Is Sushi: midget among giants

Suddenly there are surge of Japanese/ Korean food joints among the higher class fine dining Western restaurants. Somehow, they are always concentrated among Ipoh Garden Medan Bistari area. Does it mean that the residents here are fans of far eastern cuisine? On colleagues suggestion, we tried the new Japanese restaurant here for lunch.


I Sushi may not stand out from outside but easily recognizable none the less. Located in Medan Ipoh Bistari, it is very near to famous joints such as Michaelangelo's Pizzaria. Look for the new row of shops opposite Sakai Cafe which was reviewed quite long ago, and in the same row as Sushi Zento. From the outside, the colourful OIC cafe would probably stand out near the other far end of the row, away from the main road. I Sushi is just beside OIC cafe.

chicken katsu set

Typical of all Japanese restaurant, expect to see kaiten style of sushi on conyervor belt, the typical Eastern curtains covering the toilet, bamboo decoration somewhere, and a few lantern style lights. And as most restaurants' habit, expect the "irasshaimase" when you come in. However, service here is rather "cold" despite the welcome shout. The waitresses, although dressed traditionally, appeared sterile and felt like they just want to end their shift. Then again, maybe they are just having a bad day. I have to give credit to the waitress who was in charge of filling my ocha cup though; as she was diligently filling everyone's cup as soon as it is emptied. Good job, finally!


Never mind the service or deco. It is all about food and price. The menu is typically japanese, though leaning more towards rice variants and sushi. Not many of noodle (rame/ soba/ udon) variety which was more popular in urban Japan. Interesting facts is that our impression of Japanese food is probably sushi or sashimi, but in reality, they have more rice or noodle joints for daily consumption.

maki sushi

saba sushi set

There are lunch sets to save the wallet, therefore I ordered the chicken katsu set (RM9.90). It is not bad, the chicken katsu is rather tender, served with teriyaki sauce. The amount is more than enough for the bowl of rice. The dish is served with mash potato which was bit of letdown. The only saving grace is it is not the mash potato made from real potato rather of powder. Therefore, the consistency is nice, though I prefer more milk and butter in my mash potato. The maki sushi is average, nothing to shout about. With the price, overall, the katsu set is definitely worth it. The ala-carte sets which the rest ordered, were sadly, not so. According to my friend, the buta kimuchi futo maki set (RM25) somehow do not have enough amount of meat up to his expectation. The taste of kimchi is not everyone's favourite so think twice before going for the pork. Saba sushi (RM25), according to another friend who enjoy sushi, was also average at most.

buta kimuchi set

Eating here is not cheap, coupled with green tea (RM1.50 per head, refilling allowed), it will make a dent in the wallet. It is expected from any Japanese lunch. However, with the price, anyone would expect something extra. Food here is average, but among some rather good Japanese joints here in the vicinity, it will be a uphill battle for I Sushi.

mash potato

ratings: 2 half poink!
comments: although the rest are not happy with their choice, I was rather "ok" with my RM9.90 set. Higher poink for the set!

Is Sushi Restaurant
NO 6&7, Festival Walk@ Ipoh
Jalan Medan Ipoh 1
Medan Ipoh Bistari
Ipoh
05-5460742

Yin Fai Kee 源晖记 : just come for noodle, nothing else

come for the tailokmee

It had been a long time that I did not blog about the typical Chinese restaurant with dishes. The truth is there are so many of them around in Ipoh and Kampar that I did not know which want to write about. Since a colleague suggested dinner here, might as well we give it a try. 

Yin Fai Kee is located right in the centre Ipoh town. It may be a bit difficult to locate; but if one would go from the road which harbour the new FooShan and the old Alishan bus company, just head towards town centre, cross the main road and along the side alley. It is just in the middle of the road, sharing the street with many other Chinese restaurants as well. 

In Chinese stall type of restaurant, we would not be talking about decoration or service. It is all about food. Forget the menu as well since most of them would share the same selection of noodles or dishes. 

fried egg with oyster

belacan kangkong

The main star of this restaurant is the "mee goreng besar" or "tailokmee". Literally it meant big coarse noodle, referring to the relatively bigger diameter compare to other noodle. It is usually fried with lots of dark soya sauce, and in this stall, the main ingredient would be the pork oil cube (zhuyou zha). It will be nightmare for the health conscious public but hey, we only get to live once. Somehow, the pork oil gives a different aroma to it, and with ample oil, the noodle literally shines and invite you to finish it. Is it good? Yes, with all the pork oil; though many would disagree with me. However, due to the more than sufficient oil, it is not meant to be finished alone. 

lala, kamheong style

fried kueitiao

The other dishes however, pale in comparison. The belacan kangkong was average and nothing to shout about. Fried lala "kamheong" style was something to look forward to, since the style of cooking with curry leaves is one of the better way to cook this seafood. However, it turn out bit on the plain side, with just salty and hot. It lacks the aroma of the "kamheong" style. The fried egg with oyster (hojian) was the most disappointing. I had tasted better one elsewhere (Melaka Jln Bunga Raya hojian still hold a special place in my heart) whereby it is a single unified dish with egg and oyster. This, on the other hand, felt like the cook was making an fried egg and decided to throw in some oyster instead of other ingredient. The other noodle dish we ordered was fried kueitiao, which turn out alrite but pale in comparison again with the tailokmee. 

Over all, with all the dishes, it ended up RM80 for 4 of us. Not exactly cheap, but since lala and oyster are expected to be pricey, it is understandable. It is just that the expensive dishes were bit of letdown but the cheaper tailokmee shines instead. 

ratings: 2 half poink!

comments: lower poink due to the other dishes. I would not mind coming back for the noodles especially the extra pork oil tailokmee.

Sweet Hut: Nice, pleasant,royal sweet surprise

 Once in a while, there are sweet surprises awaiting in life. After a so-so outing with beancurd in the evening, we decided to indulge ourselves for supper. We had seen the banners everywhere, just that the shop is always full (which is a good sign), that we did not have a chance to try the desserts here. Until today.

Sweet Hut, as we discovered later, is a franchise rather than an exclusive new shop. There are many branches, including those in Johor, Penang, and Melaka. But somehow, we always missed this joint in Klang Valley. Kampar is proud, now to have a Sweet Hut in our own compound. It is just on the row next to Grand Kampar Hotel in Bandar Baru Kampar, next to Vegas Kitchen, which I reviewed long time ago. So, one can just pop by after finishing a nice western dinner in Vegas.

To be truthful, I have no expectation when I came. Probably that is why I was impressed at the end. The decoration is simple, and the white theme with green worked very well with the desserts. It actually make the place look larger also. They actually paid attention to the tiny details, so much so that they actually decorated a door outside the shop to make it look more hip. The service was really welcoming, and although our orders had to be changed (twice!) due to the kitchen who ran out of our initial choices, the waitress do appeared genuine in her apologies and even guide us to replace our orders with the nearest choice similar to our initial choices.

baked marquis chocolate pudding

royal durian sago

Expect to spend at least RM10 for each dessert, which is rather expensive for Kampar. Since this is a franchise, one cannot be complaining much. However, once the food arrived, I got what I paid for. The whole menu is filled with different desserts, from pudding to brownies, from snow ice to soup. There are some fingers food, but I bet that is not the reason why everyone came. My first order was royal durian sago with durian ice cream. My first impression was @#%!... a simple bowl of sago with durian ice cream? However, once I took the first spoonful, it was an awesome surprise. It was fulled with durian flavour. Not the simple artificial flavouring one get in a bottle, but the durian taste from the fresh king of fruits. Dig deeper in the bowl and I found some nice durian flesh. Nice touch! The durian taste blended so well with the sago. The durian ice cream was bit wasted though. The dish work well enough without the ice cream and its durian taste pale in comparison with the real durian flesh.  I underestimate the portion as well, although it looked small, but given the durian and the ice cream, I do felt full once I finished the bowl. Colleen chose the baked marquis chocolate pudding served with cream and cookies ice cream. The 15 minutes wait was worth it. Cut the pudding open and hot dark chocolate flows out, much like a lava from a volcano. It smells good too. Pity that I was never a fan of dark chocolate ( I always prefer white), but once mixed with the ice cream, the combo was superb. The ice cream neutralize the bitterness of dark chocolate while maintaining the richness of the chocolate. Both dishes are impressive, even for a relatively higher price.

I would not want to be paying so much for all my supper every night. But again I would stressed that in Sweet Hut, I got what I paid for, which is a rather good surprise with all the mushrooming cafe/ restaurant/ dessert house in Kampar. This had just became my top choice whenever I want to reward myself with some gastronomic indulgence.

ratings: 3 half poink! (Collen gave a 4 poink though)
comments: I know I am always "kiam", and that is what prevented me from giving a higher rating. For those who do not mind their wallet being lighter, this is a near perfect place for dessert.

Sweet Hut
2176, Jalan Timah,
Bandar Baru,
Kampar
016-5042520
http://my.restaurant.openrice.com/sweethut/

Super Soya Beancurd 无敌豆花专卖店: right direction, not so right journey

 I am a fan of taufufa (beancurd dessert). The odd thing is I do not enjoy them as much when I was young, but somehow when I left Kampar for study, that is one of the thing I miss. And ever since, I am a converted fan of a good bowl of taufufa. I always enjoy the traditional taufufa that was sold with the good old wooden bucket. The taufufa is still hot from the bucket and once cooled down in the fridge, it was superb served with the traditional syrup or mixed with ginger or even better, gula melaka. Somehow, I was always skeptical of the newer version of taufufa, especially if they are served in plastic bowls.

Imagine my surprise when I bumped into Super Soya Beancurd (or in Chinese, taufufa specialty shop) in Kampar. Frankly speaking, I was really skeptical. But curiosity got better of me, I was bound to try it someday. Even though I saw the banner long time ago, I was unable to locate the place. It was coincidentally during one of my cycling trip in Bandar Baru I bumped into this shop. It is located in the older part of Bandar Baru Kampar, before crossing over to Westlake. Located near the site for night market every Wednesday, just look out for the only old row of shop near the night market site perpendicular to the site.

To be fair, the idea is rather good. It modernize the whole taufufa dish. Make it more hip. And sprinkle some creativity and innovative change. Makeover for the shop, make it more young looking. On paper, it is definitely recipe for success, throw in a loyalty card to make sure people do come back for second or third helping. It is on the right direction. Decoration is surely nice, hip and modern. Suit the younger crowd. It is the expected self service style but the pair manning the counter do make my visit felt welcomed. I almost feel guilty for not writing a better review.

 The most important thing is the taufufa. Do not get me wrong. It is not bad. The beancurd is rather smooth, full of soya smell. So much so that is is not my liking, though that is only due to my own preference. It is not so sweet, which is a good thing. I still prefer my taufufa with a bit firmer consistency. The whole menu is variety of topping for the taufufa. Now we understand that the taufufa is rather average, it is the topping that carry the dessert. There are so many choices and I am really impressed with the variety of topping that work well with beancurd. Mum chose the almond with raisin topping and it was really awesome. The almond was crispy and blended nicely with the beancurd. My choice was nangka with dragonfruit topping which is nice enough since I love nangka. Colleen chose the kiwi with mango topping which ended up rather average. Overall, both the fruits felt fresh. Dad went with the more traditional guilinggao topping which is rather odd to take with taufufa.

Given that it is on the right direction, somehow I still felt unsatisfied. The execution of the idea has so many shortfalls or potential issues. I do sound impressed with the dessert so what was wrong? The price combination with location. The average price per taufufa is RM5.50, though the helping is just nice for a big-eater like me. I do understand the younger crowd would be willing to pay for dessert (more willing than me), but this location is rather far from other sites. That means I would have to come all the way here specially for the beancurd and nothing else. The beancurd has to be really special for me to make the journey, and although it is nice, it is not that out-of-this-world nice. If this shop is located in the main Bandar Baru square area, I bet it will be making profits much much more. For an average "uncle" like me, I do not mind the extra topping, but the main idea was to enjoy a good dose of taufufa. To pay RM5 for one, is a bit high for me. I do not mind lesser price with lesser topping. Then again, in the days where students pay up to RM10 for a cup of coffee, the price here for taufufa is not a surprise.

To those who do not mind the drive or the price, this will make a very good dessert. For a extra "kiam" uncle like me, I would probably visit my favourite taufufa stall in the market.

ratings: 2 half poink!
comments: it is a really good idea. And it taste good too. There is an ongoing promotion for Buy 3-free-1 currently which make the dessert even nicer. However, I factored in that the promotion is not going forever and I probably would not be eating 10 taufufa to earn my free loyalty card taufufa, therefore, I ended up with an average rating.

Super Soya Beancurd
414, Jalan Perak 4
Taman Bandar Baru,
Kampar
open 1000am- 1000pm
016-5272188
facebook/supersoyabeancurd