Okomen Japanese Restaurant @ Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur

Okomen Japanese Restaurant is not new to me as I have been here in the past and I know that they serve excellent Okonomiyaki and Yaki Soba.I have blogged about this previously and if you would like to visit that page, you could access it via this link http://venoth.blogspot.com/2013/01/okonomiyaki-and-yakisoba-night-market.html .But today, I decided to try some of their other dishes for a change. Being located in Desa Sri Hartamas, Okomen is quite unique as they have their own signature dishes and they must be the only Japanese restaurant that does not serve Sushi or Sashimi. 

Okomen Japanese Restaurant in Desa Sri Hartamas

At the Entrance

This restaurant is located in the intermediate rows of shops and is not visible from the main road. Hence finding this place might be a problem but I have included a map at the bottom of this entry and hope that helps. 

Menu Visible At The Entrance

Menu Visible At The Entrance

Menu Visible At The Entrance

Menu Visible At The Entrance

One of the good things about the design of this place is that their menu is placed at the entrance along with the price tags. This allows diners to at least have an overview as to what is available. It is also good as it showcases their prices which would attract customers as I feel that their prices are relatively cheap compared to many of the Japanese restaurants out there. Even today, I had pretty much decided what I would like to have even before entering this restaurant and that was made possible only because their menu was displayed outside.

Interior of the restaurant

Kitchen Visible From The Dining Area

Nice Ambiance 

The layout of the restaurant is simple and nice and not being overly decorated. It is also very clean. The staffs are very attentive and they have been trained to speak basic Japanese. I observed this tonight as all the customers that were there today with the exception of myself were Japanese and they were conversing in Japanese to the waiters. I am sure this would be an added comfort factor to these Japanese expatriates. The kitchen was also unique and was visible through a glass panel.

Beers Served

Hot Green Tea @ RM 1.80

This restaurant serves a number of beers and has a great collection of Sake for customers to choose. I simply decided to stick with Green Tea and this is priced at RM 1.80 and this comes with free top ups. 

California Maki Rolls @ RM 8.80

As I was alone tonight, I could not get my hands on too many dishes and decided to order one at a time depending on my capacity to consume more food. To start off, I went with the above California Maki Rolls. I do not know how the term was coined affiliating it to an American city but the rolls were definitely good and fresh. I would say that it was near perfection and worth the price as five of these rolls were in a dish and it was priced at RM 8.80 . I would rate this at 9.5/10 .

Gyoza @ RM 10.80

This was another good dish here. They were served hot and the outer skin was just of the right thickness. It was not too soft to break easily when dipped and also not too hard where you only get to taste the thick outer skin and not the meat fillings. These were just perfect and the dip sauce too was very well done. I would rate this dish at 8.8/10 .

Sausage Teppanyaki @ RM 10.80

This is the first time I am seeing this dish in a Japanese restaurant's menu and here, this is one of their signature dishes. I must confess that this dish was heavenly. Basically they were Pork Sausages. It was really spicy as there were loads of pepper on the vegetables as well as the sausage. I am pretty sure that they had spread some amounts of butter on the sausage before grilling it and the meat was absolutely great. By far, this is the best dish that I have had here tonight. I would rate this dish at 10/10 .

Location Map

With the last dish, I had to call it a night and in total, the bill only came to RM 35.40 which I feel is quite cheap bearing in mind that I had had three dishes. I would highly recommend this restaurant as I feel that they serve great food at a good price and with a warm hospitality. I would surely return here again soon.

Address: No. 7G, Wisma CKL, Jalan 22A/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, 

                50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: Mon - Sat 1100 - 1500 & 1800 - 2300

                            Sun           1100 - 1500 & 1600 - 2100

Facebook: www.facebook.com/OkomenJapanese

Email: okomenfood@gmail.com

Telephone: +603 6205 9828 & +6012 9828 964

Choong Kee Kampar Claypot Rice @ Damansara Jaya, Petaling Jaya

Just after finishing a meeting in Damansara Jaya, my colleague, clients and I decided to head over for lunch. Just as we were discussing where to go, I then suggested this place called Choong Kee Kampar Claypot Rice which is a direct competitor to Restaurant Busy Corner. Both of these restaurants specialise in Claypot Rice. The difference being Restaurant Busy Corner serves not only Chicken Rice but extends its menu to other items as well like Prawns and etc whereas Choong Kee maintains to just Claypot Chicken Rice. I have written separate entries on Restaurant Busy Corner which can be accessed via this link: http://venoth.blogspot.com/2013/03/restoran-busy-corner-damansara-jaya_14.html and also another visit to the same at this link : http://venoth.blogspot.com/2013/03/restoran-busy-corner-damansara-jaya.html .

Restaurant Choong Kee Kampar Claypot Rice @ Damansara Jaya

The Waitress Explaining The Menu To My Friend

This restaurant is located along Jalan SS 22/25 and is easily noticeable from the road as you drive along. We arrived a little earlier than the clients and therefore we went in first. As it was a little early for lunch, we were almost the first ones there and we got the fullest attention. I had read a lot of reviews where customers were disappointed after waiting a long time and just to be told that the food is all sold out. Most of them even call ahead and place their orders and then pick it up later. During peak hours, the wait can be really long and do not be surprised if you meet the famous fussy and rude lady boss of this restaurant. She has been rude to most customers so much so she has become famous and is mentioned in almost all reviews out there including on every one of the Foursquare reviews too. Luckily she was nowhere to be sighted today. It must be because we came in off peak hours. Another famous thing with the cooking here is that it is cooked using charcoal stoves and hence that too contributes to the long wait that one has to go through. As for today, I confirmed the orders with my clients over the phone and we placed the orders first so that they would not need to wait as long as we did. 

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu is quite simple and is placed on each of the tables. One has to just go through the items there and place the relevant orders. After all, the dishes here a quite simple and the ordering is very straight forward. 

Herbal Tea @ RM 1.50

All of us ordered the above Herbal Tea. I must say that the Herbal Tea here is pretty good. I would rate this at 9/10 .

Kai Lan @ RM 10.00

The Kailan dish was decently good too. The vegetable was fresh but the Oyster Sauce was a little less. It would have been better if there was a little more of that. I would rate this dish at 7.8/10 .

Lotus Root with Pork Ribs Soup @ RM 6.50

Closer Look At The Ingredients

The above soup was delicious. It came with a lavish amount of Lotus Root, Chicken Feet and Pork Ribs. Comparing Restaurant Busy Corner and this, I would say that the soup here is much better. I would rate this dish at 8.5/10 .

Chicken Rice with Salted Fish and Sausage @ RM 18.00

The Dish After Being Mixed Up

I must say that the above Chicken Rice was nice. It was well cooked and not burnt at the sides of the pot. With this dish you could choose to add on certain ingredients like salted fish and / or sausage at an add on price depending on your preference. Comparing to that of Restaurant Busy Corner, this was surely much better. I would rate this dish at 9/10 .Nevertheless, both Restaurant Busy Corner and this definitely stands out as the top five places in the Klang Valley to have good Claypot Chicken Rice. I would like to add here that the Claypot Prawn Rice available in Restaurant Busy Corner is still the best and is better than the Chicken Rice found here.

Business Hours

Overall, this is a great place to have your favourite Claypot Chicken Rice. The only ingredient that is missing when compared to that in Kampar is the fresh egg that is added into the dish. Once again I would like to stress that the food runs out very fast here and it is always best to come in early during non peak hours or call and take away to avoid disappointments or avoid arguing with the lady boss.  

Address: No. 80, Jalan SS 22/25, Damansara Jaya, 

                47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 1200 - 1430 & 1700 - 2130 

                            Closed on Wednesdays

Telephone: +6017 871 7739 (Irene)

Restoran Lan Je @ Desa Aman Puri, Kuala Lumpur

Having started their first outlet in Rawang many years ago, today they have expanded to another four outlets in the Klang Valley. This restaurant specialises in Steamed Fish and I heard that it is extremely good. Honestly, I never knew that they had an outlet in Desa Aman Puri. I was always thinking that their closest outlet to me would be the one in Kota Damansara and it is by chance that I discovered this outlet here tonight. My parents were with me today and since my dad and I love steamed fish, mutually we decided to have our dinner here. This restaurant is Pork free and with that said, we do find a number of Muslims dining here. Most of the customers who come here mainly order their steamed fish. In contrast to other Chinese restaurants, fish is just another dish but here, most people order one fish each instead of rice and pick on a few other side dishes. Having come here today, I am all eager to try their fish myself.

The Restaurant in Desa Aman Puri

The simple layout

Us At The Restaurant

Newspaper Write Ups On The Wall

This restaurant is a corner unit and with that, they have great space for customers and the restaurant itself is quite cool at nights. The service here is pretty good. The moment we arrived, we were immediately attended to by the boss. They do not have a menu card and have a limited number of dishes to order besides the fish. With the help of the lady boss, we finalised our orders without a problem.

Pot of Jasmine Tea @ RM 3.00

Jasmine Tea

We decided to keep the drinks simple and went for a pot of Jasmine Tea. At only RM 3.00 per pot, it is definitely very cheap. 

A Bowl of Rice @ RM 0.70

A bowl of white rice here is a mere RM 0.70 which is way cheaper than the usual KL price. As we are so used to having rice, we went ahead and ordered rice with the dishes as I don't expect my mom and Angie to have a full steamed fish to themselves. They are not much of a fan, nevertheless would have a decent amount anyway. 

Tofu @ RM 11.00

The first dish that arrived was the above Tofu. Being a medium sized dish, I find that it was decently priced at RM 11.00 .This dish was very good and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It could have been better if they had used Japanese Tofu instead but still, it was delicious. I would rate this dish at 9.2/10 .

Dried Chili Chicken @ RM 12.00

This dish was quite good too. It was not the best Chili Chicken that I have tried nevertheless it was one of the good ones. It came with loads of onions and dried chilies and the chicken chunks were well cooked. It would have been better if there were cashew nuts in the dish and that would be the only flaw that I could find with this dish. I would rate this dish at 8.7/10 .

Steamed Fish @ RM 16.00 Each

Steamed Fish @ RM 16.00 each

Finally we got the steamed fish. It does take around 30 minutes for this dish to be prepared. It comes in a fixed price of RM 16.00 per fish and that is really very cheap. It also comes with three levels of spiciness to choose from. We chose medium spiciness. There is a thick layer of chopped ginger and bird eye chili on the fish with some soy sauce at the base. I must confess, this fish was heavenly and I have never tasted steamed fish that was this delicious. We initially ordered 2 fishes, one to be shared between my mom and Angie and the other to be shared between my dad and I. After finishing the fish, my dad and I ordered another two fishes each for us. It was that good!!! I would rate this fish a perfect 10/10 . The chili and garlic paste has really seeped in well into the meat that gives it a delicious taste. Usually people avoid the Black Tilapia fish as it can be smelly especially to those who do not know the art of cooking it but here, there was no smell at all and the meat was so juicy. Now I know why these guys are so famous for their steamed fish and it is so cheap. Even back in my hometown, the similar fish this size would be charged at least RM 25.00 each. An excellent dish!!!  

The Opening Hours

Their Other Outlets

On the whole, I would summarise that this is a great place to have steamed fish and their other dishes are not bad too. Above all, their price is so cheap that I would not mind coming here a few times a month just to have this fish. Definitely a must visit restaurant for all fish lovers out there.

Address: No. 11, Jalan Desa 2/8, Desa Aman Puri, 52100 Kuala Lumpur.

Opening Hours: 1130 - 1500 & 1730 - 2230 Daily (Closed on Tuesdays)

Telephone: +6012 227 0037 & +6012 288 9548

Gulam Mee @ Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya

Gulam Mee is a restaurant that is located in Bistari De' Kota, Kota Damansara. It is a branch of the famous Gulam Mee restaurant in Kulim, Kedah. The restaurant in Kedah belongs to the father and this is run by the son who has brought his father's famous recipes to Kuala Lumpur. Their signature dishes are the Mee Rebus and Mee Goreng. 

Restaurant Gulam Mee in Kota Damansara

Restaurant Gulam Mee in Kota Damansara

A Number of Stalls Offering A Variety Of Food

The restaurant is strategically located in between two blocks and it occupies both corner units and the center space which gives it a great capacity to hold a huge number of patrons at any time. There are a number of stalls here offering a variety of food but to simplify the ordering process, orders are taken at your table by the cashier herself. From my observation, most of the employees here are Indonesians. As it was just the two of us, we decided to share the dishes as it would enable both of us to taste a number of dishes.

Teh Tarik @ RM 2.20

I ordered the above Teh Tarik and at RM 2.20, I find it to be expensive. It tasted very much like the Indonesian Teh Tarik and nothing like the Malaysian one that you get at the Indian Muslim restaurants. However, it was not bad and was not very sweet which is how the Indonesian Teh Tarik is made. I would rate this drink at 6/10 .

Syrup Lime Ice @ RM 1.90

Angie ordered the above Syrup Lime Ice and she found it to be just average. I tasted it and would confirm the same. I guess they are not really strong in their drinks faculty. I would only rate this drink at 5/10 . 

Nasi Lemak @ RM 9.70

Just for the Nasi Lemak, we would have to walk up to the stall, choose our items and pay there before collecting the food. Not sure if this stall is outsourced to a different vendor but they were also wearing the Gulam Mee t shirt.  Anyway, for the price of RM 9.70, I find this to be very expensive. The chicken cuts were also very small, in fact much smaller then other restaurants. Nevertheless, it tasted good. The Sambal was on the spicy side and the chicken was fried and spiced well too. As mentioned earlier, the only setback to this dish is the price. I would rate this at 8.5/10 .

Mee Rebus @ RM 5.00

The next dish that we tried is their Mee Rebus which is one of their signature dishes. I must say that they truly impressed me with this dish. All their ingredients were perfect. It came with loads of Green Chili's, Steamed potato, Cakes and the gravy was perfect. This dish was flawless and is a must try. I would rate this dish at a perfect 10/10 .  

Mee Goreng @ RM 5.00

This is another fantastic dish here. They do not use the usual sambal or soy sauce as the base ingredient but peanut sauce to stir fry this noodles. It was definitely very unique and tasted delicious. Another perfect score of 10/10 for this dish.

Overall, this places scores well for their food but slacks on its drinks. Two must try dishes here are the Mee Rebus and Mee Goreng. A recommended restaurant for the above dishes!

Address: B 13A-G, Bistari De'Kota, Jalan Teknologi 3/9,

                Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Telephone: +603 6141 8791 & +6012 660 9154

Opening Hours: 0900 - 0200 Monday - Thursday

                           0900 - 0300 Friday - Sunday

Website: http://www.gulammee.com/pengenalan.html

Home Kitchen @ Bandar Sri Damansara, Kuala Lumpur

This is my second trip to this restaurant. The first time was earlier this month and today when I parents came around to Kuala Lumpur, I decided to bring them over to this restaurant for dinner. I was very happy with the food and price the last trip and was quite sure that they would enjoy the food here. To those that are interested, you can visit my previous entry on this place via this link: http://venoth.blogspot.com/2013/05/restaurant-home-kitchen-bandar-sri.html

Restaurant Home Kitchen at Bandar Sri Damansara

Outer Seating Area

Outer Seating Area

Interior of the restaurant

This restaurant is located in Bandar Sri Damansara quite close to the famous Restaurant Thaibase, except that this is facing the main ring road of Sri Damansara. One of the many reasons that I like this place is the clean environment. 

The Menu

This time, I let my parents do the ordering based on their likings. It's definitely good to sit back and relax while they order their favourite dishes. The specialty here is that all their food is served with burners beneath which keeps the food hot even during consumption. 

Steamed Groundnuts @ RM 2.00

The moment you take your place, you would find that the cutlery and the above groundnuts is served. Even today, this place was buzzing with crowd and the staff were all working very hard to attend to everyone's needs as fast as possible. The lady boss is the one who takes the orders and the boys assist in delivering the items to customers tables. Coming back to the above steamed groundnuts, they were definitely very tasty and as it took a little longer than usual to get our meals, this definitely helped us to get through our hunger pangs. 

Fresh Orange @ RM 3.80

Sour Plum In Lime Juice @ RM 2.80

Chinese Tea @ RM 0.70

We ordered the above drinks and I must say that these guys never fail to impress me with their quality. The Orange Juice and Sour Plum in Lime juice was perfect and very refreshing. I would rate these drinks at 9/10 .

Plain Rice @ RM 1.20

Their rice comes in two sizes, big and small. The big portion is charged at RM 1.20 each and the small portion is charged at RM 0.80 each. 

Claypot Tofu @ RM 13.00

Their Claypot Tofu was really good. This is one of my father's favourite dishes and I was glad that it was  done very well here. He enjoyed this dish very much and it definitely tasted slightly different to the usual preparation that we get elsewhere. A must try dish here. I would rate this dish at 9/10 .

Claypot Vegetables  @ RM 10.00

This Vegetable dish was also very good. The vegetables were fresh and crispy even after being cooked. The sauce used had also blended well with the leaves. This dish is very unique to this restaurant and I would recommend this dish. My ratings for this dish would be 9.2/10 .

Assam Seafood Claypot @ RM 16.00

This dish was typically Asam Pedas style with a whole lot of mixture containing fish meat, prawns, squid, lady's finger and brinjals. This dish was well cooked and placed on a burner to keep the dish warm during consumption. It lacked spiciness and could have been better in that sense but otherwise it was a great dish. There was a lot of vegetables and for the price of RM 16.00 , it is considered reasonably cheap. I would rate this dish at 8/10 . 

Fried Egg with Crab Meat @ RM 8.00

The Fried Eggs was just above average. The setback would be that you could get the oil taste with the eggs. This dish is supposed to be Fried Eggs with Crab Meat but the crab meat was too little and we really could not get any flavour and taste out of it. This is a dish that needs improvement. I would only rate this dish at 5/10 .

The total bill for the day came to RM 62.05 and this includes a service charge of 5%. On the whole, I find this place to be quite good. Their food was decently good, cheap and the service was excellent. Also their concept of serving in those cute little woks and burners to keep the food hot is a commendable thought.

Address: 11G, Jalan Tanjung SD 13/1, Bandar Sri Damansara,
                52200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 1100 - 1500 and 1700 - 2200 Daily

Telephone: +603 6277 7700