bookmark_borderNambawan Restaurant & Cafe, Taman Sri Manja

On one freaking hot Saturday afternoon, while I was taking my precious nap, came a SMS…

Got dinner later?
Nope.
Let’s meet up later. I’m heading to church first.
Ok.

After a couple of SMS exchanges, off we (a friend and I) went for dinner at a restaurant in Taman Sri Manja during the night. I read about this restaurant from another blog and it mentioned about pork dishes at affordable price.

Nambawan Restaurant & Cafe

It wasn’t hard to find this place as it is located along new shoplots in the said area. This restaurant was directly opposite of 7-Eleven. There weren’t much people when we entered the restaurant but the crowd started to build up after about 15 mins later.

Nambawan Environment

We were deciding where to sit but after much doubts, we sat inside which we thought there will be air-con. But somehow, we were pretty disappointed because even though there were air-cons, we felt the stuffy-ness and the heat. We should have sat outside since it rained earlier. The settings were pretty simple and I reckoned this restaurant is a family-own business.

In the menu, one could see that they are offering Asian and Western delights.  Fried Pattaya rice, beef sirloins to lamb chop, you name it they got it. But our mission on that day was to try out their pork selections. As usual, we picked our ala carte in no time as we were hungry.

Crumbs Pork Chop

The Crumb Pork Chop tasted quite alright. It was deep-fried bread crumbs-coated pork chops with their sauce. The meat wasn’t chewy and there as slight hint of salty-ness. On the sides were salads and shoestring fries.

Roasted Pork Belly

My Pork Belly dish was pretty good. They sliced the meat not too thin yet not overly thick. The skin was crunchy yet not too salty and the meat was succulent. Underneath was the baked / fried potatoes (not mashed).

Roasted Pork Ribs

Judging at the portion served, we decided to order another portion to be shared amongst us. One of the staffs (the lady boss, I think) recommended Roasted Pork Ribs.. We both agreed unanimously and without second thought, we went ahead with the recommendation. The meat was tender but not to the point of literally failing off from the bones. They marinated well / long enough in order for the meat to be fully absorbed the sauce.

Mango Smoothie

To wash them down, we picked Mango Smoothies. We were surprised by the size of the cup. Not sweet yet a faint hint of mango taste in it, it was good but not great.

All in all, it was slightly above-average meal. The price was pretty affordable for such place. The environment can be improved and the service was slow. Probably and pausibly, they were lack of staffs when we were there.

Address:
10, Jalan PJS 3/48,
Sri Manja Square One,
Taman Sri Manja,
Jalan Kelang Lama,
46000 Petaling Jaya.

bookmark_borderDinner At Nihon Kai Japanese Restaurant

“Where is this restaurant located at?” I asked. Even though I had a rough idea on the location but I wasn’t sure of its existence since all I see was housing area. “Wait for me. I’ll take you there.” my mum replied excitedly. Perhaps, she’s more eager to go to this secluded Japanese restaurant than I do.

Nihon Kai Menu

My mum has been telling of this restaurant since last year but I shrugged the idea of visiting them for some reasons I couldn’t remembered of. Anyway, after a long delay and since I didn’t have dinner on one particular day, I’ve decided to give it a try.

Table Arragements

Originally owned by a Japanese chap, now it is handled by a friendly lady manager, this restaurant is surrounded by a few shops and semi-d houses. It was rather hard to imagine to that this restaurant existed for almost 3 years already. But all those doubts were diminished quickily when I put my foot into the restaurant. The business was better-than-average even on a weekday night. I was told that you have to make reservation if you intend to visit them on weekends.

Bookshelf

The table arrangements were like of modern era. There were Tatami seats too as as well as private room if you want to hold some functions. Besides, if you’re bored of waiting, you can checkout a selection of mangas (like Bleach) displayed on bookshelf. Not only mangas, they have Japanese magazines and papers too. I guess they were trying to be as Japanese as possible.

Wasabi
Wasabi

Nihon Kai is slightly different if I would to compare to that of bigger Japanese chain restaurants. First of all, I did not see any conveyor belt. And secondly, there were limited choice of sushi. It could be a good thing or bad thing. It’s up to you to decide.

Bowl

A couple flips through the menu, I could feel that they were focusing on bigger ala carte dishes and trying to keep their sushi as simple (or little) as possible. When I said bigger, I mean by the set menu, noodles and rice. Oh yes, they do have Japanese style congee too, which is a first to me.

Nihon Kai SP Maki
Nihon Kai SP Maki

Recommended and featured in newspaper (I’m not which one though), it was no brainer to order their special Maki; Nihon Kai SP Maki. Cool name, eh… Unlike other normal Makis, there was no rice in it as fillings.

Nihon Kai SP Maki
Nihon Kai SP Maki

Vegetables, salmons and some fried crunchy stuff, rolled altogether with a thin layer of transparent skin, they tasted great. It was crunchy from the inside out as it was like eating chips with mayonnaise. I guess they were being special after all…

Shake Temaki
Shake Temaki

Shake Sushi
Shake Sushi

Itako & Kuraage
Itako & Kuraage

Like always, I ordered Shake Temaki and Shake Sushi. The handroll was rather different I would say. There were no slices of cucumbers in it. It’s just salmon and rice and mayonnaise. Weird. Apart from those, Itako & Kuraage came. Basically, they are seasoned baby octopus and jellyfish. It’s fresh and tasted slightly sweet and sour. Pretty good to be as appetizer.

Nabeyaki Udon
Nabeyaki Udon

Other than the usual suspects, I ordered Nabeyaki Udon as my main course. It looked delicious from the menu. And thank god, the pictures did not deceive me at all. I love the broth (soup) they used. Not too sweet yet not too bland.

Nabeyaki Udon
Nabeyaki Udon

Ebi Tempura
Ebi Tempura

The semi raw egg on top was a brilliant idea. By this way, I can opt to cook the egg (‘break’ it) or let it be ‘wet’ by taking it out because the broth is hot (temperature wise) enough to cook the egg thoroughly. Apart from crabsticks, chicken meat and seaweeds, they gave one Ebi Tempura separately. Lovely.

Mixed Sashimi
Mixed Sashimi

Though there were numerous amount of sashimi shown in the menu, to be on the safe side, I’ve picked Mixed Sashimi. A couple (thick) slices of the usual famous fishes and walla, a ‘platter’ was presented right in front of me. Salmon *checked*. Tuna *checked*. Octopus *checked*. Some other weird fish *checked*. But I find it weird to label crabstick as sashimi too.

Kushi Katsu
Kushi Katsu

There was a tiny space left unfilled in my stomach. So, a couple flips in the menu and I spotted Kushi Katsu. From presentation point of view, it looked alright to me. It’s made of meat and onion covered with breadcrumbs batter and deep fried till golden brown. I would like it if not for the slight thick batter.

Zenzai
Zenzai

Lastly was the dessert. Eliminated ice creams, I’m left with one thing; Zenzai. With the option hot or cold, I asked the manager what it is (since there was no text explanation in the menu). In layman term, it is red bean soup with chewy dumpling in it. Something simple and nice, I would say. Due to its not-so-sweet taste, I was tempted to order the cold version but I guess I’ll leave it for the next visit.

Iced Green Tea

Apart from its price (which is slightly higher than normal Japanese restaurant), it is safe to say that Nihon Kai is worth the visit. A wide variety of set lunch and dinner, one would be spoilt by its selection. Fishes I might not heard of, congee I’ve not tasted before, set menus I’ve difficulty to choose from, I guess this restaurant is trying to be different from other commoners. And although you might not get your favourite sushi and/or maki from this restaurant, there’s no harm trying something new, right…

Address:
4-2, Jalan Telok Gadung,
Off Jalan Kelang Lama,
58100 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel No. : (03) 7982 3668

Business Hours:
Lunch 12pm – 3pm
Dinner 6pm – 10pm

Map:

Nihon Kai Map

*Blue circle denotes the location of the restaurant.




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