MY BIRTHDAY

True to Foochow traditions, I ate the long life noodle or somien with chicken, long and round mushrooms and an egg cooked with wine for my birthday at home.



I went to this Japanese restaurant called Ichi Hana which is located at Jalan Harimau Tarum at Taman Century. The daughter of another tenant staying in the same house as me recommends that it is a good restaurant to have Japanese food. I was planning between going Italian or Japanese for my birthday dinner. I chose Japanese since I had Italian with a few friends for lunch.



It is seriously a lousy Japanese restaurant. The presentation on the menu looks so bad. You notice easily from the first impression with the ramen, they looked over soaked in the photos. Extremely soft and looks ugly. The waitress came with the tea and it is seriously just some local tea. It is not Japanese tea. I already have a very bad impression just by looking at the menu. Things look so weird.



Though they looked weird, I decided to order a few to try out. Perhaps things may still taste good! I ordered the shisyamo fish, one of my favourite Japanese fish apart from saba mackarel fish. I didn't order any sashimi fish since my wife doesn't like to eat raw. I ordered the saba teriyaki set while my wife chose the yakiniku don. Finally, I got ourselves the edamame soybean. The waitress told us the ramen, the yakiniku don set, the pork cutlet set and the saba set are famous among the customers who came visiting.




Seriously it is the worst Japanese food I ever tasted when the food are finally there on the table to be tested. The shisyamo fish is so soggy and was fried with a funny stuff wrapped on the skin with whatever flour you can think of, I surrendered after eating just half the fish.



The most satisfying thing of the night is probably the saba fish and the watermelon. Although it can be much better done as it is again too soggy for me. The miso soup is not even a miso soup eventhough it looks and probably tries to be one. The rice is not cooked with the Japanese rice cooker and no sesame seeds placed on top. The pickles are not Japanese. The vegetable salad is weird. Everything sucks! Later I decided to try a spoonful of the yakiniku don and seriously I cannot taste any Japanese sauce in it. It tasted so Chinese. I didn't finish my food, which is extremely weird for me. I was too disappointed. I decided I won't order anymore. Then came the bill with 5% government tax and 10% service charge. I paid unwillingly and left the place.



I decided to go Coffee Bean which is just opposite the place at the Plaza Pelangi. They are so stingy they don't even on the airconditioner! We were sweating inside while we had our hot chocolate and the ultimate. I saw how they use only one power source point and using an extension connecting to many laptops surfing the Net. It was really unpleasant as it cuts through the whole dining area into half. Imagine people going through the place need to be careful of not tripping or stepping over.



What a lousy way to end my birthday! Well, at least I know where to avoid the next time. Once is enough for me. I told my wife that even the university canteen cheap Japanese food taste better!