Mai Ramen @ Jaya One

Mai Ramen is a newly opened casual Japanese Cafe in Jaya One. They were just opened in August 2010 and I get to know them through Mydeal.com.my. You would find new deal every 24 to 48 hours on Mydeal.com.my with discounts from 50 - 90%. You can buy those deals online and they will send the hard copy voucher to you within 7 days. But so far all the deals that I bought from them were in e-vouchers that emailed to me immediately once the payment was made. I can just print it out and use it straight away. The Mai Ramen set lunch deal at RM12.50 instead of Rm25.00 was the recent deal that I bought from them and used it few days ago.

Exterior of Mai Ramen...

Interior...

The Cold Green Tea... my glass never get empty as it was filled up whenever half empty. Excellent service!

Bowl of Salad... was first to serve.

The Japanese Hand Roll... luckily it was a cooked one- grilled chicken (I don't take sushi) and one piece for each set.

Gyoza (fried dumplings)... 3 pieces for each set. Not bad!

Takoyaki (octopus balls)... 2 balls for each set. Quite tasty!

Tonkotsu Ramen (Sliced pork noodle)... Just 1 slice of pork and a piece of pork rib with half a hardboiled egg. Not a big bowl but just nice when all the other dishes came together.

The ramen was perfectly cooked and was springy.

Small Plate of Fresh Fruits... watermelon and honeydew melon.

Green Tea Ice Cream... just a small scoop!

With just RM12.50, you get all of the above. Value for money? After the meals, we decided to purchase another 4 sets of deal for future "consumption"... but must be used by end of Sept.

Mai Ramen

No.13-G, Jaya One

46200 Petaling Jaya

Selangor D. E

Munich Gastro Bierhaus @ IOI Puchong

This was recommended by a friend and we had the opportunity to check them out one weekend. Munich Gastro Bierhaus is just located at IOI Boulevard Puchong (if you wonder where the hell is the boulevard, just opposite the Jusco/IOI Mall)

They also have "alfresco" dining but the boulevard is actually a covered one. So don't have to worry about rain and sun. But it could be quite warm on the sunny day.

So we chose to dine inside... it's a small place but cozy. When we reached there at 7 p.m, most of the tables have been taken up and we had to settle with a small table. It could be uncomfortable when you have more than 2 persons dining together.

The menu... quite a comprehensive one for German beers and foods.

Franzi Dunkel 1 pint @RM28.00 - Quite pricey but at least you get the chance to try the German Beer.

Pork Knuckle @ RM43.90 - You don't go to German restaurant and not ordering their pork knuckle! So we ordered ours... it was huge! The above photo didn't really do the justice about its size. Well, it was at least a foot long! The skin was damn crispy while the meat was tender. Trust me you could go no wrong with this one. I actually saw the table next to us, a family of 3 ( parents and a daughter) that ordered 2 pork knuckles and plate of pasta. Either the pork knuckle was so damn good or they had already starved for a period of time... either way I had to salute them!

Pork Ribs with BBQ sauce @ RM23.90 - Came in 4 pcs of ribs, which was just nice for 4 of us to share. It was quite good and worth a try.

Lamb Cutlet @ RM39.90 - Came in 4 pcs also... but smaller piece. It tasted quite OK but the price was a bit on the high side for its size and portion.

The total bill came to RM149.25 inclusive of 10% service charge. Overall I would say it was reasonable and definitely worth a come back. However my only complaint would be their small table. We literally had to swallow our food ( a bit exaggerated though) so that the plate could be cleared before the next dish came. This made our dining experience less enjoyable. From the time we ordered our food and paid the bill was less than an hour... It's good when you are in a rush but it was not in the case here.

Munich Gastro Bierhaus

C-GF-46, IOI Boulevard

Jalan Kenari 5

Bandar Puchong Jaya

47170 Puchong

Jin Taiwan@Puchong

There was a write-up of Jin Taiwan on Sin Chew Daily a couple of weeks ago. When we saw that article, we immediately paid them a visit on that particular day itself. When we reached there around 2 p.m, the staff there informed us most of the items had been sold out. Damn... we thought that they must be good and decided to try our luck again the following weekend...

This time around we reached there around 12 p.m and it was almost empty.

The only other table besides us...

The menu...

The bubble tea was being served first... RM 3.90

The smelly tofu... RM 4.90. Quite smelly but Mrs. Chialat commented it was not good.

The salted chicken... RM 4.90. Tasted OK but the portion was damn small. Sorry to say but the above picture is quite misleading, it looks big but the actual size of the chicken is no bigger than the 20 cent coin.

The braised pork intestine... RM5.90. Thinly sliced/cut and could hardly fill up the gap between the teeth.

The Taiwan beef noodle... RM8.90. The texture of homemade noodle used was OK but the broth was a bit too sweet. I guess they put too much sugar!

Sliced beef... RM8.90. Small portion and damn expensive. Taste wise... just average.

If you happen to be in Puchong and don't know what else to eat, you may give them a try.

Jin Taiwan

70, Jalan Puteri 5/1

Bandar Puteri

47100 Puchong

Selangor

Tel : 03-8060 1051

Puchong Yong Tau Fu

If anyone tells you the best Yong Tau Fu in town is in Ampang, very likely he/she has yet to try this Puchong Yong Tau Fu.

At about 6:30pm, it was already full of people...
Choose your fresh ingredients...
And the ladies will help you stuffed it with fish paste...
They will then fry it and cook the soup.
Their special dip sauce was excellent.

Even though it was full of people but our food arrived in just 20 mins. Last time it took at least 45 mins! I like the soup where they put plenty of leafy veggie (I don't know what it's called but it is normally used in Pan Mee). The fish paste was tender and succulent. It was only RM1.00 a pc and I'd say it was reasonable as the size was quite big.

The fried ones... the fried "fu chuk" which you must not miss. Damn crispy!

They open for lunch and dinner... but I prefer to go there in the evening as the place can be very hot during day time. It's always full of people during weekends. So just go early!

Puchong Yong Tau Fu

Kampung Batu 14 Puchong

47100 Puchong.

*If I'm not mistaken, they are just opposite the Han Min School.

Hokkien Mee@Damansara

If we would make this far to this part of the town in the evening, the chicken chop at Stenven's Western Corner usually would be the purpose of our visit. But today I couldn't quite reach a consensus with my other half to savour my favorite chicken chop there... and finally we agreed to explore something new.

This restaurant was one of the 2 Hokkien Mee restaurants located at the same row, but few shoplots apart, that we noticed, which successfully drew quite an impressive crowds every time we passed by after our meal at Steven's Western Corner. We decided to check them out today. We chose this one was mainly because we managed to get a parking space right in front of this restaurant.

The signboard basically shows what they have to offer and their business hour...

And we ordered these...

Hokkien Mee... the KL's version and not the typical Penang Hokkien Mee. The ingredients was rather limited... a few thinly sliced pork meat and 2 or 3 pcs of dried shrimps ( about the size of a dried shrimp) given. The taste was just the usual taste of a Hokkien Mee which you can get everywhere. Single portion was RM 6.00.

Yee Fu Mee... same mediocre and limited ingredients given. The taste... well, the other half managed to have just 2 mouthfuls of it and I had to forcibly swallow all (as I don't like to waste my food) which ended up without remembering how it tasted like. The single portion was RM 6.00 as well.

It was just 6:30pm and already full of people which puzzled me until today that what actually attracted the crowds to the restaurant.

They are located same row as HSBC at Uptown Damansara but further down towards the end of the road.

Choong Kee Kampar Claypot Rice

When it came to dinner time last weekend, I proposed to go Uptown Damansara for my favorite Chicken Chop but it was rejected with no particular reason. Then I proposed we go to Sunway for Tasty Pot and again rejected because she was not that hungry. When asked what she wanted for dinner - "Don't know la" was the answer.

With that "don't know" in mind, we searched high and low in Subang Jaya, we went rounding in Uptown Damansara (but definitely not for chicken chop) and finally in Damansara Jaya. We noticed that this restaurant had the most crowds and we therefore agreed to check them out. Mind you it was almost an hour of search!

By the time we landed ourselves in this restaurant, it was already 8:40 p.m and starving. We quickly went through their menu and made our order. They just offer Claypot Chicken Rice with some add-ons (salted fish, Lap Cheong, extra chicken) and 1 or 2 side dishes together with a handful of steamed soups.

Big one already sold out so we ordered 2 small ones with salted fish and lap cheong. RM8.00 each.

They were quite generous with their ingredients. The rice was perfectly cooked by using charcoal where it was not too wet nor too dry albeit a bit of burned rice. The chicken was tender and together with the "Mui Heong Ham Yu" made it an excellent dish.

Altogether they had about 8 types of soups but unfortunately we were late - only herbal chicken and peppercorn with pork stomach were available. So I chose the latter to share - not too bad but not great either. RM5.00

I think we were the last customers of the night as we saw they actually turned away at least 20 groups of customers after us. It was just 8:50 p.m. then. So if you wanna check them out, please go early and find the address below;

Choong Kee Kampar Claypot Rice

No.80, Jalan SS22/25

47400 Petaling Jaya

Tel: 017-871 7739

Business hour: 12:00p.m - 14:30p.m, 17:00p.m - 21:30p.m

Jaya Palace

A special occasion brought me back to Jaya Palace the 2nd time yesterday.

The interior...

Contemporary design with a touch of oriental splendour.
Spacious and cosy.
Shelved-up pillar with Chinese teapots on display as decor.

Live seafood which we did not dare to walk near let alone ordered.

But we ordered these...

Spinach tofu with Japanese mushroom... It tasted good and priced wonderfully at RM 42.00++

Braised beef ribs... It was tender and tasted OK... but I'd prefer the BBQ ribs at Tony Roma's where the price is about the same - RM52.00++

The whole smoked duck... it had a wee bit of smoky taste and in my opinion it was the most outstanding dish amongst the rest of the dishes that we ordered. It was reasonably priced as well- RM 68.00++

Braised pork knuckle with some "siew pak choi" in abalone sauce... It tasted delicious but I'm sure there are better one out there especially with the price of RM 57.00++.

Mixed seafood claypot... It was the biggest letdown of the night. It tasted normal and the seafood ingredients were rather limited for the price of RM120.00++. That's about all the seafood ingredients you can see on top of the claypot. Underneath was stuffed with plenty of Broccoli.

Conclusion...

I don't know whose idea that was to have dinner there but obviously it wasn't mine. I guess the one who made the suggestion must have been regretted after the meal as the damage done was rather severe - RM436.45 in total for seven adults that includes...

- 2 small plate (sauce plate to be exact) of braised groundnuts which I didn't think it was something interesting to snap a pic, served before meal that cost RM10.00++ respectively. I think it was ridiculous.

- Chinese tea was RM14.00++ for 7 pax.

- 11 bowls of plain white rice was RM16.50++.

Honestly speaking, it is indeed a good place to entertain and impress your clients especially if you wanna prove that your company is still financially sound in this difficult time. - 5 star restaurant with 5 star pricing!

Having said that, I'm not sure if the nicotine in tea that made me stayed awake until 2 a.m last night or the bill caused the insomnia. But I guess the one who footed the bill would have the same sleeping disorder last night (or even more serious).

For those of you that money is not a matter, you can make your reservation at:

Jaya Palace Restaurant

No.12, Jalan 51A/223

46100 Petaling Jaya

Tel : 03-7968 2000