Yamagoya Ramen, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
A2-G2-08, Publika Shopping Gallery,
Jalan Dutamas 1, Solaris Dutamas,
50480 Kuala Lumpur

Opening Hours:
Mon-Sun:
11:00 am - 11:00 am

Time Visited:
7pm, Saturday evening

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):

I ventured into Publika and hunted high and low for something new to try. But after walking around aimlessly for almost 2 hours with a purpose but without a direction, I finally grew tired and decided to enter Yamagoya Ramen to try instead.

During my entry, it's already almost peak dinner hour and that was the mistake that I made. They were nearly full house and this place isn't lone diner friendly. Contrary to how Japanese establishments are, this one didn't have seats catered specifically for single diners. What's more is since it's peak hour, there weren't many places left and I was shown to a 4 seater table to sit at and since they showed me to sit there, I obliged. Their tables are quite unique covered in leather coverings that encourage your dishes not to slip and slide at all. This is great and I can only imagine the amount of effort put into maintaining these coverings. The owner of this place seems to be a Japanese as well whom I saw her approaching one of their customers whose a family and started speaking with the Japanese family. The rest of the workers seems to be foreign labor with them being well trained to greet properly in Japanese instead of the usual Malaysian type where they lazily slur the Japanese words and only say out the last 2 syllables in either a shouty manner or a very softly spoken way where only the person saying it can hear or if you're super close to their proximity.

At first, I wanted to try their curry rice to compare with Okonomi but then decided since this place is supposedly a ramen shop, I oughtta order a ramen and decided to typically order their signature which is the Mukashi Special Ramen along with an ice cold green tea. They took quite a long while to serve my order and when it finally arrived, it's presented in a manner that's a typical layout of ramen ingredients on a bowl. In the Mukashi Special Ramen, the ingredients consists of a seaweed, an egg, 2 chashu, bamboo shoots, strips of mushrooms and this is a rare sight for me but they serve bean sprouts in it too. There's also spring onions tossed in the mix. Their broth is soy based broth and I find that they've sorta localized the flavor a bit and it's quite tasty. On top of that, it does emanate saltiness but not to the level of how Japanese usually take their broth. Hence my take on why it seems localized along with the bean sprouts too. Their ingredients is a tad smaller than how I'm used to seeing in a Japanese ramen restaurant. Another indication of how it's sort of Malaysianized a bit even though it seems that it's run by Japanese.

Here's another thing why I felt it wasn't lone diner friendly. Halfway through me eating, they asked me to move to the table beside me to make way for other people to sit at my place. While I don't mind doing so, they could've at least helped me move by taking my bowl and drink and placing it on my new table instead of just keep asking me to move. I've given them ample time to move for me by me nodding in agreement that I will move but they did totally nothing and just showed me to the new table. -_- In the end, I have to move it my own self. Embarrassed being there, I hurriedly finished up my meal and headed to MORCO for a cup of coffee and cake.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM30.15. RM 24 for the Ramen, RM2 for the drink. Service charge of 10% and 6% of GST is charged.

Final Verdict:
6/10. Though their ramen may be quite nice, I don't think I'll be returning since it's not really lone diner friendly and I'm usually alone. I don't wanna be embarrassed and stressed again especially when it's a time for me to unwind and enjoy.

Read More

Menya Musashi (麺屋武蔵), 1 Utama, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya (PJ)

Address:
Isetan, One Utama, Eat Paradise, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 10am - 10pm

Time Visited:
12:15pm, Public Holiday Friday.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Musashi Ramen and hot Green Tea.

Their Ramen consists of four different broths which are Shiro (Onion Flavored Oil), Kuro (Special Oil combined of fried shallots and garlic flavored oil), Aka (Home made Musashi chili flavored oil) and Ki (Home made Musashi curry oil). I decided with the Shiro Musashi Ramen which contains 2 Chashu, 1 Ajitama (soft boiled whole egg), spring onions on top with leek, Bamboo Shoots and Black Fungus.

It was amusing watching them preparing the ramen. With the softened ramen in the sieve, they would flip it upside down and would let out some sort of a battle cry. It's as if they're practicing some martial arts move and it's quite a sight to behold.

Once the ramen appeared in front of me, it was appealing in sight with the 2 chashu on top begging to be eaten. They serve in a bowl that even consists of their chosen picture which are samurais. The first bite no doubt was heavenly. What my friend told me as being the best ramen he's ever eaten is true. I completely agree with him. He also told me that the P. Ramlee branch is better than here in 1 Utama. Better than this? I have to try it one day. The Chashu was thick and juicy. Nice porky lingering flavor as you bite on it after being soaked in it's broth. The broth upon first sip was mesmerizing. Full of pork flavor and not too salty. Just the right appropriate taste to mine. The spring onion enhances the flavor of the broth and the ramen is tender and pleasant. The leek and bamboo shoots provide some crunch to it. But unfortunately, as with most ramen, the problem is as time goes by, the delicious factor begins to fade and all that's left is a lukewarm bowl of soup with soggy ramen soaked in it. Hence, eating it fast would be most advisable as eating it slowly will epitomize this fact. Once educated by Ippudo on this to me before, I never realized it much till I compare the freshly made and one that's left for awhile. But for Menya Musashi, there's not even a need to compare. You can distinguish it as clear as crystal since the first few bites and sips of the dish were so delectable. This is one of those times I regret being a slow eater.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM29.70. RM26 for the Ramen, RM2 for the Green Tea and 6% of GST.

Final Verdict:
8/10. Love this place. Especially when it reeks of an authentic Japanese Ramen restaurant. The food is lovely to me. And just like an authentic Japanese Ramen joint, it caters for lone diners like me with many seats that a lone diner can sit and eat. In fact, I even bypass those that needed lots of seats like 6-8 because they had to wait till there's a table with that many seatings available. The only problem is that this place can get really crowded and you feel the pressure of taking up space when there are people in line waiting for a place. But the staff did not hurry nor glare at me to finish up. I still hurried myself because I felt so bad. Especially after an emotional roller coaster self reflection the night before.

P.S,: Oh, there is another problem with it as well and that is that their Green Tea is not refillable anymore ever since the implementation of the GST. That's a bummer.

Read More