Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Food Review - Misaki Udon (Kuchai)

Name
Misaki Udon (Halal) - Closed on Wed nights
Food
Japanese Cuisine
Location
Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park

Getting there
It's located at a secluded quieter end corner of the Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park or if you are there on Wed nights, it's at the edge of the Kuchai Pasar Malam. Be aware also that on Wed nights, the night of the Pasar Malam, it won't be open.
View Larger Map
You may need to drive around a couple of times around the commercial area before you can locate it but it isn't hard to do so as the place is brightly lit with a giant bowl of Udon Noodles right in front of the shop.
Parking
As the place is located in an enclave of shops, including various other dining/food shops, there are lots of street parking spaces in front of the shops.

Ambience
Despite its no-frills concept and small space (I think the place can only seat about 25-30 people at a time) I quite like this place as it's also clean & brightly lit. 

I also like the way the placed the cashier together with the kitchen at the back rather than in the front right next to the door like in most places.
Service
The wait staff (I believe they're either Myanmarese or Filipinos) is really responsive and attend to us very quickly every time we dine there. Diners are given the menu and a piece of paper for the items to be written down at your leisure for your order to be taken & processed. Yes, this is a method that's getting more and more popular.

There was once when we were there, the lady boss was also there. She was very young and pretty. I think she was trying to make some changes to the menu & kitchen and after we had our meal, she had the kitchen prepare a couple of Tempura items for us to try out. She told us that these items will soon be part of their new menu.
Presentation
I love how the food is served, although it's nothing special as many other Japanese-themed eateries also use these type of plastic serving bowls - big and generous looking.

So upon food presentation, diners are already made to think that their meals are large-portioned and has great value for money. 
It's not restaurant food but it's not exactly fast food either as we need to wait about 10-15 minutes each time we eat there, regardless of the dining crowd size, but the bright side to that is that you know that the food actually needs to be cooked.
Variety
There are enough choices from both the hot and cold noodles for diners to try on their visits. Diners can also choose either to have their noodles (Soba or Udon) dry or with soup. Plus, there are a number of side items like scallops, baby octopi (octopuses?), jellyfish, Chawan Mushi (Steamed Egg) etc. Diners who want more of the good stuff like seaweed or Fujok (Soya Sheets) can add on as well.

The noodles I usually order is the Dry Cha Cheong (meat sauce) Udon (RM6).
We usually order the deep fried chicken chunks (RM3) and the Marinated scallops (RM4) with our noodles whenever we're there.
Taste 
All the items that we've tried were very flavourful. I have no doubt that all the other items that we have not tried yet would be equally as good.

The deep fried chicken chunks are always piping hot whenever we order them.
Value for Money 
The noodles are very affordable & are good value for money (at RM5-9 per bowl) and considering it is Japanese cuisine, it's fair to even call it cheap.

Overall
Simple & fuss-free. More importantly, clean, affordable & delicious. This is an ideal place for everybody, from families to young couples or a group of friends as there are enough items for people with differing tastes and enough variety to warrant return visits and at prices that are really budget friendly.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.