The Food Site

I’ve been to Tao Cuisine in e-Gate a few times already and each time, I really like their delicious food. The most wonderful part is of course the ala-carte buffet where you can order whatever you want from the menu instead of lining up and making do with the buffet line.

They don’t only offer Japanese-style food but also Thai and fusion food. A note of caution to those with young children. They will insist on charging for a child who is over 3 feet tall. My son is almost 3-feet tall (but he is only two years old) and they wanted to charge me but of course I made a lot of noise and they said ‘Next time we will charge you because this is a buffet and we go by headcount’.

Well, even though their food is good, there won’t be a next time for me! Other restaurants, even in hotels, with buffet do not charge children below 5-years-old. Besides, how much do they expect a 2-year-old could eat? My son couldn’t even finish the whole piece of grilled salmon!

Anyway, here’s a review of the food:

Their grilled salmon is fresh and it is grilled with teriyaki sauce that’s both sweet and salty, a great combination. The fish is also grilled to perfection, not overcooked and still juicy.

Their grilled lamb shoulder is one of the best I’ve ever tasted. Seasoned with a sauce very much like the teriyaki sauce, it is really tasty and takes away the strong smell of the lamb. It is also cooked to perfection, just nicely cooked and not dry and tough. Really juicy.

Here’s another type of grilled fish, Miso Yaki, which is grilled just like the salmon. I don’t know what fish it is what it is also just as good as the salmon.

They also serve the food quite fast (if you go early) but they slow down once you’ve ordered over a ‘certain’ limit they set which you won’t know about. Yep, I counted. So, if you bring along a big-eater, be prepared to have orders which will not come once you’ve ordered ‘over their limit’. I don’t know their limit, it could be from 10 plates of salmon for a big group to 5 plates of salmon for a smaller group or something like that. Of course, they will say it is unlimited but hey, they are doing business after all so they have to watch the amount of food being served!

Rating: 8/10 (for the food only but if taken into account my few grievances with them, it’s 6/10)

Price: $$$ (RM50 per person)

Here’s the food outlet details (remember to book a place before you go because it is always crowded):

Tao Cuisine

e-Gate, next to Tesco along the Bayan Lepas Express Highway, off Jalan Tunku Kudin

Contact: 04-6587826 / fax: 04-6597826

Business hours: 11.30am – 10.30pm (weekdays), 11.30am – 12pm (weekends)

Close for break time: 2.30pm – 5.30pm

For the map to Tao Cuisine, go here.

When I was small, one of my favourite dishes (other than spinach – thanks to Popeye) is what we commonly called ’steak’ but it is not even remotely like steak and it is not made of beef!

It is actually pork meatball cooked with potatoes, onions and frozen mixed vegetables (cubed carrots, corn and peas), sort of like a stew. What’s great about this dish is that the gravy is exceptionally tasty and it can be eaten as a main dish too!

So, here’s my recipe for this dish using chicken instead of pork.

Chicken Meatball and Potatoes

Ingredients

1 pc chicken breast meat, minced

Light soya sauce

Sesame oil

Pepper

3 medium sized potatoes, peeled and sliced

2 eggs, whisked

4 large onions, peeled and chopped

1 cup mixed vegetables (mix of carrots, corn and peas), thawed and drained

Instructions

1. Season the minced chicken with 3 tbsp soya sauce, a dash of pepper and 1 tsp sesame oil for about an hour.

2. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl and add in the minced chicken. Mix well.

3. Heat up cooking oil on a frying pan or wok and stir fry the potatoes till it is slightly brown. Remove and drain the oil using kitchen paper towels.

4. Add more cooking oil and heat it up.

5. Using a ladle, scoop up a ladle-full of the minced chicken-egg mixture and gently pour it into the oil. Wait for it to cook for awhile before turning it. Remove when it turns brown but make sure you do not overcook it. It still needs to be slightly uncooked. Blot out the excess oil using kitchen paper towels. Repeat till you fried all of the mixture.

6. In a clean wok / pan, heat up cooking oil and then add the onions. Stir fry for awhile till fragrant, then add the potatoes and mixed vegetables. Stir.

7. Add 2 – 3 cups of water and the chicken meatballs into the pan. Add 3 – 4 tbsp soya sauce or according to taste. Let it simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.

8. Remove from heat and serve with rice or even eat it as the main dish of chicken meatballs and potatoes!