Sazori Shabu Zone & Grill @ Sunway Mentari, Petaling Jaya

Sunway Mentari has been a hotspot for steamboat or hotpot outlets. With numerous brands come and go, I have nearly lost track on the updates and trends of the latest eateries available for choice. Introducing the new market player Sazori, situated at a rather quite zone of Sunway Mentari just opposite Restoran Murni, parking was a breeze during lunchtime on weekends.

The selling points of Sazori are the flexibility of individual shabu-shabu pot, grilling and Japanese style broth namely Ponzu soup.

Choices of broth :

-Ponzu Soup
Savoury with a tinge of sourness, not a bad choice if you want something different other than the coventional broths served in usual steamboat places.

-Clear Chicken Soup
Light for the tastebuds, good flavours compilation towards the end from various ingredients as you can hardly go wrong with this.

-Tom Yum Soup
Just average, one sip and we knew it's made from tom yum paste. Not too bad either, could do with more fragrance by adding lemongrass or lime leaves.

-Beef Soup

I had both tom yum and clear chicken soup, the latter was essential to determine the freshness of ingredients served.

We started with some appetizers while waiting for the goodies to be cooked in our choice of broth.

 Chicken Gyoza

Decent fillings while the gyoza skin could be crispier and less mushy.

 

Chuka Idako needs no introduction as it is a popular Japanese octopus delight.

Dipping sauces play an important role in bringing out or enhancing flavours of various ingredients too. Sazori did well on their homemade sauces especially peanut sauce & sesame sauce. Both had a nutty and hint of sweetness which opens up appetite easily. You can go for your mixture of own sauces too- spring onions, fried garlic, fried shallots, groundnuts, chilli padi, soya sauce, vinegar. 

 

Free flow of protein boost- marinated chicken, beef bacon strips, chicken ham, slice lamb and sliced beef. Other than marinated chicken which is being circulated on the Kaiten belt, the others are served upon order.

Beef slices

Lamb slices

Chicken Ham

Although the sliced lamb requires slightly more of jaw exercise, they are good for both grilling & dipping into the broth, further accentuated with sesame & peanut sauce. Good thing that the lamb slices did not have gamey taste too.

Seafood selections- scallop, prawns, mussels, bamboo clams, calamari rings, Dory fish. The bamboo clams were rather salty, perhaps need longer soaking process in water to pull out excess sea salt. I liked the scallops as they were satisfyingly fresh, while the prawns were decent.

You can expect to find the usual processed items such as cheesy tofu, fishballs, seafood taufu, beef balls and others as well. Not as extensive as other places but good enough as the fresh meats made up for it.

Vegetables, tofu & mushrooms selection: Leafy greens, broccoli, pumpkins and yam. I really loved the yam slices as good quality ones are picked, proven by the excellent texture and yam fragrance.

 

Noodles for carbohydrate satisfactions.

Drinks, fruits & jelly served nicely in the refrigerator. There is also refillable hot/cold green tea as an option.

Sazori did not neglect on their ice cream flavours and quality too- my pick was chocolate and yam flavor. I was delighted to find tiny bits of yam in the smooth ice cream texture. Sprinkle some groundnuts and you are good to go!

The only setback in Sazori is the rather small and less comfortable seats. Maintained quality of food served and promoting their specialty of Ponzu soup are essential to keep customers coming back for more.

Pricing as below:

Lunch: 12:00 – 3:00 p.m.

1. Buffet & Grill
Adult RM 31.90
Kids (Below 120 cm) RM 19.90
Senior Citizen (60 years old & above) RM 21.90

2. Buffet only
Adult: RM 26.90
Kids (Below 120 cm) RM 18.90
Senior Citizen (60 years old & above) RM 21.90

Dinner: 5:30 p.m. – 10.00 p.m.

1.  Buffet & Grill
Adult: RM 38.00
Kids (Below 120 cm) RM 24.00
Senior Citizen (60 years old & above) RM 26.90

2. Buffet only
Adult: RM 34.00
Kids (Below 120 cm) RM 22.00
Senior Citizen (60 years old & above) RM 26.90

Do take note that maximum dining time is 120 mins (2 hours). 

LocationB-G-3A, Block B, 

No 1, Jalan PJS 8/15, 

Arena Mentari 

46150 Petaling Jaya, 

Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Mon - Thu: 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm, 5:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Fri - Sun: 12:00 pm - 11:00 pm

Contact Number:
03-5887 2843

聚一堂 G-YiTang Steamboat @ Taipan USJ Subang Jaya

Steamboat has always been one of my favourite meals, not only because of its nutritional value but also the meaning behind it- having a good time of gathering with family and friends. I am glad to have sampled this new steamboat outlet which was opened a month ago. The emphasis on gathering around a table with piping hot steamboat meal reflects in the name of this restaurant. For those who can’t read Chinese, it can be quite challenging to find this place so you have to recognize this shop by having a look at the picture below :P

 

 

Comfortable yet relatively spacious family-styled dining area, nothing fancy that is suitable for casual gatherings.

For an enjoyable steamboat meal, the basic criteria would be the broth/soup. Curry soup seems to be the selling point of G-Yi Tang. Majority of the customers love the combination of Curry and Tom Yam. I went for Pork Bone soup and Curry soup instead.

 

Curry soup- Delicious even on its own. First sip tells it all- fragrant curry spices with suitable thick soup texture. I would say it is not spicy at all for a high spicy tolerance level person like me, yet the creaminess in the beginning of cooking time warrants further sips, followed by light coconut aroma that was not overwhelming. Towards the end of cooking time with all the steamboat ingredients being cooked together, the texture of soup gets even creamier similar to pumpkin soup, furthermore it was not too salty for the palate. I was quite sceptical at the beginning as I was worried that I can’t take heavy curry soup with large amount of coconut milk, but I was totally wrong.

Pork Bone Soup- After 6-7 hours of boiling with chef’s hardwork, it results in a slightly milky colour as well as infusion of pork bone flavours. The sweetness came from other ingredients such as Chinese cabbage, yam sticks, corn and long green onion. The yam sticks was seriously good stuff. If you know me well, I love my dosage of really good yam bites. According to the owner of G Yi Tang, yam from Thailand is used resulting in a very compact yet moreish texture, unlike those powdery ones that seriously lacks in quality. Basic broth done well and further enhanced by meat slices, meatballs, vegetables and others introduced later in this blog post.

 

While waiting for the soups to boil, we started with few types of appetizers.

Deep fried shrimp dumpling- Juicy minced pork with chunky prawns encased within crunchy dumpling skin, they are definitely not stingy on the stuffings. The overall flavour was very well accepted and wholesome, one piece is certainly not enough.

 

 

Deep fried stuffed meatball- Imagine biting onto bouncy meatball with the meat juices ‘exploding’ inside your mouth, it was a rather special experience. Again, the minced pork meat stuffings was well marinated.

 

 

Deep fried chicken wing- I prefer a more flavourful version of this, say Nam Yu fried chicken wing? But it’s just a matter of personal preference. Nevertheless the inside was juicy enough and skin was quite crispy.

 

Sauces/ condiments to choose from:

Clockwise from top left: Gui Lin sauce, fried garlic, Thai style chilli sauce & Sang Har sauce.

 

Gui Lin sauce (top left)- a spicy mixture of dried shrimps, fried onions, sesame. I can hardly find this elsewhere, perhaps GYT is the first to introduce this. This crunchy and fragrant sauce goes well with almost every steamboat ingredients, perfect for a spicy food lover like me.

Sang Har sauce has nothing to do with prawns, in fact it is spicier than Thai style chilli sauce. Overall I love their homemade dipping sauces that goes well with their fresh steamboat ingredients. 

 

Mixed set for one pax- a variety of ingredients in one go

 

New Zealand lamb slices- best dipped in Curry soup, all you get is nothing but awesome curry lamb slices.

Pork slices- Lean slices for the health conscious folks.

Pork roll needle mushroom

 

3 assorted homemade meatballs- cuttlefish balls, pork balls, fish balls

 

No complaints on the texture as they were really firm to the bite and of course genuinely fresh. I love how the chopped cuttlefish pieces provided chewy texture instead of it being just wholly made from cuttlefish paste.

 

 

 

Shrimp dumpling- fat dumplings stuffed with delicious minced pork and chopped prawns, just as good as the fried version.

Ready for a seafood feast?

 

  Prawns

 Abalone fish slices

 

Sliced fish

 

 

Chinese wine drumstick- I felt that the Chinese wine did not infuse much into the chicken meat, perhaps need a longer marinade time.

Cheese Tofu

 

 

Ling Zhi mushrooms, Hong Kong Choy Sam, Chinese spinach & Romaine lettuce

 

Can hardly find a brown spot on the leafy greens explains how fresh they are.

 

 

 

 

 
 
Herbal Tea (1 jug for 10 glasses)- Essentially Loh Han Guo herbal drink, with shredded winter melon and longan. Very refreshing drink yet the sweetness level is just right, perfect to end our meal especially after drinking the tasty syok curry soup.
 
Check out their menu for more other ingredients offered

 

 

 

 

They are also offering  a variety of dim sum selections during selected time of the day. Perhaps I should get my dim sum cravings fixed real soon...

 

 

Address

No. 48 GF, Jln USJ 10/1B,

47610 Subang Jaya.

 

Contact

03-8081 6488

 

Opening Hours 

7.30am-11.00pm (Mon-Sun)

 

 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GYiTang

 

Pak John Steamboat & Yong Tau Foo, e@Curve

Steamboat is one of the best choices for meals especially during this year end rainy season. However, the hot and humid climate here in Malaysia does not deter us from enjoying the comforting meal while chit chatting with friends or family harmoniously.

 

Pak John Steamboat &Yong Tau Foo was just opened its door to the public less than a month ago. While Pak John carries its pride of serving only quality and fresh ingredients, it is also in the process of obtaining a halal license. If you are looking for place to hold celebrations, gatherings, business functions or others, they do cater for your needs as their spacious and wide dining area plus two private rooms are available for your choice. Do feel free to make reservations with their friendly staffs.

A simple set up and ambience that promotes comfortable dining experience. Ventilation wise there was no issue for us during our dining session but I left the place with my clothes smelling like BBQ meat.

 Three types of soup available- Chicken Soup, Tom Yam Soup and Miso Soup (Miso Soup chargeable at additional RM10)

 

 

Noteworthy ingredients are cheese tofu, cheese balls, high quality processed crab sticks, Taiwan cuttlefish balls and beef balls.

 

 

 

Dory fish slices came in thick cuts

 

 

No complaints for the seafood such as prawns, bamboo clams and clams as they do not contain bothering fishy taste.

 

 

 

 

Also satisfying was the bunch of fresh sources of fibres such as pumpkin, yam cubes and broccolis. It is not easy to get such moreish quality yam and pleasantly sweet pumpkins. Indeed, Pak John lives up to its tagline “only quality and fresh ingredients”. 

 

 

 Various types of noodles, note that they do provide high quality Japanese Udon which response is well received by diners

 

 

Coffee, Tea and Orange juice are available to quench your thirst
 

You get best of both worlds- BBQ grill and boiling broth 

 

Tom Yam Soup- well balanced spicy and sour sensation that spicy food lovers will give a thumbs up for this.

Clear soup- naturally sweet with addition of chicken bones and cabbages, I love how homey this tastes as the large amount of cabbages really contributed sweet flavours to the broth.

Miso Soup- glad that it did not taste too salty at the beginning as I am worried the addition of miso paste is not monitored properly. The addition of soft seaweed definitely added textures and umami flavours to the overall taste. The taste did become salty towards the end after adding various kinds of seafood so you may want to add more soup to suit your taste buds.

 

 

The Australian lamb slices came absolutely fresh, good for both BBQ as well as meat swishing experience in broth. Add some butter provided on the pan and you are good to go with savouring the freshness of lamb slices. I easily had three plates of these. Minimal cooking time in broth is required so that your meat won’t get overcooked.

I was delighted to enjoy the juicy, succulent and flavourful smoked duck breast- easily one of the best around. Best for BBQ grill if you ask me, it tastes so good on its own.

Abalone slices were fresh as well, remember not to cook it too long or else the texture will turn rubbery.

Chicken wings were well marinated- be it Honey, Spicy or Black Pepper flavor, I love all of them even more when the skin is nicely browned on the grill pan. Marinated beef slices are also available but I can't take beef so no comment.

 

 

 

 

Left: Green Chilli Sauce, Right: Belacan Chilli Sauce

Signature sauces that goes well with ingredients

 

My 'haul' on that day =P

 

 

 

 

 

Various types of potong ice cream that rekindle childhood memories. Surely there will be a flavor that suits your sweet tooth.

 

We also had green tea and chocolate ice cream to end our contented meal. Just the right creamy texture, adequate flavours and sweetness level  explains one scoop is never enough. The fresh taste of green tea and rich chocolate taste easily win the heart of customers as I can see their happy faces when the ice cream is being churned out from the user friendly machine.

With the price tag of only RM28 excluding 10% service charge for lunch during weekends, this is definitely value for money considering the quality of ingredients.

Pak John Steamboat & Yong Tau Foo

 

Address

Lot LG-13A & LG-15,

Lower Ground Floor, Ecurve.

No 2A, Jalan PJU 7/3, Mutiara Damansara

47810 Petaling Jaya Selangor.

 

Contact Number

03-7733 3913/ 018-386 3139/ 018-389 3139

 

Operating hours

Mon - Thu: 10:00 - 22:00

Fri - Sun: 10:00 - 00:00

 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pakjohn.ytf

 

Website: http://www.pakjohn.com