Nabe Bakery & Cafe

Coffee and Bakery places are popping up in KL.  I am always a big fan of such places particularly if you have studied long enough overseas where the culture of popping into a cafe is like a common past time. Most attractive of such places is the smell of coffee and fresh bread wafting away in the shop. Friends working overseas also have been plugging Korean coffee culture to me ( however, we are unfortunate not to be graced by the likes of Caffe Bene, or Angel-like-Us and Cafe Tiamo ) but 1/2 similar to it i am fine.

I found this place via KampungBoyCityGirl, in the far reaches of Ampang, a sole Korean Bakery called Nabe Bakery and Cafe among all the korean bbq places. The ahjeossi manning the shop has been in malaysia for almost a year, and it seams he runs a similar business back then in Seoul. Guess the standard of living in KL is by far better(Translated: Cheaper) than in Seoul. Sometimes i wonder what makes people up and leave your country like that.

 

A word of warning though -if you are looking for early breakfasts, please note, he only gets his engine going by 12pm :)  The shop is pretty simple, nothing fancy. You can choose to have fresh bread, pastries or go for sandwiches or pastas.  My friend and i decided on bread. [ How i wish he had waffles ] 

That's Ahjeossi in the background, looking at his one sole helper that day. Ahjeossi doesn't speak really good english but he is a cheerful soul who will willing try to explain to you what the bread, pastry is made of. Funnily enough, when my friend and i walked into his shop, first thing he asked the both of us are "Are you Korean?". (?_?)  Must be thinking - " ah crap, have to speak in English now" ... However, don't be put off, as he has little sign on his shelves giving you a clue of what that pastry is! While I thought this place may be a bit far to attract a lot of attention, turns out local Koreans flock to this place to buy his breads. They must miss their type of bakeries. Now if only more will flock to less far off areas such as PJ/bangsar or hartamas.

We decided to pick a few bread that was at the shelves ( some needed a bit of warm up ) to have for lunch and call a patbingsu later. A very Korean dessert i would say is a Walnut Tart. I have to say it is an acquired taste. Initially i thought it was okay but takes one or two more bites for me to give it a thumbs up.  That purplish bread next to the walnut tart is Taro Bread. I found that interesting. Normally i am not a fan of Taro except for in the form of Yam Basket and Yam Cake but i thought the Taro Bread is interesting!

Another shot of the Taro Bread - looking a bit over exposed. [ The picture that is ] If you need a bit of warm up for your bread, there is a microwave for you to zap your breads :D 

I think this is Hawaiian Pizza bread and Garlic Chicken Bread. Pretty nice. I like savory breads! The bread here is extremely soft and fine not like those in the Roti Boy type.

Koreans also have "ice kacang" which they call Patbingsu. Kinda less creamy version slightly healthier. Lots of fresh fruits here in this and of course a dollop of red bean and rice cakes. Don't be fooled by the picture, it was an extremely large bowl of patbingsu - good for 2 persons. It was quite interesting to have mochi/rice cakes in a ice dessert but it gives this dish that strange umami kinda of taste

I had expresso after that ( which was quite strong, was like an owl after that ). Ajeosshi's wife is the person who mans the Patbingsu machine and the barista as well. Here is a sample of her coffee art. Not sure where they get their beans from but according to my friend, this is the typical type of beans they have in korea and it is normally quite strong and flavorful.

Later we bought a bread made from Glutinous rice (fresh made that day ) - that is quite a staple in Korea. I can guarantee you this shop does not use a lot of preservatives in their bread, my last small piece of the Glutinous bread which i forgot to finish actually fat mou about 2-3 days time :) Good news for me no preservatives - bad news, before i put food in my mouth must check first if got blue dots!

If you are looking for something different in the area of Little Korea, drop by to Nabe Bakery and Cafe.

Nabe Bakery Cafe
No. 16-11, Ground Floor,
Jalan Ampang Putra,
68000 Ampang. 

KFC - Korean Fried Chicken! From Bonchon

Er... what happened to Team Edward or Team Jacob

Be forewarned. The England in the photos are not my doing  :)

One of the best things that floated their way to Makati is Bonchon. Actually... i think it is an American Korean chain ( never hear my korean based ex colleagues mention this place ) but it is a type of Korean fast food. And it kicks Kentucky Fried Chicken to the curb! I used to be a fan of Kentucky Fried Chicken when i was a child. The crispiness was the most enticing bit. But when KFC started to "outsource" and really franchise out i found the quality went down hill. Sogginess and oily feeling was really a put off.

When Bonchon opened in Makati a few months back, the queue was stupendous. The shop is in the Ayala park shops, a tiny small shop that only had about 5-6 tables but hell, the crowds were long. My observation is that anything new in Makati is something worth queuing for. Out of curiosity, naturally we all try it.

I googled a bit on Korean Friend Chicken and realized - that this although a traditional korean dish, is more like a beer snack - kinda like yakitori to the japanese.  Explains a lot why i don't find it in Korean restaurants. The real name is Dak Kang Jung.  Bonchon serves 2 types - the Soy Glazed or the Spicy.  Note the spicy is SPICY. The use of Gochujang was quite liberal and i prefer the Soy Glazed which is lightly spicy. 

Actually @ one stage i got quite sick of this dish because for 1 whole week, my users decided lunch meeting was fun and each day they had Bonchon! Much as i like it, i normally try not to overkill my self with this.But eating it every was quite a torture.  Anyway, this post is done after a 3 month self imposed drought on Bonchon! And it tasted so good after the drought.

Aha.. the secret .... i am on a roll with this strange language thing

One thing about this chicken is that, you only get the wing and drummet part. There is no chicken breast ah, chicken thigh ah... only wing and drummet. And the price is a bit pricey.  A pack of 6 is 100+PHP but i got the 12 pack one so it was 200+PHP.  Greedy mah... so get more lor. And i had this grand plan of eating one half for today's dinner and save it for the rest.  And ta-da, my box of 12 wings and drummet.



You may wonder what is the difference between Korean Fried Chicken and Kentucky Fried Chicken? Well Korean fried chicken is double fried.  Apparently by double frying, it is less oily and makes it crunchier! IMHO, it's the sauce coating on the skin that makes it yummy. Single fry or double fry, any frying is still oily lah. Eat in moderation people. I must admit this was so tasty, i ate about 3/4 of it and only left 4 measly pieces for dinner the next day. I skipped the rice that was given because rice = carbs = fat. ( Remember i was in the country of Unlimited rice, so had to keep fit ) The piece de resistance is the sauce. Pick the Soy Glazed one. The spicy one is just too hot. My tolerance level for GoChujang is not very good apparently.

All your meats need to be balance with some greens. but i picked up a box of Kimchi coleslaw which was quite interesting much to say. Not very spicy yet gives you the zing. Ah.. no left overs, had to stir fry veggie next day as well. 

Typically, I won't eat it every day as it is not cheap food though it is fast food. However if you want fried chicken that is different - try the Korean Fried Chicken. I was telling housemate if we ever franchised this to Malaysia, tasty as it is, the Malaysians might find this really pricey. And because it doesn't have all the parts of a chook, might be a tough sell!

Anyway, folks who are dropping by Makati - head over to the Ayala Gardens or Greenbelt 1 to look for this place. Tar Pau lah.. not a lot of place to sit. p/s: i got craving. please bring some back for me :P No unlimited rice please. ktxbai!

Restaurant Chicken Bon Chon,
Ayala Gardens
Makati, Manila.

Dong Won Garden, Jupiter Street, Makati

On the street where i live (for a while only )

I haven't posted a food post from Manila for a looooooong time.... I cook more now than eat out, as it saves a lot of money + it is not as oily as the outside food. Perks of having a kitchen i guess. The not so good perks, the washing up.  I remember one or two times the food was so oily, i can skip the meals for the rest of the day.  However, after being here for so long, there are some good places to eat if you want to eat out.

Since moving to the suburb of Bel-Air ( cheh.... sound like Hollywood only.... The pinoys love American sounding places ), my apartment is quite near a little Korean neighborhood. Actually, it is right in the heart of the red light district, this little Korean town. There is surprisingly a large population of Koreans in Manila because (again, surprisingly) they want to learn English here or do business here. Every weekend the malls are crawling with young korean kids here. With such a large population, of course Korean restaurants and supermarkets will sprout like mushrooms.

My house mate and i like this one korean restaurant ( we have not tried others yet except Kaya ) near our place called Dong Won, about 5-10 minutes walk across a few traffic lights. The interior of this place looks like ... a north korea throw back ( lol!) and it is run and manned mostly by Filipinos. But the food is pretty authentic as it attracts a lot of expatriates like us and Koreans, so there must be some Korean boss at the back end. A sign of good foreign food is the people of their own country flock to this place ( If not, avoid at all costs )

Typical Korean food involves alot of banchan and Dong Won (sounds like Don't Want ) serves up about 10 varieties. Unfortunately i only took a few pics as we were super hungry, there was not much times for pics.

The kim chi is pretty good, while being a tad salty and sour, it goes well with plain white rice. Kimichi is my favorite food to eat during colds. Some how or rather it makes you feel a whole lot better. The one on the left which is some fish cake is quite delicious, other colleague and i tot this was quite nice initially thinking it was sausage. And if you run out your favorites, just ask for more.

Another type of ban chan, of pork pancakes, kimchi pancake and onion pancakes. I like the pork and the onion one best. The kimchi one was a bit soft. The other banchan behind was a simple dish of spring onions. english cabbage and onions drizzled with Soy sauce. I think the first time we tried this, everyone loved it. We were so green deprived that any form of veggie that does not resemble kangkong we were happy.

No korean food is korean food without grilled meat and smelly clothes.  I think this was the pork or was it the beef. Can't remember. Okay one thing the restaurant could do with better is a good ventilation system, cause once they start the BBQ the whole place choked up. There was this mynah bird there who was squeaking away while we bbQed. Plus we didn't smell that great either after that :P. The meat was not bad, quite nice and i think by far the best thing i have eaten in my 6 months stay in Manila.

Typical asians like us needed rice. By the way, there was no free rice with the BBQ here, it comes only when you order soups. So we took a Bibimbap but i was kinda surprise to see prawns in my Bibimbap. It was okay in my books, i think Daorae's version is much better and with more kick.

So, you think it will be pretty expensive to eat korean food in Manila. Well actually no. The meat dishes were only about 399 pesos and all in all we paid about 1500 ( or less ) for the whole meal(there was four of us ). Note there were other dishes that did not make this picture show. Free smells thrown in. By the way, skip the Mackerel soup.  That was really not to great though. There are some hits and misses in this place but overall once you know what's good just continue ordering that.

If you are ever in this part of the world you can drop by to this restaurant:
Dong Won Garden
Jupiter St. (near cor. Makati Ave.)
Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines

8,18, 23, 28,43 at Daorae Korean BBQ @ Hartamas

I am glad my makan group has grown slightly larger recently. With JL and LW joining the group we can go and eat stuff like Korean BBQ! Which needs a big group of us to go and makan. Sometimes Mashi and i do go just the two of us but the portion of food leaves us er a bit too much to handle! I do love korean food very much, after Japanese food and am glad the community of koreans in malaysia is large enough for us to sample some really yummy food from korea. Now, if only the nice Indonesian community would have some restaurants set up then i am a happy cat here. *Sup ekor* :)

You may wonder why the strange title here in this post. It's because that this is the number in the menu of the dishes we ordered from Daorae. All very ong numbers :)

JL recommended this place as his favorite so the rest of us promptly agreed to go there on a fine hot night in KL. Now, you can't miss Daorae in Hartamas as it is near the Burger King joint and on the top floor row of shops. And boy, this place is really nicely decorated! I felt i was walking into a different place. And everyone greats you quite enthusiastically while you are there... yes yes, anyang ha sae yo.... *bows*

We got a room because yea, we qualified as a big group and oooh it looks a bit like some studio from a korean drama. Doesn't it look like it? :) Ordered some tea immediately, we were a thirsty lot that day. And Mashi and i thought the tea tasted like dishwash water! However, later we found out it is a type of tea that gave that "dishwater" taste. ( FYI: my parents came here later and they did not find the dishwater tea taste strange.... ). For some reason today, i was obsessed about cutlery pictures, so i found that at the end of the day, i had a lot of cutlery pictures -_-". Here is one of them. So that i can remember the name of the shop.

We ordered 3 types of BBQ, one soup ( 2 services ), jap chae ( 2 servings! ) and also korean kimchi pancake and the usual barbecue meats which was quite a lot, after the appetizers they stuffed, i mean provided us with. Just to give you a view of the appetizers.... look at the pics below. My favorite is the pasta like one and the kimchi dishes (not too spicy and good to cure colds!). No one liked that flat potato one which was rather cold. In fact- we did not even know it was potato in the first place!

Now, the place at Daorae are good at noticing what you like to eat so they will refill these bowls after awhile. Let's just say we stuffed our selves with appetizers. And to prove to you how many "refills" we had - take a look at this: Amazing what 6 hungry people can do.

Part of the meal includes a free hot soup. Hot in more ways than one. Looking at the above, one would think this is just a simple chicken broth with some big headed bean sprouts but after further tasting, the "heat" of the soup hits you. Boy, was it spicy. Sent a few of us coughing haplessly and reaching for the cold water immediately. Should you feel down and want a immediate boost - er try this Daorae - life boosting soup!

My all time favorite korean food is actually Jap Chae - i never fail to call this dish. Now, i don't have a full picture here of the dish, just what i scooped into my plate. I am voting this the best Jap Chae i have eaten so far in KL. Better than the ones i had in Desa Petaling or even Kyo-Hang (midvalley). It was so good, - we had 2 plates :). But to be fair to us, er the dish was rather small. Good for a family of 4 but for 6 persons, 2 plates is more sufficient.

The other stars of the day were the meats, only 1 picture here despite having 3 types of meat, but you know we ate a lot :) I like the look of the beef here though, red enough that it would make a vampire drool and marbled enough to be tasty for humans. By the way, it's not kobe or anything like that. But still good stuff. Compared to Bonga, i still say Bonga has really yummier pork and beef though.

I think the best Ginseng Chook soup is here at Daorae ..... it looks as plain as jane but never underestimate something from face value. Served steaming hot here in a stone bowl, this bowl is filled with a whole chicken and grind rice at the bottom. It is not spicy hot but has this lovely taste to it and you can see whole ginsengs inside, the size of my little finger. If you like more meat, you can eat some of the chook as well.

I really like Korean pan cakes and i never fail to order them and in Daorae, we had their kim chi pancakes. It looks quite red actually that one would think color is added into the pancake. But actually the color of the kimchi has rubbed off on the eggs/pancake. The texture of the pancake is not like those of the english variety - more uumph to it ( i think potato flour is being used for this ). However, this is rather oily so order to share and not have a exxon mobil episode after eating this. Most of their pancake offerings are seafood variety - i have yet to see one with pork, chicken or a plain variety.

I must say after the double helpings of soup and jap chae we were well and truly stuffed. Total damage was around RM60 per person but since our outings is once a month, still affordable. Parking cost an extra RM5 :(. Argh. Daorae is so popular, they have branches in USJ, Puchong and a few other areas besides hartamas.

DAORAE GARDEN (Tel : 03-6203-2616)
No.9, 1st Floor, Plaza Crystal Ville Center,
Jalan 23/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas,50480 Kuala Lumpur

Ko Hyang @ the gardens

I am not one to simply jump and try a restaurant. I normally wait till the general mass to try it out first to give me an indication if the place is worth a try or not. Ko Hyang is one of those places that i waited a few months to try. This place, situated opposite Cold Storage and facing the organic supermarket in the lowest level of the Gardens, serves what they called real home cook Korean food. This shop is run by a mother / daughter combo. Mashi thinks one of the guys working there is the daughter's Bf... ( so much we can decipher by eating there once - hehehehe ). Oh by the way men, the daughter looks as if she is from a korean drama. Really pretty.

Now parents are a fan of korean food especially the yakiniku and we observed this shop going strong over the months. So, while we ran out of food choices in midvalley, we decided to try this korean food instead. Getting parents to go early was an issue. Dad was a bit peeved we had to reach Midvalley before 12 and i told him with good reason. Ko Hyang, does not have the space or enough table to fit hordes of people like normal restaurants do. When we reach there, the place was already pack despite it being 11:45am.

Don't expect a full blown korean BBQ going on here, with 10 appetizers in front of you. This is a small, homely operation ( i think with 6 people behind the counter )that serves up simple and tasty korean food and the appetizers are simple daikon(japanese style), kimchee and ikan bilis. I must say i enjoy the kimchee here because it was not too spicy nor salty and just right. I do think this is home made as i spotted the mother, refilling from a large plastic container that doesn't look like it came from a store.

Mom ordered the Bibimbap or crackling rice she calls it. Normally served in a hot pot with the rice crackling due to the hot stone, this was served in a stainless steel bowl complete with... egg sunny side up. (?) The original bibimbap comes in a stone bowl which is extremely hot with piping hot contents in which a raw egg is served. Quickly mesh it up to get a tasty mixture. Can't imagine having and keeping stone bowls in the small shop so, metal bowls will do. Comes in flavor of chicken or beef. It was quite nice actually, despite having the egg sunny side up and won't mind trying it the next round.

I have my favorite Korean dishes and this is mine Jap Chae, which is potato floor noodles. Actually looks like tung fun but it is not, its a lot thicker and served generously with vegetables and beef. It tastes sweetest that is why i like it. Normally you find this in the appetizers served in korean restaurants, however, you can have this as a main dish if you like. Not bad this dish, a tad bit oily here but taste wise, just like in any other korean restaurant. Exteremely fragrant in sesame seed oil.

Brother's korean seafood noodles didn't make it here. He was at the other end which i could not take pictures nor move the food. The tables are damn small!


Dad's favorite all time korean food is definitely bulgogi and beef bulgogi to be exact. Now, the cut of beef is not as good as the ones in Bonga we had in Solaris, but it was not tough at least to say. Does kinda look like my jap chae hor... only without the noodles :P. Comes with a small bowl of rice. Dad polished this up in no time.

Those who eat korean food a lot, know they have drink that is pretty awesome called sik hye. Supposed to promote digestion and served normally after meals, you can get a cup here for RM3.80. I think i will get it the next time i eat here. Total for lunch that day was around rm74. Drinks being the most expensive and dishes are priced below RM20. Looking for a quick and tasty lunch, try Ko Hyang. I am definitely going back to try the korean pancakes.

Location:
Lot LG-K-05,
Lower Ground Floor, The Gardens.

Bonga @ Solaris

It's amazing how some plans can go awry. This happened to be a EPIC FAIL in my books of planning. T'was mom's b'day an we planned to take her to Mr Ho's Fine Food in Solaris. Well guess what?? We got lost ... and finally when we reached Solaris.... there is no Mr Ho's fine food! What the.... I have to say getting to Solaris is not easy... why is the road so complicated! You should see my mom's face when we started making more wrong turns. If hell was freezed over by looks, hell was frozen that day.

When we finally reached Solaris... i thought my problem was over.. Anyway, we got slightly distracted by the sight of the nice properties in Solaris + Mont Kiara... If i was a rich kitty, this is one area i would like to stay. Despite being difficult to get here. It's continental ( lots of good food, plus some good looking people there as well ) and quite.. However budget is a big issue if you think if of it. I heard the places goes in millions here... oh well...

Back to Solaris, one thing i must say this place is packed with restaurants. There are many choices to pick from however, becareful on the budget. I noticed prices here are not cheap, it's good for a night out but if you want to eat here daily, a bigger stimulus package is required. And since this place is so... glamourous we even spotted a tv crew here filming dunno what here. Yes, i did what other malaysians do, stop and look. Since i am a blogger, i stand and take pictures as well.. Lol.


Despite not finding Mr Ho ( poor dad, i heard his heart break )... we settled on Korean food in the end. And i was not so pleased for one reason. My parents are SO SO fussy. How are they going to take to korean food. Apprehensively, we walked up 3 flights of stairs to reach Bon Ga.... and .. i suddenly felt i was no longer in Malaysia. This is a 100% geniune korean restaurants with a real korean owner and looks like 80% of the customers are .. korean.

We seated ourselves at a corner with this lovely light above.. ( something i might buy for my future house ) and started taking our cameras. Yes, bro has turned into a food blogger as well of some what. And we realized that koreans by nature ... seem to think taking photographs of food is a very strange culture. We received a lot of stares from them when we did this so some where in the blogsphere., someone is commenting on this strange malaysian culture.

My parents, having been to korea were no stranger to korean food, however most of the korean food they had there were not too good, so fingers crossed, when the appetizers came. I thought appetizers are like small dishes ... they are but i didn't know the total dishes can amount up to 10 dishes and more! With soup thrown in. Now, not all were nice, infact any thing dangerously red was spicy to the max. We loved however, the pancake, the glass noodles and the cucumbers were not too bad. And oooh, we had refills ... some we could have done without. I forgot to take pictures of the soup ( kimchi soup ) which was quite nice by the way, it was a cold day and it warmed my insides a bit without shrivelling up my puny tummy. Dad preferred the clam soup ( which he single handedly finished it on his own - because he likes clams ) despite the slightly hot after taste.

Btw, we had bibimbap which did not reach our pictures because it was next to dad and he was lazy to pass us the bowl. Oh well, it was not bad but i have eaten better in Desa Petaling ( the one i had with my ACN makan gang ). The piece(s) of resistance comes next.. pork + beef. Now we were were in quandary when ordering this, firstly i sort of freaked out at the meat prices. RM60 for a plate of beef is quite extravangant in my books. I tried to ask the helpful but english language challenged waiter how big the portion was but he kept saying 1 person... We decided to just get one dish, should we need more we will order later.

This is the three layered pork according to the menu that comes with a mushroom that looks like a drumstick and onion. This big piece was cut into smaller pieces and the waiter did the cooking ( i am glad he did - i have no idea when it will cook ) ... by then... i was starting to smell like .. barbeque meat. ( Later, when i got back, my mutts were truly in love with me, i could look like a bit fat chee yuk par to them ) Once cooked ( as below ), you dip it in a sauce, which i think you dont need to, wrap with the onion, mushroom and lettuce that was provided and eat. I was in porky heaven for a good 2-3 minutes. Such bliss. I am not sure waht they put into the pork to marinate. Mom says sugar and some miso paste was tasted but it was super excellent. I think i can try this for bbq later. Ok despite mom not liking fat food - she thought this was pretty good. Dad was just polishing it up and nodding his head.

I ordered fish for everyone ( only 1 dish ) so that it balance the intense meat we are having and... i must say i think i prefer the japanese style of cooking this. It's mackerel by the way but i find it so fishy... Dad loves this fish ( seems to turn out to be more of dad's b'day than mom's tee hee ) but still edible. And it comes with rice and that clam soup my dad loved.

Then the beef came ( btw this plate of beef costs RM65 a plate and i think it is wagyu as it is very very tender ) and the meat is good cut of meats not like the cheap cut meats you might get elsewhere. Again it comes with the funny mushroom that looks like chicken leg, this time, dad had to try this since mom and i finished the first one with the pork.

After all this i must say i was well and truly stuffed. Some gripes i have, normally korean restaurants served at the end of the dinner some barley drinks or cooling drinks but this one did not. Did not know if they don't server or forgot to serve it but would be good if that was given. After all the heaty food, i swore i could feel blisters coming up. I think the prices are in fact pretty scary, ok so i was scared. However, maybe conversion from Won to MYR this might be a steal. Anyway despite my freaking out, this only cost the 4 of us RM148. According to my dad, it's the same price as our jaunts to Chillies or Fridays.

No.2-2,2-3

3A-2 Block E, Jalan Solaris 3

Mont Kiara, KL

50480

Tel: 03-6204 0012

Oh.. sibling reviewed this as well, click here to read. Ah... mashi... mau pigi tak ....? Will go again... but like .... many moons from now since i can save up - hehehe

Restaurant Seoul Korea

Meow Notes: Who said pain is good??? After the WWR - gosh, my butt, hand, legs every aches..... however it was all good fun. Anyone interested in going White Water Rafting in Malaysia- check out Nomad adventures. They have the beginners to the very difficult ones. Besides getting a good work out... i got sunburnt as well. This is one very marmalade kitteh.

Well, i finally did more eating than normal. Been going to the gym more often - often is translated to try to be twice a week for a 30 minute run or 15 minutes run and another 20 on the cross trainer. Sorry, am not those that like to slave on these machines for like a good 1 or 2 hours but as long as my heart gets good work out i am there :). Plus an hours yoga on the weekend ( i feel like a pretzel today ).

In between these exercise times, i manage to find time to stuff some food in my mouth. I have not caught up with mashi for some time now, since..... king crab ( oops i forgot to post this one ) and she busy with her MBA and akachan to be.. while me... busy with work and gym. So we decided to do a girlie catch up near a korean restaurant near her place.

When i mentioned korean food to my parents - they cringed. Poor dears. Their korean food experience was not so great. Except bibimbap :) they like this crackling rice pot.

I find that taman desa is like the second korean town in KL. There is more than one korean place you can eat here, first one being nak won and second Restaurant Seoul Korea. Yes, Seoul Korea. Firstly, let me tell you, i hate the parking in this place. If you can, CARPOOL. I parked where i should not be parking because there is no space... :P.

Seoul Korea is like any typical korean joint in town, with the brown wood feel to ensure you are like in a korean home. They hire waiters that normally i am not sure where they are from ( korea is definitely not one of them ) and with the amount of korean people in the restaurant ( eating not manning the store ) means this is one of the better joints.

Since we are left with no men that day, Mashi and i kept the order minimal. Pity we forgot, korean food comes with a lot of appetizers (banchan). And lucky we stuck to 2 dishes. I was hankering for the pancake ... next time, must get NY to get another korean makan session going. I will keep the drooling for the pancake later first.

My normally must order dishes in korean restaurant is jap chae and bibimbap. So we put that in and waited out or order... when suddenly the waiter bought the banchan ... heck i forgot about this, about 10-12 dishes of appetizers that comes before a meal. Hmm at one point i wondered if i could stomach all the food. So here are some shots of the banchan.

Section 1

Section 2
Section 3

I quite like the cucumber one in section 2's pictures. LOOKS hot but is not ... :) it's also a bit sweet that is why i like it. I like the fish cake items as well but it was a bit cold ( cud be that is the correct way to eat it ) There were even cockles served with something on top but was not touched by the both of us for various reasons. (One was dying to touch, the other dying not to touch this stuff - hehehe )

By the time i tried MOST of the items, i was quite stuffed. The jap chae was served piping hot from the work. Mmmm .... nice smell. It looks like our chinese tong fun in a gluey mesh served with vegetables and in this case - fish cake... This must be eaten warm, if you leave it a bit cold, doesnt taste as good. This place does a better version of Jap Chae then nak won in the same area.

Next that came was the bibimbap. I am glad i only stuck to 2 dishes cause the jap chae was already huge. When the bibimbap came, it was equally large... Sometimes, my eyes are bigger than my stomach. Actually the picture below is the meshed up version, before it came, it was nicely decorated. :P With lots of beef ( i think ) , egg, mushroom, carrots and other veggie, this is actually quite a full meal on it's own. Taste wise, maybe my taste buds were already filled with jap chae, this was a pretty mild taste. Could be i was also stuffed with everything else.

Well, we couldn't finish all our food, becks had some take away from us. After dinner, we were served a chilled ginger and barley drink. This was awesome. Who knew this 2 can be such a combination. I can't remember how much our dinner costs, below 100 i guess, but with the size of the dishes it is not so bad.

I will come back and try their beef next time, as BBQ requires a bigger group to be more worth it.

Restaurant: Seoul Korea
Location: Taman Danau Desa
Same row as the Woo Pin Fish head noodles ( the shop behind )

Anyang-Hae-Sae-Yo Korean Food @ Nak Won at Taman Danau Desa

Treasure Hunt Update: We got 15 place but we didn't win any prize. Guess who won again? But we had a great time in Penang with a new treasure hunt team. More write ups later!


It was not meant to be -....... Korean Food at Ampang ( Little Korea ) was definitely not in the cards. First the rain ( no pun intended ) then the traffic. However, we insisted on still having Korean Food. So, the Neko unfortunately got stuck with the task for looking for alternative Korean Food with the help of TC. Some how or rather- i was not the main organizer but then ended up tasked with getting 1) Booking 2) Sending out directions 3) Arranging for transport. All i got was Barley Tea from the Original Organizer- u know who u r * Hmmph*

So I directed everyone to the Nak Won's Branch in Taman Danau Desa. Initially they were supposed to be in Hartamas- luckily i called to book spaces and found out they moved to Danau Desa- Luckily!!! Otherwise everyone else would have whacked me.

When i first stepped into the place- i felt like i was in a Korean home. Oh No, there is Choi Ji Woo in the Big TV screen. They were playing Winter Sonata... Noooooooooooooooo... Sorry... I really don't like sappy korean dramas - too mama drama. hehehehe. Anyway, deco wise the place was pretty nice, only i find it a bit crowded with 6 of us sitting in very tight spaces. Also interesting- the waiters are not so english speaking and definitely NOT Korean speaking people. However, they r very well versed in the way to eat certain stuff and certainly do not lack helpful tips on how we can enjoy our meal better. ( or look less jakun here hehehe)

Here is walking contradiction grinning ear to ear. We dragged her in last minute to cheer her up. Poor thing, she looks so stressed these days. Nothing like good food and good company to help cheer up a person. Btw, the men seem truly amused with the funnel in the picture. Each of them keep tapping and knocking and fiddling. It is lucky it didnt drop down on us.

Assortment of sauces that comes with the set, you will need to use this for the B-B-Q meat later. And the chilli sauce, far left taste great with other stuff.

Korean BanChan (Side Dishes)

I started to realize something real quick once the dishes started to arrive:

• starter takes up more table space then the main meals
• You need alot of people to eat korean BBQ
• Don't OD on starters - we were fascinated by the Apple salad and the salted veggies - so we keep stuffing our selves
• Refill is sometimes not a good thing - means you OD.
  
• I will start smelling of grilled food in 20 minutes time ... sigh - end of the day - no one is going to notice
  

I must say the combination of starters is pretty interesting- means you get to eat hot, sour, sweet, salty in one go. We all have our favorites. The kerang was sent off by all - looked a bit too raw for all of us but we had more fried brinjal etc.. In 15 minutes i started to fill up already - and this wasn't even the mains.



We ordered Grilled Beef. Frankly, except for TC we are real beef eaters. And this was the star of the night even though the picture is not very flattering. The good thing is- they cook it in front of you and cut it up for you. The taste? AWESOME! I mean - it's so good- i can't even explain. What the heck marinate did they put into it? After eating this, the pork an chicken pales in comparison. Btw, the best way to savor this is, wrap the beef in the buckets of lettuce we had. Add a slice of raw garlic. Put some of the sauces inside and stuff it in your mouth. The combination? Think Remy and Cheese... droolz.......................... ( btw: waiter had to give us Korean Food Noobs a tuition before eating )

Japchae -Korean Stir Fried Glass Noodles with Seafood

Seafood glass noodles was next! Again, a really great choice. There were really large prawns in this er... puddle of glass noodles and it was so tasty! 5 THUMBS up from everyone!

Bibimbap

Vegetarian Bibimbap - I think. Can't recall any meat in this dish. Please note, pot is hot. They serve it in a HOT HOT stone bowl. Everyone enjoyed this as well.

Bindaetteok-Korean Pancake

My other favourite- korean pancakes. Yummy! The waitress saw that our table was overloaded - she went round distributing the pancake on everyone's plate. You must try the pancake with chilli sauce below.

Grilled Pork - Wah- it was also yummy but then nothing compares to the beef.

One thing good about this place is that, the meat is great very nicely and it is not dry nor tough. my last yakiniku experience in japan and other places, didn't turn out that well - but here - done to perfection.

Everyone looking so gee-darn satisfied

At the end of the dinner they serve you watermelon and also a cup of crushed barley drink. Iced. Lovely! After all the heaty food, it is good to drink this. In fact, you can top up if you want more barley. However i think this is an acquired taste. NY and me found it great, FF thinks it is a bit weird. TC .. He finds anything pretty much yummy. He is not to particular like the rest of us. Anyway, one cup was all i had. Had too much tea before that.

Do actually make your booking for Nak Won. It's pretty pack with locals and koreans alike. Other brances of Nak Won is in Jalan Ampang. But check out these other reviews here, and here

Restaurant Nak Won
7-1-1 Jalan 3/109F, Taman Danua Desa
Phone: 0162259800