Wednesday 30 April 2014

Guo Ma Taiwan Steamboat 锅妈台式火锅 @ Jalan Besar, Kulai

Guo Ma Taiwan Steamboat 锅妈台式火锅 @ Jalan Besar, Kulai

Guo Ma Taiwan Steamboat is a very unique steamboat restaurant, and it is surprisingly located in the small town of Kulai, to be exact, at the main street opposite the police station. The restaurant is owned by a Taiwanese, the main selling point is the authentic Taiwanese style steamboat. To retain its uniqueness and to ensure quality is well-controlled, Guo Ma has only one shop in Kulai, without any other branches.During weekends, while people are still coming from all around Johor. The restaurant is super crowded with diners, thus phone reservation is a MUST to secure a seat.
Taiwanese Braised Minced Pork Rice 台式卤肉饭
Other than steamboat, Guo Ma offers various Taiwanese street foods.One of the most popular, is the Taiwanese Braised Minced Pork Rice, which is available on the buffet area enable diners to pick, choose and DIY a their unique Taiwanese Braised Minced Pork Rice.

Special GuoMa Sauce 特调锅妈酱
Other than those normal dipping sauces, GuoMa has created its own special sauce. A cardboard stating the clear instruction is put on the wall, but the kind waitress will still give you assistance in completing the sauce. It looks good, right? It taste good too!
YuanYang Soup 鸳鸯汤
We are given two choices of soup in one pot. We chose one for the hot and spicy soup and the other one for clear chicken soup. 
Festive of Five 五福临门
GuoMa has mingled the concept of self-helping buffet and ala carte buffet. To avoid wastage, certain ingredients will only be served upon request. For the first round of steamboat, the waitress will recommend to serve with "Festive of Five" which combines various fresh ingredients that are not available at the buffet-bar. Due to the space restraint, the plates are stacked up, not only saving the space, presentation-wise, it looks good too. 
Fresh Pork Slices 梅花猪肉
Pork are sliced thinly, suitable to do shabu-shabu.
Beef Special 特级牛肉
Their beef slices are great too, with the fat evenly spread on the meat.
Sea Bream 鲷鱼,  Fresh water prawn 鲜虾, Cuttlefish 鱿鱼, Mushroom 菇类

Dry Taufu 豆腐卜, You Tiao 油条, Beancurb skin 腐竹皮


Taiwan Dumping 台湾水饺, Taiwan Meatball 台湾贡丸,
Meatball 猪肉丸, Cheese Taufu 芝士豆腐
These are the items available on the ala carte menu.
Fish Dumpling 鱼饺
We are allowed to indicate on the ordering list for the portion of items to be served. Smart people always eat in accordance with your ability.
Items available on the buffet bar.

Our selection.
蜂蜜龟苓膏 Grass Jelly with Honey
水果布丁 Fruit Pudding
Last but not least, to end our dinner with their dessert of the day! I was depressed because each of us is only entitled to one dessert of the day. Anyway, if you need extra dessert, ice cream and fresh cut fruits will be available from the dessert bar.

Pricing :
Monday - Friday (only 3.30pm ~ 5pm)  : Adult RM22.90+  Child RM10.90+
Dinner, Sat, Sun, PH                              : Adult RM29.90+  Child RM15.90+


Address : Guo Ma Taiwan Steamboat 锅妈台式火锅 
79, Jalan Besar, Kulai
81000 Johor
GPS : N01 39.733 E103 36.082

Business Hour : 3.30pm - 11.30pm
Tel : 07-6626868

Wednesday 23 April 2014

Ajisai Japanese Restaurant @ Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Ajisai Japanese Restaurant @ Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Ajisai, is the third Japanese Restaurant at Jalan Kuning, Taman Pelangi. Compared to Warakuya, Ajisai is less crowded and is a good place for enjoying quiet meal. The signature board of Ajisai comes with a big red sun, symbolise the Japan flag and representing Japan's location at the east.

The shoju bottles are displayed neatly on the rack, being part of the decoration in the restaurant. We were just seated next to the shoju bottles' rack, so what to do while waiting for our meal? I was looking at the bottles and interestingly found that none of the bottles are identical! :p Please bear with me, I was just too boring~ 
Combo Lunch Set RM25
Its actually a combination from 6 categories, and each categories choose one out of three to form this combo lunch.
I have chosen for a set meal which combines one dish from each category in the menu. My selection contains Maguro Sashimi, Tofu Tosaage, Chuka Idako Salad, Negima Bacon Roll, Unagi Kabayaki and Tanuki Soba. I must highly compliment their sashimi, extremely fresh with a sweetness from the sea. Negime Bacon Roll is numbered second on my list, well marinated but not overly salty, just right to my taste. I would say this is an excellent combination allowing me (a person who like to try on variety) to taste different foods at one go.
Aburi Sushi Mixed  RM45
Sushi is one of the cannot-be-missed items in Japanese restaurant. We ordered a sushi-platter comprised of Char-grill sushi octopus, smoke duck, salmon, tuna, white tuna, amber jack, sword fish, prawn, squid. Nicely presented without compromising the taste!
Salmon Shioyaki  RM16
Grilled fresh salmon with salt. Salmon is always one of my favourite dish, but this is not so excellent made, slightly over-cooked rendering the meat a little bit tough. Anyway, the slightly burnt but crispy fish skin still contributed to compensate my feeling. 

Environmental-wise, Ajisai is definitely a nice and quiet place if you require certain dining privacy, the non-crowded dining place definitely provides a good environment to enjoy good Japanese foods. The other interest part is that the waiters or waitress will actually attend to diners request when you clap you hands twice, instead of pressing the calling button on the table like in the neighbouring restaurant, excellent service indeed! 


Address : Ajisai Japanese Restaurant
63 & 63A, Jalan Kuning 2, 
Taman Pelangi, 80400, Johor Bahru
GPS : N 1 28.641 E 103 46.079

Business Hour : 12pm - 3pm / 6pm - 11pm
Tel : 07-3315498 / 012-7980505 (Ms Pearly)

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Taroyami Dessert House @ Taman Sutera Utama, Skudai

Taroyami Dessert House @ Taman Sutera Utama, Skudai

It was quite some time ago since my last visit to a Taiwanese dessert shop. While snowflake and blackball are famous in Klang Valley for the icey dessert, Taroyami is one of the popular and champion Taiwanese dessert house in the southern Malaysia. The billboard of Taroyami is extremely attractive during the sunny afternoon. 
With the simple yet comfortable interior design, this is a youngsters' favourite hangout place. The floor area of the shop isn't that big, the furniture are rather simple and nothing to shout with, but overall it really provides a good atmosphere for friends' chatting.
The simple set-up in the dessert house.
Taroyami Black & White 甜圆蜜芋 (黑白配)  RM7.90
One of the signature dessert, consist of taroballs, red bean, grass jelly, soya ice and grass jelly ice. The small red beans are chosen, cooked to soft and easily melt in my mouth. In contrast, the taro balls are not overly cooked, remains chewy. The dessert is given the name "Black & White" due to the ice underneath is made from soya, while a big portion of grass jelly are sitting on the bed of soya ice. Overall, it is not too sweet but icey enough to balance with  the hot weather.  

Sour Temptation 酸甜滋味  RM6.90
Sour temptation is a tropical and lady-like dessert. The ice is made from sour plum juice, sweet and sour in taste, paired with the local fruit- guava and crystal jelly cube, it is fabulously refreshing.


The menu on the ordering counter. Customers are pampered with more than 20 choices, I believe there is definitely one of your favourite!



Address : Taroyami Dessert House
37, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/3,
 Taman Sutera Utama, 81300, Skudai, Johor
GPS : N1 30.977 E103 40.068

Bussiness Hour : Sun - Thur 12pm - 11.30pm
Fri - Sat 12pm - 12.30am
Tel : 07-5585657

Branch : 1) 51, Jalan Austin Height 3, Taman Mt Austin, 81100, Johor
2) 10, Jalan Serigala, Taman Abad, 80250, Johor

Wednesday 9 April 2014

AnMour Cafe Concept @ Taman Sutera Utama, Skudai, JB

AnMour Cafe Concept @ Taman Sutera Utama, Skudai, JB

"AnMour Café – A homegrown modest American restaurant concept at Taman Sutera Utama, founded by partners, Alexander Lim, Jerick Phang and CY Oon. Greatly inspired by the restaurants in America, we decided to present similar quality American food in Malaysia. It will be as good as having meal in America.

AnMour Café believe in offering affordable and high quality food with exceptionally friendly service, ensuring everyone leaving the restaurant as well-satisfied patrons.

AnMour Café specially introduced our GlamBurgers. GlamBurgers are served in various sizes and various patties. The burgers are prepared in the American way by our award-winning chefs. Gigantic, juicy and tasty patties are the criterion of the GlamBurger.

AnMour Café aims to make sure all customers have fun in the restaurant, enjoying every bit of the food and leaving nothing on the plate.

AnMour Café would like to take this opportunity to extend our heart-felt thanks and appreciation to all the support provided. Without Him and everyone, AnMour Café is just a dream……."


A very good introduction which definitely attracts my curiosity and to inspect how true is the testimony. We visited AnMour Cafe in Taman Sutera Utama. It is actually located at a less crowded street and its signature board is really low profile. From the first sight, I actually did not expect it serves good food.
There are some chairs outside the entrance, indicating diners may need to queue up to have their meals at AnMour. The whole restaurants opted for yellow and dim lighting, which provides a warm and pleasant feel. AnMour is an American style restaurant, which offers wide range of american foods, from burger, sandwich to steak and chop.
As it may take time in serving the foods (good stuff are worth for waiting), the owner is considerate enough to serve the guests with the little sweet buns to be dipped in a special sauce as starter. Even though the bun is free of charge, the quality has still very good been taken care, it is really soft and fluffy.
Manhattan Clam Chowder 曼哈顿蛤蜊汤  RM5.90
 Started our meal with the Manhattan Clan Chowder with pieces of buttered garlic bread. Cream soup with tomato base serve with clam chip is truly refreshing and opens up the flavour for the subsequent main course. 
Old Chinatown Burger 自制酥脆猪肉汉堡  RM11.90
Old Chinatown Burger is a deep fried pork burger, the buttered burger bun is pan-fried till golden and fragrant. And the burger is outstanding in a way that despite the pork chop is deep-fried, it is not only crispy on the outside, but also retain juicy in the inside.  The salad was awesome too, due to their secret recipe of dressing.

Teriyaki Jumbo Chicken Leg 自制日式鸡腿  RM16.90
This jumbo chicken leg baked with their homemade teriyaki sauce is just a perfect match. You could not judge how "jumbo" is the chicken leg from the photo, but it is definitely more than sufficient to feed a adult man like me and may be a little bit too much for a lady. Teriyaki Jumbo Chicken Leg will come with two side dishes where the diners are actually pampered for choices. We have chosen for creamy mash potato and Aglio Olio Pasta. The side dishes are equally good too, especially the mashed potato, smooth but my tongue can still sense some little chunks of potato.
Chocolate Fudge Cake 巧克力松软蛋糕  RM7.90
How about ending the meal by having a chocolate desserts? This fantastically fudgey chocolate cake is rich, moist and treacly with a glossy ganache finish. One little spoon of cake and one little spoon of ice-cream, the hot and cold combination is heavenly good and renders the meal a perfect ending!

I would recommend this as a must-visit-restaurant in Sutera Utama area, as the restaurant really provide good and HEARTY meal to every single customers!


Address : AnMour Cafe Concept
34, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/3,
Taman Sutera Utama,
81300 Skudai, JB
GPS : N01 30.976  E103 40.061

Branch at 33, Jalan Austin Height 3/1, Mouth Austin

Business Hour : Sun - Thur  12pm - 12am
Fri - Sat 12pm - 1am
Tel : 07 - 5563420

Wednesday 2 April 2014

Arirang Korean BBQ Buffet @ Bugis, Singapore

Arirang Korean BBQ Buffet @ Bugis, Singapore

Hoping for a BBQ buffet spread? There always have choice for BBQ buffet. Today we are not going to international buffet, but for this Korean BBQ buffet. This restaurant can be said that well-known among Korea BBQ buffet fan. Wondering when is your last Korea meal or even BBQ treats? 
This is the traditional Korean meal side dish, like curry sweet potato, steam vegetable, kimchi, slices cucumber, and many of this. All this you can always ask for refill anytime with FOC. A friendly reminder that the main course is even better. 
Spicy Kim Chi Soup 韩式泡菜汤
For the main course, we got the menu list for us to order. We almost place order for the whole menu. Here we have from the main course, BBQ and dessert.
Ginseng Chicken Soup  正宗人参鸡汤
Spicy Crab Soup 辣蟹汤
Lettuce 生菜
Pork Meat 猪肉 + Spicy Pork Meat 辣猪肉 + Chicken 鸡肉
Bacon 五花肉
King Prawn 大虾
Here this show how we enjoy the BBQ very much. We does not recall how many plate of the ingredient we order for the BBQ. We truly enjoy it with their special mix sauce.
Grilled Saba Fish 烤鲭鱼
KimChi Pancake 泡菜葱饼
Seafood Pancake 海鲜葱饼
A must try seafood pancake. Its must finish it while hot. Yum Yum.
Korean Fried Rice Flour Cake 韩式炒年糕
A traditional Korea meal come with this fried rice flour cake & shredded pork. For your info, its look spicy from the reddish colour but was not spicy.
Korean Sushi 韩式寿司
Here we have Korean Sushi. Its does not look different from Japanese sushi roll. However, the filling look Korean style with marinate cucumber.
Deep Fried Chicken Fillet 炸鸡柳
Sauteed Seasoned Vegetable  清炒食菜
For the balance of diet, we order vegetable to counter balance our over-loading meal.
Sago with Watermelon 西瓜西米露

We end our meal with a bowl of sago with watermelon. We finish our meal around 9.30pm. A total duration of 2 hours was good enough to have this. And also buffet is the place for a group of friends chit chat and bond relationship with long lost friends as well. The buffet price at here is quite reasonable and affordable.

AddressArirang Korean BBQ Buffet
1 Liang Seah St #01-07/8, Bugis, 189022 Singapore

Tel : 6333 0025
Business Hour : Lunch 11.30am - 5pm
Dinner 5pm - 9.59pm
Supper 10pm - 1am (Last order 12.30pm)

Price  : S$ 11.90+ / per pax
For dinner at Fri, Sat, Sun and PH eve, every adult additional S$2