Food Notes: Japanese Dishes at an Affordable Price

Location: Sukiya - Tokyo Bowls and Noodles

Fancy enjoying Japanese food for less than RM 20.00? I can still hardly believe that everytime I dine at Sukiya (available at several locations including Mid Valley Megamall, Uptown Damansara, IOI City Mall Putrajaya and AEON Bandaraya Melaka), I would only have to pay a bill totaling less than RM 20.00. Except for the Unagi-don (which is priced above RM 20.00), other dishes on offer here would mostly cost you around RM 15.00 including drinks.

Sukiya's signature dish is the gyudon, which is a bowl of rice topped with thinly-sliced beef simmered in a special sauce. Apart from its gyudon, a variety of noodles are also on offer. Its tagline "Tokyo Bowls and Noodles" says all about the menu on offer.

I have tried several of Sukiya's gyudons. My favourite would be the Osaka Okonomi Gyudon, which is particularly fulfilling with a mixture of cabbage, mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce and some sort of meat floss added on top of the rice and beef. It also comes with a wobbly, perfectly poached egg in another small bowl to top the dish. Carefully pour the egg onto the rice and let the yolk burst in your bowl!

The Osaka Okonomi Gyudon comes with a poached egg

When the wobbly round egg bursts...

There are also the Three Cheeses Gyudon (gyudon topped with three types of cheese) and the Snow White Cream Gyudon (gyudon served with mixed vegetables in a creamy white sauce).

The Three Cheeses Gyudon

Other rice dishes I have tried here is the Teriyaki Chicken Bowl: rice served with tender, boneless chicken marinated in teriyaki sauce. Then there is the Tokyo Oyakodon, pieces of chicken meat and egg served on top of the rice with spring onions. According to the explanation included in the menu, "oyakodon" literally means "parent and child bowl", which directly refers to the chicken as the "parent" and the egg as the "child".

The combination of chicken, egg and spring onions goes well with each other to produce the scrumptious Tokyo Oyakodon.

Tokyo Ramen with Double Chicken Meat

As for the ramen, I had had the Tokyo Ramen With Double Chicken Meat. The shoyu soup is totally perfect and the steamed chicken meat is so juicy that I felt fortunate to have ordered the one with "double" chicken meat (there is another, the Tokyo Ramen With Chicken Meat, which obviously contains lesser chicken pieces).

Oh, by the way, please note that prices of some dishes vary depending on the size of the bowl - you can choose from sizes S, M, to L accordingly.

For Muslims, rest assured that Sukiya is certified halal so you can enjoy the dishes without doubt.

Apart from its affordable pricing, I also like the fast service at Sukiya. I have never been kept waiting for my food - it usually arrives within ten minutes or less. I usually spend about 30 minutes at the outlet. Save money, save time! :)

Food Notes: The Legend of the Creamy Cronuts

Location: Dotty's Pastries & Coffee, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 2, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.

Imagine a "cronut", a term used to describe a type of delicacy which is a hybrid between a croissant and a doughnut. Imagine not just mere plain cronut, but one topped with apam balik-flavoured cream (apam balik is a type of delicacy that looks like a pancake, folded over with fillings of sugar, crushed peanuts and sweet corn kernels).

Can't imagine how it will taste like? Try the Apam Balik Croissant Doughnut, which I recently discovered being served at Dotty's, a pastry and coffee house situated in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), Kuala Lumpur.

Upon entering the shop, I was greeted with rows of freshly-prepared cronuts of various flavours, arranged in a glass room and ready to be served to customers. The Apam Balik cronut grabbed my attention due to its name. How could a French pastry such as the croissant weds a local delicacy, the apam balik, and produce a hybrid?

The cronut is shaped like a squarish doughnut, but at one look you know it is not made of real dough like real doughnuts. Give it another look and you say it is a stack of filo pastries shaped like a doughnut, complete with holes. The cronut itself is crispy and tastes something between a croissant and fried filo pastry. The topping (and filling) of the cronut determines its overall taste.

For the Apam Balik one, the taste of crushed peanuts is overpowering, as any apam balik can be. Sweet corn cream tops the cronut and its filling. It is more of an apam balik taste rather than a croissant or doughnut taste.

The Apam Balik Cronut

The star at Dotty's, the Salted Egg Yolk Cronut

However, I was made to know that the Apam Balik Croissant Doughnut is not the star at Dotty's. It is the Salted Egg Yolk Croissant Doughnut: a cronut topped and filled with salted egg yolk cream. This one is fast-selling; you might have to wait for a new batch to be prepared if all had been ordered or sold to walk-in customers. As for the taste, I am not really sure how it is supposed to taste like. Is it supposed to be that salty, as when you eat a salted egg, or not? I can make out the eggy taste but for me there is no trace of saltiness.

Ah, and be prepared to smudge your face when you have a cronut: due to its thick creamy topping and creamy inside, you will be a creamy mess as you dive into one (or two, as I had it). Have the napkin at your side before beginning.

Speaking of salted egg yolk, I also tried the Salted Egg Yolk Spaghetti With Beef Bacon. It looks a bit like spaghetti carbonara, but it has a creamy, eggy taste. I can make out a moderate salty taste in this dish, but I suspected it to have been from the beef bacon.

Then I also tried the Red Velvet Funnel Cake. This one should be eaten with company; the serving is too big for one person. The funnel cake, velvety red in colour, is much more thin than the ones I found in America. But due to its thinness, there is this tasty crisp in your every bite. Sweet glaze is drizzled onto the cake, and there is a large dollop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream topped with chocolate sauce and crushed peanuts completing the whole dish.

The Red Velvet Funnel Cake

Dotty's is a place where you can have various pastries and light meals such as eclairs, pavlovas and sandwiches. I find the place usually busy and crowded. Come early if you plan to eat at the place. Otherwise you can just grab some treats and eat at the comfort of your own home.