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KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah has called on all Selangor assemblymen to visit Dataran Selangor twice a month to read and understand the Rukun Negara displayed on a newly built monument plaque.
In a statement today, His Royal Highness said the reminder was especially directed at Seri Kembangan assemblyman Wong Siew Ki of DAP and former Selangor executive councillor Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew.
“I suggest that they come once a week to Dataran Selangor to understand and appreciate the meaning of the Rukun Negara, so that they become citizens who know how to respect the sovereignty of the royal institution and uphold courtesy and morality,” Sultan Sharafuddin said.
His Royal Highness said the plaque, placed in front of the Selangor state flagpole, was built and installed by the Selangor Public Works Department together with benches for visitors.
Sultan Sharafuddin said he had fully funded the cost of the Rukun Negara monument plaque and the benches.
His Royal Highness said the monument was meant to remind Malaysians, especially the younger generation, of the history behind the Rukun Negara, which was introduced after the May 13, 1969 racial riots and the declaration of a state of emergency.
The royal reminder comes after recent debate over Selangor’s proposed large-scale pig farming project in Bukit Tagar, after Sultan Sharafuddin said he did not consent to pig farming being carried out in any district of Selangor, citing environmental concerns, limited land resources and public well-being.
In January, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he would consult Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari on a proposal to cancel the Bukit Tagar project and consider relocating it to a more suitable site.
Anwar later said the government did not prohibit pig farming, but such farms should not be located in areas that could cause public concern, including near residential areas.
We challenge you to find a saltier ramen in Japan.
Once you start diving into the world of Japanese ramen, you’ll find that the waters are deep, with an incredibly diverse array of varieties, and new dishes being created somewhere every day.
A great example of that can be seen at Kuwabara, a ramen restaurant in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro that specialises in “shio soba“, a light, salt-based ramen. The store’s full name is “Shio Soba Specialty Shop Kuwabara” so it prides itself on salty ramen, but according to diners, a dish on the menu called “Ikebukuro White” is off the scale, with diners describing it as “shockingly salty“.
▼ A sign out the front shows customer’s views of the store, with “The soup is salty” in top place, written in red.
The saltiness of the Ikebukuro White is said to be so insane that the restaurant is now trending on social media, with some online commenters describing it as “salty delicious”, “incredibly addictive”, “one of a kind” and “the saltiest salt ramen I’ve ever eaten in my life.”
▼ Needless to say, those comments immediately piqued our interest so we headed out to the store to try the Ikebukuro White.
Ironically, the dish is marked by a black-and-white button on the ticket machine inside, where it’s priced at 1,200 yen (US$7.61). Next to it is a handwritten sign that says, “rapidly gaining popularity”, indicating that this dish really is attracting attention from diners.
After handing our ticket over to staff, we took a seat and a few minutes later our Ikebukuro White arrived. At first glance, it looked like a slightly unorthodox salt ramen, with black pepper and flat noodles, but nothing could prepare us for what we tasted when we took our first sip of the broth.
▼ SALTY!!
The saltiness is so strong it needs to be emphasised in all caps, and although it’s not extreme enough to make you stop eating, it toes the line by erring on the side of tolerable. This really was the saltiest ramen we’d ever had in our life, and in addition to the saltiness, the garlic and black pepper also pack a punch. The firm texture of the flat noodles, cooked perfectly al dente, attempts to soften the flavours, but they remain strong in every mouthful.
▼ Perhaps because of the intense saltiness, we found ourselves finishing the noodles in no time.
One unexpected side effect of the salty broth was it made the water taste incredibly delicious. And yes, we gulped down an entire glass after the meal.
Now that we’ve tried the famed ramen, we challenge anyone to find a saltier broth in Japan. It’s so salty that if you didn’t know its reputation beforehand, you might find yourself wondering if the chef made a mistake with the seasoning.
There’s no mistake here, though, and although the saltiness is incredibly overwhelming, it’s a one-of-a-kind ramen you won’t find anywhere else. So if you’re willing to dive into Japan’s ramen world, this is definitely the deep end, where the broth is delicious, but as salty as the sea.
Restaurant information
Shio Soba Specialty Shop Kuwabara / 塩そば専門店 桑ばら
Address: Tokyo-to, Toshima-ku, Higashi-Ikebukuro 1-27-5
東京都豊島区東池袋1-27-5
Open 11:00 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
Closed irregularly
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Getting more convenience store food for our yen is always a fun time, but this campaign is bordering on ridiculous.
On 12 May, 7-Eleven Japan kicked off its its “Founding Anniversary Sale” by giving us over 50 percent more of some of our favourite products in the first phase of its so-called “Thank You Extra Large” series.
▼ We immediately visited our nearby 7-Eleven and managed to get our hands on four of the upsized products.
The products we procured were:
There are actually six products in the range, but despite visiting several stores to purchase the complete set, we were unable to find the following two items:
This was probably a blessing in disguise, as the size of the four we had already looked like a lot of food. The ramen, in particular, produced under the supervision of award-wining Chiba-based ramen restaurant Chuka Soba Tomita., looked especially ginormous.
We decided to test this hefty beast first, popping it on the scales to reveal its true weight, which turned out to be…
▼… an astonishing 1,084 grams (2.4 pounds)!
As the container weighs about 23 grams, what we have here is more than a kilo of food, which is a great deal given that the price remains unchanged despite the 50-percent upsize. Although the pork fat is highlighted as an increased ingredient, it’s also said to have more vegetables, noodles, soup, and garlic, so we were curious to know how these extra ingredients would affect the taste.
▼ We popped it into the microwave, for 10 minutes at 500 watts, which is quite a long time for microwaveable food.
As it was heating, we felt slightly intimidated by the intense garlic smell that filled the room, and when we opened the lid we couldn’t quite believe the amount of food that lay before us.
The ingredients were so huge they made the container look tiny, and we began to wonder how we could eat our noodles without them spilling out everywhere.
Carefully lifting the char siu, we could see a huge pile of bean sprouts and cabbage beneath it, with the rest of the meal consisting of garlic, noodles, and pork fat.
With big noodle meals like this, locals make use of a special move called “tenchi gaeshi“, which literally translates as “heaven-and-earth flip“. This involves lifting the noodles from the bottom of the bowl and “flipping” them over the vegetables on top, to prevent them from getting soggy and to mix the broth, noodles, fat, sauce, and vegetables more evenly.
▼ Performing the “tenchi-gaeshi” mixing maneuver requires extra skill with this huge meal.
After carefully flipping heaven and earth, we were even more impressed at how much food was in the bowl, and when we took a sip of the broth, we were hit by the intensely powerful flavour of garlic and pork fat, which was absolutely delicious.
This was a high-quality meal, and the noodles were equally fantastic, providing just the right amount of chewiness to help round out the bold flavours.
The sheer volume was truly unbelievable, and nothing like what you’d normally see at a convenience store. It was so filling that by the end of the meal, we didn’t have any belly room for the other items we’d picked up.
▼ The vegetable sticks, with rice malt, miso and mayonnaise dip, would’ve been a nice way to cut through all the fat, but we just couldn’t fit them in.
The Egg Salad sandwich, or “THE Tamago” (“THE Egg”) as it’s called in Japanese, now contains three cut sandwiches instead of two, making it a great deal.
▼ And finally, the Corn & Mayonnaise bread has also been upsized, so it’s now almost twice as large as a smartphone.
The first phase of the campaign is scheduled to run from 12 May to 25 May, with the second phase bringing us a new line of upsized items from 19 May to 1 June. After receiving flack from customers who claimed that some convenience stores have been skimping on their offerings recently, there’s certainly no skimping with these campaign products, so hop in and try them while you can!
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The question that keeps cropping up for Marvel is: “What about the X-Men?” Since Disney acquired the rights to Marvel, the ensemble mutant team remains untapped. While Wolverine and Deadpool recently teamed up, that is a far cry from the X-Men reboot many have been waiting for.
INCHEON, May 17 — A North Korean women’s football team landed in South Korea on Sunday, marking the first visit by a sports team from the isolated country to its southern neighbour in eight years, to play in the Asian Champions League semi-finals.
Naegohyang Women’s FC – which means “My Hometown” in Korean – emerged from South Korea’s Incheon International Airport near Seoul surrounded by throngs of reporters and supporters holding welcome signs.
A total of 39 North Korean players and staff, dressed in identical dark jackets and skirts and wheeling pink suitcases, were greeted by dozens of people from South Korean civic groups holding welcome signs.
“We welcome you!” they said as the players walked past along a cordoned-off route under heavy security presence.
The players swiftly boarded a bus, which departed the airport under police escort.
“I came here today to welcome the Naegohyang team players, who are visiting South Korea for the first time in eight years,” civic group member Choi Young-ok told AFP.
But she cautioned against having lofty hopes that the event would improve relations between the two Koreas.
“While I do hope it will help, I don’t think this match alone will solve anything significant unless the fundamental issues between the two sides are addressed,” she said, without elaborating.
“A sports match is just a sports match,” she added.
Flags banned
Naegohyang Women’s FC, based in Pyongyang, will face Suwon FC Women in the semi-finals of the Women’s Asian Champions League on Wednesday.
Founded in 2012, the club won North Korea’s top-flight title in the 2021-22 season and defeated Suwon 3-0 during the tournament’s group stage last year.
The North Korean entourage arrived via Beijing on an Air China commercial flight and will stay at a hotel in Suwon, south of Seoul.
Local reports said the North and South Korean teams would stay at the same hotel but use separate dining areas and travel routes, limiting direct interaction.
Interest in the match has been intense, with more than 7,000 tickets selling out within hours.
The game will be at Suwon Sports Complex, which has a capacity of just under 12,000.
Seoul’s unification ministry has also provided funding for civic groups planning to support both teams at the game, describing the event as an opportunity to promote “mutual understanding between the two Koreas”.
According to local media, civic groups have been discussing cheering guidelines with the authorities, because waving North Korean national flags in public is prohibited under the national security law.
In past such events held in the South, civic groups instead waved flags depicting the Korean Peninsula.
Women’s football is one of North Korea’s strongest international sports, with their national teams regularly competing at the highest levels in Asia and globally.
North Korea are ranked 11th in the Fifa women’s rankings, far ahead of their men’s team, who are 118th. — AFP
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