2Ox, The Row, Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
54-56, The Row, Jalan Doraisamy, Chow Kit, 50300 Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 11:30am - 12am

Time Visited:
Saturday, 6:45pm

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Duck Leg Confit & Sangria (with White Wine)

After a long day working, I decided to unwind at 2Ox located at the Row which was famously known as Asian Heritage Row and is known for their notorious nightlife. By the way, 2Ox is not twenty x but rather 2 ox. LOL. I really thought the O was an 0 at first.

So I arrived there fairly early but of course parking over there was a breeze right in front of the restaurant, the catch is....you have to pay RM10 for the parking. Pfft. These scalpers. Anyway, since it's right in front of the restaurant, it's okay. Sitting outside, the menu was already on the table so I just need to pick it up and browse through it. It looks like they're just readied for dinner not too long ago since most of the staff were merely lingering around inside and I can't see anyone that's manning the outside of the restaurant. But there's 1 that comes in and out serving a tourist at a table where the guy seems to be busy with his Apple laptop. I soon made up my mind on what to ordered and signaled to a gentleman to take my orders.

Along came the bread as an appetizer with some greenish oil condiments to go with the bread. The complimentary appetizer was great with the bread being good just by eating on it's own and that dip that comes with it goes very well with the bread. I was asked if I liked more bread once I finished but of course I declined since I wanna save some space for my Duck Leg Confit and my Sangria.

The Duck Leg Confit was beautifully cooked and glisten along with the ambiance light and that it's carefully placed on top of some beans and the Dauphinois potato gratin. The beans and potatoes provided quite a crunch to the dish while the orange sauce that accompanies the Duck Leg Confit went very well with the meat. The end product of the duck is simply delicious and it may seemed like just a lovely looking dish but the taste did exceed what it looked like. It was delicious through and through and as I peel the layer of skin away to expose the inside meat of the duck, I was greeted with a steaming hot delicious, moist meat. Throughout my meal, the duck stayed hot and warmed throughout and so there was never a moment where it dropped in it's tastefulness. I was truly satisfied with it and so I would say the RM80 price on it is what it is truly worth. As for the Sangria, there was a many mixture of orange and apples in it thus giving it a refreshing taste. The white wine that was in the mixture was nice and all in all, a good Sangria nonetheless.

After I slowly enjoyed off my drink, I headed back home with satisfaction.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM108. RM80 for the duck, RM28 for the Sangria. There's 10% service charge involved and 6% GST.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Food was excellent and drinks were not bad. Service was okay.

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The Nightingale Bar, Spitalfield's Gastropub, Atria Shopping Gallery, Atria Damansara, SS22, Damansara Jaya (DJ), Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
Spitalfield's Gastropub, C37, Concourse Floor, Atria Shopping Gallery, Atria Damansara, Jalan SS22/23, Damansara Jaya, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Mon-Thu:
4:00 pm - 2:00 am
Fri-Sat:
3:00 pm - 3:00 am

Time Visited:
Saturday night, 9:30pm

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Tropical Depression

DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience.

It was the last day that I get to hangout with a friend of mine before she flies off to further her education and I just wanted do so one last time before the time comes. She indicated that she's free on that Saturday night and that's where I organized to make it possible. Unfortunately, as my usual self, I'm unable to get anyone else to join in so it was just me and her for dinner. It doesn't matter. She's just gonna be away for a year only and then she'll be back again to make more memories with us again. LOL. So we headed to a restaurant that she suggested called Li and that's where we had our dinner. After much talking, we decided to proceed further with a drink and so we walked around Atria in search of a bar/pub to quench our alcohol cravings. It was late that time and the Shopping Mall was closing and so were all of the restaurant and shops in it. We were about to give up hope when we reached one of the entrance end of the Shopping Mall and we saw Spitalfield's Gastropub. Upon glancing on their opening hours, we saw that it opens till late and so we headed on in. Since we already had our dinner, we were just there to have a drink and that's when we were told to go into their bar area.

The Nightingale Bar area from it's non-opening times will have a bookcase door to hide behind of from the world and will not be seen from the restaurant side of the place. But since that time it's opened, you see it's dark lit area from within and the DJ spinning tunes of a very easy listening way with the bar and their mandatory display of alcohol upon the shelves behind to indicate the amount of alcohol that they're able to churn out for you. The Nightingale Bar do have another entrance that's straight from the Shopping Mall area and that's the Telephone Booth facade picture above. The door just sits snugly at the left side to open to enter and that facade hides the entrance somewhat. When we were there, they indicated to us that Saturday nights are Ladies Night and ladies get free cocktails which was such perfect timing for my friend to pop in here. So that's what she had to drink, the free cocktail. As for a male like me, I glance through the menu to select my choice of poison and I just picked the first thing on their menu which aptly suits me too because it's called Tropical Depression. LOL. Well, also because I'm lazy to skim through the long list of alcohol available at the place and so just went with the cocktail.

The place had very few people around and so it was quite a quiet enough joint to chat with friends even with the DJ blasting some tunes but it wasn't loud till you can't speak. But over at the restaurant section, there's more people over there celebrating certain occasions with their family and/or loved ones. The free cocktail came in a jiffy while my Tropical Depression took some time to come. As we were talking, the bar suddenly caught my attention because I saw a very unique looking mug that's being placed on the counter with a golden skull like ornament beside it. On top of that, the bartender started to place something brown that look like a small cigar on it and started to light it up and it started smoking like an incense. The waiter pretty soon, collected the things and started his merry way. To my surprise....that was my drink! I didn't expect it to be this fancy and they took me by a very big surprise on their presentation. As he laid the cocktail drink in front of me, he also laid that gold skull ornament beside it and told me that this drink comes with Edamame beans. So that's what they were and they were taken out of it's pod and squirted with some tomato sauce on it. I'm impressed.

The big stone head mug was barely enough to be on top of the coaster. The lit up item that looks like an incense of some sort turned out to be cinnamon. The strong taste of alcohol was within the concoction but it also brings out a breezy minty feeling and taste once you drink it down which keeps with the tropical theme. It also contains citrus fruits in em to further on the tropical theme. The list of things that are inside as indicated in the menu are:
Sailor's Jerry Spice Rum, Martell VSOP, Bombay Sapphire, Falernum Syrup, Fresh squeezed lime Juice, Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice & touch of Homemade Pineapple Honey Syrup. I'm impressed. Not by the list of ingredients but how they actually made Sailor's Jerry Spice Rum to work. LOL. As I recall, I hated that taste when they were one of the sponsors for MTV World Stage and I just took one cup and decided to go for other alcoholic beverages when I tasted it. Haha. My friend didn't even finished his cup that time. But as for this mixture into this cocktail, it all blended well together and created a very refreshing and easy to drink cocktail. I could take long sips of it without the feel of alcohol in it. The only thing that kept me from continuing my long sips was actually the very cold feeling. Once it hit me, I can't sip on it anymore. First time it wasn't because of the alcohol sensation that stopped me.

I enjoyed the drink and the edamame beans for snack very much. Not to mention the ambiance is lovely too. The tunes were not too over the top. This is really a splendid place to chill with friends for a drink. Too bad I usually don't have people to bring along. Else I would definitely bring them here for a drink if they're ladies on Saturday because it's ladies night. LOL. Else, the TAPS beer bar has always been on my mind to frequent due to the vast amount of Craft Beers they carry. It's also the place I tasted the best beer I've ever had which probably is why I fell in love with that place as a watering hole aside from it's also very nicely done meals. So yeah. The Nightingale Bar on a Saturday night for the ladies over here would probably be my first choice now.

Total Wallet Damage:
Get this, the Tropical Depression is supposed to cost RM38, but I was charged RM31! I don't know the reason but they gave me a 30% discount and I don't know what's that for. There's 10% service charge and 6% GST too though.

Final Verdict:
9.5/10. Okay. I know this is extreme and over the top to give it a 9.5. But c'mon, free cocktail for ladies on a Saturday night, a nice mysterious hidden environment that's lovely for a chat with your friends, a most excellent presentation with my cocktail that comes with a snack that surprises me a lot? The cocktail was a tasty nice drink too. They passed me a feedback form and here's what I put in there that I'm putting here, of course I would definitely be back again for a drink. It's an almost perfect, ideal place for me to chill if I were to bring a lady friend to drink. Hence the high score. Oh, the service was not bad too so it's worth the 10% charge.

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Interlude International Tapas Bar, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail (TTDI), Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
No 50, lorong Rahim Kajai 14, Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), 60000 Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Opening Hours:
Tue – Sun: 4:00 pm – 2:00 am (Monday Closed)

Time Visited:
I think around 6:30pm. I just know it's a Sunday night

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Margarita with Pork Fried Rice

It may be called as an International Tapas Bar but it does serve main dishes and food as oppose to only Tapas.

Arrived for my dinner at a very early time and so patrons were scarcer than water in a desert. There's just a couple of ang mohs on the outside area drinking away some beer and chatting amongst themselves. That was about it. Inside was as barren as can be and it feels like I booked the entire restaurant to myself. Oh, I think there was an Indian guy hanging out at the bar there for drinks but due to the dim lighting of the place, I barely notice him being there. LOL.

They quipped as being the first International Tapas Bar in Malaysia but I'm not sure whether that's a statement that I can vouch for. However, they do certainly have Tapas that come in the form of different country type of dishes to go along with your poison beverage of your choice. I was there for my dinner to I directed my attention towards the mains.

The staff were Filipinos and were very friendly, accommodating and attentive. Despite this place serving different types of dishes that are staples or at least originate from other countries, I decided to dwindle upon the Malaysian dish instead. That being the Pork Fried Rice. All I saw in the beverage menu were alcohol, alcohol and more alcohol. I didn't manage to reach the end of the beverage menu as I've given up in search of something non-alcoholic and succumbed to ordering a Margarita. Good job in being a bar.

The low lighting condition surrounding the vicinity creates a much romantic atmosphere where dates would be great here, grabbing some drinks and getting to know a person better. But this place has schedules almost nightly with live bands and DJs that play when the evening gets late and is approaching towards the morning hours so during those times, probably wouldn't be a good idea for a date unless you want to just chill and maybe dance a little like a club setting. But on a Sunday night, it's all nice, quiet and tranquil with soft music of cover pop songs being played as a background.

The Margarita came after a fair bit of waiting and it looks like a sugar cane drink with it's light green tinge. The Margaritas here possesses a choice of either having it shaken or the frozen type which I went with the shaken pathway. It came upon in a typical Margarita glass fashion with no other fancy gimmick to further beautify the drink and visible spots of salt surrounding the circumference of the glass. I took a sip of it and felt the effects of the alcohol laced with the salt upon my mouth immediately. The taste of it was not bad at all. A mixture of Tequila, Triple Sec and some sweet sour taste.

Still later after some waiting, my fried rice came along with it's dark splendor awaiting to be devoured. The color may take a dark approach and may not be that majestic on such a dark place but the looks deceive more than the taste. The fried rice was delicious and tasted excellent with it's right amount of saltiness and the tenderness enough of the roasted pork completing the dish to rightfully be called a pork fried rice. The description read that it contains crackers but I didn't taste any that were there. Instead, there were many sprinkles of the dry shrimp on top that adds some crunch to the taste since the roasted pork gave no crunchy feeling but just good tender porcine taste. Some greens were the only contrast to illuminate the otherwise pure dark looking dish but I weren't complaining on the looks so long as the taste is great. My only regret was pairing the Margarita with the pork rice because it was salty upon salty.

A little later on, there were some trickles of customers edging in to the restaurant but that didn't dampen the 2 Filipino workers' attentiveness towards me. They cleared my finished dish within the minute and same with the Margarita with the waiter asking do I want a refill. No thanks. I'm already tipsy as it is and I'm planning to grab some coffee. LOL. I called for the bill, paid and left.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM42. Margarita costs more than my food at RM24 and the fried rice was RM18. LOL. 6% GST is charge here but no service charge yet they provide good service.

Final Verdict:
7.5/10. I like the food, I like the alcohol, I like the ambiance though awkward being a person of 1 at a romantic setting and most of all, I like the great service.

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Outback Steakhouse - Nu Sentral, Nu Sentral Mall, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
LG27 & LG 28, Nu Sentral Mall, No. 201, Jalan Tun Sambanthan 50470 Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Opening Hours:
Daily, 10am - 11pm

Time Visited:
Close to 7pm. Dinner time on a Saturday night.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Sirloin and BBQ Beef Ribs and a Long Island Iced Tea

I love a good steak. I'm a very avid meat eater and it shows from my visit to Hacha Mecha and Monte's.

So I decided to head to Nu Sentral Mall and search out for Outback Steakhouse which is a franchise outlet but there's only 2 in Malaysia at the moment including this one at Nu Sentral Mall. The first outlet which was the only one before Nu Sentral Mall came into existence is at Low Yat Plaza.

Outback Steakhouse restaurant is only accessible at the outside portion of the Nu Sentral Mall where it's facing the main road of Jalan Tun Sambanthan. The staff there were really on top of their game and friendly. As I was walking past restaurants at the stretch over there, I made it seem as if I was just passing by. But the maitre d at the front immediately welcomed me as if already knew that I was gonna enter already. I requested for a table of one and she ushered me to my seat. Seeing that the walkway path was congested towards the table she was gonna show me too, she immediately change directions and asked if I would like to be seated over at another table instead which I didn't mind. Quite quick thinking and excellent work there. Throughout the evening during my dining experience there, I got nothing short of great service all the way. Everytime I signaled for somebody, they would rush over immediately to attend to me. When I asked for the WiFi password, the guy ensured that I was connected before walking away. Everytime they brought me something, they would explain it to me. "Here's your Long Island Iced Tea, sir." "Here's a napkin for you to wipe with, sir." "Your sirloin and BBQ Ribs, sir. Enjoy your meal." And they were also quick to clear my finished plates too but always asked before proceeding to do so."

I'm totally impressed with their excellent service. Definitely worth the 10% service charge I paid for. In addition to that, I'm a one man band as well but treated me just the same as any other patrons even though I'm taking up a four person table. There's only one small thing that I would like to point out and that is when I was seated, I was introduced the Christmas menu which clearly indicates for 2 person. LOL. I mentioned to her that it's for 2 person, right? And she laughed nervously realizing her mistake. But of course, that isn't a problem. In fact it's quite amusing. After all, how many lone diners would've walked in here to dine, right? Therefore, it's understandable that she rattled off her procedure because after all, 99% of the patrons consists of families and at least 2 persons. This reminds me of the time where I walked into Wendy's for my own meal and the person recommended me the 10 pieces of chicken. LOL. That was totally unacceptable.

First thing that came was the alcoholic beverage I ordered - the Long Island Iced Tea. It comes on a cool curvy glass so if you're seeing it straight, you're probably drunk. LOL. The Long Island Iced Tea consists of Vodka, Rum, Gin and triple sec with a slice of lemon on top. It was mentioned that it contains a splash of coke but I couldn't taste it. Probably was that blackish substance at the bottom of the glass which tasted a bit sweet. The drink although was laced with many various different kinds of alcohol, yet I could barely taste it. But it is there enough to give me a buzz. Just that the taste of anything in it is rather weak and all I could ever taste is the lemony feel of the drink.

They also served a whopping bread at the beginning. To be exact, it's a French loaf that's about 1/5 of it's size? It also has a scoop of the cream cheese (I think) to go with the bread. The bread was hard on the exterior but soft on the inside. Having that knife stuck at the middle of it and served in a paddle was a great way of presenting it. Totally loved the idea.

It didn't take long for them to serve my meal, probably around 10 minutes for it to arrive. The steak was perfectly cooked which I requested for medium well. Well, not exactly perfect but it's medium well alright. With a little bit of a red color at the center. It just screams out gorgeous. The meat of the sirloin was rougher than what I'm used to but tender enough to consume and succulent enough to eat on it's own. It may not be as juicy as how I got at Monte's or Hacha Mecha but it's a fine enough steak to eat. I also adore their spice sauce that they serve. It has a unique flavoring to it. A little spicy, a little sweet, a little salty and very Mexican-like taste minus the spiciness. It goes very, very well with the sirloin steak and definitely elevates the meat to a better flavor. The Aussie fries were just as good giving me a good feel of the potato flavoring in my mouth with the nicely seasoned salt and pepper to it. As for the BBQ Ribs, it works very well for me too. I can easily separate the meat away from the bones which I hate that kind of hassle so it's good for me. The BBQ sauce upon the meat was spread very evenly. Every bite of the BBQ Ribs is sure to have the BBQ sauce on it without any effort on my part. Although the sweet BBQ sauce makes the ribs a very delicious meat, dipping it into their spice sauce produces another fine unique taste as well. It sort of blends in with the BBQ sauce to create a new unique flavor. All in all, a very satisfying dish that's well worth the RM64.95 (excluding GST) for it. I just wish I had more of the Aussie fries in there too but I don't think the plate will fit. LOL.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is vibrant and family oriented with incandescent lighting to set a more relaxed mood. Chairs weren't too bad on it's comfort level but I would give it an average. Table were huge for me but comfortable in spaces in between other customers. But the walkway path may be a tad too narrow should the restaurant fills up due to it's big tables but I think it's not much as a problem if you compare it to Eat@J's.

Total Wallet Damage:
All in all, RM108.35. It is to be expected with the steak but the alcoholic cocktail seems a little bit pricey. There's also 10% service charge incurred and 6% GST.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Loved the staffs' service and loved the lovely meal. Their own sauce is really a delight to go with the meat. Alcoholic beverage could be further improved lots more especially with that kind of price.

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Naughty Nuri's, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
No.2, Ground Floor, 20/70A,, Jalan Sri Hartamas 22, Desa Sri Hartamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily 12pm-12am.

Time Visited:
At 3:30pm. Wednesday afternoon after the rain.

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Asam Boi Mojito and Naughty Nuri's BBQ Pork Loin.

Actually, I rushed to this place from Plan B, Bangsar because I had made a reservation for 1 using offpeak.my. LOL. I had blog about offpeak.my before last time in my events blog but in the end it was cancelled due to my blogging standards not up to what they're looking for and so the blog posts were never published. I'm actually quite please of Naughty Nuri's staff personally calling me up to inform me that today their kitchen will be closed at 2:30pm and so there will only be grilled BBQ items available while the rest of the items will not be available. She ask me on whether would I like to change my reservation time which I refused and am fine with just their BBQ items being available at that time. She also confirm on how many pax would it be since I only put a reservation for 1 person. XD Very interesting to find out that there's actually a person reserving a space for 1 at an offpeak hour. The real reason on why I made a reservation even though it's redundant is because offpeak.my offered a 10% off from the total bill. I couldn't refuse since I wanted to go there anyway and therefore made the reservation. I still find it funny that I did that, reserving a place for 1 person. Haha.

Anyway, I got there in the nick of time and was lucky enough to get a place when a car came out from his parking lot which is just quite near to the restaurant. I happily took his place and paid for my parking. Just as well since there were traffic warden summoning some cars.

I got to the place and took a seat at the non-smoking section which is just a small area that's considered indoors with an air curtain to separate it from the other outer section. The outer section is huge and extends to the back area that leads to the other road.

The seats weren't that comfortable with it being wooden and so it's kinda hard. My Asam Boi Mojito came fairly quick and maybe because I was preoccupied with my phone when it happened. I noticed that the staff mainly consists of Filipinos with their heavy accent that makes it quite difficult for me to understand even when I was talking to one of them on the phone. The Asam Boi Mojito looks fantastic with 2 Asam Bois sitting atop an iceberg-like structure which is ice that's floating on top of the mojito drink. The problem with this is that the water really does overflow most of the time and you'll find spillage occurring where the liquid will overflow onto the table. Even the coaster there could not prevent the leakage much and is drenched with the mojito drink. LOL. Especially on a hot day like today after the light rain, the ice melts even faster and you're forced to drink it up fast. The drink was very salty and sourish. Very strong Asam Boi taste. Sips of it is manageable but when you're trying to prevent it from constantly overflowing, you try to drink as much as you can to empty more. More than one gulp proves too forceful in it's taste and it's too much for me to handle. Although it's a Mojito, I hardly felt the alcohol at all. Maybe there were none at all since alcoholic beverages doesn't qualify for the 10% discount.

The Pork Loin also came in an acceptable amount of waiting time but then again, it is offpeak hours where staff outnumbers patrons. The Naughty Nuri's BBQ Pork Loin was delicious but it's too salty. Herein lies the problem that I had put myself into. The pork loin is too salty and I want to wash it down with some drink. Unfortunately, my drink is also salty and it doesn't give me the relief I want at all. Had I knew that it was this salty, I would've opted for a sweet drink. The pork loin is served with a unique sauce that is very spicy, as spicy as Cili Padi and has the taste that is similar to those that is poured over rojak. Only this one is 10 times spicier. Even though I just dip a very small area in it, it's spiciness will linger on your tongue.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM55.60. Asam Boi Mojito RM28 and Pork Loins RM25 (my drink is dearer than my food. LOL). There's 10% discount on the subtotal which amounts to (RM5.30) and has 10% service charge and 6% GST with a rounding of minus 2 sen.

Final Verdict:
7.8/10. The food and drink is yummy but a little too salty for my taste. I was clamoring for something sweet and in the end when I got home, I drank a big bottle of water to quench my thirst. LOL. The staff calling me up to inform that the kitchen closes at 2.30pm is a nice touch that I very much appreciated. That shows that they truly are very attentive. The ambiance is okay but a bit too hot for me and the seats a bit too uncomfortable. Other than that everything is fine and this is a nice place to chill for drinks. Just don't expect to easily find a spot when it's peak hours. You can try the communal table if you're a diner of one, but peak hours are known to fill up the place good.

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