D’Dream Café @ SS 2, Petaling Jaya.

Let's some Doraemon's artsy pictures roll first...................

You gotta be kidding!

Yea, it is not some, but lots of them! Hehe...

That’s what I literally uttered the moment stepping into this Doraemon-invaded café. It is such an unbelievable sight to see the whole family of this childhood cartoon sitting handsomely in the shiny glass cabinet. Not to mention those soft plushy toys version that have been under good hand all this while, that are nicely arranged at some section of the place. The owner of these Doraemon memorabilia is none other than Nicholas, who has been an avid collector since he was 9 years old! Imagine all the invaluable series that are under his belt till now. It’s definitely a unique collectible to behold.

Having said that, don’t be misled that you gonna get your craving for Dorayaki fixed over here, for the jaunty Nicholas is going to tantalize your palate with some delectable Taiwanese cuisine, with the culinary skills acquired from his sister in law, who actually hails from Taiwan itself. Most of the ingredients are sought from Taiwan and every dish is only prepared upon ordering. This explains why the café is said to only welcome diners that have made prior reservation, so as to ensure a flawless epicurean moment. Anyway, walk in customers are still accepted occasionally, if condition allows and they don’t mind to wait awhile as all the food are freshly cooked rather than reheat. Therefore, rest assured that the quality of carte du jours served here are highly emphasized.

While waiting the food to be prepared, fresh and hot from the kitchen, you may hang around the cafe to catch a closer glimpse of the various collections that he have kept all this while, under the tranquility of light blue ambiance : )

                                                                                 

Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice

Not only the pinky Arale is greeting us with its big and warm smile, even there is this cutesy Doraemon fishcakes to accompany us on the dining table. Together with the wilted Siu Pak Choy as well as the minced meat in dark sauce, and these all make up for the special Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice by D’Dream Café. Besides the savory braised pork meat, the rice itself is also a specialty that comprises of three types of rice, namely glutinous rice, double-A rice grain and also the normal rice, with the former being the least portion. This seemingly common white rice has indeed got its usual texture bettered up with this combination of grains that shares a close resemblance to Japanese rice. Quite a fresh and unique idea.

Three Cup Phoenix with Rice

Coming up next is the Three Cup Phoenix that is best paired with a plate of white rice. At first glance, it really looks like the homey dish that my mom often cooks, whereby the chicken cutlets are stewed in dark soya sauce over slow flame. The chicken meat by then would be tender enough to the taste bud whilst thoroughly infused with the aroma from the gravy. Good thing about it is that this recipe served here is not too oily and would taste better if the gravy is to made more concentrated, with some added star anise to further accentuate the fragrance of the soya sauce. By the way, this is also one special dish that my brother could cook up pretty scrumptiously.

Taiwanese Stewed Bean Curd

Ensue soon is the lighter sides of Taiwanese Stewed Bean Curd. Basically, the bean curd is sliced and then deep fried till golden brown with slight crispiness on the outer skin. It is then doused with some braised minced pork meat to help flavours the otherwise rather plain bean curd. As it is a produce from soya bean, you would still taste some slight sourness in it but very fast gets complemented with the savoury sauce.

Red Braised Beef with Ramen

It is not long before the first noodle dish comes to join our table; Red Braised Beef with Ramen. There is a thin layer of red oil accompanying this bowl of noodle. According to one of the foodie on our rectangular table, the soup is pretty intense with the beef flavor and not spicy at all. So, don’t be intimidated by the reddish oil then :D Meat wise is still agreeably juicy and tender whilst the ramen is pleasantly springy.

Popcorn Chicken

Next is the famous Taiwanese street snack that is no longer foreign to us, which is the Popcorn Chicken. No doubt it reminds us of the KFC poplet of chickens or the crispy Uncle Bob’s Fried Chicken whenever this Taiwanese street snack comes into mind. However, it makes sure itself stands out from its peers with the ingredients used. For the batter of this Popcorn Chicken, the flour used originates from Taiwan and is distinctively having longer span of crispiness, which means, even the fried chicken poplets have been left unattended for some time, the crunchiness still remains. Besides being so addictively bite-sized and not oily at all, it is also pretty toothsome where only some dashes of paprika has been added so to enable you to enjoy the natural juiciness of the chicken meat. The flavor is further boosted up with the fried basil leaves as well. If there is some mayonnaise or honey mustard to complement, that would be even better! Thumbs up :D

Deep Fried Pork Chop with Ramen

As we are waiting for the next treat to whet our palate, the owner, Nicholas, who is also the chef itself, surprises us with the in house Deep Fried Pork Chop with Ramen, as an entr'acte to fill up our tummy in case our tummy is still not yet fully loaded. That is so nice and thoughtful of the chipper man indeed. The pork fillet is indeed very succulent and mouthwatering. It contains almost no fat at all for majority of the part is of lean meat (my favourite), and it comes with slight crispiness of the exterior part. And it is a good idea to pair with Ramen rather than the ubiquitous white rice. The noodle itself is smooth and has been evenly mixed with some savoury sauce beforehand. It would make an equally good choice for the kids too.

Sweet Potato Fries with Sour Plum Powder

Another snack that gets the extreme applause is the Sweet Potato Fries with Sour Plum Powder. It never crosses my mind that the usual sour plum powder could make such a good companion to sweet potato. It actually enhances the sweetness from the sweet potato that both together tickle your taste bud divertingly. You also get to enjoy the slight crunchiness from the light batter used as you bite on it. The soft orangey fries are actually already good to go by itself with its natural redolence and dulcetness. I have always enjoyed sweet potato very much and this fare comes just as another lovely treat indeed.

Bouncy Golden Sweet Potato Balls

The snack part doesn’t end just there, before rounding up with a cutesy plate of these Bouncy Golden Sweet Potato Balls. Don’t let its appearance fools you for this fritters is not the usual sweet potato fried balls that you see elsewhere. This Taiwanese version is much lighter in composition where the interior of the balls is rather very, very porous but yet, still remain very elastically crispy on the outside. Yes, it still uses flour to prepare this snack but the texture is totally surprisingly different. I could actually liken it to the weight of ping pong ball :D Personally, I still enjoy a more solid kind of dough, like the common ones.

Homemade Grass Jelly with Gula Melaka

As a slight creative deviation from the popular Pearl Tea Milk, Nicholas has decided to pump in some fresh idea by pairing Grass Jelly with Milk and some Gula Melaka. It might appear nothing special but once you have tasted it, you would be able to comprehend my logic :P The grass jelly is actually freshly homemade by Nicholas himself as he stresses on the best food quality that he could offer. It is then added with some low fat milk before finished up with some gula Melaka to add some subtle sweetness to it. The heedful chef actually chooses low fat milk instead of the full cream so the milkiness won’t be so overpowering to some who are not a fan of dairy products. When all these simple ingredients are concocted as one, the end result is smackingly fantastic! If you prefer less sweet dessert, then you might opt to go easy on the gula Melaka, but I personally enjoy till the last slurp of it :D

Fruit Tea Punch

Inhouse made Fruit Tea Punch finally kicks in to round up the night’s feast. The drink is actually very refreshing indeed amidst the nice scent of the fruits. I really relish the citrusy aroma from this chilled drink.  As inquisitiveness gets the better of me, I finally enquire about the ingredients of the beverage where the debonair chef later shares that the tea base used is of green tea from Taiwan, before adding in the tiny bites of assorted fruits that includes green apple and orange. I find it very salubrious as minimal flavoring is involved. This reminds me of the equally wholesome drink of Minty Lemongrass Punch from Zang Toi West 57th Street Café.

What a wonderful night with Doraemon & the gang! Gonna miss you real much Arale.....

Smiling big still huh, Arale? Hehe....

Alright, time to really bid goodnight........sweet sweet dreams too!