Chicago Rib House, 1 Utama

Located at the new (or should I say the now older!) wing of 1 Utama, is this porky place called Chicago Rib House. I chanced upon it yesterday whilst I was busy shopping at Parkson. The place was very much alive as I walked in at half past twelve.

We ordered 3 drinks :-

Vanilla milk shake (RM8.90) – this velvety creamy mass topped with a bright red cherry was simply irresistible. I slurped it up slowly and carefully so as not to waste a drop of this awesome drink.

Beach fiesta (RM12.90) – this is a zesty citrus mocktail with a strong taste of orange.Berry delight (12.90) – with strawberries in it, this drink was a delight.

For appetisers we had cheese nachos  (RM17.90) – served with a dip of salsa , the crunchy tortilla chips were painstakingly layered with cheese. I love the crunchy chips which went well with the salsa dip.

This is fish & chips from the kids menu. It was served on paper placed in a red plastic basket - in terms of presentation , it certainly failed miserably but the fish was fleshy and fresh.

Kids menu cum game for them to play while waiting for their food

Tortilla salad (RM27.90) – served on a flour tortilla, this salad was made with lots of greens, tomatoes, onions and some cheese as well as bacon. What surprised me was  the serving size of the chicken on top. To call this salad delicious would be a gross understatement!

Pork ribs – for this we had a choice of either half or full rack. We opted for the latter. Once again we had to make a choice of sauce – original, honey garlic, black pepper, flaming Kansas city or bourbon sauce. We went for bourbon sauce (RM59.90). The ribs were great and they fell off the bone easily. The mildy sweet sauce made the ribs taste even better.

Overall, it was a wonderful dining experience.

  

Address :  Lot F346, First Floor

 1 Utama Shopping Centre

 Bandar Utama.

Tel:  +6 03 -7727 3210  

Opening Hours:  10am-10pm

Ben's Kitchen, Publika

Being a member of the Big Group which owns not only quite a number of F&B outlets in Klang Valley , but also a grocery, my expectation of  Ben’s Kitchen was definitely very FRESH food.

Clean, airy and spacious were the first words that came to my mind as I walked into Ben’s Kitchen on a busy Sunday noon.

These were the drinks we ordered:-

Watermelon juice – fresh, juicy and delicious – RM10.90. Apple elderflower frostie was my choice. With a hefty price tag of RM11.90, it was truly worth every sen as it was totally heavenly, but be sure to drink it all up fast as the colour changes with time due to oxidation of the apples.

Watermelon lychee (RM9.90) –a little too sweet and iced peach tea (RM8.90)

For starters we had Ben’s House Salad (RM15.90). The portion was huge and filled with yummy-licious avocado, carrots, cherry tomatoes, edamame, mesclun and arugula. The dressing was something I never found out as it was simply called Ben’s House dressing.

Chunky mushroom soup (RM14.90) was a huge surprise as the bowl was really huge! Haha…. And what better way to eat this than to have an additional serving of garlic baguette (RM5.90).  This was because the soup came with only a slice of bread and that was no way sufficient for such a BIG bowl of soup!

Note the way the baguette is served - in a tin!

Fish & chips (RM29.90) – a crispy crust and fresh fish inside – the perfect combination for fish & chips. Love it a lot!

Spaghetti carbonara (RM23.90)

My choice of nasi ulam (RM25.90)  – don’t be put off by the blue-coloured rice. A lot of painstaking effort has been put in to make it so. And this was evident from the taste. The ulam (raw veggies) on the side tasted great when dipped into the rendang sauce, or simply eaten with the blue rice. One complaint I have, though, was that the chicken wasn’t really cooked on the inside.

Note from the writer : They serve water with some lemon juice in it. So there is actually no need to order drinks J

Well, I would say Ben’s Kitchen exceeded my expectation in terms of freshness and cleanliness !  I will definitely try out the other outlets within the Big Group.

Address : Lot 37A & 37B Level G2

Publika

1 Jalan Dutamas 1

Solaris Dutamas

50480 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +603 6205 2768

Mastercard, Visa and Amex accepted

Victoria Station, Taipan USJ

To the average Malaysian, the name Victoria Station simply refers to this reknowned chain serving excellent Western cuisine. However, whenever I mention about having a meal at Victoria Station, my English friends would say ‘ What? Where? Did you say Victoria Station?’.

And to that question I would answer ‘Yes, you heard me correctly – Victoria Station’

And  90% of the time I would hear this ‘Hmmm…what a strange name’.

 

 

Well, many of us know that Victoria Station is the name of a famous train station in London and as such the average Londoner will be confused about having a meal at a train station.

Anyway, there is an interesting history to our version of Victoria Station. The owners are of Hainanese descent and their forefathers used to work for the British – the Hainanese are known to be good cooks…and that is why they continue to serve us excellent food today.

My visit to the USJ Taipan outlet was a very pleasant one. It was raining cats and dogs when I parked my car a few doors away. The jockey came running to  us with 2 umbrellas. I was already impressed. We stood at the door for a little while admiring the ambience – you get the impression you are entering into a train….and of course, having a good meal there.

 

Lemon juice (RM6.90), juicy lychee RM7.90, honey dew juice (RM7.90) and honey lime (RM7.90) – these were our choices. All were good.

 

 

 

Cream of mushroom (RM7.90) – velvety textured with tiny pieces of mushroom, I slurped this soup with great satisfaction. What more on a cold and wet evening…it made me feel warm and comfortable!

 

Garlic toast (RM2.70) – I’ll use the word extraordinary to describe this. Perfectly toasted, the crunchy crust crumbles with each bite…love it!

 

Victoria Station salad (RM17.90) – unique and tasty!

 

 

We also tried the following – mixed grill (RM43.90) , Wild mushroom steak (RM44.90), Neptune Taurus delight (RM47.90), all poultry (RM28.90) and sizzling chicken (RM28.90). None of us had any complaints, in fact we were only full of good things to say about the food here. I need to emphasise that the all poultry was excellent – with a fine combination of grilled chicken fillet, sausages and pate, the platter was made even more colourful with fried eggs . With Victoria Station brown sauced poured on top and some broccoli and cauliflower, I had the perfect meal.

 

 

 

 

All poultry

 

 

 

Address : 21  Jalan USJ 10/1G

47620 Subang Jaya

Tel : +603 5637 33 88 / + 603 5636 7508

Visa, Master, Amex accepted

Allegro Café SS15 Subang Jaya

I must say that it wasn’t easy for a first timer like me to locate Allegro Café. I’ve driven along this road at least a million times and never once have I noticed it. So this time around, I looked hard and I mean really hard as I wanted to have authentic Italian fare for lunch.

Ah, finally, I found it. Located on the first floor, the white and black signboard certainly isn’t attention grabbing at all. After walking up a flight of stairs we are relieved to see a very welcoming sight. In fact, the restaurant looks like a living room. To say that I was astonished with the layout would be an understatement.

Ice lemon tea (RM6) and vanilla milk shake (RM11) –somehow, I always find that Italians make excellent milk shakes! Love it.

Mushroom soup (RM11) – with cream of wild mushroom and herbs, this soup went very well with aromatic the garlic bread (RM5).

Allegro salad (RM15) – if what I interpret of the menu is correct this menu varies from day to day depending on the chef’s creativity. What I got today was not only colourful, it was very delicious too. I would definitely order salad if I come here again.

Spaghetti Bolognese -  al dente pasta served with minced beef and fine Italian tomato sauce always make a great plate of yummy goodness…and this is what Allegro serves. Perfect!

Pizza magherita – although the pricing is slightly steep at RM 25, this pizza was worth every penny as the combination of  mozzarella, oregano, tomatoes and cheese was not only aromatic but very  mouth-watering. I love the cheesy goodness of it.

Chicken cordon bleu (RM32) – what you get here is breaded chicken breast stuffed with turkey ham and mozzarella cheese and a choice of pasta or salad. I chose the latter.  I must say this is by far the BEST chicken cordon bleu I’ve ever had in Malaysia! The crispy chicken and the cheesy mozzarella was simply irresistible.

I am already thinking of what to order the next time I come here. Yes, it was EXCELLENT.

Address : 11A, 1^st Floor, Jalan SS15/4

47500 Subang Jaya

Tel : +603 5631 5682

Mastercard & Visa accepted

Opening hours: 12.30pm-3pm, 6-11.30pm (Mon-Sat), For Sundays, please call.

Xenri D’Garden Japanese Cuisine, Menara Hap Seng

 

I’ve heard a lot about this place but have never been there. Apparently they have another outlet in Wisma Elken on Old Klang Road as well as 2 other outlets, one each in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong and Nanjing Road, Shanghai.

Locating this outlet requires some effort. You need to go to the second floor of the building where you will see a little garden, which I would say is ‘shared’ by Hakka Republic, Elegant Inn (previously reviewed) and Xenri D’Garden. Trust me – it’s a beautiful sight.

As I walked in I could feel a sense of serenity and calmness. I chose a table beside the water which are bubbling out of little basins….and I really felt very comfortable.

As I was alone, I looked through the set lunch menu. Prices start at RM24 all the way to RM70 for what is known as an executive lunch set.

I settled for the RM50 set known as Tokubetsu Bento. (Please note that ocha a.k.a green tea  is charged at RM3 per cup and is refillable at no extra charge). The sashimi was excellent – fresh, but I wish they were more generous with the wasabi. Well, that could be because I simply love to douse my sashimi in lots of wasabi…but for the ‘average’ sashimi eater, I think the wasabi should be enough.

The salmon was also fresh and well marinated and cooked. It was absolutely lovely! And did I say tell you about the lettuce and tomatoes? All fresh & juicy.

The tempura was done to perfection and I really liked the taste of it. Once again all the ingredients including the prawns were fresh.

The 2 pieces of tofu were tasty, and not soggy. The chawan mushi had a generous amount of mushrooms and the miso soup had lots of seaweed in it.

 

Overall it was a very pleasant meal and I especially love the fact that great effort has been put in to making the bento a joy for the eyes and stomach! And I can still hear the sound of the bubbling water til now!

Address: Lot No 2-04 Second Floor

Podium Block of Menara Hap Seng

Jalan P. Ramlee

50250 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +603 2078 6688

Mastercard, Visa and Amex accepted

Nihonkai, Kota Kemuning

My search for Japanese food in Kota Kemuning proved futile for the first half and hour or so.  Yes, that was before I turned into Business Park 2 and lo and behold I saw 2 Japanese restaurants.  I chose Nihonkai for only one reason – there was an empty parking space right in front of it.

 

 

I walked in and noticed that there were 2 types of dining ‘tables’ options – normal tables and chairs OR you could choose to sit at the low tables with cushions. The workers were entirely local Chinese and it certainly did not give me a feeling of being in a Japanese eatery as ordering was all done in Mandarin!

 

This is the Nihonkai Special Lunch Set. Sold at RM19 per set, I would say this was worth every penny. With this set you get 2 thick slices of well marinated and grilled salmon with teriyaki sauce, a bowl of rice, some pasta and watermelon. Just look at the succulent salmon.

 

 

 

 

Unagi kabayaki  set lunch - priced at a whopping RM44, this fresh water eel was initially dipped into rich soy sauce and subsequently grilled. It was lovely.

 

 

 

Sliced beef special set (RM20) – tender slices of beef served with rice, miso soup, pasta and watermelon, this set was delicious.

 

 

Shakedon and torikatsu set lunch (RM30)  - this is an interesting set comprising of a bowl of vinegared rice  topped with raw salmon and some chicken chop. I love the  how the raw taste of salmon blends with cooked chicken as I mixed them up and eat them with rice. Awesome!

 

 

 

Gindara & yasai tempura set (RM32) – gindara is better known as cod fish to us.  With yummy cod fish for protein and some yasai (that’s Japanese for vegetables) it was a complete meal on its own.

 

 

Wakabe menrui (RM14) – my translation of this would be seaweed noodles.  The soup base was slightly salty, otherwise this bowl of noodles was alright.

 

 

Edamame RM7

 

Idako RM6

Ebiko RM7

 

Address : 12 & 12A Business Park 2

Jalan Anggerik Vanilla BE31 /BE

Kota Kemuning, Section 31,

40460 Shah Alam

Opening hours: 12-3pm, 6-10pm , CLOSED on Tuesdays

Mastercard & Visa accepted