Tonkatsu by Ma Maison, Isetan Food Street

Feel so blessed that I get to enjoy food and this restaurant I'm gonna blog today is defo A BOMB.
Had brought some friends to this restaurant and I get 100% thumbs up from them!

Pork, is a non-halal food in Malaysia due to religious reason, and so we hardly find restaurants offering pork chops in Malaysia. In restaurants that serve Japanese cuisine, it's even rarer.

Had my first bite on Japanese style deep fried pork fillet was back in 2012 (it's just last year heh :p) in Taiwan. Was so in love with it and hoped that I could indulge it in Malaysia as well :3

One fine day in March 2013, MY DREAM CAME TRUE when dad brought the family to this restaurant located at Isetan One Utama.

Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

A restaurant located silently at the corner after you walk in the side walkway that branched out from the center circle of Eat Paradise :)

Tonkatsu is a japanese word where Ton stands for Pork and Katsu stands for Fillet. (Thanks daddy for the explanation of the terms^^)


Interior
It's not a big restaurant, but the mirrors on the wall give the whole restaurant a spacious impression :)
Few walls are filled up with pieces of denim in different shades of blue, very unique indeed.

Denim pieces and some framed up wordings on the walls~
with yours truly and her meal :P

Food
This restaurant offers a variety of deep fried food, from poultry (pork the star *heh :P*, chicken) to seafood (oyster, prawn).

Offered by the restaurant, diners feel safer having meals here :) or it's just me? :P
I do think it's a show of respect by the restaurant to us diners, by serving quality and health-concerned food.

A glimpse of side dishes offered here :)

Potato Salad 

LOVE IT!

2 choices to the meals offered here: Ala-Carte or Set Meal.

Ala-Carte consists of the deep fried food and cabbage, while ordering the set meal you'll get a bowl of rice, pickles and miso soup with pork (known as tonjiru). 

Steamed rice or multi grain rice are the options offered by the restaurant, good! Health point +1 :D

And note that, rice, cabbage and miso soup are REFILLABLE! FOC :D really suitable for those who are starving, haha I mean really hungry :)

Sneak peek of the set meal now, let's go! :)

Little radish ball :)

to improve digestion~

Wondering why raw cabbage is refillable?

Answer:

Spot the difference?

TADAAA!

Sesame sauce dressing :D

Testimonial from bro's friend (this is real!)

'The sauce manages to convince me to take in vegetables! :)'

Miso soup with pork (Tonjiru)

So sorry for this low quality picture ><

A little salty for me though it's tasty.

Pork star is here! :)

Love every bite of the fillet, like seriously hahaha.

Juicy and the tenderness is just nice for some chewing! :D

Spot the white stuff on top of the pork fillet?

It is sesame!

Feel free to mix it with your rice or your fillet, super super fragrant and yum! :D

Overview of the set meal :)

There's sweet sauce, spicy sauce and salt for the sauce columns.

Spicy sauce isn't that spicy as the name yells at you haha.

Sauce bottles are on your table, so just add according to your choice and preference :P

Tonkatsu Don

Perfect to those who prefer rice with some gravy, with onions and egg :)

Little tip on choosing your pork fillet:

Rosu Katsu - lean meat with a layer of fats

Hire Katsu - pure lean meat

So to those who love pork fat, and those who opt for a healthier choice, haha you know what to pick :)

and you can request a change to Hire Katsu for Tonkatsu Don, without extra charges^^

To the drinks:

Barley tea

to refresh your mouth for a better sensation of indulging the food :)

Pink guava, if I'm not mistaken.

Once ordered by bro, and it's quite good :)

Overall, food and ambiance are great, price is okay for the big portion of food :D

Just that it's a small restaurant, so maybe can call up earlier to reserve or go earlier. Unless you don't mind waiting, which is sometimes kinda uneasy for me, especially when my stomach is growling for food hahaha.

Do like their Facebook page :) Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

Ma Maison@Eat Paradise, Isetan 2nd Floor,

1 Utama Shopping Centre.

03-7727 3337

contact@mamaison.com.my

Business hours: Mon-Sun 11.00-21.30 :D

Big recommendation from me, alongside with my family and friends! :)

Go grab a bite of deep fried pork fillet and other awesome deep fried food now :D

Piano Playing :)

After watching talented people and friends making covers out of songs, I finally did mine few days ago, Jay Chou's 明明就.

The making of this piano cover is a bitter sweet experience for me. From selecting what song to cover, to recording the song, it's really a pain for me haha! Finally understand my friend's exhaustion in recording repeatedly for the best, and playing the song for so many times until feeling robotic hehee.

Dedicating this piano cover to Jay Chou, because he has been such an inspiration to me in music, as a musician. Love the lyrics and melodies he composed, and his ability to play by ear is just WOW! I wanna be like him, hahaha :D

HE HAS SO MANY NICE SONGS THAT I LOVE, it's so hard for me to choose a song or a few as medley! Eventually picked this song, spent some time figuring some melodies and chords of the song, by ear.

Yes, I insisted on playing by ear :) it's like seeking more problems for myself when there's music scores nowadays to play from, but I'm willing to listen to the track so many times and play the song out, I do.

Playing by ear, besides being inspired by Jay Chou, my first inspiration will be my piano teacher. Watched her playing LeeHom's 'Kiss Goodbye' that she heard on the radio before she came for my class, I was really amazed! And challenge accepted I whispered, in my heart :P

My first official song played by ear will be 光良 Michael Wong's '约定', in its original key :) yes and from that day onwards, I insisted to play in original key, when I play by ear. This may sound like torturing myself, but I really always wanted to do more and do better :)

Thank God for the little gift, in music. It's really a beautiful gift, and I'm really grateful to own it. Will definitely work harder and improve in my techniques and all :)

Presenting to all, my first  piano cover.

Sorry for the pretty rough work, still lacking in techniques and interpretation. Will improve I promise :)

Feel free to drop comments, thankyou! :D

Hinz Cafe @ Bandar Menjalara, Kepong :)

Hey! :D
Was blogging about something non-halal, but then I'm allowing this post to jump queue first :P

Shoutout to those living in and around Kepong! :)

Am always eyeing on cafes, hoping to have a nice cup of coffee and maybe desserts/meals in the very comfy atmosphere that only cafes can pose. However, the cafes I see friends and people heading are mostly in Petaling Jaya, Puchong or Shah Alam. How I hope there are cafes in Kepong then I won't have to travel far and pay at the toll hehee :P


And here comes Hinz Cafe! :)

Saw a friend of mine liked the cafe's FB page and I clicked into it, saw it's located at Kepong, liked the page, then totally forget about it.

Until recently.

My buddy from student reporter team suggested a cafe at Metro Prima, Kepong, then this Hinz Cafe page just popped up in my news feed. So I went to suggest, offering another option lol. Somehow after some discussions and all, we decided to go to Hinz Cafe for our gathering :D

Wanna go to that cafe at Metro Prima one day though, hahaha.

Continue with Hinz!

It's located at Bandar Menjalara, the so-called Steamboat Area in Kepong :P
beside Hometown Steamboat which is currently one of the popular steamboat restaurants at Bandar Menjalara :)

A good place to have a catch up session with friends ^^

Simple yet warm concludes the whole atmosphere of the cafe :) simplicity rocks!

Some simple decorations and ornaments, at corners of the cafe.

Heart-shaped bottle <3

Some polaroids taken at the cafe~

Little cute symbol for the washroom :P

Move on to the food, only managed to try out their desserts and coffee this time as we went in the afternoon.

There's another side with a list of beverages~

Signature dessert - Brandy Banana Chocolate

A pudding outer layer with chocolate mousse and banana on the inside :)

*Am I revealing too much? :P*

Rich flavors and great texture, love! :)

Tiramisu Kahlua

The alcohol version of tiramisu cake :)

Quite okay~

Black Forest Cheese

Love the cheese :)

Tiramisu

Love the coat of mixed nuts, adds much texture to the cake!

And the raspberry (?) jam reminds me of Ikea meatballs lol,

they serve the same function to both dish tho :P

Cafe Latte :)

Mocha :P

For price, coffee is at the normal cafe price. Desserts are pricey than average but definitely worth it! :)

Considered a new cafe as it only started serving the crowd only since July 2013, however they already had quite a number of customers, which is a good sign :D

Will definitely come back for another round! For their set lunch :)

Working hours~

Do check them out on Facebook : Hinz Cafe :)

Hinz Cafe

73, Jalan 11/62A, Bandar Menjalara, 52100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

03-6270 0008 (make reservations for desserts maybe, heard that some desserts sell off fast!)

Sealed this post with the group pic of the gathering that day outside the cafe :)

Till the next post, the non-halal post, bye! :D

*back to revision for the last paper of finals :P*