This little egg-inspired cafe is the latest in the row of hip eateries in Section 17 PJ. With so many drool-worthy omurice (Japanese fried rice topped with ooey gooey omelette) videos trending on social media it was only a matter of time before PJ saw its very own omurice spot. We were very eggs-cited by this, hence decided to visit
Omulab on a Saturday night recently.
Omulab in Section 17. Photo from the Omulab Facebook page.
We arrived at about 7.15 pm and the cafe was packed! The three of us were asked to wait outside until a table could be cleared for us. We waited for about ten minutes and had to remind the waiter that we were still outside before we got our table.
The menu is filled with eggy goodness and we were overwhelmed by the choices. In the end, we settled on a snack to share and three main dishes.
What followed was a very long wait. The cafe was eggs-tremely busy - every table was taken up, with hungry diners waiting on their food. We were seated near the kitchen and we eyed every dish coming out with anticipation.
Kinoko furai (RM12.90)
The first thing to arrive was our appetiser, Kinoko Furai (RM12.90 - assorted tempura mushrooms). I'm a huge fan of fried mushrooms and these were yummy. The accompanying mustard and aioli dipping sauce was an interesting combination. I only wished that there was more of it.
Mentaiko Guru (RM22.50)
We had a longer wait for the omurice dishes to arrive. Finally, I got mine - the Mentaiko Guru (RM22.50), which is ebiko fried rice with mentaiko sauce. The omelette texture was amazing as promised - so soft and fluffy, like a pillow draped over the rice! The fried rice itself was nice, but the hero was definitely the omelette. The mentaiko sauce was just alright - I unfortunately didn't get a lot of flavour there.
Mentaiko Guru, sliced open! Please excuse the accidental slice in the centre.
My friend's Sensei Kare (RM18.50), mixed herb rice with Japanese curry was the next to arrive. If you're a fan of Japanese curry, this will hit the spot.
Here's where the egg-sperience was marred ... it took another half an hour for my husband's dish, the Omu and Kamo Baoger (RM13.90), to arrive. In total, we waited an hour from the time we ordered for this final dish. While we reminded the staff a few times, none of them came up to us to address the issue until much later. And when the dish finally came, all we got was a hastily muttered "Sorry."
Omu and Kamo Baoger (RM13.90)
After all that wait, the final product was a bit disappointing in size. The taste was great - with a crispy mantou bun and juicy slices of duck, but there wasn't enough duck (three small slices) and after waiting an hour for such a tiny dish, we couldn't help but feel shortchanged.
I would recommend a visit just for the omurice eggs-perience, as their presentation was definitely spot on!
