Thursday, May 19, 2016

Hui Wei Restaurant, Seksyen U1, Glenmarie, Shah Alam, Selangor

Address:
32, Jalan Jurureka U1/40, Seksyen U1, Glenmarie, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor

Opening Hours:
Don't know. LOL

Time Visited:
12:30pm, Tuesday afternoon

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Curry Pork Ribs Rice and Chinese Tea Ice
Once the Twin Twin Pan Mee folded, this restaurant started to pop up just a few days ago. And this was the Tuesday that I went there to try it out.

The previous day, I was at Glenmarie also and I saw this place with nobody at all but as for today, the place had quite a reasonable amount of customers. I walked in anyway and on the table there's already a small piece of menu being laid there. I notice a chit sheet for ordering and a pencil and so I thought that this was a self written down order style which I did. What's unique on the menu of this restaurant is the Bak Kut Teh noodles. First I heard of putting noodles on Bak Kut Teh soup. But I didn't go for that and decided to just go for their Curry Pork Ribs rice. Hey. If you're really good, then no matter what dish you prepare, it will be delicious. I pass the slip to the only person who can take orders and it's a woman that runs around like crazy because she serves, she's the only person to take orders and also the only person who collects the money. The only thing that I know she doesn't do is clearing the tables. That's just it.

So I pass to her and await my order. Pretty soon I found out that most people here don't bother with the order chit and just tell the woman their orders and she would just write it down. Pretty odd way of doing things if you're not gonna stick to one system. No wonder she looks so disorganized. Anyway, this place is not really a lone diner friendly environment since all of the place to sit at are tables for 4 persons and more. But then, you still can come here to eat as a lone diner just that you will need to occupy a table for four persons. This is also a good place for a really bizarre variety. There's rice and noodles but what you can eat together with those are Bak Kut Teh (this is only the noodles version for some reason), Curry Pork Ribs, Tom Yum Soup, Bitter Gourd Roast Pork and you can order the noodles to be in dry format or the soup version. There's 4 types of noodles to choose from and that is the usual Mee, Bihun and Kuey Teow and then there's also Wantan Mee.

So there I was awaiting my order when I noticed somethings amiss when I saw 2 tables who came and ordered after me already having their meals. That's when I realized that they forgot my order even though I wrote down in their order sheet. -_- The woman asked me again what I ordered and I pointed to it on the wall. It came within a minute or 2. Gosh. So I could've gotten my meal faster if they were to remember. LOL. Oh well, that's what happens when you become a really forgettable person.

The curry isn't really spicy just a bit of heat and it's your typical Chinese kind of curry. The pork ribs were nice and delicious but lacks meat and is more of bones but nonetheless adequate. The taste was decent and is of above average quality to me. I just hang around a bit more and then started going back to office after my meal.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM8.60. RM8 for the rice and just 60 sen for the Chinese Tea Ice. No GST, no service charge.

Final Verdict:
6/10. They need to get better organizing. Since they're new and may be inexperience in operating a restaurant, it's forgivable. I may wanna come back one day and try their Bak Kut Teh noodles.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Yellow Cafe, Pantai Cenang, Langkawi, Kedah

Address:
Jalan Pantai Cenang, Pantai Cenang, PO Box 121, 07000 Langkawi, Kedah

Opening Hours:
12pm - 1am, Close on Tuesdays. 

Time Visited:
2:30pm, Saturday afternoon. 

Attire worn:
Casual, very. Because it's at the beach. LOL.

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Grilled Skewers of Lamb and Peppers and Watermelon Juice
A hot hot day at Langkawi that day but weren't as hot as I remembered the last time I was there about 10 years back. This time around, a constant breeze from the sea swirls around blowing and keeping me cool. I kept myself in the shade near the portable air blower to cool me even further as I await my order after placing it with the waiter.

Being a cafe that's mostly painted yellow, the bright sunlight hits upon this cafe is almost blinding and hard to open my eyes. So the only best thing to do is to gaze upon the blue sea out in the distance to refresh my eyes rather than the blinding yellow surrounding me. This place is kinda huge with a walkway separating the restaurant in between. During the time I was there, the other section was closed and only this section that I was seated at was opened. I looked through quickly through the menu and find that the prices here are higher priced than usual. The food and drinks take quite a long time to get to me but then again, people who come to a place like this to dine is likely to be on vacation, like me and so would be in no hurry. The Watermelon Juice was a refreshing welcome to the heat out in the sun even though the warm breeze feels real good upon my skin and it revitalized me and hydrates my parched body.

When the Grilled Skewers of Lamb came, it looks more like a kebab dish that's all poked up. Pleasantly presented, the skewers are poked through Lamb meat alternating with the peppers and some leeks. There's potatoes around as well but those aren't poked through the skewers as were the green lettuce. A side of coleslaw is served with plus a sauce dish of condiments accompany the lamb. The lamb was certainly a charming delight of wonder to be consumed. Nicely cooked. Perfectly done, juicy just enough without going overboard in overcooking it. The rest was also a delight to munch along except for the coleslaw which by itself, isn't something really nasty. Just that I didn't really fancy coleslaw. Though the portion may seemed small, but it's adequate in filling me up and I'm quite satisfied with it. The condiment wasn't even needed since the lamb tasted great without anything added to it. It may be pricier than how I normally have but it's quite worth it.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM67. No service charge and of course no tax. It is after all, Langkawi, a tax free haven. LOL. RM55 for food, RM12 for the drink

Final Verdict:
8/10. Nice view of the beach from the veranda. The only thing is in the afternoon, you really need to sit inside because the outer portion shade actually amplifies the intensity of the heat.

Monday, May 16, 2016

Kedai Makanan Jin Man, Taman Taynton View, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
71, Jalan Dato Haji Harun, Taman Taynton View, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Opening Hours:
From the old board displayed, it says 5am - 4pm, Monday closed.

Time Visited:
Sunday morning but no rain is falling, 10:45am-ish.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Fishball Noodles and Iced Coffee
I've heard that this place serve really good fishball noodles and so I purposely made a trip to Cheras and search out this place to try. It wasn't difficult locating this place since it's already been 25 years that they had been operating (or so I'm told) so they're bound to be on the map. In addition to that, they keep up with the times as well and integrate technologies to their advantage. For example, the picture above depicting not to vape in the shop. LOL. Remarkable. Truly kept up with the times. Their ordering system are like those Franchise places like Papparich and Old Town Kopitiam where the guy takes your order, keys it into the system and the rest will get notified on what's being ordered so they can prepare. When you're ready to pay, just go to the counter and tell them your table number. Sheer brilliance. Even though they're something like a kopitiam, yet they upgrade themselves to that level to keep themselves organized.

Okay, I'm truly impressed. Despite wanting to come here earlier, I had woke up late and hence only reached here when it's already past 10am. I was thinking of starting my part time job at 10am, but I have failed to do so due to laziness. LOL. So there I was, the 2 shoplot with a very long signboard hanging above. This place is quite congested with cars but mainly because people tend to park on both sides of the road in order to either visit the houses nearby or visit the shops at the shops around here. I was lucky enough to get a parking even though it's quite limited with many cars around. So far, from what I see, this is the only shop that's teeming with people. And even though it takes up 2 shoplots, they're still very much full of people. When I walked in, I thought that there weren't any place to sit at all but after walking in around the shop, I discovered that there's a few vacant table at the back. An old uncle came over and took my order and of course I ordered their Fishball Noodles (the soup version and not the dry one) and along with that, ordered an Iced Coffee to keep myself awake when I'm gonna do my part time job.

All that order is just keyed in to the system terminal nearby my table and pretty soon, the guys handling the drinks started to put the Iced Coffee on my table. Along with that, my food soon came thereafter. It was a moderate waiting time. I noticed that this place is really buzzing with a lot of people. I bet this is the same case even though I were to come earlier at 8am. Throngs and throngs of people just surge in.

And so it's time for the taste test on the food. I have to say the coffee isn't much. Just those standard kopitiam coffee. In fact, this one was quite yucky, not that good. It's like a spice drink that's very sugary. However, as for the Fishball Noodles, I have a much different vibe. Well, not the noodles per se but the Fish Balls and the Fish Maw that's in it. The Kuey Teow and Mee noodles were just ordinary. Plain and nothing special about it. But as for the Fish Balls and the Fish Maw, my god were those heavenly. The Fish Balls were springy, bouncy and chewy and the fish maw were soft and absorbs the soup beautifully to bring it to life. The texture of both ingredients were marvelous and a delight to chew on. The fish taste on both of those were apparent and nothing like I tasted before. It's been said that they use Ikan Parang (Herrings). It clearly is one of the best Fish Balls and Fish Maws I've tasted so far.

Once I was done with the food, I finished off by paying my meal at the cash register and off I go to start a new adventure.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM11.10. RM8.60 for the Fishball Noodles and RM2.50 for the Coffee. This is inclusive of 6% GST which amounted to 63 sen.

Final Verdict:
8/10. It is indeed one of the best Fishball Noodles in the Klang Valley. I shall return one day to savor their delicious Fish Balls even though it's in Cheras which is far away to me.

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Pizza @ Tubotel, Jetty Pelancongan Chenang, Kuala Cenang, Langkawi, Kedah

Address:
Tubotel, Jetty Pelancongan Chenang, Kuala Cenang, Langkawi 07000 Kedah, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
I guess starting 11am till nightfalls(?) say 10pm, daily is for sure. LOL.

Time Visited:
Around 6:15pm, a Saturday evening

Attire worn:
Casual for sure. LOL.

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Ham & Mushroom Pizza and 2 bottles of Breezer
During my stay at Tubotel, to my delight they provided me with a free pizza as well. I've read of comments about their pizza and it was regarded as good and worth the trip towards here if you're in Langkawi just to have their pizza. Imagine my happiness to try it for free when I did plan to try it out. Now, I don't need to plan accordingly because it's already been laid out for me. LOL.

So after a day of going around the area of Langkawi, I decided to head back to Tubotel, shower up and all and after a little while of resting myself, I decided to head to the dining area to get my free pizza. (Mind you, during this time, it's best not to stay in the room because it's so hot in there if the air conditioning unit did not run in the afternoon. So even if you on it at that time, it's too hot to stay in there.) I asked if I could redeem my free pizza now and the guy manning the area there at the moment said yes and showed me the menu of available items for redemption. I chose the Ham and Mushroom Pizza and we're in business. Due to it being so hot that time, I decided to grab a drink as well. I noticed a bottle of liquor drink that I've never seen before called Breezer and I decided to try that. To my amazement, it was so delicious. The liquor that's mixed in was Bacardi and unlike a lot of liquor-based mixture drink in a bottle, none of it that I tasted so far that I would deemed worthy of a return drink. But this one hit the spot. It really was a wonderful drink. And it's only priced RM4. Though it may be dearer than probably outside of this motel, for convenience sake, it's still cheap to me.

So there I was enjoying my Breezer while awaiting for the lone guy manning the place to prepare my pizza. I didn't mind the long wait for the pizza which probably was around 20-25 minutes of wait because I was admiring the sunset in the distance. It's surely a very interesting view and a good one to boot from this hotel. They're real smart in locating this place and have it placed at a nice spot for viewing the sunset. Pretty soon, I'm hitting my second bottle of Breezer. Such a lovely drink till I had seconds. LOL.

The pizza weren't as pretty in it's presentation as I expected and seemed to be in quite an odd shape to me. Almost.......triangular. As can be seen on it's topping, it contains quite a good amount of ingredient and being free to boot is just cream of the crop. It's even oddly cut in pieces with non symmetrical shapes and sizes. LOL. Now it was time for the taste test. Although I would hardly deemed it as worthy of travelling all the way to Tubotel just to have the pizza when in Langkawi, it's still quite a delicious grub. The pastry of the pizza is kind of doughy but it balances well with the topping. Adding some salt and pepper that's provided along enhances the taste nicely. It's simply a good snack for consumption but definitely is not something to go out of your way just to eat it. Unless you're wanting to take the sunset view into consideration then it is quite a breathtaking spectacular view from the veranda dining area.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM8. No tax, no service charge nothing. The pizza is free too. Just the two 4% alcohol Breezer costs RM4 a bottle.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Certainly a nice grub especially to go with a bottle of alcohol. Be sure to add some condiments to it to enhance the taste. :)

Friday, May 13, 2016

Chung Kee @ Restoran Yat Pat Hoe (一八好), Seksyen U1, Glenmarie, Shah Alam, Selangor

Address:
No. 11, Jalan Juruaudit U1/37, Seksyen U1, Glenmarie, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Not sure what's their opening hours are like but I think it's from 7am - 8pm. Half day on Saturday, maybe.

Time Visited:
12:30pm, Thursday lunch time

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Ipoh Shredded Chicken Noodles (Kai See Hor Fun) and Chinese Tea Ice

This restaurant use to be one of my favorite haunts mainly because I can have my Petai cravings fixed here. I love the Thai Food that ply their business at the back but due to promising a jovial uncle that mans this new stall located up front of the restaurant a month back, I decided to keep my promise and try out this fine day.

The place of course is not new to me but is mainly my favorite place to go for food but due to the recent boom of new restaurants that came up within the vicinity, I started to frequent here less and less. So the stall that I'm trying out is called Chung Kee and ironically, the dish that I'm trying out is the Ipoh Shredded Chicken Noodles, something that I use to eat at my hometown in Ipoh every Friday night after a religious meeting. It's tough to claim something from a certain place where the dish is famous for and be comparable to the real deal and I'm here to test it out.

The jovial uncle was still there that day with another person who prepares the dishes while the uncle mainly do PR work and serve the food to customers. He was also busy interacting with some customers seated nearby his stall and so he was less conversant towards me that day though there were few exchanges in our chatter. Pretty soon, the noodles came to my table. It looks lavishly brandished in soup where the tip of the bowl of noodles were the only ingredients you get to see which was the shrimps. The few shredded pieces of chicken can be seen but other than that the noodles were mostly submerged in the heavily soup laden dish.

Before I continue further commenting about the bowl of noodles, let me just specify for the record that this restaurant still charges their Chinese Tea Ice for 50 sen only! This is the only restaurant left that I know of that charge their Chinese Tea Ice for 50 sen only. Section 17 Restoran How Yekee is another that I know that don't raise the price that quickly even though other spots had done so months ahead but I haven't been there for so long so I'm not sure whether they charge 50 sen there still.

So then the moment of truth in tasting the noodle dish came since the uncle kept asking me to try his noodles and the verdict is.........unfortunately a major letdown. I find the soup along with the noodles lacks taste and almost tasteless. The chicken was gamy and dry and didn't give out the rich nice, smooth and oily taste that I get from the Ipoh style hor fun. The noodles are a repetition of tasteless and I find no consolation of a good point to follow up in praise. All I got was sheer disappointment from it and there's no good point that I can raise up aside from saying it's edible. Even the miserable 2 pieces of shrimp was a letdown. Despite it's small size, they're just too lazy to even peel off the shell which most shops would and I'm a person who hates eating a shrimp with it's shell still on because I'm a very lazy individual. I'm a person who thinks the taste of shrimp is not well worth the effort to get my hands dirty to peel off the shell.

So yes. It's a letdown. So if I'm ever at this shop, I'll still to the regular good ones like the Petai Chicken way at the back or the claypot yee mee (a little too salty but still delicious because I like yee mee) at the middle or the nice old lady's pork noodles just behind this Chung Kee stall. But as for this Ipoh Shredded Chicken Noodles, I don't think I'm ever eating it ever again. So sorry but that's how I felt.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM7 for the noodles (big). For the small portion, it'll cost RM6. But what's intriguing is the restaurant's Chinese Tea Ice is only 50 sen! Hope it'll last a very very long time. :D

Final Verdict:
3/10. Too tasteless and ingredients not fine enough. Needs improvement. Very very much greatly needed. But don't let that deter you from eating at this restaurant. There's other fine stalls to eat from.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Breakfast at Tubotel, Jetty Pelancongan Chenang, Kuala Cenang, Langkawi, Kedah

Address:
Jetty Pelancongan Chenang | Kuala Cenang, Langkawi 07000 Kedah, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Hmm, supposed to open for breakfast at 7am(?) - 11am, daily

Time Visited:
Closed to 8:30am, Sunday since they still haven't open when 7am arrived. So I went back to sleep.

Attire worn:
Casual. Extremely, well to me anyway. In my case.

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
I think I ordered Beef Frittata for breakfast. Can't really recall. LOL.
I decided to break up my posts on Tubotel to 2 or maybe 3 smaller posts rather than putting all about Tubotel in one post. Since I'm working my way backwards, I'm going to write a post about Tubotel's breakfast.

So yeah. I was enticed in trying out Tubotel as my place to stay for my Langkawi trip. Though it first stated that RM188 is for the Garden view, they seemed to have "upgraded" me to a seaview instead which I'm very, very glad of having that excellent sea view out of the room. Anyway, I'll leave more details for another post.

The next morning of me waking up on a Sunday, my plan was to redeem my free breakfast and I had a planned Island Hopping tour arranged by Tubotel before gallivanting around town. So the plan? 7am wake up and freshen myself up till 7:30am. Pack up and have breakfast at 8am before the shuttle comes for me at 9am to take me to the Island Hopping tour place. Unfortunately, when almost 7:30am came about, I head to the communal toilet but upon seeing the dining hall / reception area was still locked, I decided to head back to bed. LOL. 8am came and that's when I finally went to freshen myself up instead of having breakfast. When 8:30am came, I've already changed, took my bags along with me to check out as well as redeem my free breakfast.

During my stay there, there's quite a number of choices for breakfast to choose from. There's the 2 fried eggs with roasted tomatoes and beef bacon or chicken sausage, Vegetarian or Beef Frittata, Chorizo with Hash Browns and 2 fried eggs, Ham & Mushroom Frittata, Muesli with Fruit & Yogurt or Banana Pancakes. Being a person who craves for meat in the morning (especially bacon), I decided to go for the Beef Frittata.

They have quite a number of workers to prepare breakfast. All seems to get ready to face the morning breakfast crowd only as opposed to other times of the day after breakfast where you'll only spot one or 2 employees around. The menu states that they only use Free Range Kampung Eggs. All breakfast sets comes with coffee or tea (which of course I chose coffee), an orange juice, toasts with butter and jam to go with it. Pretty decent in it's value for a complimentary breakfast. Of course those items came first before the Frittata did. In fact, the Frittata took quite a mighty long time to come. Probably around 15 minutes or so. The coffee that they offered was the 3-in-1 mix sachet that's Indocafe coffeemix(?) if I recall correctly. There's also 2 sachets provided to you inside your room.

After a long wait, the Frittata finally arrived. It looked gorgeous and seemed well worth the wait in it's presentation. This omelette Frittata though is thin, is packed with ingredients as well. I can see spinach some smoked beef briskets and of course, the egg to make it coating it. I've read some comments about their breakfast that it's well worth to just travel here to eat it if you're in Langkawi and so here lies the moment of truth as I taste it. Turns out, well, it was delicious I would say that but the singing of praises over it were a little over the top. Just to come to Tubotel for their breakfast is a little too carried away. Anyway, it was a hearty meal though I could still eat some more after that meal. LOL.

In the morning, the atmosphere is a little more crowded than I expected since the afternoon and evening that went by the day before had me feeling as if I had the whole place to myself. I guess that's what happens if you gave out complimentary breakfast and it's only for a set amount of time. LOL. So the viewing of the sea as you enjoy your breakfast weren't as spectacular as my dinner while viewing the sunset over the deck. As I finished my breakfast and await for my shuttle to arrive (which was late for some reason), I chilled around and fiddled with my phone since I already soaked in enough of the view of the sea over the deck. It's a more fantastic view from the room and outside of it since you're much closer. But then again, I chose inside the dining area because the lounge beds upon the jetty looks creakish and the other tables that are like a picnic table are all occupied. And so, I went for an indoor seat overlooking the sea instead. Oh well.

Total Wallet Damage:
Well. It's free. Tubotel gives a complimentary breakfast when you stay at their place. At least, if you didn't opt out of it for a cheaper lodging price. That's the latest I saw. During the time I booked, there's no such thing as an opt out option. But then again, I wouldn't want to anyway.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Well, that's only the score for the breakfast not the Tubotel's accommodation nor the free pizza I had for dinner. Great number of choices, great value with a generous enough amount of items given even though it's complimentary and it does taste good.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

The Red Beanbag, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
Block A4 1st Floor A4-1-08, Publika, Jalan Dutamas 1, Solaris Dutamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Tue-Fri:
10:00 am - 10:00 pm
Sat-Sun:
9:30 am - 10:00 pm

Time Visited:
Around 2:15pm on a Sunday.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Bella and the Jets and a Flat White
A bit lazy on this Sunday due to the cool weather returning sooner than expected and helping me sleep a little longer than I normally would in the mornings. Love those rain that comes hard and quick and leaves as soon as I'm supposed to go outdoors. So this was the Sunday I was having conflicting thoughts on whether should I even step out of my house. I have already failed to do so the day before even though I was planning to try some new places for food but in the end, gave up and went back to bed.

This time around, I said I have to get out of the house just to get some sunlight on me and to train myself to be positive and smile since it's easier if I'm in public to put on a display then being cooped up in my room which I can easily cry. The Red Beanbag is a very familiar name to me. Popular among many cafe-goers and has been heard by me for the longest time but yet I didn't carry any intention to visit. I've always had this nagging thought that this place is far from me and I have to drive all the way to KL. Well, technically, it is in KL but didn't know it was a place I kind of frequent till I google it up today.

Being in the maze-like Publika, I felt game to go out to this place to try. Besides, I've ran out of food at home anyway and so the need to go out anyhow. When I got to Publika, there were many people crowding the place especially at the area of where there's a display on Tapirs. And so, off with my plan to search for The Red Beanbag. Pretty soon, I found where it was and was dying to head on upstairs to it to try.

When I got there, it was teeming with people. Such a popular location. There's even 3 groups of people taking numbers to be on a waiting list for a table but as for me, I walked right in and got one. The perks of a single diner. You don't need a table to accommodate a group of people. Just a simple one table and chair would suffice. The menus already been laid out at the table and everything was already perfectly prepared for a guest of 2. Cups were placed in the utensils tray and napkins were also adequate. There's even a filled bottle of water awaiting, ready for you to pour instead of them serving you when you sit down. Perfect. So I gazed through the menu and had my sight set on Bella and the Jets. Bella and the Jets is a breakfast dish which main ingredients consists of the Portobello Mushrooms and the Roasted Chicken Chorizo atop Sourdough breads. There's also poached eggs on top with Parmesan cheese grated all around with a side of Rocket leaves.

Due to the massive amount of crowd there, the waiting period for my food took quite a long time but they were quick to serve out the drink even though I ordered a Flat White. I love how the coffee tasted. Strong robust nutty taste with aromatic coffee that befits my tasting palate. It took quite a long while for my brunch to be served to me but eventually it came to me. By the way, don't fret if you're seeing someone who came in later than you had their food dished out to them first. They're quicker in serving burgers.

The presentation wasn't a bad one and the Parmesan cheese just covers all the areas up. The rocket leaves though looks pathetic and is bitter to my dismay. I don't like eating vegetables anyway so it wasn't much of a loss to me. The poached egg's texture was nice but the yolk don't seem to be that much. Maybe this is quite a small egg? But then again, poached eggs aren't supposed to be all runny. I simply love the Roasted Chicken Chorizo the best. One of the best I've tasted. The heat on it is just perfect and though it's a roasted chicken, it surely surprised me because I didn't know that was the meat. It's solid taste makes it the dominant ingredient of them all though the Portobello Mushrooms should be the star. But then again, there's a lot of mushrooms in this dish and it didn't get pushed out on it's taste. The bread was toasted right and that's about it for the ingredients. The Parmesan cheese may not give out much taste to it but it does provide a better texture for the dish as a whole.

Due to the amount of people visiting the outlet, the atmosphere is kinda ruined for me because I prefer a much quieter setting than a vibrant and spunky one. Still, I'd return when there's a chance. It's coffee and food is good and I can't deny that.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM39.65. There's a 10% service charge involve along with 6% GST.

Final Verdict:
8/10. Not a bad place for western breakfast food and the coffee, I just love it. It would've scored higher if they don't charge the service charge but they do, so a score of 8 it is.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

My French Factory Cafe, Langgura Baron Walk, Cenang, Langkawi, Kedah

Address:
Langgura Baron Walk, Jalan Pantai Cenang, Cenang, Langkawi, 07000 Kedah.

Opening Hours:
Saturday - Thursday, 1pm - 11pm.

Time Visited:
Around 1:15pm in the afternoon on a Sunday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Chicken slices with cheese + homemade tomato sauce and fresh pineapples and a Latte (hot)
My French Factory Cafe has been ranked as the number 1 restaurant in Langkawi by TripAdvisor and so I made my way there to have a try at it.
Though the day before I had tried to head on over but seems that they were closed that day for some unknown reason but I'm glad that happened because it led me to discover a really really good cafe. That cafe was an unexpected gem that I found that wasn't even listed in TripAdvisor.

Anyway, so this was the Sunday that I had planned for my Island Hopping tour and so after that, I took the opportunity to grab my bags and head on to try My French Factory. This time I was in luck. They were open.

My French Factory is located at the busy tourist street of Jalan Pantai Cenang. Right next to the Cenang Mall, there's a Pizza Place during my visit. My French Factory is just right next to it. This place is run by a Frenchman and his partner just like another crepe cafe I visited the day before. The guy is all serious business when it comes to creating his crepe with his specialized tools for creating his crepes. And like the cafe I visited the day before, this place uses their own homemade batter for creating their crepes. The place is quite small. In fact, I saw indoors may seem a little cram and stuffy to be in there and so I decided to sit al fresco style. Every table has a menu in a holder and so I panned through it to see what should I order. Their menu was quite thick with their laminated pages and every item has a picture for you to know what you're ordering.

Since I tasted a sweet crepe the previous cafe, I decided to go for the savory one in this cafe. So chicken slices with cheese and tomato sauce and pineapples it is then. They have a local to help work for them and so talking to this lady wasn't that difficult. But as for the owners, they seemed to not be fluent in English but surprisingly friendly just like the other Crepe Cafe I went to the day before called Breizh Up. Gosh. Everything is just so darn similar between the two cafe's repertoire. The guy was full of concentration while preparing my crepe but spotted me observing him and decides to flash a friendly smile my way. LOL.

Pretty soon, I have my latte in front of me. Their coffee seemed to mimic the way of the Europeans do and had this bitter undertone to it but not as strong as those European ones. Still, it's stronger than a lot of the coffees that I've tried. The latte was served in a typical drinking water cup with it filling halfway of the cup just so that the ratio of espresso and milk is good. It was rather foamy and even more so than cappuccinos I've tasted before and seemed to be in a category of it's own if I were to put it. Pretty soon, the much anticipated crepe arrived at my table to enjoy. Spotting that I was to take pictures of the crepe, the waitress asked me to wait and hurriedly back with an Eiffel Tower prop and said that's for taking pictures with. LOL. Hence you can see that prop in my pictures.

And so, I started to dig in. The crepe itself was really delicious. It's well cooked and crispy all the way. There's never a moment you find it not crispy at all! It just maintain it's texture even though it has been left for awhile. As for the combination of chicken slices, cheese, tomato and pineapple, it works very well altogether to form a nice savory crepe. I can safely say Langkawi has the best crepes if compared with the ones we have in the Klang Valley. 2 out of 2 crepe cafes and they're leaps and bound above the closest best I've tried in the Klang Valley. I particularly love how it's cheese taste was so strong and robust and feels a little like eating a pizza on this savory crepe. I lapped up the whole dish with whatever scraps of crepe I can get once finished and was deeply satisfied of the satiating taste of it.

Though I still prefer Breizh Up's crepes, this is still miles apart from our finest crepes in Klang Valley. The al fresco atmosphere along the busy streets of Jalan Pantai Cenang wasn't much of a sight but who cares. It's the crepe that deserves the attention than the surroundings.

Total Wallet Damage:
Well, I can't seem to find the receipt. Or was I given one? I think I wasn't given one. Anyway, I think in total it's RM35? It's cheap in it's price for crepe and didn't seem to have any extra charge. RM20 is for the crepe, RM13 is for the latte and RM2 is because I ordered a bottle of water to go.

Final Verdict:
9/10. A highly recommended place to try should you be in Langkawi. Crepe done by an authentic Frenchman and is one of the finest that I've tried in Malaysia so far.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Sun Cafe, Sunmall, Pantai Tengah, Langkawi Island, Kedah

Address:
Sunmall, No. 8, Jalan Teluk Baru, Pantai Tengah, Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, 07000 Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 12pm noon till 12am midnight

Time Visited:
Around 2pm, a Sunday afternoon with slight drizzle

Attire worn:
Casual.

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Tomato Mozzarella Salad and Carrot Juice
It was after I tried some crepes at My French Factory and it looked worriedly dark and was about to rain. So I hurriedly adjourned to Sun Cafe to try which was in my hit list to try before I depart off from Langkawi that day. Wait. I just realized that this was my first post on my Langkawi trip.

Disappointingly, I took this trip on my own because nobody wanted to come with me and nobody took me seriously. Well, all except my buddy. But my buddy didn't seem to keen on the idea of a communal bathroom toilet and a concrete cement drain as a bedroom. LOL. So I guess this time around, I decided to just go on my own instead of inviting him along to join me.

So I planned off this journey to hopefully spruce up my boring, uneventful and enigmatic life and hopefully restore some much needed joy back into my life. This was on the last day of my weekend trip and my last cafe stop before I decided to head on home.

It started to drizzle a bit when I was driving towards there but it was merely a short rainfall. By the time I arrive 15 minutes later, it had already stopped raining. The place was rather empty with just a table or two of foreigners but then again, this place is supposedly to be foreigners territory. Locals won't venture around here let alone eat in a place like this. Feeling quite full from the earlier savory crepe taken, I decided to opt for a salad instead. But in lieu of a vegetable green salad, I went for the Tomato Mozzarella Salad. Keeping with the theme of vegetables, I ordered a Carrot Juice to drink.

On every table, the cafe has a table standee that displays the cafe's WiFi password. I connected to it and found out that their connection was quite fast. That's not the only thing that's fast. The serving of the food and drink was efficiently quick as well. Not even finished surfing a webpage, already the food was presented to me. The styling of the dish was excellent. Very pleasing to the eye and organized pattern style. Each tomato slice looks lovely accompanied by the Mozzarella Cheese and beef stew thing (?) on top. At a glance, I thought that the balsamic vinaigrette were way too much for the dish as I can see a puddle of it at the bottom but after tasting the dish, I can understand why they put so much. The taste of the salad dressing isn't very strong but still carries it's weight in taste which worked perfectly well with the tomatoes and the mozzarella cheese. This dish is just a very simple food item but yet they manage to make it of top quality and very much pleases my palate.

The carrot juice though has quite a robust bitter undertone which I didn't like it. But then again, this is just pure carrot juice, nothing else. I don't think they even add any sugar at it and there's definitely no milk in there hence the bitter aftertaste lingering around. After a sleepy hanging around session and lazing till I'm ready to move, I signaled for the bill and head my way to purchase some gift for friends.

Total Wallet Damage:
In total RM29.70. It's range is in the pricey side with the salad being a comfortable RM19 but the carrot juice comes at RM8. There's a 10% service charge. No mentioned about GST.

Final Verdict:
8/10. Nice place to chill and relax on a lazy afternoon should it rain a little and you couldn't head to the beach. I'm impressed with their food and drink even though it's just a simple dish. The only thing I find at fault would be their price range. A little on the high side but at a place like this, you can't find food that's of this nature to come cheap.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Curry House Coco Ichibanya, One Utama Shopping Centre, Bandar Utama (BU), Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
LG333A, Lower Ground Floor (New Wing), One Utama Shopping Centre (1U), 1, Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama (BU), 47800 Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Opening Hours:
10am - 10pm (?), Daily is a certainty

Time Visited:
About 1:30pm on a Sunday afternoon

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Beef Omelette Curry Rice and Hot Cappuccino
DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience.

I just love eating Japanese Curry Rice. So much so that my buddy eagerly recommends me to come here and try with him. Coco Ichibanya is a dedicated restaurant to Japanese Curry Rice. Yes, you read it right. It's entire restaurant is mainly based on food that's just Japanese Curry Rice which is quite heavenly to me. Of course, if you're not into Japanese Curry Rice, the only thing left on the menu that you can order are the salads. That's about it. Either Japanese Curry Rice or salads. No other types of food. LOL.

Coco Ichibanya is a Japanese restaurant that originated from Japan and is the top curry rice chain restaurant in Japan. For me, it's the only restaurant I know which is a Curry Rice Japanese restaurant. The interior of the restaurant here at 1 Utama has a setting that tries to portray itself as a French cafe with the cafe-like wallpaper drawings and some fake window props. I can only wonder why they went with such a theme when clearly they're in the Japanese food business.

There are 2 menus that are passed to you when you sit yourself down and that is a food menu and a drinks menu. The food menu has their food pictures in it so that you know exactly what you're ordering but unlike a Japanese menu, it doesn't tell you how much calories are there in the food and there's also no description of what the food is. But then again, with simple dish names such as my Beef Omelette Curry Rice, it's hard to not know what you're getting from that dish. From what I gather from the real food and the food pictures, it's exactly what I got. It looks exactly the same as the menu unlike most if not all restaurants where the food pictures will always be better looking than the actual product. But not for this restaurant. It looks exactly as the picture in the menu. The only difference I can see is that the colors in the menu are more vibrant. That's all. Other than that, the arrangement are exactly the same.

To me, the Japanese Curry over here tasted a little different from the Japanese Curry taste I'm used to eating. The Japanese Curry over at this place emphasizes more on the heat and spiciness of the curry rather than how Japanese Curry normally taste to me which is sweet and not at all spicy. But this one just seems to be more spicy than the usual type of Japanese Curry to me. In fact, you can even add the spiciness of the curry. There's a spicy powder for you to sprinkle on your food to just add the spiciness of the dish. I tasted the powder and it doesn't taste of anything, just adds the spiciness when your tongue meets the powder. LOL.

Although this may not be my most favorite Japanese Curry Rice even though it's a dedicated Japanese Curry Rice shop (Okonomi is my current favorite if not counting the one made by my Japanese friend), I still like it a lot. Oh, as for the Cappuccino, well their coffee tends to lean towards more the Italian version of coffee which are more bitter in nature. But nonetheless, a moderate fine coffee to drink with. Oh, also the omelette was nice, soft and fluffy enveloping the rice nicely and the beef was nice and tender. Very nicely done set of ingredients. This may very well be the destination I head to should I be in 1 Utama and in need of my Japanese Curry Rice craving.

Total Wallet Damage:
Well, if inclusive of my friend's orders as well, it totals up to RM69. My Beef Omelette Rice costs RM29 and the Cappuccino costs RM10. There's a 6% GST included in the price and no service charge.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Though a score of only 7 in my books, I'd still frequent this because I need to quell my Japanese Curry Rice cravings from time to time. LOL.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

320 Below, One Utama Shopping Centre (1U), Bandar Utama (BU), Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
Lot F101A, First Floor, One Utama Shopping Centre (1U), No.1, Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama (BU), 47800 Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Mon-Sun:
10:00 am - 9:30 pm

Time Visited:
Can't remember the exact time but close to 5pm, Sunday evening.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Apple Cinnamon flavor ice cream and coffee with milk
DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience.

It was after the movie Captain America: Civil War (which by the way, I rate it 3.5 stars out of 5). I wanted to munch on something and so not to ruin my buddy's appetite for dinner with his family, we decided to go for this Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream place called 320 Below. Now this may not be the first time I've savored Ice Cream done with Liquid Nitrogen before but certainly the most memorable one of them all was the demonstration by a mixologist at a Heineken event.

Anyway, there we are and that's when I ordered the Apple Cinnamon and being a coffee buff I was tempted and ordered their coffee with milk. The scoop of Ice Cream is white as white can be scooped in a typical ice cream cup bearing the name of 320 Below. From my experience on eating liquid nitrogen ice cream, it's usually in the texture of a sorbet but for this one, this contains the creamy texture of a regular ice cream. In fact, it is very creamy. But it also melts extremely fast, more than a regular ice cream. The Apple Cinnamon lacks in both cinnamon and apple taste to me and conceded more of a coconut taste, if anything. Bits of soft crunchy bits scatters throughout that whole scoop of ice cream which I think should be apple bits? But it didn't taste of much so it's just crunchy for fun. For some odd reason, the coconut taste is very strong in this ice cream. I wonder if they gave me the wrong flavor and gave me the Thai Coconut flavor instead? Hmm.....

320 Below is an ice cream place that started off in Singapore before it came to Malaysia opening up here in this 1 Utama outlet. Generally during my time there, it seems moderately busy even though the mall is crazy lots of people during this Labor Day holiday. The One Utama outlet (currently the only outlet in Malaysia and the first International outlet for 320 Below) has quite a limited space seating but seeing the crowd capacity that enters this place, I'd say currently it's sufficient. The counter, preparation area and the liquid nitrogen tanks already take up almost half of the entire outlet.

Nonetheless, it's a good place to chill and relax and hide away from the crowd especially at a day like Labor's Day. Anyway, the ice cream isn't something that I fancy much but it's okay in it's taste. Then again, I'm not much of an ice cream person. More of a coffee aficionado.

Total Wallet Damage:
Erm, I don't know. I didn't pay for the bill. LOL >.<

Final Verdict:
5.5/10. If you like ice cream, you may like it. Well, it's no soft cream like McD's ice cream but it's definitely ice cream. XD