Sanuki Udon @ Taman Desa

We have read about Sanuki Udon from the various blogs , about the simple but delicious udon ( and also the good looking owner)   but had never had the chance to make a visit, until now….

We made our way to Taman Desa, and headed towards Bukit Desa, and saw the Bukit Desa Condos on our right and on our left was a row of shop houses and saw a shoplot with the paper lanterns- ah..this much be it lahh…

It was about 8 pm and the tables were all taken, the waitress asked if we would care to share a table , we nodded and was shown to a table seated with a lone lady who had a bowl of soupy noodles before her and a novel ,  before I could spy on the title of the book that she was reading we were told that a table was available for us.

A dog eared menu was shown to us, and as both myself and Chunny are not familiar with Japanese cuisine, from the names, it was a bit of a struggle on what is what, kaarage ? what ah  ..yakitori ? errr ? wakeme ? gapo dio …kakiage ?…thank goodness  the menu had pictures to guide us.

Chunny decided to go for the house special with egg (RM5), and I ordered the Kakiage udon ( RM7), and we added : karaage and a singular ebi tempura ( prawn tempura). One can also buy freshly made udon at the Sanuki Udon, RM20 for 1kg which should be able to feed 7 – 8 people . Yakitori, skewered grilled chicken and other ‘spareparts’ of the chicken including the heart, the err..backside ( bishop nose) etc are are also available on the menu

We sat at the table facing the tea counter, where the waiter and waitresses were seen pouring and re-filling the teas.

House special with egg. Apart from the delicious looking wobbly half boiled egg, there was also a dollop of wasabe at the side of the bowl. The waitresses pointed to the sauce and chili powder and said that we could season the udon with these..

Kakiage udon, a large piece of kakiage –a vegetable fritter usually made with strips of onions, carrots and radish  was served with the udon. I like the taste of the kakiage, the different vegetable contributing their unique flavour and the crispiness and the fragrant from the deep frying…ahh…The udon was very Q –which requires a bit of chewing and overall, an interesting texture. The miso soup that the udon was served in was not too overpowering. Not bad..

Karaage- don’t ask me how to pronounce this..this appears to be deep fried chicken. From the www, I found out that the usual way to cook this is marinate the meat with a mix of soy sauce, garlic and ginger, coat with seasoned wheat floor or potato starch and then fry them.  There is a step by step pictorial instruction on how to prepare this dish from the website, please click here http://norecipes.com/blog/karaage-recipe/ . the verdict, the meat was wonderfully soft with a light crispy shell /batter. This was nice.

 One thing that really get to me when visiting a Japanese eatery is everybody and everybody who works there will yell out greeting and thanks yous (or whatever it is that they yell ) whenever a patron enters or  leaves restaurant.  The fella who was taking care of the grilling yakitori skewers, the fella who was deep frying the tempura, the waiter who was refiling the teas, the waitress who was clearing the table, the waiter who was seating the patrons, the guy who was giving you change for the bill …everyone will be chanting and yelling in that high pitched cheerful voice….Grrrrr….

My camera battery went flat after the picture of my bowl of udon, arigatho Chunny for the pixs from your iphone !

Location :

Restaurant Sanuki Udon
9, Jalan Bukit Desa 5,
Taman BukitDesa,
Jalan Klang Lama
58100 Kuala Lumpur
( Closed on Mondays)

 

Taman Desa Japanese BBQ @ Taman Desa

Chunny saw this Japanese BBQ makan place  featured on Ho Chiak- and that was how we ended at a open courtyard as the last few rays from the setting sun illuminated the metal table tops and the plastic chairs.

We asked the waiter what is good here, and his reply was “everything taste great here’,I think this guy deserve a raise. Three kind of meats were available : pork, beef and lamb. For pork the choices were : belly, shoulder loin, neck, ‘inside leg’ ( what is inside leg ah ?) and baby intestine, all for RM10/ plate ( ~ 100g) and also available are tongue, throat, liver, heart, stomach and small intestine from RM5-6. For beef, the choices are :brisket, ribeye, short ribs, steak, tongue which price ranging from RM10 to 25. For lamb there was only 1 selection : Gengiskhan RM20. There were three selection of vegetable, all priced at RM5 : mixed vegetable, miso cabbage and long cabbage salad.. For the non beer drinkers, the choice of drinks are rather limited: hot or cold green tea, 100plus and then the rest are beers. I don’t drink tea at night and worry about the 8 tablespoon of sugar in a can of softdrink  so…i guess we will have a Saporo (RM13) 

For our BBQ, We decided to go for pork shoulder loin , beef ribeye and mixed vegetable. The ribeye appeared to have been marinated whereas the pork is au naturale, I was a bit puzzled by the mixed vegetable of carrots, cabbage and onion, how do we bbq these ah, they were already so dry wor ?

We dropped the meat and the vegetable on the grill over the charcoal fire, mouth salivating, forehead sweaty, mascara running, nose smoking, fingers burning..We had this meal before the terrible Haze thingy, so we didn’t contribute to the pollution index.

The meat were cut rather thinly so they curled and cooked pretty fast, the marinate from the beef hid the beefy flavour and it was the pork in it’s natural juice and form that won the day. The owner  came by our table and rescued the cabbages which were getting carbonized over the fire and imparted a few wise words -  ‘ you grill lightly to soften the cabbage, there is no need to burnt it ’ BBQ cabbage wasn’t too bad but we burnt most of the carrots though.

Three  types of ramen  were available , pork, chicken and cold ramen, all three priced at RM10/bowl, the Pork ramen was highly recommended by the waiter who was non committal earlier. The ramen came with a few ( too few lah) thinly sliced  pork, half a boiled egg and bean sprouts. Taste wise, pretty good . And best was the pork, it was so porky, the fatty and lean layers gave it a tender and smooth texture. The texture of the ramen was springy. Nice.

After consuming all the above, there were still some space in our system and we decide to order the  Genghiskhan. Gengiskhan came in it’s own little ‘pot’ , there were some cabbages and gravy with the lamb bits, these were almost half ready when delivered to our table which was a good thing. The flavour was a garlicy, bean paste ( my guess, oh, maybe miso hor) and a tinge of chili. The lamb wasn’t gamey ( yayyy) , it was tender with a bit of a bite. And I must say the cabbage tasted better cooked in the pot with the gravy compared to the open fire. i think Mr Khan was delicious.

Overall, an enjoyable meal. Our visit was on a Friday and all the tables were more or less taken up. And as you would anticipated, after the meal you smell like a slab of meat cooked over the fire ( and probably look like one too )

Business hours : only starts in the evening to late.

Location ( the name on the bill was Sanuki Udon and the address printed on the bill was Jalan Bukit Desa, which must be for another branch (?)  :

Get yourself to Taman Desa, locate TM Point at Jalan Desa Utama or if you come from the other entrance into Taman Desa, locate Faber Tower, which is at the opposite end of TM Point. Geez…no wonder I always start with talking about food and end with the location. From TM Point, look for Public Bank, then go further right, you will come to a open courtyard.  And if you are at the Faber Tower end, find 7 Eleven then go further left until you some to an open courtyard.

Iketeru @ Hilton KL , KL Sentral, Brickfields

The following review will be quick and simple because I am not a Japanese food connoisseur . This will avoid embarrassing myself, lagi pun, less said rather than exposing my ignorance for Japanese cuisine. Oh..i just had an inspiration, maybe I could do some pseudo haiku and kill the piece ( and kill myself ) in the process

 Sea urchin  on buttery rich tofu

What bliss my stomach cries..

Misty eyed I silenced a burp..

 

Pretty earthen teapot

what ware does thou holdsOh blimey a kettle of soup so yummy

 

 Be-headed prawn blushed ,

Fish fresh and sweet

On the chair I satisfiedly recline

 

Fish wrapped in egg roll so sublime

Steamed pumpkin , mushy and sweet,

Japanese cuisine I can learn to likey muchy

 

Fish meat as tough as the soles of my shoes,

Left to cook over the kitchen fire and melancholy

Lotus root stuffed with wasabi, fiery and deadly…I shed tears

 

Firm and fresh as a maiden calves,

Never thought raw fish could be enjoyable

I look at raw with new insights….

 

Fried rice - each grained well defined,

Pickled vegetable in threes,

Soup a cloudy whirl of soy

 

Chocolate mousse so sweet..

My blood sugar raced, My tooth ached..

The dentist bill inflate..

 I am not a fan of shashimi, but I have to admit, the meal was rather enjoyable . i was surprised i enjoyed it so much (more so since it was a company do and we didn’t have to dig into our wallets) . I must say I am starting to get a feel for raw fish, it sort of grow on you ( and maybe inside you too ).This  set meal was RM200+/pax , no wonder lah so nice and inspiring to the extend of breaking into haiku territory , I promise not to repeat the haiku disaster, please come back..

 Hilton KL

3, Jalan Stesen Sentral,

50470 KL

Tel : 2264 2264