Venture to Hills Shopping Mall

Fourth Aunt had never been to Pullman Hotel. She was not even sure where it was. Hence, I brought her there one afternoon. Pullman Hotel Kuching is located at Jalan Mathies. Not sure where that is? Well, it's near Hilton Hotel and Crowne Plaza Hotel, sitting atop a hill.

I drove and parked at the basement. Basement parking was RM1.00 per entry.

Aunt and I walked around the Pullman Hotel lobby, admiring the decor. We even sneaked a peek at the swimming pool located at the second floor.

In the same building is Hills Shopping Mall. It is a 2-storey shopping mall which house retail outlets like The Body Shop, Times Bookstore, HSL Circuit City, Calvin Klein Jeans, to name a few. Eateries include Sushi King, Marry Brown, Old Town White Coffee, and so on. Many of the shops are yet to be opened. But this mall felt empty, dreary, and boring, with low consumer traffic. It's in a rather sorry state, I think.

On the second floor was Wan Chai Restaurant, another attempt at a Hong Kong style cafe. Aunt and I flipped the menu but we were not attracted to try any of the food items. Instead, I ordered a Korean Rice Cracker Ice Cream.

Well, the cracker was crispy, much like our keropok, except that it was not savoury. But it was good enough to eat on its own. The ice-cream was of the soft serve variety. I chose vanilla flavour, but it really was not nice at all. It was sweet, and I thought it had a funny taste. Not milky enough.

The ice-cream quickly made the cracker soggy, so it was rather difficult to eat. Sigh, this ice-cream is not worth trying. It's RM2.50 per serving.

Korean Rice Cracker Ice Cream

Soft serve ice-cream

There's a teeny weeny food court on the first floor. There were but a few stalls there, inclusive of a Kim Bay outlet, and All Joy Desserts Bar. I thought the place seemed dim and uninviting. However, I there was this stall which attracted a lot of customers.

The stall was manned by a few youngsters, busily taking orders, cooking and packing little balls of goodness. Well, the stall is called Japan Boat Takoyaki. A banner at the side said "First and Only in Kuching" and "Never Try Never Know".

All right, Aunt and I were persuaded and we decided to try a box of 3 pieces which cost us RM3.20. We had to wait quite a while as there were so many orders. Aunt and I sat and watched as the workers busily prepared the takoyaki balls.

First batter was poured into the takoyaki moulds. The lady then put a tiny bit of octopus into each mould. Next, shredded cabbage was sprinkled over the cooking batter. The balls were then turned over and over as they cooked. A while later, cooking oil was poured onto the mould, and the balls sizzled in the burning oil. Seeing the amount of oil that was used, I had really doubted whether I should consume those snacks, which I knew would be really high in fat content. Anyway, the lady let the balls cook till they became a bit charred on the outside.

When they were ready, the balls were packed into paper boat boxes, brushed with a brownish-looking sauce, and topped with mayonnaise, and sprinkled with fish flakes. You could actually have your takoyaki with other flavours like wasabi.

A boat-shaped packaging

Sprinkled with fish flakes

Stick a toothpick in a ball

See the shredded cabbage and a tiny piece of octopus inside

I asked the man what the brown sauce actually was and he said he could not disclose. Lol. It was apparently a secret recipe, a firmly guarded trade secret. Lol.

Eaten hot, the balls did not seemed to feel that oily. Hence, I did not feel as guilty as I should have. Lol. Aunt liked the sauce but found the octopus bit too hard and difficult to masticate. Well, the takoyaki balls proved to be a satisfying snack, and we were really tempted to buy another pack. It was just that we did not want to wait the 10 minutes it took for the balls to cook.

Well, Hills Shopping Mall was not interesting at all, but I really do not mind going back just to savour those yummy takoyaki balls.