Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels

Friday, May 23, 2014

YummY! - Teriyaki Don @ Sukiya Uptown

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YummY! Jotaro's Food Review

TERIYAKI DON @ SUKIYA UPTOWN

Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia - April 2014.

While on a bike-packing trip in Japan (that's a term cyclists use for overnight out-of-town trips on a bicycle), I was introduced to the Sukiya chain that sells relatively cheap Gyudon (rice with sliced beef). We found the Sukiya outlets in Tokyo affordable for our budget bike-packing trip.

So when Sukiya started opening outlets in Malaysia, I was curious to see if the food served in these local branches were a reasonably priced and as good as those in Tokyo.
Read on to see how Sukiya Malaysia fares.

I had the Teriyaki Chicken Set Meal (On the menu, it's called Teri Teisyoku) while my buddy had the Okra Gyudon. Out of courtesy, I did not take photos of his Gyudon meal, so I can't share that with you.
The Teriyaki set came with two pieces of chicken, a bowl of salad, one half-boiled egg and a bowl of lovely, fluffy Japanese white rice.

I love their rice, it's that short, stubby type that cooks without sticking together and gives a good solid yet soft bite.

The Teriyaki Chicken came with adequate gravy to go with the rice. It was nicely presented, conveniently cut into small chunks (like most Japanese food) with a sprinkling of spring onion.

The chicken has been de-boned and superbly grilled with the meat having a thin layer of skin and some nicely burnt spots. One bite into it and I could taste the flavourful Teriyaki Sauce that had seeped slightly into the tender chicken. YummY!

The meal was almost similar to the one I had in Tokyo except for one thing - THE EGG.
Here it's half-boiled and served already cracked opened. In Tokyo we were given an unopened egg which was raw; this left us in a conundrum of what to do with the raw egg, in the cold weather putting it under the warm rice was not enough to cook it! (... see Japan Biking Day 2 blog, on how I managed or un-managed this). My guess is that not many in Malaysia like raw eggs and they had adapt for local palate.

The salad served was actually lightly broiled slices of carrot and cabbage. The amount was not too much, just enough to provide adequate roughage for the meal.

I am a sucker for soups, especially so if I am having a rice meal. The Miso Soup that came was just perfect to go with the stubby white rice, it was good and fairly thick with Miso. Pour some onto the rice and the Miso flavour went well with the Teriyaki Sauce to enhance the rice eating experience.

Just to spice up our Spartan meal, we had their Seafood Tofu Set. The tofu was something like a layered cake with three layers - a top fried layer, a second steamed layer and a third yellowish layer (with egg?). A large piece of this was deep fried and cut into mouthful manageable cubes.
Texture wise, they are harder than the Chinese Tofu and approaches a bite-feel of fish cake. Taste wise - Simple but Fantastic! The combo of three layers makes it unique.
\
UPDATE MARCH 2015: I tried this again, the quality seems to have dropped. The layering seems to be two layers only and the taste is now not as good. I do hope that they revert back to this quality.

Sukiya's shop-front is easily recognisable - with it's stylized icon bright red rice bowl on a yellow background and three Japanese characters in white on the bowl.

The inside is simplistic yet clean and neat. Decorations are some posters of Japan Yohohama scenery, etc. hanging on the wall.

To keep operation cost low, staffing has been kept to a minimum. Off peak hours, only one staff man the counter while in the kitchen there where two personnel.
The staff wear Sukiya's recognisable dark brown t-shirt, light brown pants. The t-shirt centre button portion has a stripe that makes it look like a tie. All the staff wear their specially designed cap that covers the hair fully and yet does not look like a hair-net.

To further keep cost low (so as to be able to sell at this reasonable pricing); it's self service here. Menu's are on the table or counter seating. Chopsticks, utensils, sauces and garnishing are available at all tables or at the front of the counter-seating tables.
You read through the menu and make an order at the serving counter; when the food is ready, you go collect it yourselves. No pampering here, even after eating all used crockery and utensils should be sent to the counter. And in proper Japanese fast-food decorum, one should also wipe the table/place that one has used so that it is ready to receive the next patron.

All these effort in keeping costs low is reflected in our bill of RM31-60 (inclusive of tax). I would say this is very reasonable for a satisfactory Japanese meal for two in a cozy, comfortable environment.
Oh... yah, for those who are happy to just drink water, it's free.
They take orders for take-aways too. Just give them a buzz through their telephone and come collect later.

SUKIYA'S MENU:

Favourite meals poster-menu.

Set Meal (Teishoku) Menu.

Snacks & Side Order Menu.

Chicken Rice & Curry Menu.

Drinks Menu.

RESTORAN SUKIYA
38G, Jalan SS21/58,
Damansara Utama, 43400 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia.

Hours- 8:00 am to 11:00 pm
GPS: 3.137369, 101.622596

For the outlet in USJ Taipan : https://www.facebook.com/SukiyaTaipan

View Sukiya Uptown : Gyudon & Teriyaki in a larger map

Friday, May 16, 2014

Gallery : Street Art @ Shah Alam

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Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels

Street Art @ Shah Alam

Selangor, Malaysia - May 2014

I love street art!
They are an art form that is colourful, looks impromptu but yet the artists have put a lot of thought and work into them. They line the walls of cities with a liveliness; often baring the city's moods and soul, and sometimes showing a glimpse of its conscience.
In Malaysia, street art caught my fancy when I visited the Heritage Zone of George Town. Since then, I have seen them in Malacca (... see blog), Ipoh (... see blog) and even in the walls of the storm drains of the Klang River in Kuala Lumpur (... see blog).

Shah Alam is a purpose-planned city to take over as the capital of Selangor after it's former capital Kuala Lumpur was declared a national territory. Being a pre-planned city, it is modern, well structured with many nice parks, and iconic buildings such as the renown blue-domed state mosque - the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque.
However, many planned cities in the world are seen as too conforming, too structured in physical design and community planning; too disciplined to allow the resident's to open up their creativity. It is then with some surprise that I see street art in Shah Alam while on a cycling jaunt with some buddies in this city.

Here are the art, enjoy!

The Shah Alam Museum rendered in yellow.

Power to the People?

Connected ideas; the pipework and window hoods become part of the art.

Shout Art.

Jom! Minum Kopi...

Lincoln's Conscience.

Colourful Eyes - looks like something that escaped from Alice in Wonderland.

Thumbs up!

The round air-conditioning fas seems to add eyes to this one maiking it look like some yellow Transformer bug.

This may look like a normal black steel door with a "No Vandalism" (in Malay) at the top left.
If one looks closely, someone has etched a sketch to the bottom of the left leaf.

Looking closely, and I notice that the etching was a stylized scenery of Shah Alam.

Now, this is an interesting one - a classroom on a vertical wall. Desks and chairs in horizontal positions are bolted onto the straight wall. Even the school bags, a broom and waste-paper basket is there.
OR... perhaps this is a teacher's nightmare of "My students are driving me up the wall!"

Another view of The Classroom On A Wall.

Bottom up view of the classroom.

Some tom-foolery at the classroom. This kind of stunt would have this "student" sent to detention class.

A robot doing street art with a can of spray paint. The saying on the right in Malay means "The Young Have Style".

Another conscience mural. On fellow wearing a gas mask for protection against pollution. Another fellow holding up the problems of his world (signified by that air cond unit). A third fellow is nonchalant while a mouse looks inquisitively at him.

"Population" Indonesia Malaysia 2013.
I am still trying to figure out what it means.

A blue mini-bus.

(Photo by Swofinty)

My buddies became part of the art too! That's the good thing about street art; people tend to interact with them.

Section 2 Shah Alam Street Art.

"Late For School"
Run.... Run! Oops! Too late, the tiger of the school is already waiting.

Sea Nymph.

Sopey.

Ruriari? Your guess is as good as mine. It's art!

Star Wars.

We Run This City.
Yeah! Thumbs up for cyclists.

Peace...

This is the back alley where the street art is located. It's just one alley among many in Shah Alam, but it's a good start for the art scene there.

View Street Art Of Shah Alam - Location Map in a larger map
The street art of Shah Alam adorns the rear walls of shop-house at the back alley of Jalan Bunga Tanjung 2/16, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
GPS coordinates are: 3.071130, 101.508492

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