MOKUREN, 木莲

Matahari maki~ 

Opposite roll as rice is the outer layer. 

Rolled with cucumber and crabmeat, topped with salmon. Refreshing.

When I was still a kid, I used to bug my parents to buy me sushi every time we went Carrefour for groceries. They have this sushi section where sushi is individually packed. Many supermarket's food section still have it. At that age, sushi to me is #Japanese #high class #posh #fun #delish! Plus, it was the era where Japanese dramas were very very popular, so it's culture has gotten a push. Salmon to me at that time was so posh because it's RAW. But I didn't really like it, so when I got home, I would heat the pan and give the salmon some heat before sending them down my tummy! Hah, I cheated yea!

Salmon maki and ebi tempura maki~~

Salmon and prawn were fresh and sweet. 

Simple yet tasty!

Baby octopus~

Cold dish, with slight sesame taste. Very crunchy and tasteful.

A good starter. 

I was with my girls in Ipoh for dinner. We wanted Japanese food, so we went around the east area (behind Tesco, near Aeon Kinta City) to hunt. We've seen many Jap restaurants at that area every time when we passed by. And our pick was, MOKUREN! Taadaa!

MOKUREN & it's special maki (which I don't quite remember what's the name)

Really really good. 

Salmon, unagi, crabmeat and etc, rolled into cucumber sheets, topped with egg roe and sauce. 

It was our first time here. The restaurant is quite small, I guess it can only fit 40 person max, very cozy though. 3 workers all in, 2 chefs and one "zap tao zap mei" lady (cleaning up). So don't expect to be serve like a king because there were too many customers for the 3 of them. We were given sits at the bar table right beside the t.o.i.l.e.t. (luckily NO disgusting smell, thankiu thankiu!)

The first thing we looked for in the menu was their dinner set which turn out that they only have lunch set and very limited 'don' (rice), not like what I can find from Zanmai's menu. So we ordered ala carte.

Chawanmushi~~~ 

Nothing special. Slightly over cooked and portion was small.

After ordering, we started chatting. As we were sited at the bar table, we were able enjoy the chef, I mean see how he cooks. Lalala~ They were quite systematic and hygienic (phew~). When he was preparing the spaghetti, he weighted the noodles. The portion was quite small, a man would never get satisfied with that amount. Just nice for girls with "cockroach stomach" (small eater).

Signature seafood spaghetti~~~~~

 Amazingly delicious and very garlicky. Seafood were quite fresh. 

Garlic fried rice and Tepanyakki grill chicken~

Both tasted so so only. The carrot in rice were very hard, tired chewing. 

Chic wasn't very fresh, heavy with the chic smell. The sauce couldn't cover the smell.

It's a good homey-feel dining. Only the food were served slow, one after one. Took about 1.5 hours for this '7-courses' to be served, so it would be a good catch-up-dinner. Food here aren't cheap, but it's reasonable, our bill was RM110. Overall was quite satisfying. Would definitely visit again! 

Bottomless green tea~

Served in a pot, and self-refilling because the aunty was too busy.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Brinjal, Korean Style

I am in love love love with Korean food. Absolutely loveat!
And so, I started to read and test on Korean recipes.

My latest experiment on Korean cooking is Brinjal. My FAV!
A.k.a eggplant or aubergine, name it however you like. The purple and slimy vege as my brother would describe it. HAHA!

Tadaa! This is it. It's very easy to prepare, brinjal was the only thing I bought and the rest were those must have at home. My hot pepper powder is a Korean brand because I bought a big big packet for my Kimchi. This dish is very healthy I can say, almost oil-less and of course very healthy.


Yield: 2 person
Source: Maangchi

You need: 
2 brinjals (app. 10cm each)
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp hot pepper powder (substitute with crushed red pepper or chili flakes)
2 tsp roasted sesame
2 tsp spring onion
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp soy sauce

1. Half brinjal and steam it until you can easily poke it through with chopstick (app 5 minutes). 
2. Chop garlic and spring onion. 
3. Put everything except brinjal into a bowl and mix well.
4. Tear soften brinjal into strips (or cut it if you like) and mix into 3.

*Feel free to adjust the taste, if you like it to be salty, sprinkle some salt on brinjal before steaming.
*Korean sesame oil is milder than the Chinese one's.
*Do not over steam brinjal, it will make this dish watery as it releases liquid.
*Use 'young' brinjal here as it has lesser seeds.

~Enjoy~~~
Auf Wiedersehen

Instant cooking

Well, as I am staying away from home, I do not usually get to eat home cooking and there isn't much chance for me to cook either so my quick solution will be... yes, maggi, aka instant noodles.

When I was in secondary school, I could eat up two to three packets each time. Don't ask me how I managed them, I think I weighted 70kg at 15yo. Nowadays, I've gotten back to my normal diet, just one pack, sometimes lesser, but I am still size 8 (L). Sigh.

I wanted to maggi slightly healthier. So I would stuff my fridge with vege, eggs and cocktails. I try as much as possible to put vege in, just to make sure I have taken whatever vitamins contained and most importantly Fiber.

I can't eat my instant noodles without one thing, and that is EGG! For soup based noodles, cracking an egg into it is a must, otherwise I'd rather eat crackers. My sis loves her curry flavored maggi with cheese. Just put half or one slice of cheese on top before pouring the soup down. The soup will taste slightly saltier and much tastier.

Remember to add VEGE into your maggi, even cucumber is good enough. Cut them into match stick size. Or sprinkle chopped spring onions. It still counts. :)


Till then,
Auf Wiedersehen

Snowflake

Today is the birth day of Iphone5, and this blog!

Am trying my luck by submitting this post to Snowflake for its blog search which is closing today.

I am a big big fan of Snowflake. Sadly I don't always have the chance to grab one because I am working somewhere in Perak but whenever I go home (I'm KL-lang~) Snowflake is my must-eat!

Check out with their menu!

I don't have a sweet tooth, in fact, I couldn't really take sugar, I'll go crazy (sugar rush). Snowflake has this sugar level thingy where you decide how sweet your dessert will be. It's served me good so far. No rush yet :)

I personally adores the hot bestseller. No worries, the cold one is as good, they are the BESTSELLERS! Hot bestseller comes with grass jelly soup, generous amount of taro balls, pearls and peeeeeeeeenuts! The hot grass jelly soup after a few stirs (heat reduced), you will get a slimy (I loveat loveat~) texture or let the grass jelly sit awhile for jelly texture.

Cold bestseller is served with grass jelly ice, layers of grass jelly, A LOT of taro balls! and creamer. I've tried a few similar deserts and frankly, non of their taro balls are as good as Snowflake's! These balls are made of yam and sweet potato. They are very chewy, just-nice sweetness and quite filling too. This could be a light lunch! :) Nom nom!

 

Lemon Jade Jelly Ice is for you if you are looking for slight sweetness and a good taste of sourness. I wouldn't mind extra sourness, as me and my mama used to drink 100% pure lemon juice.

This dessert(if not mistaken) is also known as Aiyu Ice (爱玉冰) which is a very popular Taiwanese dessert in Malaysia. The jelly is not made of agar-agar, jello or konnyaku jelly. It's a fruit where they dry it and rub the essence into water and let it set.

If you are looking for something similar but without sourness, try Sea Amber Jelly. I don't have a clear idea about what sea amber is, but as far as I am concerned, it's something good, because they name this dessert 珍珠寒天海燕窝露 (literally translated as pearl winter swallow nest dessert).

One last recommendation, their Pearl Milk Tea! I would say, my taste bud told me it is compatible with other popular milk tea stores. I tried it during their promo and I was not disappointed. Loveat loveat~

I also love their idea of biodegradable bowl which has a slight greenish color on it. It's so great that I can enjoy my dessert at home when ice is still ice, soup is still soup (okok, my grass jelly was set, still I enjoyed it) at the same time not destroying the environment!

Talk about money, I think Snowflake is fair on its pricing. I mean I pay RM3 for Lemon Jade Jelly from coffee shop but I get sugared-lemon-jelly? I pay for quality, I do not want to pay and get things that are not worth it. Don't you agree with it?

All photos are taken from Snowflake's FB. Visit their page and check out what they are up to!

Well, stay tuned for more food.

Auf Wiedersehen