Isetan KLCC Foodmarket Kyushu Fair 2011

KLCC new Isetan Food Market is now a new place for grocery and food shopping. Since their opening in September, i was very excited to see their new products imported mainly from Japan. My previous posts are: imported frozen food, tempting pastry, imported fresh fruits and vegetables.

Isetan KLCC organizes food fair quite often. Now it is Isetan KLCC Foodmarket Kyushu Fair 2011 from 23rd September to 2nd October 2011.

Kyushu Fair at Isetan KLCC Foodmarket

A simple introduction to Kyushu:

" Kyushu, the third largest island of Japan which is located in the South, has earned the title of "Food Island" by producing one fifth of Japan's agricultural products. Kyushu is also the birthplace of Shochu, and is home to many makers of this exquisite liquor. Local cuisine includes Nabe dishes (Hot Pot), Mentaiko (Pollack Roe), braised dishes and plenty of seafood. The southern prefectures of Kyushu are also well-known for producing nutritional food items."

~~ courtesy from Isetan Foodmarket Kyushu Fair brochure

1. What is Shocu?

Shocu at Kyushu Fair, Isetan KLCC Foodmarket

Shocu is a type of Japanese distilled beverage made from barley, sweet potato, or rice. Sometimes it is produced from brown sugar, buckwheat or chestnut. Typically it contains 25% alcohol by volume. The production is now everywhere in Japan, but it is believed that it is started in Kyushu.

~taken from en.wikipedia/shochu

2. What is Nabe?

Special Eat-in Chanko Nabe at Kyushu Fair, Isetan KLCC Foodmarket

Nabe in Japanese, is a short term for Nabemono. Nabe = cooking pot, Mono = things, Nabemono means varieties of Japanese steamboat dishes. It's also known as one pot dishes.

The pots are traditionally made of clay or thick cast iron. Clay pots can keep warm for a while after being taken off the fire, while cast iron pots evenly distribute heat. The pots are usually placed in the centre of dining tables, shared by multiple people. This is a sociable way to eat with friends and family.

The varieties of Nabe includes: Yosenabe, Chankonabe, Yudofu, Sukiyaki, Oden. Shabu Shabu and Motsunabe..

Chanko Nabe (as stated in brochure), is a traditional steamboat dish eaten daily by Sumo wrestlers.

~ taken from en.wikipedia/Nabemono

At Kyushu Fair, you can order any bowl of Chankonabe according to your favourite ingredients, and you have the chance to enjoy original recipe from Japanese chef.

Display of Chankonabe

3. What is Mentaiko?

Karashi Mentaiko at Kyushu Fair, Isetan KLCC Foodmarket

Mentaiko is marinated roe of pollock, a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine.

Roe is a fully ripe internal ovaries or egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, while Pollock is the name of a type of marine fish.

~ taken from en.wikipedia/Mentaiko

What attracted me in the Kyushu Fair is, the food sampling of ocean seaweed. We normally see a black to purplish seaweed. But here, i saw the colourful seaweed.

Seaweed food sampling at Kyushu Fair, Isetan KLCC Foodmarket

There are 3 main types of seaweed: Sea-algae, Sea-birdnest, and normal seaweed.

3 main types of dried seaweed

They are packed in small packets, sold at RM44 per packet and at the promotion of Free 1 packet for any 3 packets bought.

Packets of seaweed

The sales-person then soaked the seaweed in normal water.

3 types of soaked seaweed for food sampling

And she put into Miso soup for us.

Miso soup to mix with soaked seaweed

The soaked seaweed with the mix color of red and green, is called the sea-birdnest. When chewing, i felt like biting raw plastic. However according to the salesperson, there are different nutrien for different types of seaweed, including Iron, Calcium and Collagen. Collagen is to improve humidity of one's body and hence improve beauty, suit best for girls.

Other types of seaweed product

I saw a Dorayaki and Sponge Cake, opss, they looked so real but actually was for display purposes only, and not edible.

Sample of Dorayaki

Sample of Castella, a Japanese Sponge Cake

Demonstration of Castella wrapping

Besides Seaweed sample, there are so many other special food to try: Japanese tea, Soymilk jelly, Salmon fish, mini fish pancake, fried and braised seafood, and many more.

Event: Kyushu Fair

Venue: Suria KLCC, Isetan Foodmarket

click here for location map

Date: 23rd September 2011 to 2nd October 2011

Visit their Isetan website or Kyushu Fair brochure for details

Dragon- i : One Utama

Dragon-i is famous with Xiao Long Bao, the Steamed Soup Dumpling. But during our few visits, surprisingly we do not order the Xiao Long Bao, but the noodle.

We went to this Dragon-i outlet at One Utama Shopping Centre, which is located at the new wing of the shopping centre.

Dragon-i

The types of handmade noodles here are: thin noodle, long thick noodle and slice-noodle. The shape of thin noodle is thinner than the thick one, and the long thick noodle is just like our Pan Mee noodle. The slice-noodle is also called as Knife-cut noodle (Dao Xiao Mian in Mandarin). To make Knife-cut noodle, chef will hold dough on one of his hand, and the hand use to slice the dough into pieces of noodle.

The noodle is priced quite reasonable, ranging from as low as RM13 to RM19 ++.

We ordered Dan Dan Mian. I have never taste such flavour before. It's quite special for me. It tasted a bit like Jawa noodle as it had peanut, but this was cooked blended peanut. Besides, it had minced meat and dried prawn, which made it tasted Sweet and Salty. The soup looked like curry but it's not spicy at all. We ordered Dan Dan Mian with the thin noodle type.

Dan Dan Mian

We also ordered Sichuan La Mian. The soup was cooked thick, almost like shark fin soup. This was not with shark fin soup however, but pickled vegetables, which we called as Sichuan Pickled Vege. This was a bit sour, and spicy. We ordered Sichuan La Mian with the thick noodle type.

Sichuan La Mian

Besides the three type of noodles: Thin long noodle, thick long noodle and knife-cut noodle, they also have Japanese Udon. We ordered Fried Udon. Udon is a type of Japanese thick noodle. This was spicy, fried with black pepper sauce.

Fried Japanese Udon with seafood

This is not main dish, but, I highly recommend this, the Chili or sambal. It's spicy, but the chili smell was so fragrant! This is my favourite all the time.

Sambal Chili

The Ribs. The portion looked small. But actually there were lot of pieces, enough for 2 person, and the bones were not that big. This is absolutely worth trying. This is my favourite too.

Ribs

Fu-Chok Yi-Mai is the cantonese name for this dessert. It is made from soya, Barley, and Gingko nut. I love the small egg (Nyam Chun Tan) so much..yummy..

For the next visit, i should order their famous Xiao Long Bao, i think it should be worth trying.

Type of cuisine: Asian
Map to 1 Utama Shopping centre, please click here. http://g.co/maps/ngeyp

Dinner Idea: Japanese Style Fried Bihun

This evening, I wanted to cook Japanese Fried Bihun. I had limited time so I wanted to do it fast. First I took out all ingredients I can put in, from the fridge. So I prepared carrot, anchovies, tomato and bitter gourd. I put in canned Tuna fish too.

Raw Ingredient

Tuna Fish

Since it was Japanese style, I put in Japanese Bok Choi. It is also called Tiny Pak Choi or Chinese Cabbage. I like the smaller version as it has more leaf and more crunchy, and I think it tastes sweeter.

Fresh Tiny Chinese Cabbage

This is the most important seasoning I put in: The Japanese Teriyaki Sauce.

Teriyaki Sauce

Besides Japanese Teriyaki sauce, I put in little of soya sauce.

Here is the Japanese style Fried Bihun, my version of fried bihun.

The saltiness was just nice, and the bihun was very Q. I put in more ingredients than the bihun itself, so it was more to Fried Vegetables with Bihun, rather than Fried Bihun with vegetables!

I decided to cook a separate dish of tomato egg, with stir-fry of fresh onion, as the side dish.

Side Dish

Here is the list of Ingredients and Seasoning for Japanese style Fried Bihun:

Ingredients:

1. Any types of vegetables as you like

2. Anchovies

3. Canned Tuna Slice

4. Chopped Garlic

5. Cooking oil

Seasoning:

1. Japanese Teriyaki Sauce

2. Soya Sauce

My dinner

3. Fish Sauce

Dinner Idea: Red Wine Chicken

This evening, I wanted to try something new.  I had extra Red Wine, so I tried to cook  Red Wine Chicken.  

I seasoned the chicken with some of pepper, red wine, soya sauce, salt and corn-starch.

Then I pan-fry it.

Although the red wine chicken didn't look that tempting, but actually tasted delicious. It was just normal black pepper grilled chicken recipe, but I put less pepper and add in a few spoons of red wine. Red wine and meat is the perfect match.  Yummy. Anyone can try this recipe, you just need to have some red wine.

For the side dish, I cooked a stir-fry Kailan. For the soup, it was Tomato with Bitter-gourd. Of course it was bitter, but Bitter-gourd is good for health.

Fresh Kailan Vegetables with mix ingredients

Seasoned chicken with red wine

My dinner: Red Wine Chicken, Stir-fry Kailan and Bittergourd Soup

Dinner Idea: Beet Root Soup and Vegetables

I guess this week is my cooking mood. =) I prepared a beet root soup, stir fried mushroom, and stir fried vegetables.

I bought a very big beet root. So i cooked a pure beet root soup, with no meat but just a little of salt.

Fresh Beetroot

Slices of cut Beetroot

I cooked a stir fried oyster mushroom, with tomato and black pepper.

Stir Fry Oyster Mushroom

For vegetables, this is a type of leaf from Goji Berry. It has almost the same nutrition of Goji Berry, which is good for protecting eyesight. I cooked a stir fried vegetables with anchovies.

Goji Berry Leaf

Here is the dinner set just nice for 2 person:

My dinner

Paddington House of Pancake

Chocolate fondue is nice. Slices of fruits and pastry dipped into hot melted chocolate. It tastes best for me, when sour fruits combine with sweet chocolate. It will just melt your heart.
Eating chocolate fondue is enjoying. You can dip anything according to your DIY if you do it at home. You can choose variety of food for dipping. You can dip any amount of chocolate according to your own preference. Eating chocolate fondue when the weather is cold is even nicer as it will warm you up. It's not only enjoying but also relaxing, and romantic. You can chat or read while dipping.

Me and the prince went to Paddington House of Pancake at Mid Valley for tea break.

A set of Chocolate Fondue from Paddington House of Pancake

We ordered this chocolate fondue, but i have forgotten the exact name of it. The chocolate fondue consists of:
1. mini-coin size of pancake
2. fruits such as strawberry and peach
3. a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and
4. marshmallow

Fruits and pancake for Chocolate Fondue

This is the hot melted chocolate. It's melted and heated up by using candle. You can see the blowing bubble. They must have mixed something besides chocolate chips. The sweetness is just nice. But the portion is obviously not enough for us, the chocolate lovers.

Hot Melted Chocolate

Paddington House of Pancake

Location: Address: Paddington House of Pancake (PHOP)
LG-216, Lower Ground Floor,
The Gardens, Mid Valley City
Type of cuisine: Pancake with dishes
Location map: http://g.co/maps/2nqu6
Website link: http://paddingtonpancakes.com

New Isetan KLCC Foodmarket: Fresh fruits and Vegetables

In the new KLCC Isetan Food Market, there are lots of new product, especially from Japan, in my previous review such as: Frozen meat and seafood and International Pastry and Cakes.

Everytime you walk in KLCC Isetan Food Market, you will find new and interesting item there. The imported food is from all over the world: Japan, Korean, Australia, US, etc.

Of course you will find affordable food there, but you will find expensive one too.

For example, How much it costs for a pack of Grapes less than 1kg? The most at RM15? Yes, this pack of grape, cost more than RM10, it's from Korea, and it really looks like black color rubber ball.

Korean Grape

But how about a pack of grape imported, of high quality new breed? Double the price? No..It's almost 10 times higher, which means if you buy a pack of this quality new breed imported from Japan, with the same price you can buy more than 10 packs of normal grapes.

New Pione Grape from Japan is sold at RM155 per kilogram. It's black in color. It's round, fresh, in dark black color. I wonder how it tastes.

New Pione Grape from Japan

From the description, the Pione Grape is produced in Okayama Prefecture. It is seedless. It is an improved version of Kyoho, the King of grapes. How it tastes? " The large fruit of the Pione has a rich sweetness and a moderate sour taste."

The other types of grape is called Seto Giant Grape, in green colour. It's sold at RM175 per kilogram. Yes, it is RM133.35 per pack!

Seto Giant Grape from Japan

Seto Giants Grape is produced at Okayama Prefecture too. "Once you start eating, you can't stop"! Wow!

So with the price of a packet of Seto Giants Grape (RM 133.35), you can buy 10 packets of grapes from USA (RM13.01). It really depends on consumers, some look for affordable food, but some look for high quality food.

USA Seedless Grape

That's story of grape. How about others? This Rock Melon priced at RM9.50 per kilogram. Half of it, costs RM 7.35. How about another special "species"? It costs at RM 115 per piece! It's called Musk Melon with tagged "Orange Flesh". I guess, it should be from Japan too.

Rock Melon

Musk Melon

I have seen ginseng anywhere, but i have never see normal packing of fresh ginseng, sold at high price. It is tagged as Korean Fresh Ginseng of 6-year-old, costs at RM 890 per kilogram. There is around quarter of kilogram, costs at RM 238 for 4 pieces. There is also fresh ginseng of 4-year-old, of course, smaller in size and less in nutrient or function.

Fresh Ginseng of 6-year-old

The Korean Peach,

Korean Peach

Korean Peach

White Carrot/ white radish, around the same size of my hand, sold at RM 43.90 per piece.

White Radish/ White Carrot

The Mandarin Orange from Japan, called Japan Mikan, sold at RM 210 per box.

Japan Mikan

If you are looking for high quality food, you can visit this place at different time/ day as you will find lots of new item. Besides the interesting fruit captured here, of course there are a lot more.

Location: Isetan Suria KLCC Food Market

Concourse Floor

http://g.co/maps/zv986

Visit their website or brochure of Isetan Foodmarket for further details