Tokyo Kitchen @ ikon Connaught

We didn't want to take the chance to venture to the city centre due to the traffic lockdown for the KL City Grand Prix in case there's a massive jam.
 

So, we decided to go towards Cheras for dinner that weekend.  I chose Tokyo Kitchen @ ikon Connaught after seeing a reasonably good review on it.  And since they have 8 branches in Klang Valley (from their Facebook), I thought it should be alright.

 

Walking in, I must say that I was intrigued by the lovely décor of the place.  I was liking my first impression already.  Little did I know that this would be the only thing I'd be impressed with.

 

Our meal started with an order of one piece each of the following roasted sushi: Roasted Salmon, Salmon Toro, Red Tuna & White Tuna @ RM4.30/pc.  This was how it looked like in the menu.

 

This was what we got....it looked like they've died and went to heaven!  The top two were the salmon while the bottom two were the red and white tuna...and they didn't look anywhere near torched.  The white tuna one was probably the best (or shall I say the least worst) of the lot as all four weren't exceptionally fresh, especially the red tuna which looked dry (a sign that it has probably been in the fridge for way too long).

From the stand menu on the table offering some seasonal items, I ordered the Ko Ebi Karaage (Fried Shrimps) @ RM9.80 for sharing.  These were crispy and acceptable although some of the shrimp heads were detached from the shrimps (a sign that they were not super fresh).

Another was the Salmon Gyoza Karaage @ RM16.80 (for 5 pcs).  These fried salmon dumplings were chewy and barely crispy.  In fact, it looked like the dumplings were not properly drained of its oil before they were served.  But what was worse was that the minced salmon filling didn't taste all that fresh.

For our mains, I went with the Beef Teriyaki @ RM23.80 (with additional bowl of rice @ RM2.80) since it was recommended as a 'must try' by a blog.  As far as I was concerned, it was more of a 'must avoid' kind of dish.  I've never had beef quite as bad as this in a Japanese restaurant before.

 

The grilled beef with teriyaki sauce was so overcooked, it was tough, dry and chewy.  It had this very beefy 'not in a good way' smell to it (not sure if that's due to the beef being not fresh or the type of beef).

 

I tried dunking it into some Japanese soy but it didn't help either as the soy tasted like a poor quality one.

 

I had to request for some pickled ginger to help relieve my taste buds! >.<  Well, at least I was glad to see that the pickled ginger was sliced extremely thin but then it was also extremely tart.

 

The other main we were attracted to was the Ebi Tempura Don with Black Sauce @ RM23.80 as it was different from the ebi tempura don we usually have.  The tempura prawns and the batter were alright, just that the black sauce didn't do anything for us.

 

More interesting was this paper mat on our table....note the print out at the corner of the paper.  I shudder at the thought of how this could be true! :D  Anyway, I snapped a photo of it, not because of this but, because I have a story to tell.  When we were seated, we noticed that some of these paper mats on the table were used ones and have stains on them! o_O  I realised then that the restaurant don't replace all the paper mats once the diners leave (and we saw it with our own eyes when the some of the tables were vacated).  The wait staff would replace some (the dirtier ones I suppose) but not all.  Omg...how cheapskate can the restaurant be (well, if you can't afford to replace a simple paper mat, then don't have it at all)!!  I don't think the wait staff is at fault, they've probably been told to do so.  As if the food wasn't bad enough, this thing sure was!

 

Our drinks:

 

Iced Lemon Tea @ RM6.80

 

I was attracted by the Honey Milk with Red Bean @ RM6.80 which, surprisingly, turned out to be pretty good, so much so that I'd like to show you two pics of it...kekeke ;)  I don't usually enjoy the taste of milk but this honey milk I liked.

I thoroughly enjoyed the sweetness of the softened red beans in a not overly sweet cold honey milk concoction.  It ended up to be the best tasting thing on the table! T_T

My Personal Opinion

Regrettably, I was more impressed with the décor than the food.  What I had, I wouldn't want seconds....except for the cold honey milk with red bean...that I want!

With a meal that cost RM65 a person, I can surely find better options elsewhere.  I'd much rather have a sumptuous bowl of Tendon @ RM26 at Yuzu anytime.
 

Am I enticed to return to sample other food?  Not unless you have a gun to my head! >.<

Tokyo Kitchen
Lot G-01 & GR-01 ikon Connaught
Jalan Puncak Gading
Taman Connaught
56000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-9108 3080

Revisit: That Latte Place @ ikon Connaught

It's been a few months since I last ate here, so I'm back for more at That Latte Place @ ikon Connaught.  I remembered telling them that they should consider including pork in their menu just like what they have in their sibling outlet, Map's at Bandar Sunway, the last time I was here. 

Looking at the menu, I was glad to see they did...yay!  That would mean, besides pork bacon, their awesome pork balls would also be available (closer to home)....double yay!!  The only thing that has not changed (I noticed) is that it's still on cash terms only! :(

 

I think the no. 1 item in any café has always been their Big Breakfast (or whatever names they want to call it) and it's no different here.  This was the Breakfast with Bacon @ RM21 with chicken sausages wrapped in bacon, two sunny side up eggs, sautéed mushrooms, hash brown, roasted potatoes and homemade buttered toast....and what else...more bacon, of course! ;D

 

What's better than sausages, you ask?  Well, the answer is....bacon wrapped sausages yo!

 

These bacon slices were pan-fried to perfection...just look at that wonderful sear and absolutely crisp edges...have you seen anything more beautiful?  What's even better is that their breakfast items are available all day long....yeah, you can even have it at night for dinner too....and that's exactly what happened here!

 

I was also pleased to find a new item on their menu, the Salmon Steak @ RM21 which I have not tried before.  It's a piece of simple pan fried salmon served in a creamy grape sauce with roasted potatoes and a salad of fresh lettuce and tomatoes.  I liked that the salmon had a crisp exterior but was not overcooked, it still had a pinkish centre.

 

I'm usually not a fan of cream sauces because such sauces tend to come off as 'heavy' but this was not the case due to the cooked down grapes in the sauce.  I could definitely taste the sweet and zesty flavours it brought to the cream sauce.

One of the things I loved at Map's was their homemade pork balls.  Here, at The Latte Place, it's tweaked slightly into a dish called the Pork Ball Rice @ RM21 which would appeal to those who simply can't do without rice.

Their popular pork balls are still as good with their house herbed gravy served with roasted potatoes, poached egg, mini salad and rice.

The poached egg was perfectly cooked......liquid gold, I say!

The Bacon Pancake @ RM14 are double pancakes with maple syrup, bacon slices, roasted potatoes and a sunny side up egg is also a dish that can be found at Map's as well.  The egg was slightly overcooked this time, but still acceptable as the yolk was still soft, with nice crisp edges on the egg white.

The Porky Sandwich @ RM15 is a house-made pork patty with melted cheese, sautéed mushrooms, tomato, cucumber, lettuce in between two slices of toasted bread and a side of fries.

Their ever popular House Egg Ben @ RM19 needs no introduction.  It comes with two poached eggs sitting on top of two slices of homemade toast and bacon (instead of chicken ham) this time, served with a side of roasted potatoes and salad.

More egg porn...the eggs, topped with their signature hollandaise sauce (the generous sprinkling of black pepper was my doing), were perfectly executed to deliciousness....one of my all-time favourite dishes here.

Other than their ever popular homemade pork balls, their roasted potatoes deserves equal mention.  The roasted potatoes (with skins on) are soft and fluffy with a nice crisp on the outside.  If you can't get enough of them, you can always order an add-on roast potatoes @ RM5 (like we did).

And if you can't get enough bacon as well...coz everything is always better with bacon, you can add-on bacon @ RM2 a slice....

.....or maybe even two...kekeke! :D

 

......or how about three! XD

Okay, okay...enough with the bacon already.....the Affogato @ RM9 was just passable as their vanilla ice-cream is (unfortunately) not made in-house unlike the ones at their sibling café.

Here are some of the drinks we had:

Lychee Infused Tea @ RM8

Passion Fruit Infused Tea @ RM8
(if coffee is not your 'cup of tea' and tea is)

Iced Latte @ RM10 (my 'go to' drink)

Iced Apple Caramel Coffee @ RM12

 

My Personal Opinion

What can I say....my dining experience at this place has always been positive.  They serve good food that's simple, comforting and reasonably priced...and, what's even better, they're at a location closer to home. 

We keep coming back....it's a favourite haunt for me and my family! ;)
 

That Latte Place

G-07 ikon Connaught
Taman Connaught

No 160 Jalan Cerdas
Cheras

56100 Kuala Lumpur 

Tel: 016-850 3546
 

Boat Noodles @ ikon Connaught

Boat noodles became one of the latest food fads of 2014, but I still had not tried any.....call me outdated if you want...until now! ;D  Boat Noodles (I think) was the first to open shop before other similar-type boat noodle restaurants started sprouting up all over Klang Valley.  It became such an instant hit that there were insanely long queues at their restaurants (especially at its first outlet in Empire Damansara).

Boat Noodles have since gone on to open a few more outlets.  Now that the queues are a thing of the past (or, at least, have died down somewhat), I finally succumbed to my curiosity and decided to try the Boat Noodles @ Ikon Connaught for dinner one day.

When you visit Boat Noodles, the one dish you must try is none other than their signature boat noodles, of course, and so I ordered 2 of each to start with...chicken (dry and wet) and beef (dry and wet).  When the noodles arrived (however), you can't really differentiate the dry from the wet as they all looked similar to me (which was wet).  I tried asking the server which is which but it was like "a duck talking to a chicken" (these foreign workers can hardly speak English and you end up not understanding them and they don't understand you either).

No matter though because, whether wet or dry, they all had a pleasant enough flavour with an undertone of savoury-sour and a hint of spice.  These are the Chicken Noodles (Wet & Dry) @ RM1.90 a bowl. 

Each bowl of noodles is topped with a whole chicken ball, shredded chicken, "kangkung" (water spinach, stalks only), chopped coriander and fried garlic bits.

And these are the Beef Noodles (Wet & Dry) also @ RM1.90 a bowl.  The bowl of beef noodles came with only half a beef ball, some minced beef, water spinach (stalks again) and chopped coriander.

The texture of the noodles is a bit similar to those Pad Thai noodles, probably a bit thinner and softer.  Of the two, the beef noodles were definitely more savoury and flavourful.  As these noodles come in small servings, which you can slurp up in one or two mouthfuls, one needs 5 bowls (or more) to fill one up.

Of course, once we're done with our bowls of noodles, I just had to stack 'em up!  And, so I did...it's like a gimmick or trend here...plus there's actually no place on your table for your empty bowls...kekeke! ;D  As my family wasn't that into these noodles, our stack looked miserable (I ate 5).  The bowls (chipped and all) have obviously seen better days!

I ordered a number of snacks for sharing, starting off with Thai Popeye's Tempura @ RM6.90  and I found the portion very generous for the price paid.  The tempura battered spinach leaves turned out super crispy! *Popeye would approve*

I was amazed at just how crispy it was and how it stayed that way throughout our dinner.  Although the tempura served in Japanese restaurants may still be a notch lighter...but this is still a darn good tempura.  On its own, it may seem a bit bland as it needed the distinctive dip that was served with it.

The dip tasted like a rich Thai curry, with a heavy dose of coconut cream flavour, but fresher due to the addition of raw ingredients of finely chopped garlic, onions and bird's eye chillies.  I'd call this a Thai (orange) curry since it looks like a cross between a Thai red curry and a yellow one....kekeke ;p  I wouldn't say that it tasted like tom yum as the sourness was almost non-existent.

The Chicken Wings @ RM4.90 (wingette + wing tip) may look thin and dry but, let me assure you, they were not.  They turned out totally crispy, fragrant and an utter delight to eat =)  I could definitely smell and taste the lemongrass marinade in the wings which made them so fragrant and truly addictive.  I absolutely loved it...I think I can eat a few plates of these!

It was served with a typical Thai sweet-and-sour chilli sauce.

Another appetiser was the Grilled Chicken Meatballs @ RM4.90 for 2 sticks of 3.  The tender chicken meatballs on a stick had a sweet glaze on it, much like the taste of the sweet-and-sour sauce served with the chicken wings.

The Grilled Beef Meatballs @ RM5.90 were less tender than their chicken counterpart.  What else can you say...it's meatballs on a stick!

My spouse ordered the Kra-Pow Chicken Rice @ RM11.90 which was a new item on the menu.  It was made up of small chunks of chicken fried with fragrant basil leaves and fresh chillies although I found the dish to be over salted.  Even when eaten with rice, it was still too salty, so those with a low tolerance for salty food...beware!

To end our meal, I ordered the "Ka Num Tuay" @ RM1 which was 2 pcs of chilled pandan-coconut dessert served in a small sauce dish.  This resembled the taste of our very own "kuih talam" (also a pandan and coconut layered dessert) or "tepung pelita" (another local kuih that's very similar to kuih talam but this one uses banana leaves as its vessel).

The sweet bottom green layer (which gets its fragrance from the juice extracted from the pandan leaves) is a good contrast to the top (slightly) salty layer of thick coconut cream.  There's no doubt that these snacks are a good way to end our meal on a sweet note.

We settled for these Thai drinks for the evening:

"Kaffe Yen" (Thai Iced Coffee) @ RM6.90

(I found the Thai Iced Coffee to be really good, I liked it a lot)

"Cha-Manao-Yen" (Thai Iced Lemon Tea) @ RM6.90

(these drinks came in pretty tall plastic glasses, well worth the price)

#Footnote: 
Funny thing was, I received a media invite to do a review at their Empire Damansara branch (on 11 April) but invited reviews just ain't my thing!  I'm not into eating with a bunch of people I don't know (even though we're allowed to bring a +1).  Maybe if I get a one-on-one invite *wink wink*, I might just consider but I don't think I have to worry about that coz it's not gonna happen unless you're really 'famous'...kekeke)! ;D  Anyway, in the end, I still wanted to try boat noodles, so, this is still a paid post....I paid myself! :D :D

My Personal Opinion

If you have yet to try this, go on and give it a try....at least once for the novelty!  But, if you're a big-eater who needs 10 bowls (or more) to fill you up, RM19 may not seem that worthwhile in the end.

For me, it's a place for snacking in between meals.  I wouldn't mind coming back here and snacking happily on the spinach tempura and chicken wings....with a tall glass of Thai Iced Coffee!  But, as far as the boat noodles go...once the novelty wears off, so will your desire!

Restoran Boat Noodle

G-09 Ground Floor

ikon Mall Connaught

Taman Connaught Jalan Cerdas
Cheras

56100 Kuala Lumpur