Thursday, 28 January 2010

Halal Korean food at The Street Café

The Street Café (TSC), which is located in Asian Avenue at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall, serves delicious halal Korean fare. Our Muslim readers would probably be familiar with this joint as it is one of the very few Korean eateries in town that is halal.

(Note: Halal here means fit to eat according to Muslim religious practice.)

Halal Korean food in here: Asian Avenue at the Sunway Pyramid
Shopping Mall

Orchid and I met up with Andrew Kim, one of TSC’s partners for a chat about the café, Kpop fans and yummilicious Korean food.

“This is the first The Street Café outlet. We opened on 08.08.08,” reveals Kim one busy Sunday afternoon. “Our second outlet is a double storey building in SS15 Subang Jaya.”

Chit chat: Andrew Kim shares with K-popped!
about The Street Cafe


The SS15 outlet is reportedly packed during lunch hour thanks to the college crowd from the nearby university colleges. The outlet, which has a huge LCD screen playing the latest Korean music videos and wi-fi, is a hip place to be seen at.

A unique thing about the outlet is that it caters for private functions as well and many Kpop Fan Club gatherings have been held at the restaurant.

“I am impressed and surprised by how the locals are so into Kpop. They really appreciate Korean culture and food,” says Kim of the Hallyu craze in Malaysia.

“It’s amazing to see them write in Hangeul…some of the girls even have better handwriting than me!”

Affordable halal food

The idea behind TSC is to provide Malaysians with affordable and tasty Korean fare. Of course, special consideration is given to the Muslim community and TSC proudly bears the halal stamp.

This is how you do it: Just put a tick beside the items you want (left)
and give it to the friendly waiter

There is a difference in the eating habits of South Koreans and Malaysians. While the Koreans are very particular when it comes to healthy eating, Kim has discovered that Malaysians are more concerned with the price tag that comes with the food.

“Our items range from RM4.90 to about RM16.90. We want to make our food affordable to the public, something as easily available as a plate of nasi lemak or roti canai,” says Kim, who attended high school in Malaysia – and subsequently fell in love with the country.

For the young (and young at heart): The Street Cafe is for the hip
and trendy crowd

The entrepreneur is as familiar with Malaysian food as he is with Korean cuisine.

The young man, who has had his share of bak kut teh, nasi lemak and maggi mee goreng, believes that most Korean restaurants offer a family setting environment and TSC wants to break that mold with its more relaxed and easy-going atmosphere that is perfect for the younger crowd.

Food test

Orchid and I decided to try the Korean BBQ Chicken (RM4.90 per stick), On Fire Fried Chicken (RM4.90 per stick) and the Fried Chicken Raboki (RM13.90).

For drinks, we chose from a menu of Korean canned drinks (RM4.90 each). Orchid ordered a Korean pear (배) drink while I went for the sikhye (식혜) or sweet rice drink.

Glug, glug, glug: Canned drinks that were imported from South Korea

Both the Korean BBQ Chicken and On Fire Fried Chicken are meat-on-skewer dishes, or what we would like to call “satay”. The sweet and sticky teriyaki sauce made the meat delicious and tasty. However, be careful with the On Fire Fried Chicken as it is really spicy. We could feel beads of sweat forming on our head as we bit into the chicken marinated in the extra spicy sauce.

Burn, baby, burn: Be careful with this one - the On
Fire Fried Chicken

Less potent: The tasty Korean BBQ Chicken

The Fried Chicken Raboki is a combination of Korean rice cakes or ttoboki (또보기) and noodles in “sweet and spicy” chilli sauce. I enjoyed the ttoboki, but the noodles were like a sponge, soaking up all the sauce, which is a little on the sweet side.

Main dish: Fried Chicken Raboki is a little on the sweet side

All said, if you have been looking for a Korean restaurant that has great all-round Korean ambience (latest Kpop tracks, anyone?) and halal Korean food, make a beeline for The Street Café. You even have two outlets to choose from…and word has it that there may be a third outlet opening soon in 1 Utama.

Now isn’t that good news?

Getting there:
The Street Café, Sunway Pyramid
Lot 197 Asian Avenue, Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall
Tel: 016-360 0712

The Street Café, SS15 Subang
No. 28 Jalan SS 15/8 Subang Jaya, 47500 Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel: 03-5632 5328

Website: http://www.thestreetcafe.com.my/

20 Comments:

Unknown said...

coolness! ill be sure to drop by the restaurant the next time im in sunway pyramid. Ive been craving good korean meal even since i came back to msia. Thank u for the useful review. :)

|| Lynn || said...

The SS15 one is directly opposite Taylor's College... Same row as Subway =)

ooo... one of my fave place for korean food is Dae Jeong Gam (not sure how to spell) in Taipan (USJ10)... The owner is really sweet and the banchan is DELISH! I love the raw vege that comes with sour and a bit spicy dressing =)

hk said...

I'm glad that you cover this topic...I remember last time, I had wrote an email suggestion to you guys if you can try the food here and find out whether it's halal or not..........Glad you did it !!!!!!!!!!...Definitely going to try this!!.............I'm obsessed to anything korean..kekeke.......

Anonymous said...

annyeong~

i want to make a suggestion, why don't you try to interview sam sam korean - another korean eateries at the garden's food court. the ahjumma who owns the stall is really nice ;)

Liz said...

@threeb3ars: I would love to do that. Do you have the contact of the ahjumma you suggested?

betterthanholly said...

Hey, gals~ I know that ajumma; she's really really really nice ^^.

Sorry to say this, but honestly, the food there is kinda blend...'cause young Malayians she hired usually cook there.

The ajumma is the owner and she doesn't seem to cook...

The food at another 'sam sam' branch at 'Pavilion' Mall food court tastes better, although it's not my fave.

If you wanna have very cheap, nearly authentic Korean food,
try the one at Mid Valley Mall food court on the 3rd Floor!

'Yuk-gye-jang' stew with BEEF is heavenly with rice and kimchi.

'Bibimbap' (sizzling rice mixed with veges, egg and gochujang in hot stone bowl..I usually skip meat. It's the healthiest meal in the world!),
'bulgogi' and
'Tuk-bok-ki' (rice cakes with veges marinated with chochujang sauce)
are very cheap but authentic and delicious.

They'll give you more side dishes for free if you ask for.
There's a cute Korean dude:) and very friendly Malaysian staff at the counter.
The cook there is a Korean ajjumma.
I often go there for a movie and the pet zoo (all on the same floor).

Have a groovy weekend~!

betterthanholly said...

Sorry, there's a typo...'bland' instead of 'blend'

Liz said...

The Korean stall at the Mid Valley food court is good? The last time I went, I ordered the kimchi jjigae and didn't like it at all.

Did they change management recently?If they did then maybe it is worth another visit :-)

♥corcraze♥ said...

annyeong!
wow,thanks a lots for this awesome thread!!
ive been wondering where can i get halal korean food,i know there quite a lot at ampang,and there is one SeoulRestaurant i think near the highway,but never tried cause dunno it its a 100% halal.

i ate bulgogi,bibimbap and kimchi back in Uk,cause its easier to find asians food.but in malaysia dunno where to find raw ingredients.
maybe could u find local supermarket that we can get those raw ingredients?like bulgogi sause etc etc..thx.

is this TCS owner a korean?
what about the chef?they have to be muslim isn't,and that canned drinks were imported specially from korea,so are they halal too???

i would love to have my 20th birthday here!
need to ask this request from my family!no matter what,even though i dont really know how to use chopsticks!hahaha..

im deadly obsessed with anything korean too!!
keen to learn hangguk!

zalilahS said...

i've been to this street cafe both subang jaya and sunway pyramid..to my taste; i like it..and it's cheaper since compare to other halal restaurant..never tried at midvalley and PNB darby park[both halal]..just curious wether restaurant at PNB darby park is expensive or not??
♥corcraze♥ :i think it's halal since tsc already have halal certificate from jakim.i knew bout them through saji magazine.u can check it through their facebook acc.

Anonymous said...

wow!this is just in front of my college. and actually my friends and i go there every week^^

♥corcraze♥ said...

ohh,thanks zalilah.i've added them in facebook already.

아이스 said...

long time didn't visit ler...looks like need to make it there some day during break! haha!

nawzir said...

awesome news, now nothing is stopping me from enjoying korean food. Hopefully there will be more of theses

Cyfull de'CK said...

Yeay! thanx a bunch for this topic!

samsam said...

Ayumi's right. I work in MV and have tried Samsam Korea at the Gardens and the Korean Cuisine at the 3rd flr MV. I prefer the 3rd flr one as it's more authentic since the cooks are koreans themselves. My favs dolsot bibimbap, tteokbokki, japjae and a couple of other. Really yummy! And yes, I luv the 2 cute and friendly koreans guys manning the place.

Anonymous said...

ayumi is right abt the samsam korea on 3rd floor @ MV. i tried the bibimbap - it tastes better than the one i usually have around ampang! and YES, the 2 korean dudes there are super cute! i especially love the one weather glasses :) oppa, bogoshipposoyo ;p

Anonymous said...

*wearing (sorry for the typo!)

Unknown said...

^*^Annyoung-Ha-Se-yo..^*^
I'm the owner (wearing a glass ^*^) of the korean stall in 3rd floor in MV.(We're not Samsam).

Thanks for your sweet comment on us. --"Gamsahamnida"-- I juz read ur comment and couldn't be happier. ^*^
Here is a GOOd news that we have a promotion(10%discount)during week days for student. So.. plz visit us if anyone would like to try authentic Korean food. U are always more than welcome...^*^

Again Thanks for supporting Korean food.. GAMSAHAMNIDA^*^

(Nooraini 'Ade'- GAMSAHAMNIDA.. SEE U SOON ^*^)

Liz said...

Seunghwan sshi, thanks for the message. If you have the time, could you please send me an email at 2kpopped@gmail.com?

I'm Liz and I'm the Co-founder / Editor of this site.

감사합니다 :-)

 

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