Hello Kitty Gourmet Cafe, Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
Lot 083.F.6, Oasis Boulevard
Ground Floor  Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall, 3, Jalan PJS 11/15, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily. 10am - 10pm (I guess, since it's at a shopping mall.)

Time Visited:
12:40pm. Groovin' on a Sunday afternoon.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Chocolate Layer cake and Flat White

I was actually at Sunway Pyramid because I was initially planning to go to an event but decided to back out after having something light snack here. The event is a girly event anyway and I think I would be very out of place going there solo. I don't even know why I RSVP for it. LOL. Must be in the spur of the moment, my events blogger side took over and wanted to go. Stupid me.

So then I took the opportunity to visit the Hello Kitty Gourmet Cafe since the hype has already died down from when it first opened. There were no long lines anymore. But due to me being there during lunch hour, I was told that the lunch section is full and they only have space available for the cakes and coffee section and so I still decided to go for it.

As I sat myself down and they handed me the menu, I noticed that despite being opened not too long ago, the cushion seats were already dirty and the coffee table and the chair that I was sitting on has already became unstable. The staff told me that the available cakes are on display at the cake display. I decided to opt for a flat white and after looking through the very few types of cakes they have, I decided to go for the chocolate layer cake.

Course being just cake and coffee it should be faster in being served than having your mains there to which I would say, this cafe is moderate in their timing. Course, most of the things over there are filled with the Hello Kitty character and this includes the food and drinks as well. Though the cake does not bear any facial features of the fictitious character, it does have a flag of it sticking to the side of the cake. The flat white though has grinded coffee being laid on top of the coffee art to resemble the head of the Hello Kitty. It does prove a tad hideous to me with the flower art in the background of it. I'm just a little put off by it.

With that said, the cake and the coffee did taste above average. But I would say the price does not reflect on the value for it. Rather, it would merely serve the purpose of the fanatic enthusiast. The cake balances well between it's cream and chocolate and was not too sweet for me. It's pleasant to consume with a not too dense, not too fluffy texture. There's a bit of some strawberry jam at the side of it and dipping on it enhances the taste more. As for the coffee, having the grinded coffee in the shape of Hello Kitty on top of the flat white, it does have a bitter aftertaste to it but a nice bitter aftertaste. The flat white below does not taste like flat white but rather a latte so with the grinded coffee on top, it does pack the punch of a flat white after all.

It does have a relaxing ambiance to it with lots of sunlight penetrating through the insides. Though the scenery outside may not be great, it does feel great looking from the inside out. The staff service though could be improved further. Although they may seem helpful enough being attentive in clearing plates and hanging around nearby while they wait to see if you're ready to order, it felt rather mechanical to me and a little thuggish in nature. The part that especially grinds my grill would be when I was ready to leave. It took me 10 minutes just to get their attention, pick up the payment and return the change to me. I don't really understand why the lackadaisical attitude when it comes to payment? Kind of reminds me like a mamak stall.

Total Wallet Damage:
It's a whopping RM36.75. Just the cake alone is already RM20.30. The coffee is RM13.10. There's also a service charge of 10%. There were no indication that they charge 6% GST since it's not mentioned in the receipt nor were there any GST number.

Final Verdict:
5/10. To me, the things are overpriced. It may cater for the Hello Kitty fans, but for a normal patron who just want some coffee and some cake, it's too pricey. I'd rather pay for some nice yakitori to go with my whiskey like Torii then spend 20 bucks on a slice of cake and RM13 for a cup of flat white.

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Medifoods Healthy Lifestyle Cafe, Mediplex, Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC), SS12, Subang Jaya, Petaling Jaya (PJ)

Address:
1st. Floor, Mediplex, Sime Darby Medical Centre, 1, Jalan SS 12/1a, Subang Jaya, 47500 Petaling Jaya

Opening Hours:
Mon - Sun: 7:30am to 7:30pm

Time Visited:
12:30pm, Thursday afternoon

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Garden Aglio Olio, Double Delight and Australian Black Coffee

I've been meaning to visit this place ever since I visited the Selangor Wellness Expo because I was highly impressed with the way they made their interaction with their booth visitors. They just made me want to learn more of the organic stuff that they produce.

Having a mild heart pain off and on for three days, I decided to finally take my 20% voucher that I got from the Expo and head towards SJMC for a bite. Despite being so near my office, I had never visited SJMC in my life and do not know what lies inside. As I exited the parking lot lift, I was a little lost and was utterly impressed with the place. It does not look like a hospital at all. It looks more like a shopping complex. LOL. No wonder the price here for treatment is expensive. Just look at the environment!

I soon located the Medifoods' Lifestyle cafe which is directly above Starbucks. When I was there, there were a few patrons over there but basically a very slow time for the staff. They greeted me as I walked in even though they were busy and I had a hard time choosing my seat since there were to many unoccupied. I finally settled for one that is near the window wall because I wanted to get some sun.

Medifoods' menu tells you each item on whether it's vegetarian (containing dairy, egg, onion or garlic but no meat), vegan (like vegetarian but no dairy nor egg as well) or gluten-free (no wheat, barley, rye or triticale products). Another good thing the menu offers is like those Japanese menu where they tell you how many calories each of the items contain. There's also the telling sign of the amount of salt in the dish for the mains.

The dishes came at a slower than a pace that I'm used to. Even the coffee took more than five minutes to reach the table and it's just black coffee. LOL. The Australian black coffee had a sweet characteristic to it even though it's black coffee. Unlike the European counterpart which is bitter like hell. This Australian black coffee is aromatic in it's essence and easy to drink down.

The rest of the dishes exceeded my taste expectation. Didn't expect these organic dishes to taste so good. But then again, I usual deviate away from organic food because it's more expensive albeit healthy. Haha. Story of a guy who leads a very unhealthy lifestyle. And now, my aches and pains has finally caught up to me. Sigh.

The Garden Aglio Olio has a nice taste to it but I find it a tad too oily for me. Being a vegan dish, they lavish it with a lot of vegetables. The strongest taste in the whole lot goes to the soybean chunks which I love. The rest all tasted above average with fresh produce where the pasta is even lesser than the amount of ingredients piled up on it. LOL.

As for the Double Delight, it was simply delightful. Such a simple food and yet tasted so good. Double Delight is mainly apple that's coated with yogurt sauce with the side of walnuts and sunflower seeds that contains cane sugar and sesame seeds. I like to just dip the apple upon the walnuts and sunflower seeds and just lift it all up to eat like a toffee apple. LOL. The apple that they gave was sweet enough on it's own and it's heighten further from the yogurt sauce. Sometimes it's just a little too sweet for me but nothing the coffee that I ordered can't fix. Haha

Total Wallet Damage:
RM25.60. RM17 for the pasta, RM9.50 for the Double Delight and RM5.50 for the coffee. The published price is inclusive of GST and they don't charge service charge. Oh, I also got a 20% off from the voucher I have.

Final Verdict:
7/10. It's nice to just chill and hangout here. I guess that's mainly the idea since it's located at SJMC. So if you have a person you're taking care there, you can pop by and chill here. But of course, I see most people prefer to chill downstairs at the Starbucks since they offer free WiFi as well. All the patrons I saw up there were mainly elderly people who's most likely at the medical center for themselves. I guess I qualify as one of them. LOL.

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A-Lone Diner Event Special: Absolut Electrik Launch

It started off with me thinking that I was supposed to accompany a friend to this event that she was invited. But it turns out, I was so very wrong. (That's why kids, never assume! LOL) It turns out in the end of just me attending the event for some strange reason that is still unknown to me.

Seeing it's more like a clubbing event and it was a Friday evening, the heavy downpour had finished not too long ago and now the night started with showers of rain instead. To top it all off, the United States of America's president, Obama, were in the city and there were some roads closed off to accommodate his smooth passage. It didn't affect me much driving from my office back to my home again, just took me 15 minutes longer than usual. So since I was early at home, I decided to take a nap instead. The event ain't going to start early anyway.

The night started to waned upon my heavy heart so I just had to have my nap to replenish my energy and sleep my unhappiness away. LOL. I woke up and had a beer as my dinner instead. I can't recall why I didn't had dinner but I think I can deduce that I had forgotten about it.

Drove my way to the event close to 9:30pm and arrived at Mid Valley at just over 10pm. It's jammed like crazy in the vicinity of Mid Valley where shoppers and the workers there migrated away from the place whilst I congest my way into it.

As I was there, I got myself a drink where they're serving 2 different cocktails concocted with Absolut Vodka. One where they put in the blue ice in it and the other the white ice. The blue one has more of a tangy flavor to it very orangey and a hefty amount of Absolut Vodka in it while the other one, the white one, tasted more like lime juice or lemonade......with Absolut Vodka in it.

Giant bottles of the Absolut Electrik Vodka bottles were stuck to some tables as decoration. The event started just when I was having my first drink where the representative of Pernod Ricard, the company that produces Absolut, started to give an introductory speech once he was introduced by the DJ. I can see that the PR handling this is no longer the ones I were familiar with. They're all absolute strangers to me. Once the speech is out of the way, along came the mixologist's demonstration of the cocktail and invited two guests to try their hand at mixing the drink. The launch was then officiated and that was the end of it with just music from the DJ booth playing and some dancing the night away. I did meet one friend of mine there. But I didn't stay long after he invited me to join with him and a friend of his. I ciao-ed once I settled my second drink and tipsied my way home. Mind you, it was already midnight that time.

Lost my car a bit where I couldn't find it at all. I had to exit the parking lot, reenter the mall and go through the door that I first came from in order to locate my car. I'm seriously losing my touch in my bearings. LOL.

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A-Lone Diner Event Special: iPick's Super Secret Bash

Actually, I kinda forgotten that I said yes to attending this event in order to catch up with some friends and so I took to a Whatsapp group that I'm in to see if I was invited from there. Someone over there sorta convinced me that it was at Facebook that I said yes to this event and so I went ahead and RSVP the email that I gotten.

I made it a point so I will be there to pass some goodies to my friends as well so there's an extra motivation for me to go. Else I would just be too lazy to go all out to a place that's unfamiliar to me and the pressure of being sociable among people and also the uncomfortable ridicule I get from some people I know.

Anyway, good thing my friend reminded me of the actual time else I would've thought the end time was the start time of the event. LOL. So I got there and greeted some fellow friends and had the lunch that they provided over there. I didn't know that there was a contest that was held prior to the event where you snap photos and put it on Instagram and hashtag it and you may be pick to be on display at the event. During the event, people will vote for the best picture that's on display and the winner will get something extra.

This event is actually about Tencent's (the company from China that developed WeChat) new mobile application called the iPick. The iPick is an application that's kinda like the combination of Foursquare and Instagram where you can search for food places, rate it, post photos of it and also to create meetup with friends in a specific restaurant of choice in that app. The problem I have with the app at the moment is that it's slow to load and it's tied to a social app that I never use even though I have an account, WeChat. So, there's nothing social that I have about it because I don't have any friends on it. LOL. Also, so far I'm not seeing a lot of updates on recommendations and their blog except for the blog entries that are fed to them where most of it are the ones I'm familiar with. So there's no motivation for me to visit it to get ideas on where to go. But then again, this app is at it's early stages. If there's more people contributing to it, who knows, it may grow better. But right now, it's not my go to app for place recommendation like how Foursquare is to me sometimes.

Currently, there's also no way to add a restaurant if it's unlisted in there. I also see a lack of other social media integration like how Instagram can easily post to some of the commonly used social media apps once you've posted your photos.

The event also got around with the attendees playing a game that revolves around the iPick app. We're split into groups preassigned and take on challenges as a group to perform tasks with regards to the iPick app. Though after the lunch, we did see a few that had left even before it got to this stage.

I left as soon as the event ended and it was goodbye to friends over there.

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Torii, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail (TTDI), Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
18, Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 1, Taman Tun Dr Ismail,
60000 Kuala Lumpur.

Opening Hours:
Mon-Sat 5.30pm till late, close on Sundays. 

Time Visited:
7 something pm(?) I think. It's just rainy skies appearing dark when I arrived.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
2 Crispy Skins, 3 Wagyu Seven, 3 Sirloins,  1 Escargot, 5 Rock Lobsters, 2 Okras, 2 Smoked Ducks and Old Pulteney 12 Years to drink

This place is a little too fancy and it's being housed in the residential area of TTDI. In this 1 block of shophouses, I remember clearly coming to this place 1 day where I wanted to try Quar/Tet but didn't manage to because it was filled to the brim and I decided not to wait for a seat and left without getting anything there in the end. But as for today, I visited during the evening time and decided to go for this posh place called Torii right next to the Presto supermarket. Surprisingly when I got there, Presto was closed. I'm not sure what is the operating hours for the Presto supermarket here but I find it weird for a supermarket to be closed on a Saturday evening at 7pm.

Anyway, Torii is a play on the Japanese word where it means chicken, the short form for Yakitori, the and also the father of Japanese whisky, Torii. The skewers were my aim tonight and probably for some alcohol. That was my thought as I entered through the doors of this establishment.

The dining area of this place is small and can't house a lot of tables. As I walked closer towards the grill bar, I doubled back and start to sit at where the front door is. There's only 2 tables that sits 2 person while the rest cater for 4 or larger groups. If anything fails, at least I can have the bar stools to sit on since I'm alone. LOL. So, I can say well, it's kinda lone diner friendly though the environment seems to be more conducive towards a family restaurant settings even though it's main aim is on their alcohol sales along with their yakitori skewers.

I wanted to go for the Sullivans Cove Whisky but they do not have it though it's on the menu and that's not all that was on the menu but it's unavailable that day and that is the Beef Cheeks and the Wagyu Tendon. So I decided to go for their very limited selection of Whisky that's displayed atop the Grill Bar whereby they will present you a sort of loyalty card where upon 5 shots of whisky, you're entitled for one free. I pointed to try out the Old Pulteny 12 Years as the one that I'm going for today since it's a brand that I've never tried before.

I had the drink on the rocks and when it came, I couldn't nose much of it. The rock ice seems to have mask it's scent in approaching my nose and I'm not sure why. There's still very weak whiffs of it but mostly drowned by the cold ice steams. And so I started taking sips of it. I can vouch that Old Pulteny isn't a brand of Whisky that's to my liking. It's spicy and doesn't go down easy on my throat. The whisky taste is moderately strong that seems peaty in and spicy. It's not fruity but oaky to me. As the ice melts and it dilutes the properties of the whisky more, it tends to be a little more sweet than before which tastes better for me. The spiciness depletes but the Indian spice flavors lingers.

The skewers took some time to arrive at my table. At times, a little too long. First came the Wagyu Seven, Sirloin, Escargot and Rock Lobster. The Wagyu Seven I presume means that the marbling is a 7 which on the scale of 12 isn't that really fantastic. That reflects on the Wagyu sevens skewers as well. Nonetheless, the beef was nice and tender enough with it's juices flowing. Skewed with sea salt and black pepper, those were kept at a minimal to bring out the flavor of the meat but not too much to overpower it's natural taste. Quite a nice piece of meat but I like the Sirloin more. It's more tender and juicy and certainly has that buttery melt in your mouth feel. It's also seasoned in sea salt and black pepper. However, I would say both meats lost out to the better tasting Escargot and Rock Lobster. The Escargot is seasoned with garlic miso and scallion. Perfect enhancement of the escargot. The Rock Lobster was the star of the evening for me with that being the best skewer among all that I've tried for the night. It's probably because it's seasoned in scallion and garlic chili sauce. The garlic chili sauce complements the Rock Lobster so well and it made me love it till I ordered 4 more of it.

As for the Okra, there's nothing out of the ordinary about that and it's just your normal plain tasting Okra seasoned in Shoyu sauce. The Crispy Skin were horrid to me. It's tough and hard to bite off the skewers. It may be crispy but the it has a burnt taste to it even though it's not. It's just not the kind of taste that I like. Note to self: never order Crispy Skin ever again. I later ordered the Smoked Duck when I reordered the Rock Lobster. The Smoked Duck that's wrapped in Welsh Onion is below my expectation. It just didn't jive for me. The last 2 Rock Lobster were a little burnt in their taste for me so it wasn't so good the last one around. They should try to be a little more consistent in their cooking though I know it's hard to grill it the same over charcoal fire.

Total Wallet Damage:
Get ready cause this is a really hefty sum, the most out of all of my reviews in this blog. The total racked up to RM282.70. Bear in mind, this is just one person - me eating. LOL. Crispy Skin cost RM5.66 per skewer, Wagyu Sever cost RM21.70 per skewer, Sirloin RM14.15 per skewer, Escargot RM9.43, Rock Lobster RM10.38 per skewer (most worth of all), Okra RM4.72 per skewer and Smoked Duck RM12.26 per skewer (not worth at all). The Whisky only costs me RM28.30. Well, Old Pulteney isn't good according to my taste anyway. There's 10% service charge but they aptly named it service gratuity since I find that the service has a lot to improve on even though they were friendly and 6% of GST charge. The service 'gratuity' alone is RM24.24. Pfft. That's quite a lot to give.

Final Verdict:
7/10. The dining area is a little small but they do have private rooms which that night there was a Bachelorette party going on that time and also an al fresco seating which some people who just came for drinks love to sit at. The rest were just filled with family people having their dinner. I would say it's kinda lone diner friendly with the many bar stools at the bar area for you to sit on but as I've mentioned before, this place is visited mostly by families who just want to have a meal. This baffles me as this place is supposed to be more of a drinking place than a place for food. Well, there is one more lone diner there and that guy is only there to drink. And no, that wasn't me. :)

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Alexis Bistro, Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC), Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
Lot 15A 1st floor,
285, Bangsar Shopping Centre
Jalan Maarof, Bangsar
Bukit Bandaraya
59000 Kuala Lumpur

Opening Hours:
Mon-Thu, 12noon-12midnight; Fri-Sat, 12noon-late; Sun, 10am-12midnight

Time Visited:
About past 7pm. Sunday night

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Vietnamese Beef Noodles and Orange Juice

What can I say about this place? Bangsar Shopping Centre is considered the posh side of town. Bangsar in particular. But then again, standards here has dropped and although this place is still a frequent haunt for the rich people and expats, outside of the confinements of Bangsar Shopping Centre, you'll always see immigrants walking around although I'm not particularly sure where they come from and where their heading since I rarely see any in Bangsar Shopping Centre. Maybe they're workers at some of the outlets inside? I guess so.

So today I decided to come to Alexis for my dinner. Originally intended to try their Nicoise Salad, which was regarded by many as the best salad around, as usual, my fickle mind changed once I got there and had my reservations towards salad for today and decided upon the Vietnamese Beef Noodles instead. No doubt an odd choice again this time around for there are plenty of restaurants that are specially on Vietnamese food yet I opted for it at a western-centric restaurant like Alexis.

Ambiance were relaxing and romantic with a lot that are couples and also some catching up with friends, there are a few that are family oriented as well. I was the only lone diner there although many that were there to catch up with friends came separately hence there was a period where one will be waiting for the other. Staff were nice, friendly and courteous with a service with a smile. Worth the 10% service charge they impose. They set the table according to what you order like how Serai does but over here at Alexis, they place it carefully at a specific set location. Same goes to the dishes when they come to present it to you.

The service here is fast and I got my food and drinks in a jiffy. There's also free WiFi here which is quite moderate in speed. The orange juice were a tad sour for me. Nevertheless, acceptable enough to drink it down and to deem it as an above average orange juice.

The Vietnamese Beef Noodles were served in a more fancy way like the upper type of Vietnamese restaurant with the Beef Noodles in a gigantic bowl and bean sprouts with I think mint leaves and some chili served in a separate serving plate. I just dumped the whole bean sprouts in and added in some chili but avoided the mint leaves. LOL.

The soup is full of flavor and the beef were aplenty inside. The beef breaks easily though and it's very soft. A little too soft which is unusual for beef. But it is tasty and the soup is full of it's good flavor. The noodles were a lot tougher than the beef surprisingly but soft enough to bite and chew comfortably. It sure is a lovely meal. But a bit on the pricey side though. Then again, that is to be expected at a place like this. After my meal, I was asked on whether I would like anything else like dessert and coffee which I saw many went for their cakes but I declined as I must be off to do some grocery shopping from the nice Jasons Food Hall downstairs. Can't resist on looking at something new and imported that is unavailable in other hypermarkets. :P

Total Wallet Damage:
RM46.05. 6% GST and 10% Service Charge included.

Final Verdict:
7/10. They have good service and good food. However, price-wise is a little too expensive but that is to be expected from a place like this.

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