The Nosh Up Cafe, Jaya Shopping Centre, Section 14, Petaling Jaya

Address:
LG-26, Jaya Shopping Centre, Section 14, Petaling Jaya
Opening Hours:
I guess it would be the same as Jaya Shopping Centre,
Daily, 10am - 10pm
Time Visited:
Tuesday night dinner at 7pm.
Attire worn:
Distraught in business
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Smoked Duck Miso Pasta and Cappuccino

After a shopping spree all for the sake of work without detailing to any of my fellow colleagues, I wandered aimlessly through the walkways of Jaya Shopping Centre (used to be Jaya Supermarket until the building was closed down, collapsed and torn down to build this) in search of a destination for dinner. After stopping by at a pharmacy to buy aspirins for my new addiction, I peruse the building directory to see if there's any interesting place that catches my attention. I noticed something called Cafe Bellagio and immediately headed on towards there to see what's it about. Unfortunately, it looks more like a food court or a mamak stall than a cafe to me and so I was turned off from having my meal there. I then, stumbled upon The Nosh Up Cafe as I walked towards the other side and it appealed to me to step in and try even though there was nobody else inside.

I was immediately greeted upon when I browse through the menu upfront and so I decided to step in and try it out.

When my Cappuccino came to me, I was pleasantly surprised at the expert level of the barista. Not only had he expertly conjured up a bear coffee art for me (which to me is beautiful), the mixture of the coffee was incredible as well. This is definitely how I love my coffee and can be considered as way up there with my favorites.

Being well pleased with my beverage, I look forward to my pasta. When it was brought to me, it looked tasty. But looks can be deceiving and this takes the cake. The pasta was bland beyond means. The poached egg was watery inside and the texture of the egg didn't suit to my taste. Pasta was soggy, smoked duck undercooked, underneath the pasta was a big puddle of oil, grease, water and gravy. The Nori (seaweed) sprinkled on top of the egg produced no taste whatsoever too. The only thing that's not entirely wrong was the tomato. Most were okay while some were unriped. Bleargh. It was an abomination.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM34.10. RM22 for the pasta and RM9 for the Cappuccino. 10% service charge.

Final Verdict:
6/10. If you're ever tempted to try this place due to it's lovely aesthetics like me, just go for their drinks. The pasta sucks big time. Not sure about their pie. Not sure about the salad since I'm not a big salad eater. LOL. If they ever screw up salad, then they really fail in their food department.

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Upstairs Cafe, SS12, Subang Jaya

Address:
1st Floor, 12A, Jalan SS12/18, 47500 Subang Jaya
Opening Hours:
Mon - Sat: 10am - 11pm
Time Visited:
Lunch at 12:20pm, Tuesday.
Attire worn:
Business
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Big Breakfast and Latte

Originally tried ordering the pasta but was told that pastas are served only from 1pm onwards and the breakfast menu was brought to my attention which I'm more than delighted to order from it.

I went for the Big Breakfast which consisted of 2 sunny side up eggs (or scrambled if you prefer), a toast with some butter and jam on it, a small dish with baked beans, turkey ham, 2 sausages, hash brown, and sauteed mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.

The place was almost filled with people even before my entrance to the cafe and as expected, the area is quite difficult to get a vacant and decent parking lot due to limited space and so I resorted to park at the residential houses nearby. Lucky for me, there's still some indoor places left when I arrived because later on, people just keep coming and coming to the cafe and never leaving, and this cafe is just a shop located on the upstairs floor. Interesting how many people preferred to sit around and chit chat with their friends looking like they had all the time in the world. And I'm usually the one who leaves my table after quite a long period of time.

My coffee and my brunch came in quite a hurry when I haven't even settled long on my seat yet! The coffee was great, much to my delight while the Big Breakfast was a rollercoaster ride for my tongue - there were parts I loved and parts I don't. Would've loved more spread on the bread when the tiny comport of butter and jam were not enough to cover the whole bread for flavor. The eggs were nothing unusual or out of the ordinary and so was the baked beans but I loved the turkey ham, the sausages, hash brown and especially the sauteed mushrooms and cherry tomatoes which brings a lot of good flavors to the whole dish. So when you combine everything together, I guess it evens out to an average meal. Maybe slightly above average.

The place didn't have much space so tables were not as widely spread out as I would love it to while the middle has a much bigger space for people to walk up and down as well as the staff to serve your orders. Settling on a table that seems to be in the middle of the cafe proved quite uncomfortable for me because I felt very self conscious sitting there all alone but at least it's better than that one table on the corner where the chairs face the wall. I imagined that it would feel like you're being punished sitting there. LOL. Water is not served freely here with them giving the reason that it's not filtered water just like how Rekindle, SS2 is hence they sell mineral water for RM2 a bottle instead.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM19.90. I didn't realized it until I got home and took a look at the bill. It looks like it's part of a set since the Big Breakfast costs RM17.90 while the Latte merely came at the price of RM2! There aren't even any government or service charge involved. Cheap! And with such great coffee no wonder there's so many patrons visiting. However, I noticed most drank Snapples and other beverage instead of coffee which is odd.

Final Verdict:
6/10. Although the "thanks" when I was leaving put me a little more at ease, I somehow felt quite uneasy when I visited this place. From the time I tried placing my order till the time I left. I kinda felt like a bother being there. Must be one of those days where my self-consciousness took over and made me felt useless.

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Restoran Kim Seng, Section 17, Petaling Jaya

Address:
607, Jalan 17/10,
Section 17, 
46400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Opening Hours:
To tell you the truth, I don't know. LOL. But I think they open daily. Just for the mornings and afternoons, it will be individual hawker stalls while at night will be economy rice and 'dai chow' (Chinese style food prepared with wok. Basically, rice and noodles dishes prepared with meat and vegetables).
Time Visited:
7pm on a super jammed-up Friday evening. 
Attire worn:
Casual. Because I disobey office rules.
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Chinese Tea Ice and Wat Tan Hor (Flat Noodles like Fettuccine in Egg Gravy).

Actually, I came over to my old home area to visit back one of my favorite shop in Section 17 which is opposite of Restoran Kim Seng called Restoran How Yekee. The history of the place still got me craving for their Chinese food after so many years. I don't think there's any other place in KL/PJ that I find matches the cheap and good phrase like restaurants in Section 17. Anyway, they were close. Bet it's because of Chinese New Year approaching.

I drove down the street and parked right in front of the Cybercafe I used to work in which was also closed that night. There were quite a few changes that had happened on that street. A lot of new eateries had opened up. But most do not have the charm and appeal for me to step in to try. Seeing the restaurant I wanted to visit was closed, I decided to head to Restoran Kim Seng.

I'm actually not really a fan of this restaurant simply because the staffs at the restaurant were rude and uncaring to their customers. That's why I've always preferred Restoran How Yekee where they used to have a very jovial and friendly guy manning the Dai Chow and the drinks people weren't that bad at attending to you.

Anyway, during this round, I've learnt my lesson that if you want to eat Dai Chow at Restoran Kim Seng, you have to walk up to the back to them and order unlike Restoran How Yekee where they'll come over to you with a menu in hand ready to take your order. As for the drinks guys, this time around, they were attentive to me but were far too playful. Instead of passing my change back to me like a normal person, he flips it on the table towards me instead. And he's been balancing drinks with his fingers for a lot of times when bringing the drinks to the customers. Anyway, I came here for the good food, not the service.

Restoran Kim Seng is known to give big portions on their meals. So as you can see from my picture, the Wat Tan Hor is very large in portion compared to other restaurants. However, their Wat Tan Hor lacks gravy and not like how other restaurant serves it - swimming in gravy. Nonetheless, it was very tasty and certainly very easy for me to finish off the whole thing. I can see that they're really generous with the Cili Padi as well. Loads of em on the tiny condiment dish but very little on the soy sauce.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM5.50 which to me is very cheap. 50 sen for the Chinese Tea Ice which is very standard but some places charge it for 60 sen which is an outrage. The Wat Tan Hor costs RM5 which is quite standard price but due to the amount given, it's considered cheap.

Final Verdict:
6.5/10. I may be a little bias towards Section 17 because this is where I started my KL/PJ life. Anyway, to me Section 17 is always a good place for cheap and good food and this is just one place that proves it.

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Kodawari Menya, 1 Mont Kiara, Mont Kiara

Address:
L1-21A, First Floor, 1 Mont Kiara, No. 1, Jalan Kiara, Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
Opening Hours:
Daily, 11am-9.30pm.
Time Visited:
7pm. Din din times. Sunday night.
Attire worn:
Casual
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Zaru Udon (Small), Kabocha (Pumpkin tempura), Nasubi (Eggplant tempura), Green Tea

Kodawari Menya sports a huge area right in front of the escalator connecting the ground and first floor. It's concept is self-service, like food court and fast food chains.

I really look forward to some delicious Japanese noodles but unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I don't mind it being self-service which is a good strategy to free up staff for other things. However, they have quite a number of staff and I'm just not sure what the other staff standing around were supposed to do. Why can't they just make them as wait staff and scrap the self-service concept? Why do you need so many staff? There were 2 to greet me and to get me trays and guide me on how to order which I find it amusing. This might as well be called an assisted "self" service restaurant.

As you step up to the counter, you have a menu with 9 variety types of noodles settings. I ordered the Zaru Udon which is a cold udon where you're provided with sauce for you to douse it in before eating. Then, further down the counter, there are ready fried tempura items in order for you to pick and choose should you desire to eat something with your noodles. And finally, you end up at the cash register where there's a beverage menu in waiting for you to order.

The Udon looks tasty while the tempura, not so much. But I was so wrong. Both tasted bland and tasteless. Even dousing it with the sauce provided proved futile in giving it more taste. I know udon are thick and would be more doughy but tasteless? Can it ever happen? Not even the sauce can provide enough taste for me? Is there something wrong with my taste buds? The tempura is the same, lack of taste. You can interchange the udon and the tempura and I still won't be able to figure out which is which if I were to be blindfolded and both chopped to pieces. Both tasted the same to me.

When you're finished with your meal, you are to return the tray at the return counter. Again, what's the extra staff around supposed to do again? Watch you eat, I guess.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM16.90. Thankfully, the food-court like environment with the food-court like food has food-court like price - cheap. Zaru Udon merely costs RM10.90 while each vegetable tempura costs RM2 while the meat tempura costs RM4. The green tea cost RM2.

Final Verdict:
3/10. You know I hate food courts, right? LOL

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Jamaica Blue, Mid Valley Megamall

Address:
Level 1, Mid Valley Megamall, Mid Valley City
Opening Hours:
I presume 10am-10pm?
Time Visited:
2pm. Sunday.
Attire worn:
Casual
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Flat White small and Blueberry Cheese Cake

When I was deciding I was totally ignored by all of the staff and then I headed towards the back to see if there's any place there for me to sit. Once I confirmed that there's a place for me, I headed back to the front and immediately I was greeted. What the hell happened? I ordered my items and the fake politeness of the staff ended with him handing me my change and receipt and my order number.

Not long after I sat down, the Blueberry Cheese Cake came. I noticed that there were some of the seats having direct sunlight beaming down on it. No wonder those seats weren't occupied. There's too much heat there. Good thing I was smart enough to notice that earlier on.

The Blueberry Cheese cake was good. In fact, it triggered my appetite to eat. As I dig in to it more and more, I felt the purity of the blueberry and the richness of the cheese cake and it served more and more as an appetizer for me.

The Flat White art was okay I guess. But it looks really very watery and run down. However, the coffee taste fine and wasn't really bad.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM26.20. This place is whoppingly expensive. Not because of the Flat White which is only RM9.90, nor was it because of the blueberry cheese cake which is RM13.90, but due to it's 10% service charge. Their service sucks. Plus I don't know why that one staff is so vigilant in wanting to clean up. She's constantly prowling around and lurking to see if you're finished. Once you're done, within seconds she's there to clear. Good thing she asked before clearing, else I'll murder her. The water dispenser area had no glass so if you need some water, you'll have to attract the staffs attention to get a glass.

Final Verdict:
5/10. I do believe they've caught me in a bad mood because the politeness from the staff at the front seemed so fake to me, the constant cleaning annoys me and the prowling and lurking at the corner makes me feel as if they're waiting for me to leave. However, I do find comfort in it's coffee and cake.

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Coffea Coffee, SS15, Subang Jaya

Address:
A-10, SS15/4D, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
Mon - Thu: 9am - 12am
Fri - Sat: 9am - 2am
Sun: 9am - 12am
Time Visited:
5:30pm. Sunday
Attire worn:
Casual
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Green Tea Latte and Cookies & Cream Cake

I arrived at this cafe at a very bad time. ALL the staff were having a meeting (I have no idea why they have to include all at the same time during business hour. I guess it's because they were changing shifts). One quickly but rudely took my order. The guy seemed disinterested on what I had to say and his tone of trying to suggest what to order seems so insincere where he's just doing his job because he has to. It would be better if he'd just shut up and let me browse through the menu. I asked which cake would he recommend for me to try and all he did was blurted out all the cake names one by one. Yeah. Some help. I guess I was disturbing his time to hear his colleague's working at Coffea Coffee experience sharing. After I took my seat, I was quickly served the Cookies and Cream Cake. The Green Tea Latte will have to wait till the barista finish telling his experience to the team before he can prepare. LOL.

The Cookies and Cream Cake was rather unappealing. It didn't do much in terms of taste. I was expecting the cookies to taste Oreo-like but all it did is provided a little biscuit taste and that's it. The cream also didn't produce much taste and so the whole cake pretty much suck in giving out any taste. It just has a little bit of sweetness to it. And that's it.

The Green Tea Latte arrived when I was almost finishing my cake. Bravo. From afar, I thought that was water because as you can see from the picture above, there's no art in it and the green of the beverage was very pale and light. I thought that it's gonna suck. Well, it didn't in the beginning. In the beginning, I was surprised that it got the right amount of green tea taste to it. As I went past the top portion, all that's left is some very light green tea taste amidst milk. And you're telling me this is your signature with your brethrens winning awards with their creation? Well, they sure do a very sucky job in teaching their downlines and part-timers.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM29.60. On top of that, it's very expensive. They sure know how to ruin good coffee beans. RM12.50 for the Green Tea Latte and RM13 for the Cookies and Cream Cake with 10% service charge and 6% government tax. What a rip off. I'm never setting foot at the SS15 branch of Coffea Coffee ever again.

Final Verdict:
2.5/10. Crappy cake. Crappy coffee. Expensive items. Plus insincere staff who only knows how to shout out greetings and gratitude to even among themselves and blurt out lines that they were taught to recite to customers when they take their orders. In fact, they highly value their staff way above customers to care more for their own than a customer in waiting. I hope this is not the case in the other branches.

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Kim Gary, Mid Valley Megamall

Address:
G(E)-005, Ground Floor,
Mid Valley Megamall, Mid Valley City,
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Opening Hours:
I suppose it follows Mid Valley Megamall's time, 10am-10pm
Time Visited:
Sunday, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm
Attire worn:
Casual
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
None. I don't know was it because it's approaching near Chinese New Year and everyone's rushing for last minute shopping or if it's always this way on a Sunday.

I approached Mid Valley area at around 12:30pm, it was massively jammed. I couldn't even get near a parking entrance and was detoured out of the way. I then came around again and this time headed towards Gardens and tried to park at the Premier parking. It was worse. Full to the brim and everytime I decided to illegal park, when I went around the bent again, somebody else has already thought of the same thing at the exact same spot. I exited the parking (good thing there's no charge) and decided to take the LRT and KTM commuter to go there. It was just as bad an idea. It was jam packed full of people. What's going on?!?!?! Why are there so many people?!?!?

I finally arrived at Mid Valley Megamall at around 1pm and Kim Gary was also full to the brim with a line waiting. And so I decided to walk around the shopping mall. Let me tell you, it was so massively full of people, I have no idea why. At 2pm I tried Kim Gary again. Still no go. Still loads of people and the line increased. And so I headed to Jamaica Blue for awhile (review on the next blog post). After that, around 3pm, I went to Kim Gary again. It was still freaking full with an even longer queue! These people are crazy. And so I decided to go home.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM0. No chance to dine there.

Final Verdict:
1/10? I don't know. But I'm guessing because Chinese New Year is approaching and coupled with the weekend people are flocking to Mid Valley for last minute shopping? I don't remember it being this full and so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt by giving it 1 point.

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The Owls Cafe, Jalil Link, Bukit Jalil

Address:
12-1, First Floor, Block 5, Jalil Link, Jalan Jalil Jaya 6, Bukit Jalil, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
Tue:
10:00 am - 7:00 pm
Thu:
10:00 am - 7:00 pm
Fri - Sat:
10:00 am - 11:00 pm
Sun:
10:00 am - 7:00 pm
Time Visited:
11am, a bright sunny Sunday
Attire worn:
Casual. I don't wanna attract attention by wearing business attire on a Sunday.
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Cappuccino - Double Shot and Baker On the Go item (B) Chunky Sea Catch

Well, taking a picture is a breeze and don't need to be inconspicuous to attract unnecessary attention because most customers that visit The Owls Cafe takes a picture of their drinks, their food, themselves with drinks, themselves with food, groupie photo, with wall art photo. The only thing that I didn't see is they didn't take pictures of the toilet. LOL.

The Owls Cafe is a bright and cheery place that has light colors and plenty of sunray penetrating through a glass panel. Most of it's customers seemed pretty cheery too with animated talks and boisterous laughter bellowing throughout the cafe.

As you enter, you're greeted by the staff and are shown to your seat with a menu presented to you. However, once you've decided on what you want, you are to walk over to the cash register to place your order. I guess, this is because they're so popular and full of people, they don't want a long line at the cash register awaiting for a customers order and instead, encouraged to look through the menu first before proceeding there so as to not hold the line and crowd the area.

I initially ordered tea but they ran out of the type that I asked for and so I proceeded to call for a Cappuccino with double shot. The coffee was marvelous. I love it lots. I think my taste bud is shot since many cafes' coffee seemed too weak for me of late and only this double shot satiated my cravings. LOL.

When I received my breakfast I was a little disappointed because all it is, is a normal croissant with tuna on it. It was served with crinkle cut potatoes acting as fries and a side of salad. The croissant with tuna stuffed in it was a little bit of a let down for me for the price of RM18 and the fries of course is average. But I'm impressed with the salad. It tasted of some sesame seeds in the mix and that enhances the flavor of it. Unfortunately, I'm not a salad person even though it was good, so I only ate a little of it.

The Owls Cafe are more known for their waffles with their unique flavored ice-creams on it. This isn't my first time at The Owls Cafe but it's my first time as an official visit in planning a review and from what I saw, they seemed to have improved in churning out the waffles faster.

This place is extremely popular. Even though it was just an hour from opening time, yet it has already garnered quite a lot of people in there. If you're a lone diner and am planning to visit this place on a weekend, it's best to come early for a place. Even if you're not alone, it's definitely a very busy place and it gets filled up as it approaches noon so be early.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM26. RM8 for the Cappuccino which is very, very cheap and well worth the price while the Baker on the Go is priced at RM18 which is 'meh' to me. This place also don't charge any tax which is awesome.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Great coffee. Great atmosphere. Polite and very busy staffs.

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S'Mores, The Sphere, Bangsar South

Address:
The Sphere – Bangsar South
Unit G2, Jalan Kerinchi,
59200 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Opening Hours:
Monday – Thursday
12.00pm - 1.00am
Friday
12.00pm - 2.00am
Saturday
5:00 - 2.00am (LIVE BAND starts 9;30pm)
Sunday
6.00pm – 12.00am
Time Visited:
Around 7:15pm, after going round in circles for more than an hour
Attire worn:
Casual
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Truffle Carbonara, Chocolate Mountain for dessert and a Kilkenny

First time ever venturing over to Bangsar South and man was I so, so lost. I first pulled in to the Nexus building thinking that S'Mores was there. When I got to the end of the building, I realized that I'm in the wrong location. Remembering seeing the big signs up front before entering the area with few locations advertised right beside the gigantic waterfall, I had the impression that The Sphere was over there.

And so I drove all the way there but when I turned in to behind where the sign was, all I saw was the UOA Property Gallery before a plethora of condominiums. And so, thinking that it was at that place, I turned in there to explore. A quick lookaround after exiting the parking area got me knowing that I'm still in the wrong place. So, where the hell is The Sphere? I started walking back towards where Nexus is and a signboard on the road caught my eyes. Among the places listed was The Sphere and it pointed straight ahead. I then remember seeing some kind of building on the left side of the road opposite of Nexus area and figured that it would be there.

So, I went back to retrieve my car and off I go to that area and sure enough, The Sphere was on the left side of the road. Never did notice it when I passed by due to me concentrating on the right side of the road and on top of that, the buildings were far in with the outdoor parking lot occupying a large area in front of it.

When the ordeal was over, I realized that I spent more than an hour just searching for this damn place. Anyway, I'm finally glad I've reached my destination.

S'Mores is a place where it occupies quite a large area outdoor but inside looks cramp and small. Although it's dinnertime, there's already quite a crowd enjoying their choice of poison (note: alcohol) and that don't even have anything to do with happy hour since it's flat rate RM15 nett for a pint of Kilkenny/Guinness and RM12 nett for a pint of Tiger Beer all day and night on weekends. Unless you're talking about the Tower Promo, then that's a different case because that lasts till 8pm.

Anyway, the Truffle Carbonara was quick to be served. Presentation leaves more to be desired for. All it is is an egg that's watery at the sides and the yolk being hardened and loads of mushrooms around with cheese grated all over.

A bite of the Truffle Carbonara gives me a slight sense of truffle taste but unfortunately, it's all on the top. I couldn't taste any of the truffle oil below. I guess I should've mixed it up. The mushroom taste is a little too much for me and it made me felt a little nauseous. I guess I already felt that way when I was walking around in circles. The spaghetti and the carbonara sauce were average at best and was quite disappointing in the department of taste. Thankfully, I finished the whole thing feeling like I'll puke it out anytime soon.

I later called for the Chocolate Mountain to be served as my dessert. It's actually vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce on it. Again, presentation-wise was somewhat lacking for me and the vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce was nothing that's out of the ordinary. Another disappointment. The crunchy bit stuff surrounding the ice cream offers no flavors and merely serves as a decorative piece to me.

I ordered the Kilkenny to again test my tolerance to alcohol hoping that it will regain back to how it used to be. Unfortunately, another disappointment. It took me so long to finish off that 1 pint until a sandfly decided to commit suicide on it. Seeing that insect in my drink wish we had swapped places. Anyway, I finally managed to finish off my beer after almost 2 hours. The poor beer was so warm during the last half of it. On a positive note, the staff were friendly enough.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM57. RM30 for the pasta which I don't feel that it's worth it, RM12 for the Chocolate Mountain which also I don't feel that it's worth it and RM15 promo price for the Kilkenny, worth it. One thing great about this place is that it don't have any tax. What you see in the menu is what you pay. No spills, no frills.

Final Verdict:
5/10. The food sucks in my opinion. It may be average to others but I just didn't like it enough to deem it average. I say stick to the bar persona and concentrate on alcohol servings. It shames itself by calling it as a restaurant.

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