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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Japanese Pasta @ Pasta de Gohan, Sunway Pyramid, Petaling Jaya

just opened but packed with people

Notice how we seem to follow Singapore in terms of food trends. Not sure why we are always the follower versus the leader. One fine example is the newly opened Pasta de Gohan, a spin off from Pasta de Waraku from Singapore. A well established chain of restaurants in Singapore, this outlet at Sunway Pyramid, just opened their doors on 9 May, 2008.


take your pick from the row of plastic plates of pasta

For their opening ceremony, they advertised a special promotion for the 9 May, 2008, which involves a 100% rebate in terms of vouchers to be used in your next meal there. Unfortunately, we missed the promotion but we did notice a pretty good crowd of people when we dined here last night.


why do cherries always remind me of Sherilynn Fenn in Twin Peaks? - Ordinary lemon squash given a twist of cherry for RM3.80

One thing I admire about this restaurant - the enthusiasm of the staff serving. They greet you cheerfully and service is super brisk. Not only is the service excellent, the kitchen is running well as the food they served is up to standard even though they have only been running for 4 days!


cool down with Maccha float (RM4.80)

Take your time in selecting which pasta you want as they have about 72 varieties!! If you are a bit confused, you can even walk outside or around the restaurant as plastic replicas of the various types of pasta is on display. There are plain wafu sauces, cream based sauces, tomato based sauces, basil sauce, curry sauce and etc to choose from. If you like to keep healthy, they even have salad pastas. Prices for the pasta dishes range from RM17 to RM33.


a total rip-off, the salmon avocado tofu salad (RM18.80)

If you don't fancy pasta, they also serve thin base pizzas (about 13 types), 4 types of gratin (cheese with various toppings, that is baked), 4 types of doria (similar to gratin, except rice is used as a base), hamburg steaks, fried rice, rice pilaf, salads, soups and etc.


Simply yummy - Wafu Sukiyaki Fettucini (RM25.80)

The pastas have a slight Japanese twist to them using ingredients you normally see in your Japanese meal - fresh sea urchin, salmon roe, salted fish roe, unagi, pork katsu and etc... There is even one with just corn niblets, wafu sauce and a slice of butter. I can imagine that to taste very comforting. For those who love their pork, you will be happy to know, this place serves real bacon. Slightly steaky with that unmistakable aroma.


real or plastic???

To kick off our meal, we ordered a salad - the salmon avocado, tofu salad (RM18.80). It was a total rip off as the portion was quite small and just enough for 2 of us, as an appetizer. Cubes of salmon, avocado and tofu were tossed with green and purple salad leaves with a wafu dressing.


the real deal - oyster and bacon carbonara spaghetti (RM25.80)

We fared better at our main meal choices. I loved my decadent carbonara. Not too rich, the cream sauce was slightly diluted with the wafu sauce. I enjoyed it with 4 juicy oysters and a generous portion of bacon bits, with a poached egg on top. Simply heavenly. Splashie Boy also loved his sukiyaki wafu pasta. Similar to sukiyaki, you get thin slices of beef, tofu cubes, cabbage and shitake mushrooms tossed in pasta with a delicious thin sauce. Very slurpy stuff, which we both polished off quickly.


sweet endings - maccha azuki parfait (RM8.80)


I liked the old style decoration here for our drinks - a cherry with the stem intact. That always reminds me of how the Twin Peaks gal could twist the stem into a heart shape with just her tongue...The maccha float was nice and refreshing but I wish the maccha ice cream had a stronger flavour. We ended the meal with dessert - the maccha parfait. Essentially it is soft ice cream with bits of cornflake at the bottom, topped with maccha ice cream, adzuki paste, strawberries and a type of glutinous rice dumpling. Nice and cooling, my only complaint was their maccha ice cream lacked taste.

Overall, we had a very satisfying meal here. We were impressed with the food quality and the service (hopefully it does not go downhill after the opening). Definitely would not mind returning to try the other dishes but I will stay away from the salads. They also have set meals, which offers better value.

Pasta de Gohan
Unit No. LG2.126A
Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall (new wing)
3, Jalan PJS 11/15
Bandar Sunway
Petaling Jaya

Tel No: 03 - 5621 8166

(Non halal. Open from 11am to 11pm, last order is at 10pm. The restaurant is next to Pancake House and JCo Donuts, opposite Jusco at the new wing.)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

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19 comments:

  1. helo helo! 72 types of pasta to choose from?! another fantastic find... i really love marinara.. am sure they do it well too!

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  2. this is very exciting....
    glad that they are non halal :p
    notice the Fettucini is like two spaghetti stick side by side... ^_^

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  3. this is a place is good and I had tasted their carbonara, awesome and lovely!

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  4. The carbonara with oysters and bacon looks so delicious. The other combination sounds very interesting too. Will put this in my "to-visit" list.

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  5. Anonymous11:15 AM

    yay another fusion paste place to try out..n it was slightly cheaper than pasta zanmai

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  6. gosh, wat's with all the mushrooming of jap-styled pasta places all of a sudden? truth be told, i'm wary of all these fusion food. it's either pure jap, or pure italian for me. how's jap-styled pasta diff fr the italian ones tho?

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  7. Hi, I enjoy reading your blog and I have been reading for two years now and this is the first time I write to you. I wonder if u could tell me any makan place in Perlis as I will be going there next week.
    Thank you.

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  8. I heard about the 100% rebate promotion too, but i missed it...sigh... But will definitely go to try..

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  9. Look like Pasta Zanmai got a strong competitor here.

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  10. the Maccha float worth ...

    ck
    http://kent1992.blogspot.com

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  11. OMG .. thankkkkk youuuuuuuuu sooooooooooooooooooooooooo muchhhhhhhhh for this post! I was eyeing Pasta Waraku in Singapore last trip but did not make it ... this is such a fabulous surprise!

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  12. cumi&ciki - I was amazed after I counted the different varieties.

    ling239 - I guess that is their version, to utilise the spaghetti and stick them together.

    BBO - wow, that was quick of you. Glad you liked the carbonara, as it is not too rich.

    simon seow - looks like Zanmai copied their business model and decided to start it all first.

    mycoffee - quite near yr house so shld be an easy task.

    kampungboycitygal - yeah, one halal and one non halal.

    Jun - the sauces are less robust tasting and uses ingredients the Japanese are familiar with like natto, unagi and etc.

    firefly - never been to Perlis b4 for food. I did read the guide book, which says Embassy Coffee House is famous for Nasi Kari Indonesia, there is Nasi Campur at Warong Pokok Sawa, Kg Kerisik, Mata Air.For Chinese roast meats, OK Kedai Makanan at Jalan Jubli Perak is said to be good. Hope that helps.

    mimi - such a great deal but I am sure it must have been super packed.

    mr galle - thxs for the link.

    kent - yup, very cooling for this crazy hot weather.

    lianne - it looks the same as pasta de waraku so enjoy yr self there!

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  13. i tasted their lobster pasta :D

    thats the link:
    http://mollykoay.blogspot.com/2008/05/pasta-de-gohan.html


    will try their Uni next time , hehe

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  14. another fusion like zanmai!
    loveee to give it a try!! :)

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  15. wow this looks fantastic! Must be a Japanese place, I wonder how the name translates? Gohan is Japanese for both rice and is also the word for a meal... I love the plastic food display and the unusual combinations of ingredients.

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  16. I went there last week. My impressions were similar to yours about the Singaporean business. However, I didn't think it was worth my money. I ordered the burger and it was overly simple. It obviously didn't come with a bun. And my RM25 pasta was really small.

    This is far cry from Neroteca in KL, which offers much better service, much better food, and a much better environment for the same price.

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  17. I don't think this is a spin-off from Singapore as both outlets in Spore and Malaysia are by the same owner

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  18. i tried this place out a couple weeks ago..

    i had theie Minestrone Soup, Bacon and Potato Pasta and Banana Choco Parfait

    Minestrone Soup was pretty good..only thing i didnt like about it was that it had corn in it..the type of corn u get in the corn in the cup..

    Bacon and Potato Pasta was a rip off as the portion was really small and i had to add loads of salt and pepper to actually taste anything..

    Banana Choco Parfait was okay..but nothing too amazing..

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  19. When you said it's not halal, do they serve pork or because they serve alcohol?

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