Modern Korean Café with A Spicy Kick!
Korean
cuisine continues to grow in our nation and it has almost become a norm for
many to enjoy the cuisine famous for its pungent kimchi and charcoal BBQ. Kafe Go To School is one of the latest
Korean café to join the little Korean township at Solaris Mont Kiara. Kafe Go To School takes Korean cuisine to
whole new level of modern home-style Korean cuisine with a fun and whimsical
twist.
Take
the fun yesteryears of schools and bento lunches, Kafe Go To School makes a play on casual and comfort food in
classroom concept setting café. Helmed by Chef Woo Young, whose prior Korean
eatery in Taiwan became so popular and she even caught the attention of Hong
Kong Tourism Board who interviewed her on her food. Together with her sister
and her sister’s husband, Chef Woo decided to open Kafe Go To School here to showcase her trendy home-style Korean
dishes served in casual style. Besides Korean dishes, Kafe Go To School has awesome desserts as well as coffee.
The
whole ambiance as mentioned earlier is based on a school classroom concept.
Chalkboards, casual low and colorful chairs and tables, various knick-knacks of
school stuff, school bell and more added to the concept. The whole café is cozy
and perfect for family and friends to hang out. Since it’s a classroom, it’s
really perfect to bring the young ones along too. We brought our kids along and
they had such a good time at the café as it is kids’ friendly and there are
some things that will keep the kids busy too.
The
menu at Kafe Go To School is rather
playful with added photos of some dishes to make ordering easier. There are
also specials on the chalkboard. Whatever you may order, I highly recommend
that you save some room for desserts!
We
adored the fresh homemade ades they serve. Combining fresh citrus fruits with
lemonade and soda, the Citrus Ades
(RM10), Grapefruitade (RM14) and Lemonade (RM13) was really refreshing
and juicy. These are also perfect to balance the heavy flavours of the Korean
dishes to come.
The
menu has a solid list of varieties to cater to adults and children. We started
our dinner that evening with Hae Mul Pa
Jeon or Seafood & Spring Onion
Pancake (RM24). A classic Korean favorite, I have always enjoyed Pa Jeon.
The version here is superb. Thick square slices of pancake are heavily studded
with lots of spring onions and seafood bits. I like how they made the pancake
here thicker so it has a better taste of filling. Add some of the chili sauce
served on the side for extra yumminess!
There
are Japanese sushi rolls and there are Korean Kimbabs. These are similar except
Kimbab uses rice that are seasoned with seasoning like salt and sesame oil but
no vinegar like sushi rolls. There are many varieties of Kimbab but we opted
for the Korean Original Kimbab
(RM11.90). This one has spinach, carrot, pickled radish, egg omelette and
hotdog. I would be happy to enjoy this anytime…
We
also had their Salmon Roll (RM27.90)
as recommended by the owner. Crab stick, egg omelette and cucumber roll are
covered in slivers of salmon and topped with creamy sauce before it is torched
and crowned with fish skin. Nicely done and is tasty as well.
If
you are dining in a group of 3 or more, Passion
Bento (RM88) would be a good and filling sharing platter. It makes an
impressive sight of metal bento boxes filled with lots of Korean dishes of fried
chicken, noodles and rice. There are some hot stuff there as well as non-spicy
dishes. Let’s check out what Passion Bento has…
There
are two fried chickens in the platter. One is a non-spicy version of Go To School Fried Chicken and the
second is super spicy Fried Yang Neum
Chicken with Sweet Chili Sauce. The Go To School Fried Chicken has a
crunchy batter with savory seasoning. The spicy Fried Yang Neum Chicken is also
very crunchy but drenched in a super-hot and sweet chili sauce. I like how they
added crushed peanuts to the spicy chicken to give it another texture and nutty
flavour. If you cannot take too much
heat, it is best to let the wait staff know because they can have the kitchen
team adjust the heat on the sauce.
There
are two dishes of glass noodles of Jab
Chae or Stir Fried Korean Fried Glass Noodles with Vegetables and Kim Male Ri Fried Glass Noodle Covered with
Seaweed & Rice Balls. The Jab Chae is a classic Korean dishes available
at most places here and this version is a vegetarian version. It’s decent and
has the usual lightly chewy sweet potato glass noodle texture. The Kim Male Ri
Fried Glass Noodle is quite unique. Featuring stir fried glass noodles wrapped
in seaweed and deep fried with a crispy thin batter and finished with sesame
seed, these are yummy and easy to enjoy. There is also a side of seaweed rice
balls that were warm, flavour and so delicious. My little one had two of the
rice balls and really loved them a lot.
The
last dish on the Passion Bento is the Kimchi
Bibim Guksu Cold Noodle, a cold thin rice noodle served in a light cold
broth with some vegetables, an egg and a dollop of super spicy chili sauce.
This one fell a little short on flavour but that is easily remedied once you
stir up the chili sauce which gives the noodles a fiery note.
Korean
cuisine often has a lot of stews. This could be due to the cold climates in
Korea and stews are one of the best one pot dishes to warm up the tummy. While
there are many stews, Kafe Go To School’s
house signature is the So Gal Bi Jjm or Braised Short Ribs Steamed in Soy Sauce
Seasoning (RM126).
Large
bone-in 1.2kg of beef short ribs are cooked in a broth of gan jang soy sauce
seasoning made from 9 different kinds of ingredients such as Korean pear,
apple, ginseng, pineapple and more. This is served with with carrot, radish,
chestnut and jujube. One can opt to have add-ons such as udon, rice cake,
cheese or fried rice with additional charges. This stew has a really delicious
sweet and savory flavour with a lovely aroma. Since it’s made with fresh and
natural ingredients, I also didn’t feel thirsty after enjoying the broth. There
is also a spicy version.
If
you don’t take beef, then the Dakk Han
Ma Ri or Whole Chicken Cooked with
Vegetable & Ginseng Broth (RM70) will be a better choice for you. This
Korean chicken soup is said to be very nutritional and good for health. Perfect
to cure a cold or simply to warm the tummy with comfort, the broth is
deliciously savory with robust chicken essence and very subtle hints of ginseng
in the back note. The chicken was not as tasty and this was due to the fact
that all the yummy chicken essence has been released to the broth. I was really
satisfied with this pot of comfort food as the broth is really very tasty.
More
Korean stews and the Bulgogi Kimchi Soon
Du Bu-Jigae (RM23) proved to be too spicy in heat for us. I am very sure it
would have been better if the heat factor is reduced. So make sure to let the
wait staff know to go easy on the chili here. There are loads of ingredients in
this stew with beef, bean curd, kimchi, mushrooms, spring onions and more. Hand
me a bowl of rice please…
I
only had a little taste of the Cheese
Kimchi Bulgogi Rice Burger (RM19.90) and I like it. It’s trendy to savor
rice burgers and this one was a delicious combination of spicy bulgogi beef
with cheese and lettuce sandwiched with seaweed rice patties. Served with potatoes
and cabbage salad, it’s a solid and filling meal.
Another
dish worth ordering for adults and kids is the Salmon Rice Pizza (RM35). Crispy rice based pizza is covered with
special creamy sauce and salmon and lightly baked. It is finished with flying
fish roes and lots of spring onions. I would order this again because I enjoyed
the crispy rice with salmon and creamy sauce.
Korean
Bingsus are quite a hit these days and you simply must order Kafe Go To School Bingsu! These are
huge in portion so share them as it is nearly impossible to finish one bingsu
on your own unless you didn’t eat anything. That said, you still might get a
little brain freeze from the large portion of snow ice…
First
up, our kids went wild when they say the Very
Very Thank You Snow Milk BIngsu (RM33). A huge bowl of milky snow ice is
piled with loads of berries, cornflakes and a scoop of ice cream with berry
coulis. The milky snow ice was so fine and literally melts-in-the-mouth upon
contact. It has such a refine creamy and milk flavour that is very enjoyable
with the sweet and tangy berries. We all devoured this happily though we were
pretty stuffed from dinner.
If
you love the flavours of green tea, opt for the Green Tea Bingsu (RM24.90). Another large bowl piled high with fine
milky shaved snow ice, covered with a soy and green tea powder, a large dollop
of creamy red bean and scoop of green tea ice cream.
I
saved the best for last… cheese lovers do Not want to miss the U-Ja Cheesecake Bingsu (RM24.90). This
is like the bomb of Bingsu! A large piece of berry cheesecake that has so much
berries in it, is served with a little mountain of snow ice covered in a sweet,
tangy and stickly citron jam. The super luscious cheesecake goes so well with
the tangy, fresh and milky snow ice. I am such a huge fan of this Bingsu. So
worth every calorie that comes with this…
It’s really a different
side of Korean cuisine at Kafe Go To
School. Besides the homestyle Korean dishes here, Bingsu desserts are truly
a must-have here. The café also is halal. A great casual and easy going place
to chill with some trendy Korean cuisine and heavenly desserts!
KAFE
GO TO SCHOOL
18G (Ground Floor) Jalan
Solaris 3,
Solaris Mont Kiara,
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +60 3-2858 9627
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kafegotoschool
Business Hours:
Sunday to Thursday 10:00 am – 11:30 pm
Friday to Saturday 10:00
am – 1:00 am
No comments:
Post a Comment