Showing posts with label diner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diner. Show all posts

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. :)

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Flicker's Diner, Citta Mall, Pusat Perdagangan Dana 1, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
Lot No. 07, 1st floor, Citta Mall, no. 1, Jalan PJU 1a/48, Pusat Perdagangan Dana 1, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 10am - 10pm. Just like Citta Mall

Time Visited:
6pm (approximate time). Tuesday evening. When rain falls and I'm in the Mall for some food.

Attire worn:
Business.

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Cafe Latte (Hot) and a Braised Lamb Shank (since it's the chef recommendation item)
I wanted to go have some food at Nando's but for some reason they're closed that day and so I took the opportunity to venture around the mall to search for something I've yet to try. I first thought of Waroeng Penyet which is located on the 1st floor and so I moved on to upstairs and headed for Waroeng Penyet. As I near the place, Flicker's Diner caught my eye and so I walked closer and have a better look at it. I first hesitated to enter seeing the lack of human habitation inside the diner but due to the welcoming nature of the staff in front, I decided to give it a try.

After choosing my choice seat, I browse through the thick menu and take my time to choose my selection. I finally decided with my cliche latte and since there's the words "Chef Recommendation" beside the Braised Lamb Shank, that's what I went for to see if their signature is what it turns out to be.

The place didn't have any romantic feel nor does it resembles a diner. It actually looks the part of a cafe instead. When I walked in, they started to play songs on a computer nearby where the songs were sourced on an Internet playlist on Youtube. Their WiFi was moderate and occasionally it's just jerky hence even the playing of the songs on Youtube will sometimes had some time lag. Over at where I was, I can peer inside the kitchen having a very big open serving window that's between the dining area and the kitchen. The lone kitchen staff starts preparing my order.

The food and drinks didn't take long till it came to me. It was a bit of a surprised since it was after all, lamb shank that I was ordering. But there it was. Right in front of me with a waiting period of probably within 10-15 minutes which is fast for a lamb shank. The lamb was brittle but soft, kinda like those old lambs that they gave me but it did tasted fine. The tomato puree that is served up with the lamb shank was delicious and does add points of flavor to the lamb. It didn't have a gamy taste to it and the vegetables that served with the puree were okay. The mashed potato was okay, a bit starchy but also grainy at certain points. But the taste was not bad. As for the side salad that's served alongside this main dish, that's the least impressive item of all on the plate. It looks like store bought salad with pathetic looking lettuce that I usually see at Giant, all packed up for consumption. Don't get me wrong. Sometimes those store bought packaged salads do look nice and probably tasty too but I've seen too few of those at the Giant near my place. They also didn't serve the salad with any dressing at all.

As for the coffee, it may look dull and adulterated but one sip of it finds me liking the taste. It has a milky creamy taste which I like in coffee and a mild caffeine taste. A surprising wake up call.

Throughout my entire time being there, I was the only patron there. The double glass doors occasionally creaks open a little by itself over time and seems to be a little damaged with it being unable to close properly. Kinda creepy like there's some ghost there that pushed it. LOL. Though I judged this place as nothing much to expect in the beginning, I find that it's actually an okay place. The location may make them a little hard to be noticed though. Okay. A lot harder to be noticed. Hell, I didn't even know it existed if I weren't looking for Waroeng Penyet.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM51.30. RM11 for latte, RM33 for the lamb shank and there's a 10% service charge with 6% GST.

Final Verdict:
6/10. I thought it's not gonna be that good and didn't expect much from it but it turned out to be pretty okay.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Coffee Sprex, SS25, Taman Plaza, Taman Mayang, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
No.9, Jalan SS25/23, Taman Plaza, Taman Mayang 47301 Petaling Jaya (PJ), Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 8am - 7pm

Time Visited:
Around 10am on a Weekend, Saturday morning to be exact

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
The All Day Big Breakfast where I change their unlimited house pouring coffee to a Latte
Just by the name alone, I thought nothing much about this place even though it's very near my house. But when I did some research about it before proceeding to visit here, I was astonished by what I found out. This place is actually run ENTIRELY by deaf people. Yeah. That's right. Deaf people. People who wouldn't be able to hear you. This sparked my curiosity to visit very much and I was very eager to see how this place fair with my judgment. Unfortunately, during Chinese New Year period, they were having a break from operating the cafe and so I had to wait for about a week before I'm free to visit this place.

Although I pass by this place many times, I've never spotted a cafe here before and after having a lookout at the row that it's situated on, I can see why. The cafe is merely occupying a half shop lot hence it's small. Along with that, their sign is rather plain, a white background with small wordings and difficult to read if you're just passing by. Being a place with just half a shoplot, it makes it a very small place and definitely not a place for a large group but of course, if you don't mind being closed together, this place can still accommodate. At least it's not as cramped as Butter & Beans at Section 17.

I entered the cafe and it gives off a very cozy and homely vibe to me. During my visit, there was only one person manning the whole cafe with another whom I think maybe is a friend? Because she didn't do anything except sat at a table. The friend there waved the attention to the person manning the place and that person signaled to me to wait which of course I understood and so I sat down and started looking at the menu. Pretty soon, the friend got up instead to take my order. I pointed to her that I wanted the All Day Big Breakfast and also pointed to her that I want a latte. She then gestured to me is it that I want to change their unlimited house pouring coffee and have the latte instead which I indicated to her yes. Then she ask me how my want my eggs by pointing to the picture of the big breakfast where there it's written 4 types of eggs to which I pointed to her that I wanted it Sunny Side Up. She understood and went over to the counter and conveyed to the person manning the cafe in their own way.

It took slightly longer than I expected for my big breakfast to arrive though the coffee came at an anticipated time frame. But that's understandable since there's only one person doing everything in the cafe. She's the cook, she's the cashier, she's the waitress and she's the maitre d'. I'm impressed. Not even a normal person can handle the way she did.

The coffee came in a very unique cup that's very ergonomic. It was shaped very much for a right-handed person to grip the cup very comfortably with the handle slanting towards you for a very nice thumb and index finger grip. The coffee was pleasant. Though there's no art or maybe she did try but of course it amounted to nothing, the taste was not bad and it was the kind of taste that I can easily get used to and like. I did find that there were some sediments when I reach the bottom and it was quite coarse. Other than that, not much complain about the coffee. Excellent with the milk. May not be a perfect ratio but it's close enough.

As for the big breakfast, it consists of 2 eggs (in my case it's sunny side up), a sausage (chicken bratswurst), bacon (pork), Luncheon Meat and 2 slices of bread that's halved into triangles with a slab of butter for the slight toast. The bread that they serve was wholemeal and that took me a little by surprise since a lot of places that serve bread like these usually just give white bread. It was only slightly toasted so not as crisp and was moderately lukewarm. The sunny side up eggs were nice and the yolk was runny....very runny. So I took care not to pop the 2nd one so as to not mess up my whole plate or contaminate the other ingredients before I get to savor how it is. The bacon as usual remained my favorite since I love, love, love, love eating bacon and this pork bacon emphasizes it. The luncheon meat was ordinary but nonetheless hearty and the Chicken Bratwurst were okay. It tasted very much like peppercorn and had that pepper spice feeling in it a lot.

There were pockets of customers that come in and it seems that most already know what this place is about.

Total Wallet Damage:
Only RM14.50. No service charge, no GST. Just the cheap price of RM9.50 and if it weren't for me adding on a latte which costs RM5, the RM9.50 would've covered you completely for breakfast since it comes with unlimited house pouring coffee from 8am - 12pm. In addition to that, there's also cereal of the day with milk to which I didn't get. Must be because I opt out of the coffee. Anyway, sure their ingredients may not be made from scratch themselves and most likely store bought the whole damn thing but still, it did provide a lovely taste and a very homely environment.

Final Verdict:
6.5/10. I'm impressed. This cafe is not only managed by deaf people on their own, but during my visit, there's only one person doing so and her time management on preparing the meal was so well done. Hell, even a fully functioning person with several staff find it hard at times to manage a cafe properly but they did it well enough to catch my attention. Not to forget, they provide cheap prices for their food and drinks which can easily fill you up and feels like home to me.

Monday, February 8, 2016

Patty & Pie, Aman Suria, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Address:
40, Jalan PJU 1/45, Aman Suria, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Tue-Sun:
12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
6:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Time Visited:
12:30pm, cruising on a Saturday afternoon

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Cheese Burger and a hot Latte
After getting ready for the Chinese New Year celebration, I head on over to Patty and Pie in Aman Suria for a quick lunch meal. Parking over there may be a little bit of a hassle even though it's Saturday because of the cramp road and the many car wash and car accessory shops around. You may need to go further down for a parking spot but just a short walking distance away.

I walked in excitedly to try out their food and was surprised that they had a Tripadvisor sign and a TV3 Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan sign on their front door. And yet, I've never heard of this place before until one day me and my friend went driving around to hunt for food around Aman Suria. Patty and Pie had the charm of a wooden coffeeshop/cafe/bistro appeal and yet the sound system is blaring songs of yesteryears like a diner. It didn't look like a diner but sounded like one. Their staff at the moment of my visit consists of mainly foreigners and gives me the impression as one being lazy while the other one hardworking. The hardworking one obviously is always busy attending to the needs of the customer while the other mainly sits on his ass and didn't see me signal until the other guy saw me and indicated to him to attend to me.

I originally intended to try out their pizzas since my friend is interested in wood fire oven pizza to gauge whether it's worth the visit for a second time around but due to me having something to eat in the morning when I sent my car to wash, I decided to eat something lesser which is the burger. I looked upon the typical clipboard menu which contains not many things to see. The main things to order would only be the Pizza and the Burgers. And so I decided on a Cheeseburger - simple and hopefully delightful for easy test. Their burgers are all served with "herb tinged fries" and "house sauce" and you have the choice of beef or chicken whereby I went for beef.

After a waiting period of around 5 minutes, my latte arrived on my table. The art was "pretty" as quipped by a boy on the next table and it looks well concocted. Served in a warmed up saucer and cup, I am well pleased it was so because this will ensure that my coffee will remain warm a little longer. The latte was a joy to drink, good coffee beans profile and a right amount of milk for a latte. It produced moderate coffee flavors with a slight chocolatey aftertaste. This is one that I simply enjoyed.

After much awaiting later, my cheeseburger finally arrived to the delight of my growling tummy. It's placed in a holder that advertises their joint just like KGB and as mentioned with a side of fries and a pale yellow tinged colored sauce to accompany. The fries can clearly be seen that it's sprinkled with some green garnish on top to provide some taste. The fries are straight cut fries and is lukewarm, good to consume without being too hot. The garnishing of some salt, pepper and some parsley taste envelops the fries lightly giving it a more savory taste. Dipping into the house sauce heightens it unexpectantly. The house sauce tasted to me like a cheese + mayo dip which I adored very much due to the cheesy nature of it.

After finishing off the fries, I went ahead to tackle the burger. The burger as promised, is the beef patty burger with huge lettuce chunks and 2 slices of pickles. The cheddar cheese melting atop the patty. Mayonnaise seems to be blotted upon the pickles. However, I detected no signs of caramalized onions though. In my opinion, it wouldn't have matter anyway because the biggest factor on taste would be the beef patty and the pickles. Other than that, I couldn't taste anything else. The patty seems to have a very strong beef taste while the pickle barely manage to compete but eked out faintly some of it's taste. I didn't even get any taste of cheese at all. This should be called more of a beefburger than a cheeseburger. LOL. Anyway, it was rather nice to consume. Aside from my wish for more cheese taste, there's also a slight annoyance of the patty a wee bit too flaky for me. It's not a very big problem. It holds pretty well together overall but it's just a little bit flaky which I prefer my patty to be more solid when being compressed together and grilled.

After being appeased by the lovely meal, I finished up my coffee and headed on my merry way.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM29. Here's another thing good about this cafe, it does not charge GST nor service charge. At least it's not stated in their receipt nor menu. RM11 for latte and RM18 for the Cheeseburger or shall I say beefburger. LOL.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Food is good, coffee is good. Ambiance wasn't much but I'm not there for the ambiance.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Betty's Midwest Kitchen, Aman Suria, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
Jalan PJU 1/43, Aman Suria, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Tue-Sun:
11:30 am - 3:00 pm
5:30 pm - 9:45 pm

Time Visited:
Around 7:30pm. Tuesday night.

Attire worn:
Business attire

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Jucy Lucy and Stewart's Key Lime Float
DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience.

Me and my friend were planning on heading to 6 2 10 Grill to test whether if their quality was still as good as back in the days of Section 17 but since it was a Tuesday, they were closed. And so, we decided to head to Betty's Midwest Kitchen instead.

It's been a very long while ever since I ate at Betty's Midwest Kitchen and the last I remember dining here was eating the Pulled Pork Burger which patty's were strands of the pork hence it's called Pulled Pork. Betty'e Midwest Kitchen is a place I usually avoid going to due to the heavy traffic of consumers patronizing this diner where peak hours means full house every single day. But on the day me and my friend visited, there were many empty spaces for us to sit ourselves down and be served comfortably. This time around, still craving for some burger, I decided to go for their Jucy Lucy and seeing the Stewart's Key Lime drink as part of their menu, I craved to have it which I made it into a float. My friend followed suit.

It didn't take long for our dinner to arrive and it was a pleasant surprise that they dish out dishes that quick despite it being a burger. The Jucy Lucy was enticing. A very power packed meat patty that's almost spherical that's sandwiched between two burger buns looking a tad small due to that but trust me, it's not that small because it's fat. There were some lettuce greens to provide you a wee bit of a balance diet and the Jucy Lucy comes with some fries on the side with a small dish of condiments to dip your fries in. The fries were thick and nice to consume which whet my appetite further in anticipating the succulent level of the burger. As I cut through the juicy beef and pork patty, the cheese though not very memorably visible in my mind has it's taste permeating through. The Jucy Lucy was ever more delicious than I can remember the Pulled Pork Burger was. This is a burger that my taste buds favor and would pull me back to try again once more when I get the chance.

The night grew later and patrons getting off work started to crawl towards the joint to have their dinner with their loved ones and family or friends. The area of Betty's Midwest Kitchen feels a little cramp with their small one shop outlet but does create a burger joint atmosphere. Although Aman Suria over at this area may be a quiet area but Betty's Midwest Kitchen and that Original Kayu Nasi Kandar mamak stall further down the street kept their place bustling with people.

We finished our meal and decided to head for dessert and coffee nearby.

Total Wallet Damage:
Again, something that I couldn't remember as I don't have the receipt with me and I didn't pay for this meal but the Jucy Lucy costs about RM19.80 and the Stewart's Key Lime Float costs RM8.50. 6% GST I guess is compulsory so it's charged.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Don't remember Betty's Midwest Kitchen's food tasting this good but it does. Service was average from the respectful staff but tend to be less attentive when the crowds come in.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Johnny Rockets, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara

Address:
Lot G52, The Street, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, PJ

Opening Hours:
Daily, 10am-10pm (or later), I guess? Since it is at a mall kind of area.

Time Visited:
11am, Sunday morning

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Chicken Club Sandwich and a Root Beer Float
When Johnny Rockets first open in Malaysia at this outlet, they've created so much of a hype that there was a long waiting queue just to eat here. A friend of mine waited for an hour just to get a table.

Now that there's plenty more outlets opened, this place is not as crazy as it first started. Since I was really early and Ikea is the crazy place to be, I headed on here to have my meal.

Initially, when I passed by in the morning, there's nobody there at all. After having a walkaround at Ikea and returned, this place was already starting to fill with people.

I wasn't greeted at the front door and I think they're still not fully finish preparing for the day yet. There were no hostess at all and as I'm almost at my seat, only then a person greeted me a hi. I took a seat and another staff casually took his pace to pass me my menu.

I was quite excited to try this place and as I browse through the menu, I suddenly realized that it's not just a burger joint but rather a 60's diners concept. I simply adore their uniforms especially the hostess' pretty red dresses. But despite a really good appearance and outlook, the atmosphere there leaves more to be desired for. A little more on that later.

Since most of the staff just busily does something mostly around the counter, I had to flag one down when I was ready to order. There's only this one Filipino woman that's attentive to me and smiles at me, the rest just seem to walk around like zombies doing busy work which I have no idea what they're doing.

The layout of the place makes the area pretty few in tables and seatings hence the more seatings outdoor than indoor. This is probably also to make room for them to dance around at certain intervals to entertain the patrons (which isn't much space. LOL).

Despite having a diner concept with 4 bar stools at the counter area, I find it awkward being a lone diner in a place like this. Families congregate over here as well as some lovebirds but no lone diner in sight....except me. But then again, I'm not in my own sight so I can't spot me. If you catch my drift. LOL. There are a couple of flies hovering around the area despite being an air conditioned environment. But then again, they usually keep their doors open for some reason.

Soon my order of root beer float came. Wish the service was a bit more faster. After all, the root beer float is just like something I make at home, root beer in a can with ice cream scoops. However, I love their vanilla ice cream. It was absolutely delicious. Soft cream and you can tell that it's not exactly the ice creams bought at stores unlike the root beer. They would pour merely halfway of the root beer into the glass which is filled with ice cream and will hand you the other half of the root beer for you to pour it in later yourself.

The Chicken Club Sandwich also came later than I expected it to be. The fries that came with it tasted okay, although few in numbers but sufficient. Since any more of it and I will be unable to finish it off anyway. The coleslaw has a pinkish hue to it and tasted a notch better than the KFC's coleslaw. That already has set it a part better than a lot of places. The good setting of a piece of lettuce underneath the coleslaw makes it so that the juices from the coleslaw do not contaminate with the fries. The dressing also sticks pretty well with the coleslaw.

the Chicken Club Sandwich though, is a little bit of a let down. It didn't taste as tasty as I wanted it to be. The pieces of lettuce in the mix tasted bitterish at times and the tomato was a chore biting at it. Must be getting old to complain that a tomato is hard to bite at. The plain bread is just that, plain very slightly toasted bread. I wish they would slab it with butter but they put more mayo instead. The "thick" turkey bacon tasted mediocre and it wasn't that thick as stated but went well with the mayo and finally, if there's one thing great about the sandwich, that would be the grilled chicken thigh right at the bottom. Cooked right and juicy on the inside when you slice it. One more good point about it was it's plate was warm when served.

Total Wallet Damage:
All in all RM38.05. RM22.90 for the Chicken Club Sandwich, RM9.90 for the root beer float, and as usual 10% service charge and 6% government tax. This is considered pretty cheap. At the risk of sounding racist, I also notice that a lot of Malays like to dine in here. I noticed that this place seem to sell alcohol(?) because I saw signs of Somersby and some beer glasses on the wall but I didn't see it on the menu. Maybe it's only meant for nighttime.

Final Verdict:
5/10. I actually wouldn't bother coming back here again. The food isn't that fantastic, the ambiance no doubt looks good but environment-wise looks a bit of a dump even though they're opened not too long ago. Probably a drink would be okay but just being here alone makes me feel very self-conscious here and very out of place and the dancing in the middle of a service seemed forced when I was there. I was far more amused at the kitchen crew mockingly dance way better at the back when they weren't even part of the performance. Despite being a place that suppose to bring smiles, I very much didn't felt like it when I was there.