Kodawari Menya, 1 Mont Kiara, Mont Kiara

Address:
L1-21A, First Floor, 1 Mont Kiara, No. 1, Jalan Kiara, Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
Opening Hours:
Daily, 11am-9.30pm.
Time Visited:
7pm. Din din times. Sunday night.
Attire worn:
Casual
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Zaru Udon (Small), Kabocha (Pumpkin tempura), Nasubi (Eggplant tempura), Green Tea

Kodawari Menya sports a huge area right in front of the escalator connecting the ground and first floor. It's concept is self-service, like food court and fast food chains.

I really look forward to some delicious Japanese noodles but unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I don't mind it being self-service which is a good strategy to free up staff for other things. However, they have quite a number of staff and I'm just not sure what the other staff standing around were supposed to do. Why can't they just make them as wait staff and scrap the self-service concept? Why do you need so many staff? There were 2 to greet me and to get me trays and guide me on how to order which I find it amusing. This might as well be called an assisted "self" service restaurant.

As you step up to the counter, you have a menu with 9 variety types of noodles settings. I ordered the Zaru Udon which is a cold udon where you're provided with sauce for you to douse it in before eating. Then, further down the counter, there are ready fried tempura items in order for you to pick and choose should you desire to eat something with your noodles. And finally, you end up at the cash register where there's a beverage menu in waiting for you to order.

The Udon looks tasty while the tempura, not so much. But I was so wrong. Both tasted bland and tasteless. Even dousing it with the sauce provided proved futile in giving it more taste. I know udon are thick and would be more doughy but tasteless? Can it ever happen? Not even the sauce can provide enough taste for me? Is there something wrong with my taste buds? The tempura is the same, lack of taste. You can interchange the udon and the tempura and I still won't be able to figure out which is which if I were to be blindfolded and both chopped to pieces. Both tasted the same to me.

When you're finished with your meal, you are to return the tray at the return counter. Again, what's the extra staff around supposed to do again? Watch you eat, I guess.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM16.90. Thankfully, the food-court like environment with the food-court like food has food-court like price - cheap. Zaru Udon merely costs RM10.90 while each vegetable tempura costs RM2 while the meat tempura costs RM4. The green tea cost RM2.

Final Verdict:
3/10. You know I hate food courts, right? LOL