Ticket to Korea @ Setiawalk, Puchong
8:00:00 AM
To be quiet honest, I'm not a big fan of Korean food. Some items on the menu I might like, but usually not due to the fact of overachieved Korean idol that helped skyrocketed the Korean food industry. Several years ago, before the inception of K-pop, Korean food weren't doing very well. If anything, Daorae would be the only Korean restaurant I knew.
However, after SNSD and Super Junior along plenty of other Korean idol group, the trend was Korean food. They're pretty much everywhere, especially in the Mont Kiara area. Unfortunately, despite the speed in which they open, not all of them are good. In fact, they're all pretty similar to one another.
Hence, the reason why I'm not a big fan of Korean food. No doubt, over the years, I've been to some pretty decent Korean restaurants that serve pretty good Korean dishes - kimchi, jiigae, dak-galbi, daboki, gimbap and several others as well. But in the end, it still was pretty normal. Luckily, with the newly opened Ticket to Korea, things are about to change.
Entrance on the second floor, right in front of Muzeum Bar. Might be a little hard to find.
The interior, pretty simple.
There's so much things you could do on this wall. Hoping to see something done when I return.
Organic Chia Seed Ade (Lemon, Orange, Blackcurrent) - RM11.50
We started off with some refreshing Chia seed drink with various flavours. I had the Blackcurrent version (the one in the middle) and I quite enjoyed it. Refreshingly light, not too sweet and an abundance of Chia seeds which made the drink really fun to drink.
Complimentary pickled tomatoes in white wine and fried kimchi. I don't know which to like best as both exhibit a different depth of taste. If blindfolded, I might not even be able to tell that it was a tomato due to the altered flavour from the white wine. The fried kimchi itself takes a regular-free kimchi to a whole new level. It actually works as a proper dish rather than just a complimentary side dish.
Cheese Sticks - RM6
It might look like a boring piece of stick with cheese inside, but I assure you, it's not. Despite its simple appearance, it had quite a handful of sweet potato and melted mozzarella stuffed within its crispy skin. A lovely appetizer indeed.
Citron Pizza - RM34
It's not the first time I've had a non-tomato base pizza. But this certainly was the first time I had something so unique yet addictive. An extremely thin crusted pizza topped with a alfredo base, Korean citron sauce and 3 types of cheese. The result was a crispy yet chewy, savoury yet sweet and cheesy finish. Quite an amazing piece of work.
Big Bowl Pasta Salad - RM34
Yes, it is big. It is at least 25cm in height, as the photo doesn't look like much. Fresh greens with cold spaghetti and sweet-spicy oriental sauce with cheese on top. Great depth of flavours and interesting textures all the way through.
Seafood Koean Pancake
Plenty of chives mixed in batter and topped with an egg and fresh squid served with chili-soy sauce on the side. Crispy, fragrant and a good compliment to some of the dishes we had. Squid was cooked to perfection, not too rubbery nor raw. Tasted better with the chili-soy sauce!
Sous Vide Pork Belly Steak - RM56
Crispy, sweet and absolutely fattening! A type of brown sauce was introduced with this dish as well, as the plate started to heat - the sauce will then be poured in. That helps caramelizes the bottom layer of the pork belly which made it extremely sweet and crisp. The center was a tender block of meat alongside some layer of fats which literally melts in my mouth. All top with fresh onions and chives that can be cooked together on the hotplate as well. Loved it - recommended!
Rock Salt Popcorn Ice Cream & Oreo Ice Cream - RM17.50 and RM19.50
The only difference between these two would be the add-on ingredients and the base temperatures of the hotplates. The popcorn version had some rock salt in it, which was somewhat interesting towards the end and the Oreo has, of course, Oreos. The vanilla ice cream actually melts quicker on the Oreo due to the heated hotplate as compared to the Popcorn variant. But overall, I liked the taste of the vanilla ice cream alongside the toppings. Popcorn was my favourite.
In conclusion, the food exceptionally good for several reasons. One, it wasn't like any other Korean restaurants that I've had here in Malaysia. In fact, Ticket to Korea is a casual fine dining restaurant that offers trending dishes from Korea, not just the traditional ones. Which was a delight considering everywhere else serves the exact same thing with slight variations.
The second being the consistency of taste. Each dish had its own unique flavour, but somehow correlating with one another through the entire meal. They were not too overpowering not too under-seasoned as well. A great balance and depth of flavour was induced in all that we've tried.
Last but not least, the service of both the owners (fiance) were really friendly, attentive and passionate. (Not to mention that the girl is really beautiful) They made the entire dining experience a lot more enjoyable. Hence, this is by far one of the best Korean restaurants (besides Kyochon) that I've encountered.
Address:
C-8-1, Block C,
Setiawalk, Persiaran Wawasan,
47160 Puchong KL.
Operating hours: 12pm-3pm, 5pm-11pm (closed on Tuesday)
Tel: 017-610 1499
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