Taiwanese Food Haven featuring 17 Minum Minum Kuantan

There's a new cafe in town! As a foodie, I have to try it out. Located at the previous spot of old skool cafe, stands a colorful new cafe- 17 Minum Minum. It's pork free so Muslim friends can also try it out.

17 Minum Minum
Address A-17 Lorong Tun Ismail 10
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/17minumminum/
Opens daily 12pm to 12am
Phone +60 9-513 1930

Inspired by the lady boss's Taiwanese origin, the young couple decided to bring the best of Taiwanese food to Malaysia. Certain special ingredients are also imported from Taiwan, particularly their seasonings and beverages.

One can find quite a number of Taiwan street food here. They are definitely crowd pleasers and a great way to satisfy the cravings. The speed of service here is really fast so those who are really hungry, come on in!

Popcorn chicken 咸酥鸡

Freshly made upon order, its coating is crunchy and slightly sticky. The chicken is juicy and deliberately only lightly seasoned because there's a great variety of seasoning powders for us to experiment on.

The seasoning powders
- pepper salt, seaweed salt, curry powder, wasabi powder and spicy pepper
My favorite is seaweed salt and spicy pepper. It makes a simple dish versatile.

Sweet plum sweet potato 甘梅地瓜

This is also a popular Taiwanese snack. Comparing with those found in certain other Taiwan food outlet, I find the one here tastier. I love how the sweet potato here is thicker because this really brings the natural sweetness out.

The coating and sweet plum powder enhanced the flavor even more by adding some saltiness and plum-miness.

Cheesy hotdog 芝士热狗

Love how cripsy the mini hotdogs are..The cheese filling provides some surprise element for the snack. Love the pepper salt sprinkled on the hotdogs. One plate is perhaps just enough for me to satisfy the craving. Ha.

Finally moving into the main dishes.

Taiwan dry noodles 台湾炸酱面

For those who love instant noodles, this will be a great choice. The sauce is an interesting combination of fermented bean paste, thick and thin soysauce, sugar and oil. Add this appetizing combination with a sunny side up egg and raw salad leaf.

Spaghetti carbonara 白酱意大利面

Young children will love this. That's exactly why we ordered it.. Would have loved to order the spicy tuna carbonara if baby Bing wasn't around. Lol. Tiny onion cubes with capsicum, sausages and shitake mushroom. All cut to less then bite size. The carbonara sauce here is more towards the oily side but we love it nevertheless.

Chicken charcoal bun 竹炭鸡肉包

The buns here are made by the boss's family bakery. Soft, squishy and fluffy, it turned out to be baby Bing's favourite dish of the day. The chicken filling was minced and mixed with some fatty bits. A very generous portion of filling. Yum yum!

Not to forget their speciality drinks. We wanted to try so many of them!

Settled with this grassjelly milk in the end. It's a combination of fresh milk, grass jelly and coffee infused jelly. Interesting flavors. But would love to have a richer coffee taste! Biting onto the coffee jellies is an enjoyment on its own.

This mango yoghurt drink is inspired by Calpis. This combination tastes like yakult with ice. Children will love it.

Dessert is nonetheless brownies with matcha icecream made by the lady boss. I love how the top cracked a little, just like how homemade brownies should be. The chocolate is rich and sticky. The matcha icecream is smooth with strong flavors. Combining these two produces a very harmonious and blissful treat.

There are still so many things on the menu that we would love to try. Our verdict 8/10!

Kyoto Day trip from Osaka

Kyoto is famous for the number of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, as well as gardens and imperial palaces.

From Osaka, the best way to explore Kyoto in a day is by using Keihan Osaka Kyoto One Day Pass (only 800yen for unlimited train rides). As we stayed near Tenjinbashi-6-chome subway, we took a subway to Kitahama subway before changing to Keihan electric train heading to Kyoto. The whole journey took about 45 minutes via express service  (blue/pink line)

First stop was Demachiyanagi Station. After walking through the primeval forest of Tadasu-no-Mori,  we reached Shimogamo Shrine which is one of the UNESCO heritage. This Shinto shrine was built during the 6th decade.

This shrine is dedicated to the veneration of Tamayori-hime (玉依姫; lit., the spirit-inviting maiden) and her father, Kamo Taketsunomi (賀茂建角身).

 It was heavily patronised by the imperial palace to report important events to the Japanese guardian in the shrine.

Next stop was Kiyomizu-Gojo Station to visit the grand Kiyomizu-dera temple. From the station, it's about 20 minutes walk pass a few pottery shops. This Buddhist temple is huge! And it's one of the most celebrated temples in Japan founded in 780 on the site of Otowa waterfall.

The wooden stage extending from its main hall offered a breathtaking and scenic view of Kyoto. The hall was built without a single nail which housed Kannon, a small statue  with eleven faces and thousand arms.

Otowa waterfall is located at the base of the main hall with 3 streams bringing benefit to longevity, academic success and good love life after consuming the water.

After leaving the temple, we ventured into the atmospheric Higashiyama District with rows of pottery and souvenir shops and eateries.

Lunch was at Sanshiki noodle house on the walk back to the station. One of the best noodles we have had in Japan. Noodles here are made on site. As with everything else in Japan, it's made taking intricate details into consideration.

Japanese curry udon with thinly sliced beef. In case you haven't noticed, Japanese cuisine really likes to use spring onions! This awesome curry is thick and slightly viscous but is sweet and not spicy at all. It's so good that I couldn't stop myself from drinking the curry.

Dry udon with vegetable and prawn tempura. Love the combination of seaweed and sesame seeds that went so well with the
udon together with the ubiquitous spring onions. The noodles were cooked till perfection as they were still springy.

After a satisfying lunch, we headed to Fushimi-Inari Station of course to visit Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine which is probably the most featured Shinto shrine in Kyoto.

The classic vermilion torii gates that every tourist must take a photo of! Very insta worthy. Each gate is actually erected in a different year.

Fox statues are also the symbol of this shrine which can even be found at the train station.

We then alighted our last stop of the day at Gion-Shijo Station to savour the evening along Sannen-zaka and Ninen-zaka (preserved streets) which we managed to spot a geisha at work.

Also managed to take a photo with Kimono clad tourists who really think baby Bing is very adorable.

That's how our day trip went. Of course there were a lot more temples to visit but we find this top three choices are more than enough to represent Kyoto.

Osaka 3 days itinerary (Day 3)

We were still very energetic on day 3 despite all 3 of us were down with cold. Having had a late night the day before, we started the day slightly later.

First stop was Shitennoji temple (Shitennoji-mae Yuhigaoka subway). This Buddhist temple housed a pagoda with Buddhist relics which is one of the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan.  It took 5 flights of windy and narrow stairs up to reach the top. We were kind of out of breath with Bing being carried by daddy.

On our way walking from the subway station, we were lucky enough to be blessed by the view of budding sakura flowers.

Shitenno actually refers to the four heavenly Kings 四大天王. Love walking through the corridor with these beautiful lanterns hung by pilgrims as offerings.

On our way back to the subway station, we stopped by okonomiyaki takara， a very homey bistro.

The okonomiyaki here is the traditional type and just a palm sized big.

A hot plate of yakisoba fried on the grill. With a yummy omelette. It's just as if we were invited over to have a meal at a friend's place.

Afternoon was shopping time! We headed to    Dotombori Arcade (Namba subway) which is even much more complicated that tenjinbashi shopping street (which has 400+ shops). From high end fashion to email eateries, it also boasts many specialty stores for example kitchen and cooking supply (Doguyasuji Arcade) in the adjacent area. We were not really into serious shopping but merely window shopped and just basked ourselves in the atmosphere.

Of course we have to explore Hozenji Yokocho which is the traditional alley. I love how everything looked so old school there.

Admiring a Buddhist statue that's overgrown with green mould as it's accustomed for visitors to sprinkle it with water before saying prayers.

The highlight of the day was perhaps the much anticipated yakiniku beef at Matsuzakagyu Yakiniku M. It's expensive but highly recommended! About RM150 per person. This breed of beef was touted to be have higher quality than wagyu and Kobe beef. The cattles were feed beer and given massage to create this ultimate delicacy.

We chose the rare cuts- marbled beef (a balanced combination of lean and slightly fatty parts) in the form of sirloin steaks, kyukoku and maboroshi cuts.

There's no need to marinate because the beef was just so fresh that after grilling it's ready for taste! One can dip the piece of delicacy into soy sauce/ BBQ sauce/ salt and pepper. It just melted in the mouth.

Comparing with the wagyu pieces we had, this was definitely much more superior.

The beef noodles was also heavenly. Rich beef broth that's so fresh and sweet. Even baby Bing couldn't resist to finish half a bowl on his own.

Their stone bowl rice was equally impressive with slightly crunchy rice mixed well with caramelised garlic and cripsy beef bacon.

With the awesome memory and taste of this premium beef cut, we ended day 3 in Osaka.

Osaka 3 days itinerary (Day 2)

We had a restful night sleep and woke up only around 10am+ the next morning. The main aim was to visit Osaka castle.

Decided to have an early brunch. We just haven't had enough ramen!

Spicy ramen. The Japanese standard of spiciness is quite formidable. Really have to take my hats off for this. Have this with a slice of braised pork and Kombu, it's sure to satisfy craving for shin ramen and the like.

Dry ramen. Just like our dry noodles, this is seasoned with a punch of great flavors particularly sesame oil. Have this with raw julienned carrot and preserved radish. A taste that one can't find out of Japan.

Shredded salmon with dried seaweed pieces, scrambled egg and a very generous flood of mayonnaise! Lots of calorie but it's well worth it.

Gyoza. Pan fried to crispiness with juicy pork filling.

Osaka castle (Osakajokoen subway)

We walked through Osaka park. Even enough all the sakura trees were withered, the view was still spectacular with a hint of melancholy by the river.

The view of the surroundings of Osaka castle.

Osaka castle is no longer inhabited by the Royals. Instead it has been converted into a museum showcasing the Japanese kingdom with the stories of the great warriors such as Hideyoshi. It's full of tourists and young children running around and having fun.

Spent the afternoon at Yodobashi-Umeda (Umeda subway) which is a departmental store with a wide range of products particularly electronics and cameras.

Even for flash, there's such a comprehensive range. But the price range is not that different from Malaysia so we didn't buy in the end.

Afternoon tea was at Yodobashi The Dining on level 8. Here we found the famous okomiyaki.

The traditional okomiyaki is made of a mixture of flour with julienned cabbage, carrot and meat eg pork or seafood. Here one can order to add on yellow noodles. So you could imagine how big each portion is!

Watch our prawn okonomiyaki cooking on my YouTube channel here. Look at the generous amount of bonito flakes and sauce. Mouthwatering indeed!

We had a great stroll around Osaka Bay area later in the evening. Enjoying the neon litted walkway and entrance to the aquarium. We didn't visit the aquarium as baby Bing is still too young to enjoy the visit.

Dinner was at Tempozan marketplace but we only got there around 7pm and most of the outlets were already closing. Kind of disappointed because there were so many variety of Japanese dishes available! So we settled with a simple ramen soup with tempura.

Got onto Tempozan Ferris wheel after dinner. We boarded the transparent cubicle without extra charges. The ground was kind of semitransparent but we could tell that Bing felt kind of apprehensive in there. The whole trip took 15 minutes at 800 Yen each.

The view of the whole Osaka city was spectacular! Mount Ikoma to the east, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge to the west, Kansai International Airport to the south, and the Rokko mountains to the north. With the diameter of 100m, it's one of the world's largest Ferris wheel.

This ended our second day in Osaka. Stay tuned for day 3!