TWT Cafe, Bandar Baru Medan Ipoh, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Address:
30, Jalan Medan Ipoh 1D, Bandar Baru Medan Ipoh, 31400 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Closed on Tuesdays
Other Days 12pm - 10pm

Time Visited:
12:30pm, on a Public Holiday Wednesday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Chocolate Lava with Vanilla Gelato and Peppermint Tea

Straight off the bat from a hefty meal at Petit Mary Pattisserie, I don't think I would be able to eat another round so soon. Should've planned for some other things to do in between meals. LOL. But anyway, I headed to TWT Cafe straightaway. Although there were others I was planning on going in the beginning, seeing that it's a public holiday and most of it were closed, this was my next of choice after seeing the others closed.

TWT Cafe is just very near to Petit Mary Pattisserie, just 5 minutes drive away. Hell, in fact all the things that I ate at Ipoh on that day were so near to one another with just 5 minutes drive away. TWT stands for Tea Warmer Treats apparently. I decided upon dessert instead of another main course meal since the breakfast of Petit Mary Pattisserie was quite filling. So I ordered the Chocolate Lava with Vanilla Gelato. I was warned that it will take about 10-15 minutes to prepare so I would had to wait. I chuckled and gave them an okay sign. When I was there, there's not a customer in sight. I was the only customer there. Later on, there were trickles of customers that went in with the first one after me also just going for dessert while the rest were there to have their lunch on this fine public holiday.

True to their word, it did take about 10-15 minutes when I was shown this nicely plated dessert that looks very dark in it's color. Beside it was the contrasting yellow tinge of vanilla gelato. A poke on the lava cake revealed a spillage of chocolate sauce that didn't stop flowing and harden as it cooled till a very much later period. The gelato sits atop cornflakes while the plating shows more chocolate sauces upon it. This dessert to me is awfully sweet. Way too sweet for my taste. For those who have a sweet tooth, they may enjoy it. The chocolate part with the pastry part was sweet beyond means and the gelato didn't help much as it's also sweet on it's own though at a much milder level compared to the chocolate sauce. It was so sweet that it permeates upon the cornflakes as well and the only way that I manage to lower down the sweetness meter is to drink some tea with it. It accompanies fine with the tea. Taste-wise is okay. It's just that it's so darn sweet and not enough balance in the whole dish. I guess you're suppose to eat it and take a sip of your tea. LOL.

After the dessert here, I went to walkaround the area. The area here is filled with so many eateries. Whatever tickles your fancy, you'll sure find it around here. Kopitiam? There's some here. Fancy some posh foreign food? There's some Japanese restaurant and it looks like they tried to open some Korean restaurants here too but look like it's out of business. Cafe food aplenty as well. All in all, every type of food that covers I believe all of the general population. LOL.

Total Wallet Damage:
Strange. I think I lost the receipt. But dessert stands at RM15.50 according to the menu while the peppermint tea costs RM7.50.

Final Verdict:
6/10. Well, for a place that calls itself Tea Warmer Treats, I expected the dessert to be more appealing but generally, it's not bad lah.

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Dreamz Bakery, The Strand, Pusat Perdaganan Kota Damansara, Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
No 32-1, The Strand, Jalan PJU 5/20d, Pusat Perdagangan Kota Damansara., 47810 Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Friday & Saturday: 12pm - 11pm
Sunday to Thursday: 12pm - 10pm

Time Visited:
2:50pm, Sunday

Attire worn:
Casual (very)

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Latte (Hot) & Dark Secret Cake

My initial destination originally intended to be somewhere else but seeing that the place has closed down for good, I decided to give Dreamz Bakery a try.

Dreamz Bakery is a very Chinese-centric place seeing that they mostly speak in Mandarin and their English comes heavy accented that mostly comes from a person who speaks mainly Chinese and not much English. Anyway, that's not the point that should deter anybody other than Chinese to visit this cafe. It seems to be doing very well despite being at a location that has few footfall and tons of eateries and cafes around and what's more surprising is that it's located on the first floor. Despite all these elements working against this cafe, yet it garners a lot of visits from customers. When I was there, it was almost full house.

The entrance door is controlled by a magnetic lock for safety reasons seeing that it's on the first floor and that it opens till fairly late at night so you have to ring the bell before they will unlock it for you. On top of that, the really queer part is that you also need to take off your shoes to enter. I was slightly embarrass because I always has socks that has holes in it. LOL. Anyway, I survived the ordeal of entering without shoes and the floor felt slightly cold to me. Inside the cafe was a feminine kind of feel in it with pretty interiors and not to mentioned predominantly, their customers are female. In fact, there weren't any all guys table at all. All tables that are with guys were them bringing their family there or guys bringing their female companions. I was the only oddball. LOL.

Normally, you will seat yourself and they will bring you the menu to browse but I just did my browsing at the counter seeing that I merely wanted to eat some cake that day. I settled for the Dark Secret and a hot Latte. The person asked where was I sitting and I haven't decided where to sit. LOL. So I quickly peered around the vicinity and spotted a table way at the back and just said "a1" which was the table number. It took quite a while before my orders came but the cake came with a sauce decorated plate just like Jeq In the House. Dark Secret is mentioned as a cake that has Earl Grey Tea taste with chocolate but I didn't taste anything resembling of earl grey. I did however, had a whole mouthful of chocolate taste. The last layer of the cake provided a crispy portion like wafers. The cake feels very soft and fluffy as well and the outer layer of the cake that's covered in chocolate sometimes felt too sweet for me. But other times are okay. As for the latte, I felt that it is way too milky as I didn't taste much of coffee but it does have a bitter aftertaste that proves of the coffee's existence in it towards the end. LOL.

I can see the draw of the womenfolks to this cafe. Everything seems so pretty and cheery in there.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM24.15 altogether with the latte being just RM9.90 and the cake RM12.90. There is a charge of 6% GST.

Final Verdict:
7/10. I can see why the draw to this cafe. It's pretty, the cakes were good and the coffee was okay. Not sure if the food's good but I'm tempted to come back again to try.

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Sage Restaurant & Wine Bar, The Gardens Residences, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
The Gardens Residences Level 6,
The Gardens, Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Lunch (Mon-Fri): 12pm-2pm 
Dinner (Mon-Sat): 6pm-10.30pm 
Closed on Sunday

Time Visited:
A day after New Year's Day, Monday (Public Holiday)

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
The Discovery Seasonal Lunch Set which consists of my chosen 
1) Cold Somen Noodle with Boston Lobster, Avruga Caviar and Baby Cress 
2) Aged 120 Days Black Angus Beef Striploin with Truffle Mash
3) Belgian White Chocolate Glace with Raspberry Coulis and Ciku
and end it all with coffee

I usually have my reservations in visiting fancy upscale restaurants as this one because being a lone diner of one, it kinda feels odd dining in places such as these and sometimes you just have to wonder whether do you need a reservation to dine at these places or can you just walk-in. But on that day after New Year's day, I decided to take my chances in being a walk-in diner of one.

I took quite a while before I braved myself to walk in there. Over at the front, there were no maitre d to greet me and so I walked on further in. At the bar area, there's a mixologist making drinks and as I was approaching the dining area, a waitress started to attend to me. I said I wanted a table for one and they ask me under what name? I said I didn't have a reservation. They then ask me to sit at the front there and wait a moment while they prepare a place for me. After a little while of waiting, they showed me in and it was all prepared for with 2 small pieces of Set menus to choose from as well. I then decided to go for the seasonal menu as my choice with the preferred items as listed above before the pictures.

Aside from a little awkwardness felt at the beginning, the rest of my dining experience here was excellent. I never felt out of place after I sat down. They attended to me every step of the way and were very hospitable and attentive. Your glass of water will never be empty and you won't have a finished plate in front of you for more than 5 minutes. When I sat down, a welcome drink was already served and present in front of me. Can't really recall what the drink was since it was a while since I ate there and I have a really bad and faulty memory but it's definitely a very refreshing drink.

Before any of the items on the menu was served, like any upscale restaurant, I was given bread to eat while I wait. I was even asked if I wanted a refill of the bread and of course I declined. If I were to eat more bread I'm sure I wouldn't be able to enjoy any of my meal any longer since I'll be stuffed. LOL.

The appetizer that I went for was the Cold Somen Noodle with Boston Lobster, Avruga Caviar and Baby Cress. Though small in size as it may look, yet it's enough. The presentation as expected was impeccable and certainly is eye catching. Every ingredient in it seems to be vital for the dish. If you just take away one of the ingredient, I'm sure it would taste differently and not as nice. Caviar provided a bit of a sweetness to it and the lobster some chew to it with the smooth somen complementing the ingredients well.

Next came my main dish which is the Aged 120 Days Black Angus Beef Striploin with Truffle Mash. It tasted heavenly and produces a succulent feel on the meet. Not very chewy but just a little bit of bite to it and it's juicy. I think they've put some wine in it. It has some sweet taste to it. Certainly a great experience in eating it. I can't remember how the Truffle Mash was since again, my memory had failed me on that. LOL.

I ended the meal with the Belgian White Chocolate Glace with Raspberry Coulis and Ciku as dessert. Though it may look simple with just a cup mountain with some red sauce at the bottom (which is the Raspberry Coulis) yet it's flavors were complex when I dug into it. There were chunkful of White Chocolate Glace hidden, blending well with the ice cream factor. Eating on it's own already proves to be heaven sent yet if you scoop it up with some raspberry coulis, it will give off a different taste with the sweetness of the raspberry being the stronger taste. And when you eat it with some Ciku as well, you'll get another type of taste where it provides a more excellent unique mixture. All of it really worked well together and it's like a well oiled machine that you can taste each individual ingredients even though together yet taste differently if there's one of it less. Also, altogether, it's a really well balanced taste. Not something overly sweet nor too bland/not enough sweetness.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM176. Though the price may seem dear, if you take a look at what they gave, it's actually quite a bargain. And the taste and dining experience of this place was well worth the RM176. There's 6% GST incurred. Wait a minute. I just realized I was charged the 1 liter bottle of water called Sole Still which costs RM24.53. Should've finished the RM26 bottle of water and take it home. LOL

Final Verdict:
9.5/10. Okay. Aside from that sneaky RM26 bottle of water, this place is well worth visiting especially for an occasion. The food was more than great, the service was tip top, and the ambiance was nice. Price-wise may be expensive for an everyday meal, but for a once in a while treat, it's perfect. In fact, if you scrutinize on the items, you'll fine that it's worth the money. I would highly recommend eating here for a once in a while treat. Currently, it's Chef Daniel that churns out these delectable dishes for the Set Lunches.

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The Safe Room, George Town, Pulau Pinang (Penang Island), Malaysia

Address:
42, Lebuh Campbell, George Town, 10100 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
12pm - 11pm on Tues, Wed & Thurs
12pm - 12am on Fri, Sat & Sun
Close on Mondays.

Time Visited:
8:30pm, Saturday night

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Dragon's Breath Popcorn and a Rose Latte

Just after my dinner from my moronic trip to Penang for no apparent reason, I decided to sober up from that one glass of wine and went for some stimulating coffee before I depart back my long trip to KL after a very, very long day.

I simply pick around and ended up with The Safe Room which is just down the road from where I was for dinner. Over there, I got a parking just in front of Hong Kee Wan Thun Mee which I now regret a bit for not taking the opportunity to try it after going to The Safe Room since it seems to be very popular and loads of people were there to savor it even after I've left. So then I walk across the street and The Safe Room was just right there. Initially, I didn't notice it since the sign was partially hidden by it's canopy but I still spotted it after a purposeful look around for it. It's directly opposite of Hong Kee Wan Thun Mee.

I immediately enter the cafe and the barista greeted me and seemed to be busy with something. She told me to have a seat and they'll bring the menu to me. So this cafe is not a self-service place. In fact they charge 10% service charge as well. But I just took the menu at the counter with me and sat at the nearest seat there. It didn't take me long to know what I'll be ordering and that was the Dragon's Breath Popcorn and the Rose Latte. Of late, there's been a recent craze on Dragon Breath snacks where it's made with liquid nitrogen and people immediately popping it into their mouth to have a smoking effect coming out of their mouth. It also seemed to have made into the newspaper once from some teenage kid buying some snacks like that from the pasar malam  (night market) and having burnt badly from it. Probably from the improper method they did it? But then again, he was the only one who suffered from the burns badly. LOL. Anyway, I'm just here to try it out.

As they served it over to me, it was still heavily covered with steam vapor coming out from the bowl of popcorn. After a short while later, the steam vapor had all dissipated from it and there were no more of that effect. I didn't pop it in immediately as I want to make sure that the liquid nitrogen on it has completely evaporated as ironically as a cynic like myself sounds. Anyway, it just tasted like your normal caramel popcorn. Just that it's a cold version. LOL.

The Rose Latte came a little later and the presentation was pretty much standard. A little disappointed on the very few sprinkles of rose onto it till I took a sip of it. The taste of rose on this was very strong. After being a little more alert from that tiring day. I started to notice that they put a lot of effort into beautifying the cafe. There's different interesting decors around from the popcorn machine cart to the games section telephone booth and the gigantic Lego character one on the wall scaling while the was next to a room door where that room I guess was solely for the purpose of photography. The toilet was strangely enough located on the first floor where you had to climb a flight of stairs to access it but the games section caught my eye and I started working on a faded off with some missing colors Rubik's cube. I finally got all the colors together after making a few mistakes (brain totally about to shut down from the tiredness) and that's when I'm off to journey back home when the night was getting late.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM27.30. As mentioned earlier, there's 10% service charge but no GST.

Final Verdict:
6/10. Nice place to chill and coffee is decent.

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The Glass House - Specialty Coffee, Metropolitan Square, Bandar Damansara Perdana, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
Metropolitan Square, Lot C109, Center Wing, Jalan PJU 8/1, Bandar Damansara Perdana, 47820 Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Weekdays: 9am - 7pm
Weekends: 10am - 5pm

Time Visited:
3:20pm, replacement public holiday for Christmas on Sunday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Flat White, Chocolate and Sea Salt Cake

After a slow day of work and taken my late lunch, I started to depart to this place called The Glass House over at Metropolitan Square. I was here the day before on Christmas day to try it out but they were closed on that day and so I had to make the effort again to come over here to have a try.

Parking on that day was still free somehow even though there's the confusing part of needing to take a ticket but the machines aren't in working order so paying is not necessary that time. The Glass House is just a small cozy cafe that has very few sitting places with 2 on the outside and 2 on the downstairs inside. I think there's also only 2 upstairs but I'm not really sure since I didn't have a peek upstairs so this place has very, very limited place to enjoy your coffee. This is also a place where it doesn't serve food but they do serve cakes where you can have a look at their display case underneath the staircase. A really small place but managed well to maximize the minimum space.

The owner of the place which I presume is the Australian guy seems a little stuck up and I didn't see him smile at all. I think he's incapable of that. LOL. But as for the local Chinese staff there, he was friendly and welcoming enough to me. As I ordered my Flat White with the friendly guy, he asked me whether would I like any cakes to go with my Flat White. This piqued my interest and so I went over to see what cakes they have. The guy recommended that since I'm having a Flat White, it would go well with the Chocolate & Sea Salt Cake. But all I saw on the cake tray was an empty tray. But he said, oh, we had a new batch in today and so he took it out of the fridge and so I ordered 1. I paid for my order and sat on the outside awaiting my order.

It soon came after and looks promising. I like the Flat White, though it wasn't a strong blend of coffee, it's aromatic and I quite like the taste. The Chocolate & Sea Salt Cake wasn't too much of my fancy but what he recommended was right enough because it did go very well with the Flat White. Complemented each other fully and gave a very full bodied taste to both that enhances each other. On the top was merely the chocolate part but the base I guess is where the Sea Salt lies since there's a slight tinge of salty taste. But otherwise, it's quite a sweet cake and I was told that it's gluten free. Not that a person of my framework needed to lose any fat. LOL.

It was soon raining when I was about to leave and I got a little lazy to continue on with my work and so I headed home to do my laundry instead.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM25. RM10 for the Flat White and RM15 for the cake. No other additional charges mentioned so I guess there's none.

Final Verdict:
6.5/10. Nice place to chill and relax with a very good vibrant vibe to this cafe. Only thing is it's quite limited in it's space. But they do deliveries as well around the Metropolitan Square area with a minimum order of RM20.

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Lavo, Menara Lien Hoe, Tropicana, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
No. 8, Persiaran Tropicana & Jalan Tropicana Utama, Tropicana, 47410 Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Sun - Thurs: 12pm - 1am
Fri & Sat: 12pm - 2am

Time Visited:
Saturday, 6pm

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Beef & Onion Soup, Sirloin Steak, Banana & Chocolate Bread Pudding and a Strongbow.

A retreat from glee, that day with the gloomy weather looming around, I get to moving towards Lavo to have my dinner that day after a day of working.

I've been given a hefty amount of vouchers to use and with only me dining at that time, I decided to lavishly spread on my dining. I ordered a full course dinner with soup, a main course and dessert to finish off with a Strongbow just for kicks though the Strongbow will be coming out of my pocket as it doesn't include drinks to be used with the vouchers. The wait staffs were friendly especially the head staff and I was received very warmly and welcoming towards me. I was shown to my seat and were given ample amount of time to make my decision. The staff were very attentive and everytime when I was ready to signal them they already knew I was about to call them and head towards me. They served me with a smile all the way, cleared all my dishes when I was just done and even ask if I needed anything when I was about to have my dessert. Kudos to the very good service that I was given. They're way on top as one of the best service I have received in my life!

So there I was awaiting for my food. It actually didn't take long for my food to arrive and they did it really proper. They really followed through the course by course given to me instead of one shot coming out everything. I really loved the treatment I received. The first of course came the soup. When I received the soup, I then remembered that I had it before when I attended an event here. But of course, the beef and onion soup. No wonder it sounded so familiar. However, I can tell you that it was leaps and bounds better than the time I had it during my attendance of the event. The soup was full of flavor and was given a nice garlic cheese bread which went really well with the soup. The soup, full of it's glorious flavor was brought further to live with that superb piece of tender beef in it and chewing on that as I savor on the broth really had me lapping up every last drop of it. As oppose to during the time of the event, the soup gave out a lackluster and dull taste which were really as if opposites ends to this time of tasting, like night and day.

Once I've finished, a little bit of wait on the Sirloin Steak but wasn't too long a wait. I've asked for medium well which was cooked till right and initially, I didn't quite like how it tasted. I soon found out why, I was only eating the fatty part! As I got to the meat, I soon found that it was proper and decent, a fine meat to eat. Though it wasn't the best, but still good enough to be eaten and with each bite, gradually the taste grows on me and I kind of liked it. The peppercorn sauce too was a grower. It tasted a bit weird to me in the beginning, but I gradually eased into it and soon quite liked the taste. The mashed potato and sauteed vegetables were a little bitter and bland, but that only highlights on the meat more.

And finally, the dessert of Banana & Chocolate Bread Pudding was brought to me once I'm done with the main course. Unfortunately, presentation-wise, the ice cream had melted quite a bit but it didn't deter the good taste of the overall dessert. The bread pudding did mix well with the banana at the center and having the chocolate contributed significantly to it's sweetness, it all came together as a medley of a well orchestrated dessert. I took delight in eating that and though I would say there's room for improvement to it like a much stronger tasting ice cream or instead of the banana just dead center of the bread pudding and could be spread out more with more slices of banana, it did sufficient of it's duty as a dessert and I'm much pleased with it.

The ambiance on the outside was quite a nice chilling and relaxing environment that I meld into. I soon needed to check the bill and take my leave though I could just laze around there all night long.

Total Wallet Damage:
Well, I had RM100 vouchers to use for the food which had knocked off the total of RM87.45 for the food alone. RM15 for the dessert, RM15 for the soup, RM45 for the steak. 10% service charge and 6% GST imposed. Totally worth the 10% service charge with the service they rendered to me. As for the Strongbow, it costs RM23.30 inclusive of again the service tax and GST.

Final Verdict:
8/10. A very nice place to get some drink and the food is delicious as well. I can also testify to during that time of the event that they do know how to pour a lovely silky smooth perfect pint of Guinness. It's definitely a place worth visiting again in my books. They don't discriminate me as just one person coming in, neither did they skimp on their service just because I'm using vouchers. Instead they treat me very nicely and I am well pleased with their service, food and environment.

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Weng Kee Ice Kacang Gula Melaka aka Aunty Peggy's Classic, Medan Selera PJ Old Town, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
Jalan Othman, PJ Old Town, 46050 Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Not sure but I think 11am - 9pm. Close on Tuesdays and on Thursdays open until 5pm.

Time Visited:
12pm, Saturday noon

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Ice Kacang Gula Melaka

DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience.

After eating at Kie Kee Chicken rice, I checked out the vicinity area of Medan Selera PJ Old Town to see what else is there. Weng Kee Ice Kacang has also received raved reviews from the public mostly had to do with their ice kacang that contains Gula Melaka making it sweetly tasty.

And so, very eagerly, me and my colleague went to try it out. We were asked to sit at one of the table that's in front of the stall for the other table is dominated by another stall that's nearby and so we get to ordering the Ice Kacang Gula Melaka. It was a small bowl but the first bite itself got me captivated. The most captivating factor about this Ice Kacang is of course their Gula Melaka. It was uniquely sweet and goes very well with the ice shavings but of course it carries most of the weight in contributing to the lovely tastiness. While biting down, it seems as if it was just plain ice shavings with the Gula Melaka but it turns out that at the bottom there's the usual Ice Kacang ingredients like corn, peanuts and the likes. It's quite a small bowl though compared to what I remember Ice Kacang to be, a big one where eating it itself can make you full. LOL.

After a short while, the Aunty that owns the place had a chat with us (she seems to chat with most of her customers). She narrated to us that it was her parents stall and that she's been working here ever since she was a little girl and now she runs it with her children. So it's already been 3 generations running the stall. She also asked us how we found out about her and said that many too had found out about the stall through the internet. But she says that she does not want to be too popular. Posting about her stall on the Internet is fine but she detest to being featured on newspaper or TV. The reason for that is that she doesn't want too many customers till she can't handle and in turn resulting in her standard and quality dropping and that's what she fear that will happened. Hence, she would just like to keep it as low key as possible so that she can maintain her standard and quality of her desserts. She also recommended us to try her Bo Bo Cha Cha which is only available on the weekends.

Perhaps, that's what I would do next time. This place is really a hidden gem.

Total Wallet Damage:
Well, one Ice Kacang Gula Melaka costs RM3. A bit on the high side for such a small dish but well worth it because it's very tasty.

Final Verdict:
8/10. I love the ice kacang mainly due to the Gula Melaka. I'm definitely returning to try their other desserts.

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The Pork Place, IOI Boulevard, Bandar Puchong Jaya, Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
31, IOI Boulevard, Jalan Kenari 7,
Bandar Puchong Jaya, 47100 Puchong,
Selangor, Malaysia.

Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Sunday
Lunch : 11.30am - 3.00pm
Dinner : 6.00pm - 10.00pm
Fresh Meat : 10.00am - 8.oopm

Time Visited:
Sunday evening, 6pm.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Fried Pork Belly, Apple Puff and Double Decker Pork Bacon Burger

One day, a colleague of mine mentioned that she most love eating pork food at The Pork Place and so this lovely Sunday where all I did was laze around in bed all day, I decided to give it a try.

I soon found out that they're actually a place that's under the same brand where I use to love going to eat for my pork fix way back called Sanbanto in SS2. That's a bit of a surprise for me. So they did very well and decided to opened up another pork meat mart with dining area at Puchong. I wanted to see how they fair and if they had lived up to how I envisioned them of how they use to be at the Sanbanto place so I set foot upon The Pork Place. In this outlet, it has a similar vibe to how I know of Sanbanto at SS2 and that it contains slightly posh and romantic vibe. The simple menu with few pages on it arrived at my hands and I took the time to study out the menu in and out. And yes, it was basically what my colleague had described, a place mainly on all pork dishes.

Since I was lazing in bed the whole day that Sunday, I was feeling a bit peckish and somehow my ordering went wild with me going for the Fried Pork Belly, the Double Decker Pork Bacon Burger and an Apple Puff dessert. I wanted to order an Affogato but they didn't have coffee so I just skip the beverage and just went with their water to drink. The wall at one end were splayed with pictures of weird pig paintings in different apparels and characters while the center sits a big flat screen TV playing some food channel that caught my eye. During that moment, the program that was on was Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Home Cooking and the colors of the ingredients and food as he cooked away with some kids just had me glued my eyes onto it till my food arrives.

It didn't take long till a bowl of Fried Pork Belly was plonked on my table. I gather it's due to the lack of crowd during that period where they've just opened for dinner but still it's a very commendable effort that they're able to produce that Fried Pork Belly in such a quick time. It was delicious to say the least and despite it being pork belly, you can't really taste fat part in it and was all meaty parts which makes it really good without the guilt and remorse of getting fat psychologically and without the greasy feel of the fat upon your mouth. The sweet and tangy type of sauce that comes with the Fried Pork Belly was quite a good and provides a different taste to it if you decide to dip in it. When I was almost done with the bowl of Fried Pork Belly, my Double Decker Pork Bacon Burger came for me to consume.

It did look huge and somewhat of what I remember eating at Sanbanto with the plating different. It used to be in a row with the salad on one side and the fries on the other and although it's still the same layout basically, the plate has now been a bigger one instead of the "sitting-pretty-in-a-row" kind. The chips were okay and but the burger is a little too dry for me. But it's full of porky goodness and I quite love it but not as much as I used to before. Maybe because I overdose on the pork with the Fried Pork Belly earlier. LOL.

They cleared off my finished dishes and brought me my Apple Puff without me telling them and that is quite a nice service to me. They also refilled my water cup a few times even without me asking them which to me is quite a good service. The Apple Puff were a little disappointing because generally it's a small piece of apple pie that's halved with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and some cinnamon on top. To me, it was merely ordinary and a little overpriced at RM10.90 for that. That's the only thing that had disappointed me.

I left 2 hours later after I was in there with my meal complete and a very full tummy. I seemed to have gone overboard on the ordering but managed to finished everything anyway so all's good. LOL.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM63.25. GST 6% is charged but to my surprise, service charge isn't and yet they gave such excellent service. I should've left a tip had I known better.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Sanbanto, SS2 was my favorite go to place for pork last time and it's where I brought some friends to eat last time. But over the years, I staved off it due to me going always going for Nasi Kandar Pelita whenever I'm in SS2 but it was about high time I revisit with their renovated place. The Pork Place has some resemblance to the memory of Sanbanto in my mind but there are many points of difference as well. But I think my cravings for pork has finally diminished and at best would occasionally spur me for a visit or two but never the I just gotta have some today kind anymore.

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Take Eat Easy, Wisma Fiamma, Bandar Sri Menjalara, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
Ground Floor- 2, Wisma Fiamma, 20, Jalan 7a/62a, Bandar Sri Menjalara, 52200 Kuala Lumpur (KL), Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 8:30am - 10:30pm

Time Visited:
Sunday evening, after 7pm

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
For the portion I ate, Deep Fried Tempura Calamari with Wasabi Mayo Dip, Spaghetti Aglio-Olio, Smoked Duck and Shrooms, Quadro Cheese Pizza, Disco-lato (ice cream) for dessert and Hazelnut Cafe Latte.

DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience.

It was the last day that I get to see a friend of mine. After this, it will be a year before she returns so what I've decided was to go to the airport to send her off. Along with me, I brought along another friend of mine since she missed our gathering the night before and this was her last chance to see the other friend off before her only returning after a year. So I picked her up and off we went to the airport. But unfortunately, when I arrived, there was a long line of cars awaiting to enter the parking area and my friend's parents were anxiously calling her to depart to the departure gate. So I forsake my need to see my friend off for 1 last time before it will be a year till her return and straight went to the departure area and let the friend who was with me to see her off instead. When she returned to my car, she said it wasn't a good feeling sending people off. Ya, not a good feeling isn't it? That's why I cried when I was being sent off by my host family in Japan when I was there. We grew so fondly attached to each other. But then again, I'm a guy who has trouble interacting with humankind in general and that's why I can safely say that I lost most if not all of my friends when I committed social suicide by not being an events blogger anymore. Now that's why I dine alone most of the time because nobody has the time nor the interest to do so with me. Oh well. I guess I brought that onto me. Can't wait to say goodbye to this godforsaken place about 5 years from now.

Anyway, so I duped the friend who was with me to have dinner with me since just sending our friend off would be a waste of an opportunity coming out all the way. Haha. So she suggested that she wanted to try Take Eat Easy which is at Bandar Sri Menjalara. So I just drive according to how Google Maps take me. I was quite down and a little antisocial that day so I mumbled when I replied my friend that night and she had to strain most of the time to understand what I'm saying. LOL. I apologize. I instinctively did it and it wasn't my intention to make it hard to converse with me but I was feeling down. But she kept on talking to me and so I made an effort to reply and talk to her more and more to keep the conversation going. LOL.

We arrived at the place after a long drive and that place looked awfully familiar. It was then I realized that it was Wisma Fiamma with the familiar looking Tesco opposite. I remember coming here a long time back to review Overtime outlet here a long time ago way back. I see that it has now turned into Take Eat Easy. LOL. A big sign indicating Take Eat Easy greets right at the front of the building and since it was Sunday with the many shoppers and people coming out to eat here, I went over at Tesco and parked at the side where it's not a designated parking spot but I made sure that I didn't block anybody's way. So we proceeded indoors to Take Eat Easy.

The place is huge with three entrance doors that upon entering with come to it's bakery section for people to just buy bread and pastry stuff at that area. But since we were there for dinner, we went to beside it where the dining area is with loads of chairs and tables and we were seated by one of the staff. Unlike the Bakery section where it's brightly lit, the dining area has pocket areas of light above each of their tables creating a quite romantic atmosphere because other than your table area, there's darkness on those areas that aren't on a table. We decided on what to order and awaited for our meal. Their juice are contained in a bulb shape container so it's as if you're drinking out of a lightbulb. LOL. And because the shape of a lightbulb can't stand on it's own, it's put in a tub of ice. That is the quickest of them all to arrive. A moderate waiting time later, my Hazelnut Cafe Latte arrived. It gives out quite an overtly weird taste to me and the mixture of the hazelnut syrup taste together with the coffee taste didn't seem to play well with each other. It's as if they were at war. The coffee taste was very, very mild while the hazelnut taste was the most prominent. It however, gives out a smidgen of a sweet taste coming out to play occasionally and that's what weirds me out and bugs me. It's not the kind of coffee that I like.

The food came at a slow snail's pace and it slowly trickled in. The Pasta were the first to arrive but I decided to wait for all of the food to take a nice food shot of everything before I proceeded to dig in. That contributed to a deterioration in taste since a lot of it went cold as we await for everything to arrive. With the last item (or should I say mains since my ice cream is served as a dessert) which was the Pizza arriving at our table, it's time to dig in.

The Pasta which is the Aglio Olio with smoked duck and mushrooms on it was okay and didn't really gave much of an excitement. The smoked duck wasn't the taste I was expecting, It had an oriental taste to it and resembles much of duck that's served more at those Chinese dining locations (think roasted ducks) rather than the smoked duck western version counterpart. The mushroom gave off a very strong taste and it overwhelms the pasta. The pasta in itself were a little spicy but it's just right for me. Their coating with the oil wasn't too much and just right. That's the part that they did right the most. It also comes with 2 breadsticks on it which tasted fine.

The Fried Calamari wasn't much of a squid because I can barely taste the squid. All I tasted was a quite doughy sensation and that envelops the whole taste of this item. Though the condiment that was supposed to be to accompany the Fried Calamari was wasabi mayo dip, I got nothing that tasted like wasabi at all. All I got was mayo and I ate the rest on it's own without the condiment. This wasn't one that I would recommend to order.

Perhaps the best thing of them all that we ordered was the Quadro Pizza. Though it's supposed to contain 4 types of cheese in em and it's supposed to be a "cheesy" pizza (LOL), the cheese taste wasn't that strong at all. But it balances well with the thin crust that's resting upon the hot place. I guess what of the reason why it was best was probably because it's the last item to arrive and therefore the warmest of the food since we started off eating only when everything arrived. LOL. But of course, it is the best among all. Much more worth than the pasta since it's the same price.

Finally, they brought me my dessert which was the ice cream Disco-late which has assorted Mini Gelato Balls with strawberries, peaches, whipped cream and an Oreo cookie on top. Well, it's normal ice cream lah. :)

Ambiance-wise, I would say it's a nice place for a date since it looks so romantic and the lighting above tables beautifies the food's appearance. Other than that, service wasn't all that fantastic but I guess it's cause they had to cover such a wide area and it was dark at certain places so it may be harder to spot a person calling for service when night comes. The armchair seat was really comfortable and to have a pillow for back support as well. You could really fall asleep after a meal if you were to slouch and let yourself slump on the armchair. LOL.

Total Wallet Damage:
Well, altogether including the Juice and Mushroom Soup which I did not try amounts to RM133.75. RM23 for the pasta, RM23 for the pizza, RM16 for the lightbulb looking juice (LOL), RM17 for calamari, RM14.80 for the ice cream, RM12 for the coffee and RM15.80 for the mushroom soup. 10% service charge and 6% GST imposed.

Final Verdict:
6/10. Though it's not a place I'm likely to return since it's at an area where there's loads of different eateries around, I'd still give it a 6 out of 10. It is average and may considered pricey for that kind of taste, but it does have a very nice looking ambiance and with some great company, this is a nice place to have a chatter and get to know someone better. :D

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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

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Monte Gelato Cafe, One Utama Shopping Centre (1U), Bandar Utama (BU), Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
SK 107, One Utama Shopping Centre (1U)
1 Lebuh Bandar Utama,
Bandar Utama (BU) 17800 Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor.

Opening Hours:
Sunday - Thursday 10:00am -10:00pm
Friday - Saturday   10:00am -10:30pm

Time Visited:
8pm, Saturday Evening

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Latte (Hot). That's all.

DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience.

After a hearty meal with my buddy at Tonkatsu by Ma Maison, I was craving for some coffee and some desserts (yes, even though that satisfying Tonkatsu meal with refillable items, it still left me craving for something to eat). So then we headed to this place called Monte Gelato Cafe at one of the island area in the middle where it's not a proper shop outlet by itself. Noticing that the time was too near to the movie starting time, I decided to just consume some hot coffee without any dessert to try.

Monte Gelato Cafe features the Gelato Fruity Ice Cream and surprisingly, I do see some people visiting this place to eat their ice cream. Someday I may want to try their ice cream and see if it's nice. The place is very open being an island on it's own with no doors nor walls so any passerby will be able to see you as they go about their shopping business. This place is self service and so you'll have to do your ordering at the cashier counter which I did. I just placed an order for a latte since I don't have much time for dessert. After paying the amount, me and my buddy sat down at one of those lounge chairs. I waited for my order and it did took a while till it came over.

The latte wasn't that impressive. For starters, there's no coffee art. Just a blob which tells me that they actually attempted but fail miserably. Secondly, the glass is not really a latte glass so the ratio for milk to coffee will definitely to be not to my liking. It's one of those tall glasses where franchise coffee places like to serve and this cup very much resembles the one that is serve at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. When I took a sip of their latte, though there's large quantity of liquid in the cup, still the bitterness of the coffee was very very strong. The milk in it didn't even do anything to stop that at all and the coffee taste isn't something that I like nor was the milk. To tell you the truth, there were no comforting thought to this. There's no point about that drink that I like at all. The only thing that I like about this place in particular is the transparent glass table which looks classy and the fact that I adore people watching and so the openness of the area gives way to me being able to see everyone passing by.

I don't know. Perhaps they are just an outlet for dessert but based on that cup of coffee, it just doesn't work for me. I finish my cuppa when the time comes for us to depart of towards the cinema.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM10.90. There's 6% GST involved.

Final Verdict:
3/10. Bear in mind that this is based on the perception of a cup of coffee.

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Delectable by Su @ Glasshouse at Seputeh, Seputeh, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
17, Lorong Syed Putra Kiri, Level 2, Glasshouse at Seputeh, Seputeh 50460 Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia 

Opening Hours:
Weekdays 10am-6pm
Fri, Sat, Suns 10am-11pm

Time Visited:
2pm, Wednesday afternoon.

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Guilt-free Sundae, Apple Crumble and hot Latte

The day came that I took half day in order to attend an event at this lovely looking place called Glasshouse at Seputeh. The place just exudes tranquility and calmness with the much greenery around and the lack of traffic coming in this road; it's simply a marvelous venue to just destress for a while. I arrived an hour earlier before the stipulated time of the event particularly to try out this place called Delectable by Su. Who's Su? Well I gather it must be the owner. LOL.

So there I was scouting upon their hard one piece menu and I was thinking about trying out the Terrarium. But unfortunately, the smallest size seemed to cater merely for 3-4 persons and I'm only a lone diner. :( So I asked for their suggestion on what's the next best seller items in terms of dessert and the Filipino manning the cashier to take my order tells me that it's the Apple Crumble and the Guilt Free Sundae. Out of pure overambition, I decided to order both to satiate my cravings to try new things. To drink I ordered the Latte as my usual type of coffee.

It didn't take long for my orders to arrive but then again, it's easy to get lost and distracted by the lush greenery surroundings outside and the occasional curiousity on my part as to why some people started to drive down this road. I soon started digging in the desserts that were put in front of me for easy access.

I first started off with the Apple Crumble. Warm and tangy granny smith apple covered in a crisp and buttery oat topping. Dotted with Raisins and served with 2 scoops of strawberry ice cream, that's what the description read. Although the name may contain the word apple in it and it's supposed to be filled with some Granny Smith apple, I somehow missed on tasting the apples entirely. But what I did get were very sweet strips of what seemed to look more like apple skins? Of course they may have peeled the apples instead of putting it as small pieces. The apple crumble over at Delectable by Su is basically a bowl of healthy loose ingredients rather than being a pie. Sorely disappointed in this due to it's way too sweet taste that dulled my tongue when I proceeded to try the Sundae. It totally ruined the Apple Crumble image for me that I so delighted when I tasted one of the best of all at Broadbean Cafe at Aman Suria.

So onwards with the Guilt-Free Sundae. The description reads: Bountiful scoops of our freshly churned berry ice cream, strawberry preserve, fresh fruit, chia seed and sugar free agar. A light and refreshing option for the sugar cautious. There were 3 scoops of ice cream on it and it was the same ice cream that's on the Apple Crumble. Meaning to say, on that day, I had a whopping 5 scoops of ice cream altogether. LOL. The Guilt-Free Sundae though was quite the opposite of what the Apple Crumble was. Whilst the Apple Crumble has a very overpowering sweetness to it particularly on it's apple strips, the Guilt-Free Sundae was the extreme end of the spectrum in contrast. It lacked sweetness and barely had any strong taste in it. It could also very well may be that it's because my tongue was well shot away by the Apple Crumble sweetness and all I taste from this Guilt-Free Sundae was a lack of any taste but merely the difference in texture in it's also many loose ingredients that's supposedly healthy. Although these 2 desserts weren't up to my expectation, I finished the whole lot of it.

As for the Latte, that too also wasn't one that I adore. It's way to forceful in it's caffeine taste covered with bitterness. The milk could do nothing to mellow off the strong coffee taste and the only comfort that I could get out of this meal was the nice butter nutty cookie that's given accompanying the latte. That cookie was the nicest thing among all that I had over at Delectable by Su. A nice sesame seed taste enveloping the cookie and complementing the buttery goodness and also a nuts taste to give off a woody effect that works very well with this unique biscuit.

Soon the time came for me to attend the event downstairs and I headed off. One thing I would give them props though is their courteous Filipino staff in making the effort to greet me and await my order as I browse through the menu. That deserves a mention.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM43. RM18 for the Sundae, RM15 for the Apple Crumble and RM10 for the latte. There's 6% GST involved.

Final Verdict:
5.5/10. I may not like their desserts and coffee but I can't deny the peacefulness and tranquility this place brings. I may return once again with a friend to try out their Terrarium dessert. >.<

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