Korean BBQ - DAORAE

A latest addition to the influx of foreign cuisine to Ipoh is the famed Daorae, a Korean BBQ Restaurant offering the finest Korean experience right here in Ipoh's De Garden Mall.

Daorae prides itself for having being listed in the top 300 restaurants in Asia recommended in the 2008/09 Miele Guide. If you can read Mandarin, check out the Sinchew article here.



A Korean flag proudly displayed on the wall



Korean style decors



A Korean ginseng & herbs display cabinet welcoming visitors at the entrance.



Guests can choose the traditional style of sitting on the floor to dine in Korean style.



Or for guest with elderly members can choose the normal table arrangement for dining without the need to crouch down.



Anyone intending to try out Daorae should not missed out from ordering BBQ dishes since it is their house specialties. Notice that in the previous two pictures, each table featured a "arm-like" contraptions above the table. Mind you, they are not table lights nor the dismembered arm of "Dr. Octopus" although they do bear a striking resemblance. Hehehe!!

They are extendable exhaust fans used to vacumm away the BBQ smokes from the grilling pan.

In Daorae, the grilling is done with charcoal tubes. Below is a picture of the flaming charcoal tubes placed in the centre of the table. These charcoal's heat can be felt even 3 feet away. Hot! Really Hot!




Our first BBQ dish was Hanbang Dweji Wang Galbi (RM38) which is a filleted pork ribs marinated with ginseng, herbs and sweet soy sauce.



While we waited for the Daorae staffs to do the hard work of barbequing the pork ribs, we chatted dined on the banchan (side dishes / 반찬). We were served a total of 8 ban-chan and together with a soup makes up to that is called 9 cheop (구첩) table setting. These side dishes are free and is the norm of Korean restaurants to serve them as appetisers/accompaniment to the main courses. You can read up more about banchan here.





Seaweed soup for each customer.



The finished products of the barbequing, tender and still moist. Obviously the waiters were carefully trained to not overcooked the meats lest it would turn up tough and charcoaled. Grilled to perfection, we hastily dig our chopsticks to grab the tender filleted pork ribs.



There were two type of sauce for the BBQ. The red one tasted like chilli with fermented bean paste (gochujang) and the other a combination of oil, pepper and salt.



In our haste to grab a bite on the tender porks, the waiter was kind enough to advise us of the proper korean way to eat the BBQ which was to get a piece of lettuce, place some spring onions, a piece of meat and top off with a dollop of the fermented chilli bean paste and a piece of garlic. Wrap the combination and chow down on it. Hmmm... the Korean are really clever to transform a otherwise heaty and oily BBQ dish to become a healthy-looking salad-like dish. This should appeal to health conscious gals.



In between the main course, we were free to saviour the banchan. Take note that you may ask the waiters to top up the banchan that you like.

(Left-right, top-down : Beansprouts, Brinjals, Cockels, Kimchi, Pumpkin, Kimchi Daikon, Chives, Anchovies)


The waiter recommend that we ordered a Heamool-Tang (RM80), a seafood, tofu & vegetable in spicy chilli soup served in an iron cast pots. The heamool-tang came steaming hot. The combination of hot steam & chilli was hot enough to bring the tears and sweat out. It's good that they had air-conditioning there. The nice thing about the spicy soup was that although it was really spicy but it did not burn the mouth like our local chilli padi. The spicyness did not stay long in the mouth. Once the meal was over, the spicyness of the soup was gone.



The spicy soup came with prawns, squid, mussels and flower crabs.



Apart from the pork ribs, we also ordered the Dak-gal-bi (RM28), a boneless skinless lean chicken marinated in hot chilli sauce. Again, the chicken was grilled to tender perfection like the pork ribs.



The entrance of Daorae.



(Note: A special thanks to my friend for treating us to this delicious meal @ Daorae   =D )

After the first visit to Daorae, the experience & food was enticing enough to call for a re-visit again a week later. This time I chose to bring my family to try out Daorae.

This round we ordered a Jab Chee Bok-um-bab (RM18), glass noodles & rice pan fried with slices of shredded pork & assorted vege in sesame oil sauce.



And also Hanbang Dweji Wang Galbi (RM38) as ordered during my first visit & Yang Nyum Dak-Gal-Bi (RM28), a boneless chicken marinated in sweet sauce. (Sorry for the lack of picture for the 2nd grill dish as I was too pre-occupied with the eating part. ;P )



This time, we were served a mind boggling total of 10 Ban-Chan + 1 soup.

(Left-right, top-down : Kimchi daikon, Fruit salad, KimChi, Ladies Fingers, Sweetened kimchi-like beef)



(Left-right, top-down : Steam eggs, black beans, snake gourd, beansprouts, kimchi-like spinach)



Overall, the main courses were well prepared and nice. Some of the ban-chan were a bit plain, but I guess it was suppose to be simple so that it would not overpowered the taste of the main courses. Not many people may be accustomed to Korean dishes as the taste are rather unique such as the KimChi. Over the years, I have grown to appreciate Korean dish which stresses alot on the original taste of the ingredients. The seasoning compliments the taste of the main ingredient rather than changing the original taste.

The pricing does seems rather expensive by Ipoh standards and you can easily expect to spend between RM40 - RM60 per person if you order the BBQ dishes. They do have cheaper options of rice & noodles
dishes or alternatively you can choose their set lunches.

Those of you who has visited Daorae may have notice this new shop by the name of Kim's Mart that has opened quite recently decorated with posters of korean pop artists. It's actually a specialties mini market offering a selection of imported Korean foodstuffs and drinks. Based on the cashier girl, this shop is associated with Daorae and is involved in supplying some ingredients to Daorae. So if you like the food in Daorae, you may consider dropping in to get some Korean foodstuffs. :)

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Dragon One : a window to Shanghainese Cuisine in Ipoh

The recent influx of F&B outlets into Ipoh had opened up the palate of Ipoh folks to numerous Japanese, Korean, Western and Indonesian cuisine as well as authentic American-style pizza etc. Already spoilt for choice, the latest addition to Ipoh's F&B industry is a new exciting outlet bringing in Shanghainese creative food to Ipoh folks. This new outlet now occupies a shop in De Garden Mall previously known as TOS. For those who still does not know where is De Garden Mall, it is located opposite Jusco @ Kinta City.

After experiencing a fair share of botched-up attempt by numerous new food outlet that were either too ambitious in the menu or too lackadaisical in their food preparation, I was naturally sceptical towards this new outlet. This was until I tried it out Dragon ONe not only once but twice since its opening.



Their menu is stylishly designed as seen below. Definitely, a menu fit for a five star hotel's restaurant.



No decent shanghainese food outlet would missed out the signature Xiao Long Bao. Dragon One claiming to be a Shanghainese food outlet carries a fairly decent version of the famed xiao long bao.



Those who have not tried xiao long bao before, do note that there is a method to enjoying a nice xiao long bao. First, gently place the xiao long bao on your spoon without puncturing the delicate skin. After getting the xiao long bao onto your spoon,  puncture the skin of the bao and sip up the soup contain within the skin. Thereafter, add some vinegar and strands of ginger to the meat and finish off the rest.



They offer a wide array of dim sum dishes.


"Ma Lai Gou"



"Yi Lai Bao" - I wonder how this bun derived its rather unconventional name?
Sweet but a bit gooey.



A signature dish offered is this stir-fried flour skin that closely resembles our Penang Char Kuay Teow with the exception that the flour skin was more springy in texture.



This is a close up of the semi-transparent flour skin.



A variety of fried rice dish available is this Golden Fried Rice which is fried rice with the egg yolk of salted duck egg giving it a golden hue to the fried rice. It was a bit plain and dry. If only they serve it with a sauce, it would definitely have enhance its taste.



This dish of mushroom and oyster sauce cheong fun was regrettably a setback as our local neighbourhood mushroom sauce chee cheong fun would have fared way much better.

All in all, the 1st visit experience at Dragon One was quite impressive and calls for a return trip as there was still alot of other dishes that was very tempting that we didn't get to try and beckon for my return.

So as a result, a week later saw my return to Dragon One. However, being an unplanned visit, this round of picture was taken with a hand phone cam which explains for the poorer quality of the pictures here.



It's been awhile since the last durian season, so the craving for durian was slowly building. So when we saw that they have a durian pancake on the menu, we wasted no time in ordering this durian based pancake. This pancake which is filled with half cream and half durian flesh provided a temporary relief to our durian craving.



Yet another signature dish of Dragon One is this stir-fried glutinous rice cake with crab roe sauce. This is a dish that you will either love it or hate it. Personally, this is one of my favourite. Rich, creamy and savoury, it was definitely satisfying.



BBQ Buns are also available and are fairly decent.

If you are still not yet tempted to visit Dragon One, perhaps the next picture may convince you to try them out.



Avocado with Kataiti  or literally translated from mandarin as "Dragon beard avocado roll" was a nicely done treat. Having never tasted avocado before this, it was strikingly similar to tasting kaya. Perhaps someone who has regularly eaten avocado can enlighten me as to whether ripe avocado is suppose to taste like kaya? Anyone???



Next one on the table was this egg tarts. Based on its mandarin name, I was under the impression that it was suppose to be done creme brulee style, that is with a layer of burnt sugar crust atop the egg tarts. However, the burnt sugar crust top was not noticeable. Although nice, any loyal Ipoh folk would still go for Choy Kee Egg Tarts from Kg. Simee anytime. :)



If you are not yet tired from the wide range of dishes so far, this next dish is another signature dim sum to try out. Stuffed rice flour roll with duck meat in crab sauce, like its name, it is a mouthful to swallow. No, I don't mean it's awful, but rather indicating the size which was a mouthful. The crab sauce was similar to the crab roe sauce used in the stir-fried glutinous rice cake and therefore a love or hate thing. For me, the only lament was that the duck meat was not noticeable.



Finally, to wrap up the meal was a peppermint custard & egg yolk bun to sweeten the taste bud that basically explodes with its custardy filling at the first bite.

Price-wise, Dragon One is more affordable than the Dragon-i chain found in KL and Penang with the prices of most dishes going for RM4/- to RM12/- range. But, be warned that if you go on an ordering frenzy like I did, better be prepared..   : P

Hmmm.. with the expanding variety of food choice in Ipoh, I wonder when will an authentic Taiwanese cuisine outlet open up in Ipoh... ?

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Ipoh Gastronomy: Japanese Food @ Mokuren

One of the hip gastronomy in Ipoh now is the current Japanese Food Culture which has practically hit feverish level. Its really amazing how many japanese restaurant opened in Ipoh lately (not that I am complaining).

Our local Ipoh flogger - Motormouth's recently did a review of the newly opened Japanese Food outlet, Mokuren. So after being enticed by his post, decided to give it a try considering its interesting origin from Prague. The shop owner must be very confident to even consider penetrating the already saturated Japanese cuisine market in Ipoh and more so when there are so many existing japanese food outlet nearby.
Anyway, visited it for dinner and was initially confused by its menu which lack photographic illustration. As we are accustomed to pictorial menu, the menu at Mokuren posed a somewhat heavy reading. Luckily, the lady waitress was able to guide us along and recommend us some of the house specialties.

Since the set menu as mentioned in Motormouth's blog was only available for lunch, we had to resort to ala carte orders. Okay enough of talking, time to saviour the delicious pictures from my trip. :)
Relying on the waitress' recommendation we were pleasantly surprised by its huge kaki no isoyaki (oyster cook in sake wine). Not overcooked and still retained its succulent creamy gonads enhanced by the sake wine. (Just in case you are wondering what is the gonads, its basically the part that give the oysters its aphrodisiac qualities) Btw for health buffs, it is suppose to be loaded with omega-3.




Salmon Set would nicely satisfy the salmon-loving customers with its 3 different rendition of the salmon by way of sashimi　（さしみ）, sushi （すし）and maki　（巻寿司）. One note from the waitress was that their salmon is chilled variety and not the frozen type.



King Crab Roll



Closeup of Crab Roll


Butter Grilled Scallop（ほたて）with Shitake & Enoki Mushrooms was another satisfying dish even though it was a tad bit salty but would be perfect to go with a bowl of rice.



Tempura Moriawase. 天ぷら - the chef was definately very generous with the grated daikon which was commendable. Note the huge pile of grated daikon. Don't you agree that tempura is never nice without a good dose of nicely grated daikon and a dash of grated ginger?



And with the Dessert, concludes the first visit to Mokuren.


Wait a minute, this is not the end yet. Like the cinema movies these days, a sequel of the Mokuren's gastronomic excursion was already in the making. So this sequel came about a week later and more surprise was awaiting.
Gindara Teriyaki (Silver Cod Fish in Teriyaki Sauce) - One can not go wrong with cod fish and this version was nice. Portion-wise was rather small but goes very well with a bowl of gohan (rice).


Sake Ikura Don is another dish that any salmon lover should not miss out. Generous pieces of salmon sashimi topped with savioury ikura (salmon roe) sitting on top of a bed of tsukemono and cucumber shreds was simply irresistable. The cucumber shreds were a bit too coarse, but it hardly dampened the charm of the salmon and ikura.


Kaki no Isoyaki - yupe its the same dish from the first visit, oysters cooked in sake wine. (nope i did not came back for its aphrodisiac benefits) This time the oyster was even larger than the first visit. A dash more of sake wine would have rounded up a perfect meal.


To those who are now been enticed by these pictures, Bon Appetite!!! :)



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