Bento Ramen @ Brighton Square, Kuching

Well through out these few years of studying abroad in Melbourne, I realized one thing is that there are plenty of Japanese Food around the city. So I kinda have them quite often as the price is quite reasonable and the portions are always generous. So during this trip back to Malaysia, I'm really not fond of having any Japanese food. However, I heard a lot of recommendations about this Japanese Restaurant in Kuching called Bento Ramen, which is located at Brighton Square Jalan Song, on the same row with the Ipoh Town Kopitiam. Since it is so popular, we decided to give it a go and see if it is really that good, and to my surprise, it was the best Japanese Food I ever had in my entire 20 years of life, like seriously, WOW...the WOW factor was there for me and everything was so perfect. I went there twice so let me introduce some of the dishes I loved and would like to recommend.

Yakitori Chicken Don

Yakitori Chicken Don

I was torn between so many choices of "Don"s and in the end I chose the Yakitori Chicken Don as I seldom see this flavour out there. When I took my first mouthful....

Walao eh! Nice till cannot tahan ah! It was so wonderful the taste of the chicken, it had the "grilled" taste and the sauce was so perfectly matched with the taste of the chicken, not too sweet yet just enough salty. The moment it went into my mouth, the fragrance seriously overwhelmed me. So thats a must try in my opinion.

Spider Maki (Soft Shell Crab)

Spider Maki (Side)

Spider Maki (Top)

Well what can I say? Firstly I believe only by looking at the photographs above it should be able to make you hungry, well it happened to me! After a few years in Melbourne indeed I kind of started to like sushi rolls, and while this dish was served, it just gave me a very special feeling. The presentation of the dish itself was able to hook up my appetite. Indeed it tasted really good especially the soft shelled crab was very tender and fragrance. The combination was just nice. 

Tempura

Assorted Tempura

The tempura dish was quite alright. There were prawns, mushrooms, eggplants, carrot, pumpkin and sweet potato served on the plate nicely fried with tempura batter. I'm usually not a big fan of tempura so I can't really give much comments here. Generally the prawn was a bit too soft rather than chewy and the others tasted quite good.

Wakame Sushi (Seaweed)

Wakame Sushi

Just as refreshing as it is, when I gave it a bite I felt the cool watery refreshing feeling from the seaweed and the sauce. Just nice as an appetiser.

Teriyaki Salmon Don

Teriyaki Salmon Don

I kind of have a love hate relationship with salmon, once in awhile and not too much, I would love it, yet when the portion is too big I start to get sick of the oily taste. Teriyaki Salmon Don at Bento Ramen was nicely cooked with Teriyaki Sauce and gave the salmon fillets a nice sweet and salty taste. I personally did not order this but I tried the fish and it tasted really fresh and definitely different from other salmon's that I've eaten before.

Katsu Curry Don

Katsu Curry Don

Last but not least, katsu curry don is one of the most popular dish among the asian students studying here in Melbourne, of course including myself. So I decided to try it back home and see if there's really a big difference. At first I thought it would be served in a bowl like the other types of "don"s, but to my surprised it came onto my table on a plate. The curry sauce tasted different from the ones I had in Melbourne, the spices were more special. Where as the fried chicken katsu pieces, the batter was just nice and they go really well with the curry sauce. In my opinion, I really think that this is a delicious dish and would definitely recommend to Japanese curry lovers.

Cozy Interior

So to conclude, I definitely recommend Bento Ramen for Japanese Food lovers, it was quite pricey but the food was definitely worth the money. I'm looking forward to my next visit. All photographs were taken by the Fujifilm XF1.

Little Update

Hi guys I just got back to Melbourne for my new semester...there's still a couple of food in my camera that I would like to review...after I sort them out they will be posted soon! cheers :)

Hot Plate Tofu, Teh Tarik Peng, Crepe Cake, and Oreo Mc Flurry

As usual during holiday break in Bintulu, I guess there's nothing much to do here other than going out and sit in cafes and chit chat around with friends, and of course, enjoy some nice food. Went around a few places in Bintulu yesterday with my friend, had some lunch, ice cream and tea break...Hmm there were some good food and some really disappointing ones. First stop was After 3 cafe in Parkcity Bintulu. Two things we ordered that gave me a good impression.

Teh Tarik Peng

Firstly haha was the Teh Tarik Peng, where "peng" means ice is hokkien dialect. So when we say teh tarik peng we mean "Iced Teh Tarik". The thick taste of milk tea was just so indulging and just that I would advise that when you order this, ask for "kosong (no sugar)" or "kurang manis (less sugar)". It was a bit too sweet for me haha. As for the food we ordered, I was really impressed with the Hot Plate Sizzling Japanese Tofu.

Hot Plate Japanese Tofu

Nicely cooked with minced meat and mushroom with fried egg as the base of the hot plate. Very delicious and the tofu was soft and silky :). 

Meanwhile some time after lunch we went to McDonalds drive thru and got ourselves some oreo McFlurry ice cream, which turned out to be a great disappointment.

Oreo McFlurry

Notice that the size of the cup is now so small compare to before, and the taste was bad. Seriously the ice cream tasted really weird, rather like as if it was only sugar. Definitely not going to buy it again unless McDonalds do something about it. 

Now I would like to mention about the crepe cake we had at Bolaven Cafes. Just few days before my friends and I were discussing about the crepe cake they had in Kuala Lumpur, and I was surprised to find crepe cake here in a small town like Bintulu.

French Crepe Cake Coffee Flavour

First thing that caught my eye was the price, RM9, which in my opinion is quite expensive for that small piece of thing. However it tasted just nice as it was not too sweet, yet the coffee taste was good and thick enough.

Layer by Layer

As this is my first time trying out crepe cake, I definitely love it and would like to try some more different varieties in the future. As for now, that's all I would like to share this time :) Cheers!

Awesome Local Malaysian Dishes @ Man Ting Xiang, Bintulu

Looking for a place for lunch or dinner where you can order a few local Chinese dishes with rice at a reasonable price and yet tastes delicious? Well, this afternoon I visited "Man Ting Xiang 满庭香" cafe Assyakirin Commerce Square. They serve delicious "dim sum" in the morning where as for lunch and dinner you get to order from their menu. The place was clean and with good friendly service. We ordered four dishes and all of them came out with good presentation and an awesome fragrance.

Dish 1 : Salted Egg Sauced Pork

Salted Egg Sauced Fried Pork 咸蛋猪肉

Usually in Malaysia we hear about Salted Egg Prawns, sometimes also known as Golden Prawns. This is the first time we heard of salted egg prawns so we decided to give it a try. To our surprise, the sauce tasted exactly like the ones served with prawns and yet while it is served with fried pork, it tasted very different in a delicious way.

Dish 2 : "Cangkuk Manis"

Cangkuk Manis 蛋炒马尼菜

Another local Malaysian vegetable normally served with fried egg. I'm not a big fan of this Cangkuk Manis thingy but my parents love it so much. It tasted a bit sweet and it goes perfectly well with the fried egg. Sometimes this Cangkuk Manis is used in Fried Bee Hoon as a FooChow local delicacy.

Dish 3 : Deep Fried Yam Ring with Mixed Vegetables

Deep Fried Yam Ring with Mixed Vegetables

As a kid I loved this dish. The deep fried yam ring shaped like a bowl while inside filled with mixed vegetables and pork. Sometimes served with sweet and sour pork. What is special about this particular dish today was it was served with coriander which added an awesome fragrance to the dish. However some people dislikes that "fragrance", but for us, it was just what we needed.

Dish 4 : Sweet and Sour Fish

Sweet and Sour Fish 酸甜鱼

Nicely made sweet and sour sauce on fried Black Pomfret fish is one of the best combination you can get for this dish. The fish was fresh and we enjoyed the dish. Basically we finished the whole dish until so "clean" that what was left was only the non edible bones.

So those were the four dishes and I would say it tastes as good as or even better than restaurants. The price for all 4 dishes with plain rice and 2 drinks added up to RM69. Very reasonable price and definitely recommended!

BBQ Pork Rice @ iCorner, Bintulu

While out searching for lunch today, many places were so crowded as its a Sunday. Ended up at iCorner cafe at Parkcity Bintulu and had the well known BBQ Pork Rice, 叉烧饭. The taste was indeed good and the sauce was really nice, not too sweet and brings out the authentic taste of BBQ Pork. The price was RM5. Definitely recommended in Bintulu.

BBQ Pork Rice