Chicken Up @ SS15, Subang Jaya

Load up on Modern Korean Cuisine!

Korean joints have been mushrooming up everywhere on our culinary shores lately. We love our K-dramas as much as we love their cuisine now since their K-invasion years ago. When one mentions Korean food, it was mostly barbeques and stews. These days, mentioned Korean food and fried chicken comes to mind. Yes, Chimaek is the latest craze in town…

Chimaek has been a hit in Singapore before it landed on our shores. Hence it was only a matter of time before Singapore’s No. 1 Korean Fried Chicken, Chicken Up, pops up in our city. Started in 2010, Chicken Up took off with a big bang, serving up its signature Korean Soya Fried Chicken set in casual dining space. It’s trendy and modern vibes led its further success with another 6 more outlets in Singapore before opening its first Malaysian outlet in Johor.

Recently, Chicken Up has found a new home in the bustling area of SS15 in Subang Jaya, adjacent to SS15 Courtyard Mall. Despite the heavily congested area that is constantly a parking nightmare, Chicken Up fans have been flocking there for treats of Chimaek and other Korean goodies. Housed in a 3-storey shop lot, Chicken Up currently seats 120 pax and even then, there’s a queue waiting constantly for this outlet.

A compound word formed from chicken and maekju (Korean word for beer), Chimaek is hitting our F&B scenes and we are totally embracing it. Fried chicken and beer, whats not to like? Sounds like the perfect partner in crime to me!

What makes Chicken Up so favorable currently is not only just its fried chicken but other Korean dishes that has been given a modern touch to cater to the young and adventurous. We love the modern and minimalist décor with plenty of casual seating and its eclectic mix of furniture and décor.

The menu is also filled with lots of Korean dishes ranging from fried chicken to stews, noodles, small bites and a whole lot of giggle juices, beer and Korean liquor to keep every one of all ages happy.

Our drinks were served in light bulbs. Colorful, refreshing, take your pick of sodas, juices and smoothies. We had Blue Lemon Soda (RM13), Strawberry Soda (RM13), Mango Smoothie (RM13), Apple Juice (RM13)

If there is one giggle juice to make your meal a happier one, it would have to be Chicken Up’s Sojurita and Beerita. There are few fruity flavours and your choice of soju or beer. We had the Sea Breeze Sojurita (RM48) and Grapefruit Beerita (RM48). The Sea Breeze Sojurita is pretty strong with a whole bottle of soju in the cocktail while the Grapefruit Beerita is refreshing and so delicious!

From the Whet Your Appetite section, we had an order of Yangpa Bomb (RM18). Similar to the American Bloomin’ Onion, you get a large onion cut to resemble a flower bloom, deep fried to golden crispiness and served with 2 sauces and some fresh carrot and cucumber sticks. Crispy bites of sweet onions goes well with our cocktails and beer. Makes great snacking bites…

Haemul Pajeon Seafood and Green Onion Pancake (RM26) is also worthy of an order. Thick seafood pancake with lots of spring onions is tasty and filled with lots of textures from its ingredients. Comes with a side of chili sauce that gives a good kick of heat to the pancake.

While it is more commonly known as army stew in the cuisine, Chicken Up named theirs Ugly Tang (RM38). What you get is a whole of ingredients put together from the influences of America into Korean stew made with based of gochujang chili paste. Slightly out of the norm, Ugly Tang is served with a side of gochujang to let diners adjust their own heat level. This is great because when you have kids, you can choose to omit it and the kids will certainly enjoy the lot of smoked duck, chicken slice, ham, sausage, macaroni, baked bean, cheese and noodles. My son certainly enjoyed this a lot…

Snow Squid Topokki (RM68) showed up and stole the limelight on the food on our table. At sight, there’s a whole of food going on the sectioned hot plate set on a portable stove. Perch gloriously in the center of a red pool is golden crispy whole squid. The fiery looking pool is tteokbokki or rice cake cooked with sliced fish cake and vegetables in thick sweet and savory chili sauce.

You get a side of kimchi fried rice, chopped kimchi, creamed corn, sweet milky snow cheese sauce and egg mixture all to be cooked gently over the burner.

Chicken Up’s staff will cut your squid up for you for easy eating. Savor this slowly as some of the items cooked. The tteokbokki and fish cake in sauce is a tad too sweet for my palate. Though it looks fiery, it’s not as spicy as the other dishes we had. We enjoyed the whole dish together as it is full of various flavours and textures.

Fried chicken is what we came for and we were not disappointed at the house signature Ganjang Soya Chicken Wings (RM18). Marinated in Chicken’s Up’s special soya sauce, these crispy large chicken wings are juicy and flavourful. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser as this is what Chicken Up is famous for. There are spicy versions of this too if you want some heat.

How good would I rate this? So delicious we had a second order….

If you’re not into just wings, go for the Mega Half Chicken. Similar except you get other parts of the chicken prepared in several sauces and seasoning. We wanted some heat for this one and we had the Spicy Yangyum UP Mega Half Chicken (RM28).

Don’t say we didn’t warn you, this one is a heat bomb! Four large pieces of chicken, crispy, juicy and coated in a fiery-looking sweet and spicy chili sauce will certainly jumpstart a bonfire in your mouth. Though it’s super spicy, it still has an addictiveness that made me go back for more. Not for the faint-hearted!

As if it didn’t get any hotter, the Spicy Noodle UP Dry (RM18) slam my palate again with another round of fireworks of heat. I swear that this one is even hotter than the chicken we had. My tolerance of heat is quite high but even then, I couldn’t hold this one down. The noodles have a good al dente bite but its just to fiery for my palate because I couldn’t taste anything else except burning heat sensation. The popcorn chicken and side creamy salad did help to tone down the heat a bit. This dish should come with a lethal warning tag.

We also tried the cold buckwheat noodle salad Makguksu (RM20). It is refreshing as it is served cold and it has lots of fresh vegetables and boiled egg, making it easy to enjoy with the thin buckwheat noodles. This one was also a tad too sweet for my palate but my other friends had no issues polishing this one off happily.

The Seafood Topokki (RM38) had lots of soft and smooth rice cake with fish cake, prawns and mussels in the classic tteokbokki sweet chili sauce but it is laden with lots of oozing cheesy goodness. The heat here is bearable and the flavours are well balance with just the right sweetness and savory notes.

After all that heat, we were extremely pleased with the Melon Bingsu (RM38). It was such a heat reliever from all the heavy and spicy flavours. It is also a beautiful sight to see small round globs of orange melon that were crisp and sweet on the half melon shell. Digging in, the milky snow bingsu was so cold and refreshingly yummy together with the generous ice cream served. Must order!

Chicken Up has certainly got potential here and judging by the weekend queue, we were pretty sure to expect more outlets opening up soon. Lots of other dishes to try and service was impeccable as we had an excellent and attentive wait staff named Sean who took really good care of us as well as all the other tables around despite the full house mode that Sunday.

CHICKEN UP

No. 7, 7-1, 7-2, Jalan SS15/4E,

Subang Jaya,

57500 Selangor

Tel: 60 17-577 9377

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Chicken-Up-Subang-Jaya-174735749703283/

Business Hour:

Mon to Thurs         11.30am – 10.30pm

Fri to Sun              11.30am – 11.00pm

Meatology Restaurant & Bar @ TTDI

Meat-ing Expectations

You know you can always count on certain restaurants for a great dining experience. Meatology is one of them. Revamp from the previous Boathouse, Chef Yenni Law never fails to deliver a delightful menu filled with great Asian and Western cuisines.

We have dined a few times at Boathouse and have always enjoyed the affordable and scrumptious menu Chef Yenni offers. After her successful launch of her cookbook Meatology, a compilation of her signature dishes collected from her years of culinary passage from helping her mom in the kitchen to her travels and culinary stints in Europe, Chef Yenni has renamed her restaurant to Meatology in conjunction with her book.

The restaurant has always exuded a warm and comfy atmosphere. When we walked in again recently a few weeks ago, we were greeted by the familiar settings, now jazzed up with some new enhancement, like the handmade bottle lightings made by the chef herself.

The bar remains at its usual spot while a long panel of mirrors are added to create more space and comfort for the dining area parallel to the bar. Meatology is a great place to hang on after a day’s work for drinks, food and to catch some sport actions as well on the tv available by the bar.

For a quieter dining, head on back to the main dining area where a large chalkboard displays specials of the day. We have always love the charm this restaurant radiates and the menu it has.

A large wine display features the lovely list of wines available at Meatology.

If you’re looking more just to hang out casually, head on up to Myth, just above the restaurant. The lounge is pretty cool with a glowy dim lite area for drinks and maybe some games.

We are here as Chef Yenni has revamp her menu and added new dishes to the list of her previous favorites. Kicking off the evening, we lock in our usual giggle juices, opting to try out Meatology’s latest cocktails. Whether you’re sipping White Lady (RM26) or Slippery Martini (RM26), both are delicious giggle juices to pave the evening for more yumminess to come. Order three of their special cocktails for RM68.

For wine lovers, there is a promotion on Wine Flight of four glasses of wines (white, rose, red and ice wine) for RM119.

Left to right: Château de Cathalogne Bordeaux, Château de Fesles Anjou Rosé (Loire Valley), La Closerie des Lys Rouge (Languedoc Rousillon) and Pilliteri Vidal Ice Wine (Niagara-on-the-Lake).

Chef Yenni’s repertoire is vast and versatile and her menu consists of classic fine dining dishes to her own creations of comfort food. Rest assured, there’s also plenty of swine for more shiokness to swine fans like me.

Leading the list is French Escargot (RM13), succulent morsels of escargot cooked with cream and spinach served in its own shells. A different sauce than the usual garlic butter and beautifully luscious on the palate.

Another premium ingredient on the list that one may not expect from Meatology is Foie Gras (RM49). Chef Yenni’s skill is really shown here as her foie gras, gorgeously and perfectly seared, is served with spiked peach wedges and a sticky balsamic sauce. The sweetness of the fruity peach goes so well with the sinful and creamy goose liver and brandy laced balsamic sauce.

After that two fine dishes, we get thrown back down to earth with a rustic bar snack of Gizzard Frito (RM13). Not that I enjoy chicken gizzard but once I tasted these crispy little nuggets of crunchy battered gizzard, I surprisingly went back for another two bits. Hand me a beer please…

Mains arrive and the first one had our palate all fired up! Fiery Ribs (RM45), listed on the menu with secret spicy sauce looked damn good at sight. The three giant pork ribs are literally smothered in a thick and lightly chunky fiery looking sauce, served on mashed and veggies.

The ribs are tender and yet offers a good firm bite on the meat. The sauce is not for the faint hearted and packed enough heat to titillate the taste bud to savor more. It is also robust enough with savory and sweet flavors, making this dish a bit hit on our table that evening, especially with me.

We went ducky over the hunky slab of sliced Duck Breast Confit (RM43). Smoked in-house, the plump duck breast is tender and moist with a smoky aroma. Served with a citrus trinity sauce made from orange, passionfruit and berries, the savory duck breast flavors are balanced with the tangy and fruity sweet sauce.

Most restaurants don’t choose to serve tableside finished dishes anymore but we are glad that Meatology still offers some flambé actions. Nothing like a kitchen action to enhance the dining experience right?

Our Swine Neck Steak Flambé (RM59) certainly went up in flames!

A generous piece of pork neck is beautifully seasoned and finished in brandy and served with a peppery brown sauce. Pork neck is well-known for tenderness and flavors and so the dish is often a favorite these days with many. Albeit a little dry but this is easily remedied with that delicious rich and peppery sauce that comes with the dish.

Meatology Ribs (RM45) won many hearts or should I say stomachs that night? Haha…

Another generous hunk of pork ribs basted in Chef Yenni’s hush hush secret BBQ sauce is also set aflame at our tableside with brandy. The ribs are superb in texture and flavors. Tender and yet firm, it’s the marinade and sauce that took the ribs to sensational heights of flavors.

Simply a must-order for rib-loving fans, the sublime hush hush BBQ sauce has such a harmonious balance of sweet, savory, smoky and umami note. Damn awesome if you ask me….

And just when we thought the flaming actions were over, we got another flaming action with our Steak On Fire (RM50). 200gm of Australian tenderloin, cooked to medium rare and flamed up with VSOP brandy is served with a creamy and pepper sauce with mashed and veggies.

The tenderloin is so gorgeous on bite and I enjoyed that luscious peppery mustard sauce very much. For foie gras lovers, you can even add a slice of foie gras to this dish for an additional RM30.

Chef Yenni has certainly got a way with meat. Cleverly taking a tougher cut of meat and turning it to a tasty one is showed in her Smoked Lamb Muscle 3 Sauces (RM43). The leg of lamb muscle is deboned, tied up and smoked for flavor and aroma. Cooked slowly till tender, the lamb is served with three sauces of mint sauce, fiery spicy sauce and horseradish with mustard sauce. Love the sauces as it gives the lamb different levels of flavors…

Besides meat, Chef Yenni also does a beautiful Blue Fin Tuna (RM69) for seafood fans. Sashimi grade tuna is just nicely seared and left raw in the middle. Thickly sliced and fan out like pretty petals of pinkness, the tuna goes well with the sweet and sticky citrus ponzu sauce. Delightful and not overly heavy, the tuna makes a lovely meal if you are not into meat.

Now who would have thought that one can do wonders with marmite besides slapping it on bread? Spaghetti Marvelous Mite (RM29), a creative concoction of pasta with a marmite based sauce is crowned with salty and luscious slices of Parma ham and rocket leaves. Its umami and savory marmite flavors are quite prevalent so if you enjoy marmite, you’ll certainly enjoy this pasta.

We never fail to leave room for desserts and this round, we had four creative desserts. Sinful Soufflé (RM22), a dark and bittersweet chocolatey sensation, had my palate floating on cloud nine. The freshly baked soufflé is worth every minute of waiting with its fluffiest cloud of cake set with a dark runny chocolate center filled with dark cherries cooked in booze. What more can a girl ask for…

I don’t care for dates but I do enjoy date puddings. Meatology’s Date Pudding (RM18) is another dessert worth every calories it has. It looked pretty light and plain but once you tasted the moist and dense date pudding with boozed up brandy butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream, you be awarded with a caramelized and sinful, sweet and sticky goodness. Super rich and super yum!

Cutely coined as Reggae Pudding (RM17), dig into freshly baked custardy bread pudding studded with bananas and raisins and crumbly sweet sugar crust. Sweet, creamy, eggy and heavily laced with rum, the pudding even comes with vanilla ice cream for a hot and cold sensation.

Though stuffed to max by now, after a look at the flaming Nasty Alaska (RM23), I even tried this small bite of the classic angelic dessert made naughty with peanut butter and lots of alcohol. The light fluffy meringue is just nice without being overly sweet and the combination of ice creams, peanut butter, cake, plump boozed soaked dried fruit and crumbly crust is naughty and nice for this coming festive season.

There’s so much more at Meatology’s menu that warrants a visit with more people so one can share all the delicious dishes. I would go back for other dishes such as Jack & Chic, Pork & Roll, Pig’s Balls, Poison Pork, Claypot Wild Boar Curry with Corn Chips, Wagyu Skirt Steak, Beer Breast, Meatology Smoked Belly, Octopussy Risotto and more.

MEATOLOGY RESTAURANT & BAR

16, Lorong Rahim Kajai 14,

Taman Tun Dr Ismail,

6000 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-7727 4426

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pg/MeatologyKL

Business Hours:

Mon to Sat   4pm to 2am

Closed on Sunday