We heard that there’s a new mall in the neighbourhood, so the fam and I hopped on to Da: Men in USJ for lunch over the weekend. Many of the shops are still vacant but there are loads of food stalls and beauty parlours selling makeup, cosmetics, designer boutiques and hipster-ish stuff. Foodies and girls will like it here!

The lower ground floor is an open food court area, with stalls selling mostly snacks and light fare. I liked the designs, they were all cool and hip. (Above) some food ‘trucks’ selling HK-style egg biscuits,  smoothies and toast.

The Hippie Bus Cafe was charming with its psychedelic murals and cutesy decos.

After wandering around for a bit, we finally opted for Japanese food from Hayadon. Specialising in cheap but tasty izakaya/udon/don meals, this is their fourth outlet and the only one outside of KL. Bro had the teriyaki chicken don (RM12.90 – ala carte) , which came with a largish piece of sweet basted chicken atop rice and salad.

I enjoyed my dry spicy chicken and egg udon (RM12.90 – ala carte), which came with a smattering of minced meat, beautifully topped with onsen-cooked egg and seaweed flakes. Poking the egg so that the runny yolk oozed out to coat the wonderfully bouncy udon noodles, this dish reminded me of dry chilli pan mee. The sauce tasted like a cross between spicy tomato and a sloppy joe. It is one of their best sellers and worthy of the title. 🙂

You can bring food from another stall and sit anywhere. Parents had lu ruo fan (stewed minced chicken rice) from SnackzIt for RM9. It took forever to serve (our Jap food had already arrived even though we ordered later) and even then, the rice was cold and grainy.

Mum: wtf? RM9? The chicken meat is like pei tai (snot) (lol referring to the small meat portion.

They ended up eating at another food court again afterwards.

The mall has many floors, but most were dedicated to beauty products like masks, makeup, etc.

Random decos throughout the mall.

We made our way to the top floor, where there was another food court. This was also very open with a modern + nostalgic design. Modern because the furniture and walls were minimalist, nostalgic because they had all these old utensils and items as decoration. They give you an access card when you enter and you use that when ordering at the stalls. They’ll swipe it and you pay at the exit.

Dad had the grilled chicken satay (RM8 – 6pieces): a bit sweet with the baste but otherwise tender and well done.

Mom’s chicken porridge (RM8.50) came in a generous portion with minced chicken, carrots and crab meat sticks.

The top floor also has a wishing tree where visitors can hang up their wishes on colourful pieces of paper. 🙂

I hope to be able to wear a yukata for a festival someday. 🙂