’s not like donuts though – I’m quite satisfied after eating one..I don’t find myself tempted to buy a whole box.

We give it a super creamy We Ate This 8/10!

It would get a 9 if it were a little cheaper, but I can understand the price with the ingredients they use.

Others that wrote about it:

Babe in the City
Hot Screensaver
Bernsy
masak masak