Gindaco, 1 Utama Shopping Centre

I hooked on takoyaki (octopus in fried wheat batter balls) when I did part time in MidValley more than 11 years ago. It's probably the first takoyaki stall in Malaysia and I bought takoyaki as snack almost every single day for as long I work part time in an office located beside mall. 

This is a rendezvous between me and takoyaki that I remembered, sadly now the stall is no longer there and I can't really find good takoyaki around KL area. Most of them tasted soggy, tasteless, super tiny bits of octopus, or over fried. I cannot express how disappointed I am over and over again giving chances to various takoyaki stall all over the city and yet unable to find that one stall that can gives me the same taste as the first one I went. 

So when me and Fei went to 1 Utama and saw Gindaco I was like, since I'm beyond disappointed by others, why I don't give Gindaco a try and pray for magic to happen?

Located at LG Floor of 1 Utama Shopping Centre

Little did I know, Gindaco is a huge Japan takoyaki chain with more than hundreds shops alone in Tokyo ( more than 300 sites around Japan) and they are easily spotted with their red shop sign which located near to exits of train stations and bus stops. Unlike in Japan that usually have to eat these takoyaki at standing bar, Gindaco offers tables and chairs around the premise for customer's dining pleasure.

This is what both of us ordered:

Original Takoyaki 6 pcs, RM10 (Ramadhan promotion)
Cheese Mentaiko Takoyaki 6 pcs, RM13.90
Yakisoba with egg, RM14.90
Comes with a complimentary drink

Original Takoyaki

When this Original Takoyaki was served, the first thing I asked Fei was: Where are the dancing bonito flakes (katsuobushi)? Watching the bonito flakes dancing on top of steaming hot takoyaki is a very satisfying view but sadly Gindaco's takoyaki doesn't have this. 

Aside from the missing bonito flakes, albeit having huge chunks of octopus inside these fried tako balls, the batter for making these fried tako balls tasted a bit bland in comparison. It can't compliment the freshness of octopus as well as the flavourful takoyaki sauce. It wasn't what I hope I'll find but nonetheless it actually tasted okay. 

Yakisoba with egg

Pairing with takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise, this yakisoba with egg tasted somewhat sweet ( too sweet for my liking as I like my noodles savoury). But when the sweet yakisoba pairs with mayonnaise and takoyaki sauce, their taste harmoniously blend together and I actually kinda like the combination. Down side of this combination is while consuming, egg's ration have to be balance or there'll be more yakisoba left without egg. 

Last but not least, my favourite dishes from Gindaco:

Cheese Mentaiko Takoyaki

I actually can't wait to stuff all 6 of these takoyakis inside my belly once I've tasted the cheese mentaiko sauce topping. They tasted so heavenly, with melting cheese and mentaiko sauce that covers the takoyaki, I could swallow one boat of these in one shot. The savoury taste of cheese and mentaiko blends with takoyaki sauce indirectly bring taste to the bland fried batter that I mentioned above of the original ones. Cheese and mentaiko is life, nuff said.

This is truly a heavenly sight

And while I was eating cheese mentaiko takoyaki, I glance over the sign board on top of me and I saw there's Triple Cheese flavoured Takoyaki and only available for limited period only. Damn~ Why didn't I read available options carefully? I would've ditch original ones for triple cheese flavour! Now that I had 6 takoyaki and yakisoba I couldn't stuff another three into my belly anymore.

Well I do hope they'll bring back the triple cheese flavour, I could really use some cheese mentaiko or triple cheese flavour takoyaki anytime! Gindaco's flavoured toppings takoyaki proven to be somewhat delicious that all other takoyaki stalls I've tried and it kinda satisfied me in a way. For more delicious ones, I guess I'll have to personally fly over to Japan and get my takoyaki fix. 

For more information:

Gindaco Malaysia Official Facebook Page

Butterfly Project x 1 Utama Wonder Food Adventure

If you followed me in Instagram, you probably drool all over your phone/pc during the 16th of November, because that's the day me and fellow bloggers from the Butterfly Project get to enjoy a gastronomic wonder food adventure, all thanks to 1 Utama and Butterfly Project for this wonderful collaboration.

Food Adventure starts here! *drools*

The main purpose of this event is to let bloggers experienced the restaurants/stalls/kiosks that's located at 1 Utama's LG Floor. If you don't already know, 1 Utama's food street is one of the places in shopping mall that owned wide variety of food. You can get Chinese, Japanese, Fast Food, desserts, fusion, snacks, western etc at 1 Utama's food street!




The event started at 11am, so yea, of course, I go there with an empty stomach, and wanted to try everything I could.

But I think too highly of myself.
How to try all 15 places!????

The highlighted 5 places are the ones that we compulsory have to go, but little did I know that only visiting these 5 places can make my tummy full until burst! The merchants are so generous that some of them let us order whatever we could! Feels so wasted that we have to let some of the unfinished food go wasted just like that because it's only me and Jean as a team. (Don't scold me, I already feel so bad for it!)

So, these are the outlets that me and Jean visited during the Wonder Food Adventure. Thank God that I found Jean and we both in the same team, so that we can share food or order different food so we can share.

So, our first stop is:

I Love Yoo!

When I reach I Love Yoo!, Jean already found a place and eating her 1st meal of the day dy. So I quickly went into the outlet and order a cup of soya bean. The male and female owner of I Love Yoo! (I think they are la, both of them have the boss look hahaha) are so friendly I can't get used to it out of sudden lololol. They keep asking me is it enough for me to have only a cup of soya bean, I keep on assure them that it'll be more than enough, I'm not a morning breakfast kinda person. lol. 

I love their Yoo Tiao!
Super nice if  eat along with I Love Yoo!'s porridge!
I Love Yoo! Yoo Tiao + Porridge is my favourite combination

Kick start my day with a very oriental kinda brunch.

After eat and chit-chat awhile with Jean, we decided to walk over to the outlet opposite I Love Yoo! which sells Yong Tau Foo!

Eat & Happy Yong Tau Foo

Me and Jean just wanna visit the place and collect the stamp, because we think Yong Tau Foo is a bit heavy for us! Eat & Happy Yong Tau Foo do have combo when you dine there:

Satisfy your Yong Tau Foo cravings at Eat & Happy Yong Tau Foo!

Next stop, which me and Jean are anticipating is this:

Oyster King
Look at the crowd

I heard about Oyster King few years back when they first opened their outlet but never try their food before, maybe it's because that none of me and my friends like oyster. Thanks to 1 Utama and Butterfly Project, that I get to try Oyster King's dishes and they are so good!

Everything with oyster is seriously nice!

I ordered O-Chien
Look at them big fat oysters on top!

Jean's Garlic Oysters

Look at how pretty Jean is even eating oysters. 

Really love the O-Chien when it is hot and fresh out of the wok. The succulent oysters, the starch and eggs are equally, and I love the chewy and crunchy bits of the texture. Totally satisfy for my O-Chien craving. Oyster King is definitely one of the place that I will head to again and again for delicious and fresh O-Chien!

After had two savoury meals, we craved for something dessert-like sweetness, so we decided to stop by here:

Pisang Goreng time!

Just in case if you don't already know, SS2 Goreng Pisang has just open their outlet at the LG Floor of 1 Utama, beside Oyster King. I was really wrong when I think they won't be as nice as the original stall at SS2, but after I took the first bite, now I know where I will head to when I want to have local pisang goreng and other gorengs now in 1 Utama!

it's a valid and pretty website, check it out
HERE!

Both me and Jean om noms noms and agreed that these are so crunchy and delicious!
Taste just as same as the one at SS2!

Well, well, I think I know what to sneak into the cinema next time.
Shhhh~!!!

Sometimes I wonder, how do I stuff all the food that day into my tummy. This Wonder Food adventure is really one of the rare days that I keep eating and eating and eating, nonstop. lol. After we rested a while from the previous soya bean, oysters meal and pisang gorengs, is time for some burger:

Ninja Joe (non-halal)

Yes, freshly grilled pork burger
And they have lunch and dinner value set!

And we had:

Hikkori Burger!
with Pork fillet and baconnn!!!!

This newly refurbished Ninja Joe has this modern look and you can find surprises at each and every corner. Witty slogans, chic design, and the big ninja head which is the logo for Ninja Joe is one very attractive logo to me. The logo itself looks like a burger to me already. 

Cute Jean savouring the Hikkori burger.

It is no doubt that Ninja Joe's grilled pork burger and juicy and delicious. There was a period that I eat Ninja Joe almost every time I visit a shopping mall with Ninja Joe located in it, but I never tried Hikkori burger before, and I love it. Aside of its juicy pork filler, there are bacon strips layer. Everything taste good with bacon, don't you think so?






After chit-chat for awhile at Ninja Joe, me and Jean move on to the last assigned spot for our Wonder Food Adventure, which is Jean's all-time-favourite kinda dish too, guess what.

Korean food at Ko-Hyang.

Guess what I ordered.

I have this very bad habit: I tend to stick to my choice-of-all-time whenever I visit a restaurant/place. I tend to order the same kind of food and drinks. Some people asked me whether I will feel wasted for not trying something new, but I felt it is my own way of self-protection for not making a wrong choice. Lol. So here is what I ordered at EVERY SINGLE KOREAN RESTAURANT I VISITED, including this time at Ko-Hyang too:

Soon Dobu Chige. Yums!

Jean's bibimbap.

This is my first time trying Ko-Hyang at 1 Utama, and I really love their dishes taste. Fresh and lotsa ingredients in my Soon Dobu Chige. One of the best Soon Dobu Chige in town I would say. Eating Korean makes me feel so full everytime, and this time is the fullest of all seeing that I've already ate at 4 places before. Still, their dishes leave very good impression, I keep drinking the soup of my dish until it finishes. lol. That's how tasty it is.

After we went to the restaurants that we're assigned, we can roam around the food street freely and choose places we wanna chill at. So after such a full meal, me and Jean decided to go some shops and get some take away dishes. The first stop is Bisou bake shop.

Lovely place

I can smell their cakes and cupcakes from far away!

Yummilicious cupcake!

Each of us get a cupcake of the month.

Then we head to Seaweed Club, which located just beside Bisou bake shop.

You're wondering what Seaweed Club sells?

Popiah-ala-seaweed style!

Crispy seaweed wrapped the vegetables and crunchy bits in them.
My family loves this!

Since I have to rush for my best friend's wedding, so I have stop my Wonder Food adventure at Seaweed Club. Such a pleasure to be invited as one of the blogger to enjoy this gastronomic 1 Utama Food Street's Wonder Food Adventure. Eat drink walk talk with Jean on a rainy Saturday is purely enjoyable. Thanks for the wonderful experience Butterfly Project Malaysia and 1 Utama.

Last photo of this blog post.
Featuring the lovely Jean.

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