Hana Dining + Sake Bar, Oasis Boulevard, Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
OB 2.G.U1, Oasis Boulevard, Ground Floor, Sunway Pyramid, No. 3, Jalan PJS 11/15, Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya (PJ), 47500 Selangor

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

Time Visited:
12pm, Sunday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Toro Sashimi, Wagyu Teppanyaki and Green Tea (hot)

I've gotta be honest I don't know what really to expect coming into this place but armed with an offpeak discount, I decided to give out some random orders. The restaurant is at the outer part of the mall which is at Parkson side and when I was there, I thought that nobody seemed to be dining there. I walked in and it looked empty as hell and there's only one lone staff at the bar there to serve me. Turns out, I was at the smoking section of the restaurant, there were plenty of staff at the other part of the restaurant and considerable amount of patrons. The place just seemed like 2 different restaurants altogether. LOL. But then again, it was the smoking area and the bar area for drinking. I decided to stay at the smoking section. It's as if I had the whole restaurant to myself. LOL. There's literally nobody who would sit in that section, just me. Their menu had loads of Japanese dishes to choose from and it's giving me a headache to decide randomly on what to order. The drinks menu too were filled with quite a number of pages with most of it being alcoholic. Finally, I settled with the Toro Sashimi and the Wagyu Teppanyaki and instead of an alcoholic beverage, I decided to just have green tea.

The smoking area may be a quiet little place all to myself, but that's true for the staff as well. If ever there are staff around this area, they'll just be at the bar area preparing for drinks. The meal did took quite a wait for me and that's when I found out that they're serving the sashimi and the wagyu teppanyaki at the same time. I see. Interesting. But then again, this is a fine dining restaurant. Well, that's what I categorize it. The Wagyu Teppanyaki has some brown sauce which they're to pour it over and let it sizzle. Well, so much for medium rare. LOL. It got cooked a little more with the sauce. I started off with the Sashimi first. Though just 5 slices, it was mouthwateringly delicious. Damn. One piece of this tuna belly costs roughly RM10 each. LOL. But it was very, very lovely. The dish that was served it was chilled to maintain the goodness of this tuna belly. It was yummy to the max eating on it's own but I still dipped it in shoyu mixed with some wasabi which made it much nicer. LOL.

Then I started to try out the Wagyu Teppanyaki. OMG. I find the taste quite heavenly. Even though the Wagyu for this has a marbling score of 6-7, it's still nicer in my opinion when compared to Hacha Mecha's Wagyu that has a marbling score of 9. But then again, it may be the sauce taking over because for Hacha Mecha's, that's definitely a more pure form to eat where you can really taste the richness of the wagyu beef while in this instance, it's more of covered with the brown sauce that also gives out it's own flavors and drowns out a bit of the lovely wagyu taste. Anyway, though I was nervous at the beginning being the only person occupying the whole section of the restaurant, after eating such delicious food, it brought a smile to my face. But then again, with the pricing of these, it brings it back down to average. If it weren't for the offpeak deal I had, it would fare much worse. But it's definitely very nice to eat.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM168.50. Not bad. 15% off all the items but they charge 6% GST. The good thing about this place is that they don't even charge 10% service charge which was surprising. It's definitely cheap in my books with the offpeak deal.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Nice food, cheap with the offpeak deal though not applicable to their set. I believe their sets are also quite worth the deal.

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Isaki Japanese Restaurant, Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
1-0, 1-1, Jalan 7/70a, Taman Seri Hartamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 12pm - 2:30pm and 6pm - 12am

Time Visited:
6:45pm, Saturday evening, Christmas Eve

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Buta Don, Ehire, and Orange Juice

It's Christmas eve and I've spent the whole day working since the early morning with a break for lunch in between. And now that the day is done, I've actually ran myself ragged and have made myself sick again. LOL. But it hasn't turn into something serious yet like last week where I ran a high fever and vomiting. Today was just merely dry eyes causing it to be painful which in turn cause me a headache. So I went back home around 5:30pm when it started to rain to catch a nap so that I can come to this place to try for my dinner.

On my way over around 6 something pm, it started to rain heavier and when I reached the destination, it looked as if it's closed. But upon approaching on it's main entrance, it's proven that it's opened with lights and the works and staff manning outside. So I sat myself down on one of those picnic benches and started to scour and scrutinize the menu in detail before finally deciding on the Buta Don with Ehire. I asked what Ehire is and the foreign worker (all are foreign workers in this restaurant) told me that it's the fried skin of the fish. Something like that. LOL. I initially ordered a Green Apple Juice but they ran out, so I went with orange juice instead.

Service was a tad slow at this joint though the workers seems to be very quick handed with things. Anyway, the Ehire came not too long after the drink arrived and I started munching away at it. It's really delicious. Tasted like eating cuttlefish. At the side was dabs of mayonnaise condiment to go with it sprinkled with chili powder on top. The combination was great and wasn't an adjunct item even though the Ehire was tasty enough eating on it's own.

Along came the Buta Don. I must say for that big bowl of rice with loads of pork meat in it, it's well worth the RM22 I'm paying for that. It may not be overly fantastic but enough to satisfy my pork cravings and for me to deem it above average. Well worth the cost.

I soon finished up to quickly head home to nurse my headache and to write this out.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM66.45. 10% service charge included and 6% GST imposed.

Final Verdict:
6/10. For a bowl that big, the Buta Don is well worth the money to eat and it tasted quite good too. As for the Ehire, it's more on the expensive side though it was rather tasty. This place has a lot of complaints from customers on their slow service and inattentive staff but so far I didn't encounter that much. Maybe because I was sitting at such a prominent location and being just one person sitting at such a big table, it's bound to draw attention. LOL. I've also seen comments people indicating that this place is pet friendly as well.

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The Fat Fish, Shoplex Mont Kiara, Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
15-0-5, Shoplex Mont' Kiara,, Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Close on Mondays. 
The rest of the week 11:30am - 10pm (According to Google)

Time Visited:
2pm. Tuesday afternoon

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Smoked Salmon Salad and a Tapping Tapir Pineapple Calamansi soda

Long time I didn't post anything. Of late, I've been working non-stop even throughout weekends and public holiday and so I'm a bit lazy updating this blog. I'm thinking of revamping one of my old ones to put in encounters of the people I met with many quirky experiences or lessons for me to remind me one day should I decide to read back but I'm just too busy to do it. Besides, when I do get the free time, I'd rather laze around and do nothing before plonking myself to bed. In addition to that, I have also lost all of my photos from before in my phone along with whatever data that's inside. I've also lost all but 30 of my newest contacts which seems to have been saved somewhere else for some reason. I didn't bother getting contacts back from people except for my immediate boss' because why bother. People won't be looking for me nor expecting a reply from me anyway. LOL.

So this was at a day where my company was on holiday while KL is still working. I still worked a fair bit but it was a slow day so I didn't do much and so I decided to take my lunch here. When I was there at 2pm, already all the seats outside were taken and only left with seats inside. Why mainly people prefer to sit outside instead of under the air conditioned area indoors is because people are afraid of the fishy smell inside. But when I was there, there were not much of such odor inside since the air condition units were all on and the ventilation fan towards the back were all on to carry all the smell away. Displays of seafood on ice were all prominently placed up front for you to pick and choose to have and to be cooked too if you want to. Oh yeah. Besides serving as a restaurant there, it's also partly a fish/seafood mart where some people go there to just buy the meat to cook at home. The meat all looks oh so good and fresh but the price too packs a punch even in their raw form. I decided to go for something simple and healthy and so I ended up with the Smoked Salmon Salad. As for my drink, I just pick a Tapping Tapir soda.

Initially, when I entered, there's still the lunch crowd there preoccupying the tables outside and so the staff were all busy and such to attend to me. This led me to picking the menu myself and returning to my table to glance at it. When I was ready to order, I had to signal someone's attention to come. Anyway, wasn't much of a big deal.

Even though it's just Smoked Salmon Salad, it took a while before it finally came to my table. I can see why as they took care in the presentation of the salad. But that was all there is to it, a pretty presentation. The greens were bitter to the max with only some olives as saving grace. But the real savior came in the form of the smoked salmon. That truly was delicious and was really fresh and if it weren't for it, I wouldn't have finished off the salad. They do live up to their reputation of supplying fresh produce and just wish that I had the salmon as a sashimi to eat up. However, I must say that the greens were awful max. Bitter like no business. Must be store bought at the supermarket nearby, all packed in a box and they just put it in a dish. Yuck. I resumed a little bit more with my work before finally calling it quits at 5pm and had a tea break at Uptown.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM29.70. Salad costs RM18.50, the soda costs RM9.50. No service charge but there's 6% GST.

Final Verdict:
6/10. Never go for the greens here. Their seafood and fish are the freshest around town and that's what to go for. There's also a new outlet in Desa Parkcity which is opened 7 days a week!

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Legend's Claypot Briyani House, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
Brickfields No.50, Ground Floor, Jalan Vivekananda, Kuala Lumpur (KL), 50470, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Monday -Thursday - 11am - 11pm.
Friday - Sunday - 8am -11pm

Time Visited:
4pm, Saturday afternoon

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Thosai Rawa Masala, Fried Fish & Iced Honey Lemon

The night before this day, I was working quite late till 8pm due to a server in need of a hard disk replacement and the rebuilding part was excruciatingly slow but necessary to wait for it's completion. So on this day in the morning, I was supposed to go out with my colleague in order to eat a chicken rice place where it's deemed as cheap and good. But unfortunately, I was so exhausted, that I went back to bed at 8am as I awoke and only woke up at around 11am, an hour after the stipulated time of my colleague picking me up. LOL. So since that happened, I decided to go my own way to eat.

Due to my very tired nature, I only manage to crawl out of the house late in the afternoon and only wind up at Legend's Claypot Briyani House by 4pm. Despite it being at a late hour of 4pm, the place was teeming with people indoors. Mostly Indian people of course and mostly there to consume their signature Claypot rice but I ordered a different type of dish and that is their Thosai Rawa Masala. Well, it wasn't my first time eating at Legend's Claypot Briyani House. The last time I did so was with colleagues where we went to the branch at Kelana Jaya (which is now closed for good) and during that time, I had their Claypot Briyani rice. But on this day, I decided something different. To have some meat, I ordered a fried fish as well.

Though the crowd was there and the staff looks weary, the drink and the food came at quite a quick pace which I didn't expect. The fried fish was the last to arrive. The Iced Honey Lemon was sweet but bearable though it's too sweet for my taste caliber. As for the Thosai Rawa Masala, it was above average in taste and if you notice in the picture above, you can see that they only provided me with the dhal to accompany with the thosai. Nevertheless, it's not really an issue as it being a Thosai Rawa Masala, it's filled with ingredients inside such as the potato.

The fried fish looks a little oily but it's delicious, enough to my satisfaction. It does contain bones but it's not a lot of bones in there so it's okay.

I can see that this place is quite the hangout area for the nearby community since there's loads of people there even at that odd hour. But it's probably because there's a college nearby as well and probably it was just the end of a class session hence the crowd. Oh well. That's my guess anyway.

Total Wallet Damage:
In total RM14.60. I'm not sure of the exact price of the dishes but according to the menu, Thosai Rawa Masala is RM4.50 and Iced Honey Lemon is RM4.10.

Final Verdict:
7/10. The Claypot Briyani rice may be their signature but their thosai is not bad too.

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Brew & Bread, Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
10, Jalan Anggerik Vanilla M 31/M, Kota Kemuning, 40460 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Mon-Wed:
8:00 am - 7:00 pm
Fri-Sun:
8:00 am - 7:00 pm

Time Visited:
11:30am, Sunday morning.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Salmon Çilbir and Hot Latte (Sugardaddy)

Brew & Bread. A cafe place at Kota Kemuning which is quite a far area for me to venture just like my previous drive to Kepong. But due to me being in quite a central location, this place is also about a half an hour drive away for me which is quite fine.

When I reach that place, I was surprised that Kota Kemuning was such a bustling area. This was my first time venturing over there. There's plenty of food places to eat and many Chinese flock to that location till it's almost congested like Cheras area. However, due to the vast land area where this cafe is located, there's also plenty of parking abound should you not mind walking a wee bit. And by a wee bit, I mean from the behind row of shophouses.

At first glance, I thought that it was closed since it's signage was big and looks like it occupies the entire shoplot but upon closer inspection, it seems that only the downstairs place is closed. They were open for business upstairs. As I enter through the entrance door, I was shocked to find that the place was almost full house. There were loads of people having their breakfast there and chit chattering away with their family members and friends. Usually, this place has a menu paper laid out at the seating areas but due to the amount of people abound, I sat at the back area overlooking the back alleyway which isn't really a bad view, to be honest. The glorious sunshine beams in and enlighten the place tremendously making it a very cheery place. This place is also a full service cafe so you can just take your seat and the staff will come and take your order. I ordered the Salmon Çilbir which is one of their signature dish and a hot latte. For coffee, they have 2 types where they name it Driver and Sugardaddy. Driver has the words "Comforting, Familiar, Classical and Heavy" written on it while Sugardaddy has the words "Seductive, Wild, Charming and Elegant" associated with it. Really, it actually is just Driver being a single shot with a smaller cup while Sugardaddy is a double shot espresso with a bigger cup. That's just it. I went for double shot.

It took quite a long while for even just my coffee to arrive. I don't really blame them. They do have a lot of people coming through their door when I came and that had kept them occupied with the many orders coming in. It probably took almost close to half an hour before I actually receive my full order which is inclusive of the main I ordered. The coffee that they gave to me was named Finca Limoncillo Yellow Pacamara from the country, Nicaragua and was roasted medium. It mentioned in their tasting note that you'll get Passionfruit, Dried Pineapple, Lemon Tea, and Vanilla in it. I didn't taste any of that though. LOL. I just knew that it was sweeter than a lot of coffee that I've ever drank even though this do not contain syrup. It's very fruity and floral just that it tasted more of berries than those listed. LOL.

As for the Salmon Çilbir, it's a dish with a Turkish Poached Egg with Greek Yogurt, Chimichurri Paste, Aleppo Chili Butter and of course the Chargrilled Salmon Steak. What surprises me is that they have fried Mantou (Fried Steamed Bun) as a side with some lettuce on top. I must say I'm impressed with the taste. It does taste quite nice and was done to perfection. Everything from the poached egg to the salmon to the mantou, all done and cooked perfectly. The skin of the salmon was really nice as well and it's just crispy and has a salty taste to it. They've already deboned the salmon and you can rest easy eating it. My only complain would be that the salmon steak was far too small. Oh well. Can't have everything.

As I was leaving, the crowd had died down and the staff had a much more relax time once 12:30pm came about.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM39.20. RM25 for the salmon dish and RM12 for the coffee. 6% GST charged but interestingly, no service charge though they give full service.

Final Verdict:
6.5/10. The food is quite good and so is their coffee. The atmosphere may be a bit noisy and full of people but I guess due to their good coffee, people tend to flock to this place even though they open up only their upstairs area.

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Hamasho, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
No. 42, Jalan 27/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, Wilayah Persekutuan, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 6pm - 1am. Close on Sundays

Time Visited:
6:30pm, Thursday evening on a public holiday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
1 Person Set Meal. (Banshaku Set).

It was a really fruitful day in finding some extra moolah and I was thinking of off to this place in Sri Hartamas for my dinner before tiredly heading to bed.

This place is right off the back where in going further down heads to Naughty Nuri's and from it's appearance, it gives off a typical Japanese restaurant vibe, cluttered with the many signage advertising their many intricate dishes inside. It stands out over here though even though the outlook is plain in appearance and doesn't really capture your attention. This is because the other shops in the area don't really look like it while in Japan, most restaurants will look almost like this.

As an entrance, it has a really heavy sliding door and as I slide to enter inside this establishment, I see a generally quiet atmosphere unlike a typical Japanese restaurant. There are some patrons inside but not many. I guess it's because they open at 6pm and it's just half hour into their business time. Later on during the night, they did get filled up with many other patrons with mostly their regular customers and many of them Japanese. As I enter and sat at the bar area, I noticed that this place is actually owned by Japanese. The 2 cooks are Japanese while only one isn't and the 2 Japanese women clad in Kimono are the ones that communicate with the customers and take their orders since they're the 2 who know more English than your average Japanese while they have one wait staff that's Japanese and another is a foreign worker. They explain their many things in their menu whereby most are written in a white board that they carry and show it to you when you wanna order while the book file menu contains some main items. There's also another laminated piece of paper that promotes the 1 person meal set and I ordered that straight away because I'm too lazy to order so many separate individual dishes. It's gonna take me forever to decide should I do so. LOL.

So the 1 person meal set it is. Though it wasn't the cheery Japanese greeting each other every step of the way in this establishment, they still maintain that tradition around. Just a much more "Yes, I heard you kind of way." Interesting. Never encounter such kind before. After my trip to their toilet (which by the way, inside is also plastered with a lot of what they're offering as well. LOL) I came back to my seat with some dishes already laid out for me. First up was the 3 items appetizer. It consisted of a Potato Salad, a Bowl of Tako (squid) wasabi and a sashimi.

Next to it served was the big bottle of Tiger Beer and some crispy cabbage to go with their homemade sauce. The cabbage was nice and fresh to eat on it's own but the homemade sauce that you put in it would make it much much better. A predominant taste of saltiness but some hints of sweetness and citrusy. I wasn't aware that it's gonna be a big bottle of beer since on the menu, it's only written as 1 bottle of tiger beer. I see. So this explains the price tag of RM98. Else when I add up the other things with just 1 small bottle of tiger beer, it of course would be overprice.

Anyway, the next I savored was the fried seafood and fried chicken in one platter. There's more potato salad in that platter and I quite like the taste of the fried chicken. I also was given a bowl of clam soup. In the soup, they had loads of ingredients in it. An awful loads of clam and mushrooms with some seaweed. It's so loaded with ingredients that there's barely enough soup for it. LOL. Of course it's delicious and I think this soup was well worth it for the many ingredients in it.

Next came the main dish which is a soup rice. When you're ready to receive your main dish, you're suppose to tell them to bring it to you. But the waiter noticed I've finished most things and ask me I still have the rice and do I want them to bring it to me now which I said yes. The rice as mentioned earlier, is a soup rice. To be exact, it's called the Ochazuke Syake. Green tea rice soup with salmon. A somewhat similar dish as the Chinese mun faan which is a soupy rice dish as well. Only this is a green tea infused soup and contains salmon. The salmon has a very strong taste that didn't get watered down by the soup at all. Hence, it makes a very good combination to go along with the food.

The bottle of beer proved quite a lot to me and so I staggered on home quickly since it's been a long time that I was able to finish a big bottle of beer on my own. At least I managed quite well that night. LOL.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM98 nett for the 1 person set meal. Inclusive of GST and 10% service charge.

Final Verdict:
6/10. A nice Japanese touch to it just that it's kinda a hassle to order dishes since there's so many things to choose from and you can't just order one thing because that would be insufficient to eat.

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

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

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

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

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Fishball Noodles and Iced Coffee

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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KoHi Coffee + Meal, Nu Sentral, KL Sentral, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
LG.39, Lower Ground Level, NU Sentral, KL Sentral, 201, Jalan Tun Sambathan, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur 50470 

Opening Hours:
Daily, 10am - 10pm

Time Visited:
7:10pm, Saturday Evening

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Chili Bean Paste Mackerel Bento Set and Double Shot Natural (Sun Dried) vs Washed Coffee

Unmotivated and down, I was unable to move out of my bed for the whole of Saturday. But when nighttime came, I thought to myself that this is bad and that I really oughtta drag myself out of bed and into the open to search for food. And so that's what I did. I soon ended up in Nu Sentral before finally deciding to try at this place called KoHi.

A Taiwanese style kind of cafe, KoHi is very pleasing to the eye and seems to give a lot to aesthetic value. Everything just look nice and pretty. Their signboard consists of letters resembling that of Scrabble tiles with numbers as a subscript on the alphabet. Manned by all foreign workers (I believe all of them are Myanmarese), they struggle to communicate with me with their limited command of English but I finally got their message of indicating to me that the Chili Bean Paste Mackerel is a Bento Set and that it comes with 2 side dishes on it and a drink and he also finally got my message of still insisting in wanting their coffee of Natural (Sun Dried) vs Washed Coffee. Mind you the Bento Set drink has 2 choices, either the iced lime juice or the ice cold brew coffee which of course I chose the iced lime juice out of pure impression of not to be thought of as a lunatic, even though I am one. LOL.

The lime juice was an easy pour and serve method but from what I tasted, it seems pure to me in using real lime instead of the syrup mixture which I'm well pleased with. Soon, the Bento Set arrived. As I mentioned earlier, everything in this cafe has to be beautifully served and that includes the presentation of their drinks and food. The iced lime drink that was served earlier, though it's just a simple drink, it's served in a coaster made out entirely of ice cream sticks. As for the Bento Set, they put it in a pretty tiffin container where the top portion will hold the mackerel along with the 2 side dishes which are vegetables and a half salted egg. Below of that would be the rice all pretty equipped with black sesame sprinkled on it and a cherry tomato on top. The food was not bad in it's taste but the mackerel is kind of a choking hazard to me because there's bones in it. It's been so long since I've ate fish with bones that I forgot how to properly eat it without accidentally swallowing some fish bones. LOL. Anyway, the taste was okay but then again, this is a dish where you can easily get from Chinese Kopitiam style restaurants as well for cheaper price but of course over here you'll get it served in a nice package and a very eye pleasing ambiance.

As for the coffee, the Natural (Sun Dried) vs Washed Coffee is served in 2 separate cups with a crate like coaster made entirely of ice cream sticks. Also, they ensured that it's colored red/orange on one side and blue on the other to give you a clear indication of which is which. Along with that, there's a card served together that tells you what the coffee is and how it should taste like. For the Natural (Sun Dried), they indicated that it's Sumatra Arabica from Indonesia and should taste like Red Grapefruit with floral aroma while the Washed Coffee is also from Indonesia and is the West Java Arabica coffee and should taste crisp and integrated acidity and buttery texture with long sweet tone. Lets just ignore those because I got nothing of that sort from their coffee at all. The only consolation is the great presentation. Other than that, it holds nothing much in terms of coffee taste and only tasted like diluted coffee drinks. I find that I tasted more of water taste than coffee taste. At the end of the cup, I did get a slightly stronger coffee taste on both with the Washed Coffee a much more whole and stronger taste but overall, it still is a very weak coffee with no sweet nor fruity taste to it. It's just that the Washed Coffee has a longer lingering taste due to it's stronger nature. Other than that, there's nothing to shout about. I wonder is it because it's Indonesian beans? I rarely drink Indonesian beans but would've thought that those are more bitter ones. I do however at times had tasted Sumatran beans before. Which is kind of Indonesian beans right? I don't know.

Anyway, the rest of the time that I was there were quite quiet inside the shop with the bustling noise of the shopping crowd outside echoing throughout the outlet. After a hearty meal, I headed back home in continuing my relationship with my bed.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM45.10. The coffee is much more expensive than the bento set. LOL. Coffe is RM21.20 while the bento set is RM20.03. There's 10% service charge and 6% GST imposed.

Final Verdict:
5/10. Aside from the beautiful decoration of the place and the not bad food, there really isn't much to it to this place. Go here if you like a nice picture of your food (which I didn't manage to capture due to me not concentrating well in focusing my camera phone. Ish!) with pretty presentation or that you miss these kopitiam style Chinese dishes infused into some Japanese element into it.

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Brooklyn B Bagel Bakery & Cafe, SS15, Subang Jaya, Selangor

Address:
No. 41, Ground Floor, Jalan SS 15/8A, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Tues to Sun: 10am - 10pm

Time Visited:
12:30pm. Just in time for my lunch hour. XD

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Set C (Tuna Melts + Mushroom Soup + 100 Plus / Coca Cola. I chose 100 Plus)

DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience. My colleague decided that she needed a driver for lunch that day when I've already decided to try my luck to search for a parking at this dreaded area in order to try the bagels here.

With the disclaimer aside, my colleague advised me to head to Asia Cafe's awfully limited parking. Miraculously, we managed to find a very cramped parking but large enough for me to squeeze into and get myself out. With that we headed off to the opposite side to head on inside Brooklyn B.

Brooklyn B is a place that is self service so orders are done at the counter. The menus are also placed over there alongside the cash register. With that in mind, the set menu is actually a separate menu altogether and it's placed beside the full menu to emphasize on it. I took a quick glance on it and decided to go for their set menu. Set C in particular. This set contains the Tuna Melts, Mushroom Soup and 100 Plus.

After paying for the bill, I took the number that was provided to me and sat myself down. There's free WiFi available here and the speed is considerably fast with the password printed on the receipt and also on the waiting number that they gave to you. The mushroom soup came together with the 100 Plus fairly quickly and it's no surprise why. The mushroom soup to me tasted like Campbell Mushroom Soup. Only more watery. Probably is that instant crap that's why it's so quick to be served to me.

My fellow colleague weren't so lucky in that because even though we mentioned to the server twice to check on the order on why is it so long, they still didn't get the hint that my colleague was missing her 100 Plus drink and mushroom soup. Until the time came that my colleague got her bagel-wich. That's when my colleague asked the person serving, "Where's my soup and drink?" With that, only did they realized that they missed out on serving it to her. LOL.

To be fair, when we entered, it was almost a full house with only the bar stools and 2 tables left that's unoccupied. Perhaps that's the reason for their mishap. They were way too busy till they don't even notice on a missing order. Anyway, no harm done.

Being the person who ordered before my colleague, naturally, I got my food before her. The bagel-wich has a side of potato chips and coleslaw. The coleslaw tasted to me like the ones that are served at KFC, only a little milder on the dressing taste. The potato chips, I can easily recognize that it's Jack N' Jill potato chips which I had no complaints since that's also basically the chips served at O'Briens and I do like that chips. The bagel-wich though, is not up to my expectation. Neither was it up to my colleague's expectation. If I'm not mistaken, the tuna that's slapped on top of the bagel is out of a can due to the familiarity of the taste to me. So that only leaves me with their bagel to evaluate which should be their signature. But the bagel also disappoints me. It's too hard for my taste. Maybe I'm too old and do not have strong gums and teeth to chew anymore. LOL. But the bagel definitely isn't the taste I was looking for.

The atmosphere is a little cramped in that wooden shack-like kind of setting with faded sunrays beaming in through the front glass double doors, the only place that it could shine through. The walls are painted dark and fake bagels (I think) are hanged on ropes as decoration at the front board area.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM13.95. From 12pm - 3pm on Weekdays, they give 30% discount off your bill and that's exactly what happened to my bill. Original price is RM19.90 for the Set C. No GST nor service charge imposed.

Final Verdict:
4/10. I'm sorry. I'm truly disappointed with the food. There's just nothing I like about it except for maybe the potato chips which I can easily buy it from hypermarkets and convenience stores. Aside from the food, the staff are quite polite and young. Probably those college students doing part time since it's so near Inti. I really don't find a reason to come here at all even though their WiFi is pretty fast. Maybe their coffee is good but that's something I didn't try since it's not with the set. Pity.

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

Address:
72, Jalan Burhanuddin Helmi, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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

Time Visited:
Around 2pm(?), I can't recall. But it's definitely a Saturday afternoon.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Salmon Scramble and Strawberry Pomegranate Ice Tea

I actually was too lazy to move when morning arrived that Saturday but after surfing the Internet for quite a while planning for my next trip and also food adventures and to see if there's any events that I would be interested to get involved in, I got pumped up and decided to head out after all. So wade through my extensive list of where to try next and ended up picking Frisky Goat located at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail or TTDI for short.

Now this is a place that I've actually been before once and didn't quite like the food they serve but I decide to give them another try, this time in an 'official' review. When I got to the place it was packed - full house. I somehow got wind that this place is always pack now when it comes to weekends. You're better luck getting a place on weekdays because that's when the people are working and the working class would rather avoid this place during lunch time for some nice cheap and good eats like the Pan Mee at the corner shop called Restoran OK. It's one of the stalls there and that Pan Mee comes with Green Chili paste that's delicious and packs a punch. Or the same shop that has the Chicken Rice Stall. That chicken rice is nice but sometimes will depend on it's mood and will close. LOL.

So being packed at that time I was recommended to join at the communion table instead and so I did. I ordered the Salmon Scramble with a Strawberry Pomegranate Ice Tea.

Although it's serving a full house, yet the orders came quickly which is quite a surprise. The strawberry pomegranate ice tea was nothing unusual nor unique about it. In fact, all I could taste is strawberry with sediments of pomegranate in the ice tea.

The Salmon Scramble didn't look nor appear very impressive but it's dutifully passable in it's presentation. I noticed the Bridel Salted Butter that I like consuming which was served at Monte's, Bangsar as well. But due to the bread being buried under the salad, I kinda wonder why they even bother serving it with a butter. However, due to my liking for that particular butter, I proceeded to dump off the greens at the already crowded plate and spread the butter on the wet bread. The bread was quite nice in taste even though being doused by a bit of the salad dressings. The scrambled eggs were cooked okay but could be further improved way more. I just wish somebody could've beaten that lovely scrambled eggs that I ate at Hotel Berastagi in Indonesia. It was quite a shocker for me because due to the shabby appearance of the hotel, I wasn't expecting much. When the guy cooked the scrambled eggs for me at the cold weather outside, it looks fluffy and golden with sprinkles of additives to give the taste even more exciting. When I ate it, it was the best damn scrambled eggs I have ever tasted in my life. Nothing has came close to it. Seasoned to perfection, nice texture, good temperature for eating and the buttery taste of the scrambled eggs. It's just heavenly.

As for the scrambled eggs at Frisky Goat, well the taste is okay. But there are parts of it which are a little too runny for my taste. The salmon lacks the fresh taste that I simply adore from eating sashimi at Senjyu but it's not all that bad. It's still edible at worst.

I couldn't stay long because I was the only left later at the communion table and I was hogging that big table all by myself. LOL. Pretty soon, there was a family who needed the space and so the waiter told my to move to a corner of the table. I told him to bring me the check because I was about to leave anyway. I was again encouraged to stay by another staff by asking do I wanna sit and hang around at the bar area but I turned it down since I was about to leave anyway. Nice, courteous and considerate staff, I must say.

Total Wallet Damage:
I think I dropped the receipt somewhere but I think I can estimate up the bill. In total it should be RM33.70. RM19.90 for the Salmon Scramble and RM9 for the tea. 6% GST and 10 % service charge imposed.

Final Verdict:
5/10. This place is far too crowded on the weekend and I don't really understand why people love coming to this place. The food is nothing fantastic, it's just average. But I must admit, it was an improvement over the last time I tried. And their service has improved too but then again, you are paying for the service. Unlike Monte's in Bangsar, they still give you an excellent service even though there's no service charge.

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Ah Lye Curry Fish Head, SS19, Subang Jaya, Selangor

Address:
28 Jalan SS 19/1G, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Mon–Sun:
Noon–3:00 PM
5:00 PM–10:00 PM

Time Visited:
About 12:30pm. One Thursday afternoon

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
The Curry Fish Head of course, some vegetables and a drink (kam kat. Lime with sour plum?)

Ok. I'm not so well verse in my Cantonese when it comes to food so this focal point will be the Curry Fish Head which is their signature dish.

Hearing that the portion served is minimum for two persons, I had no choice but to bring my 2 colleagues along (1 won't go without inviting the other). So forgive me, technically, this isn't exactly A-Lone Diner material where the perspective should come from a person dining alone at a given restaurant.

Anyway, I was very tempted to try this Curry Fish Head and so I headed off to this place in SS19, Subang Jaya. Not very sure of it's exact location, I used the GPS system to locate it. I soon found out it's near my old clients place who is/was a doctor. The place is hidden in a row of shops that is inside a residential area for some reason and seems to be the only restaurant there. You need to pass a security check point and leave through an auto gate when you want to go there. What's more, the signboard is not very easy to see being black in color with red fonts. I bet, nighttime you won't even be able to see the sign at all. LOL.

Arriving at such an ideal time, there were some tables occupied but plenty more space to go. We sat ourselves down and the guy who limps came to take our orders. Of course, I straightaway stated that I wanted the curry fish head which is the main reason of me finding this place. We also ordered some vegetables to balance up. You know, typical of women. As for my drink, I ordered kam kat. My colleagues were slightly annoyed at me when I started taking photos of the food with my phone. LOL. I just ignored them and let them chat among themselves throughout the entire course of the meal until they ask me a question, then I snap out of my zone and would ask them to repeat the question since I'm not listening. Haha.

Of course, the whole of it were eaten with rice like any typical Chinese restaurant. The curry fish head has a massive looking amount of ingredients in it. At first bite, the Curry Fish Head didn't emit any taste that's out of the ordinary and I was thinking oh, it's just ordinary. The curry is mild not spicy at all but you still get the curry taste of it. As I dig more into it, I find that the curry gets more and more addictive to consume and leaving me craving for more. I didn't care much of the ingredients inside the curry fish head all that matters the most is the curry itself. Just that with the rice is actually enough for me to want more. My only gripe about it is that there's very little fish to eat despite being called curry fish head. But then again, a fish head don't have a lot of meat in it anyway and I guess they don't really put fish meat in it besides the fish head.

The rest were just as normal. Vegetables were okay and passable. The Kam Kat is nice and has a whole sour plum fruit at the bottom. It's not the preserved one, it's the actual fruit which makes the drink nicer than a lot of other coffee shops.

My other 2 colleagues were enticed to order rojak to try but I refrain from eating it since I'm not really a fan of rojak and this is something new that they're actually trying to do. I took one of it and found out that I didn't like it at all. It has a very weird taste to it and the sauce is very very thick but it didn't taste like your normal kind. Maybe because it's more pungent.

Although I may not be dining alone there, I did notice a man that went there to dine on his own. Of course he didn't go for the curry fish head since that may be too much for him but he went with the fried rice.

I may wanna try dining on my own here by having the curry fish head all to myself. XD

Total Wallet Damage:
All in all, RM64.50. 3 plates of rice, curry fish head, a plate of vegetable, 3 drinks and a plate of rojak.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Geez. Recently most of the places is a 7 out of ten to me. This curry fish head is highly addictive to me. Even after my meal, I've been thinking about it almost the whole day. But I just wish they would give more meat. It may look alot but it's just okra and tofu pok (dried beancurd) a lot. Fish, just a little bit from the head. I think I took all of the fish and my colleagues didn't get any. LOL.

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Milligram Cafe, Taman Mayang Jaya, Petaling Jaya (PJ)

Address:
No 8, Jalan SS26/4, Taman Mayang Jaya, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily 11am-11pm

Time Visited:
6:30pm. Thursday night.

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Green Tea Latte and Smoked Salmon Alfredo with Poached Egg

This cafe is situated near my place but has a very great congested traffic in between my home to this cafe during peak hours but today surprisingly seems to be quite clear and not much of traffic during the evening rush hour. I made it around the area about 45 minutes from my office and from then on it's a matter of finding the right row in which this cafe is in. I decided to stroll along the few lanes since it's been a few years ever since I've been here and about more than 13 years ever since I got down and walk around. I notice a lot of eating shops around with mostly Chinese eateries and that food court which now has a big sign indicating that it's Mayang Oasis food court.

I finally found this place and saw their cat tenant majestically sitting atop one of the tables licking it's paws. I soon realized that the cat's family had grown with it's mate looking alike and the other 2 kittens that are orange in color.

When I went in, I went straight to the toilet since I have a very weak bladder now and I always drink a lot of water in the office and you know what happens when you're always in a cold temperature area. Once I've done my business, the cashier diverted my attention away from the menu board to their menu that's on a clipboard and mentioned to me that it holds more items in that menu due to unable to fit all of it on the menu board. I soon went for the Smoked Salmon Alfredo Pasta with Poached Egg and a Green Tea Latte to drink.

The green tea latte were fairly quick to reach my table and with such pretty art on it too. It's been a very long time ever since I manage to capture such lovely "coffee" art (since this technically isn't coffee) since most of the time I only get a heart shape or the occasional simple flowers. But this one really brighten up my day a bit. However, I find that the green tea latte is much too weak. It tasted quite watery and the green tea along with the milk taste were almost not there at all.

The pasta didn't take long either. About almost 5 minutes. Presentation-wise was okay. The salmon strips were curled up into a flower like pattern while the poached egg sits neatly on top of the pasta with a slice of lemon beside it. The poached egg was cooked nicely with runny yolk inside that acts as a flavoring when it meets with the pasta. Salmon as usual tasted salty but goes well with the pasta so no complaints there.  There were tiny pieces of cherry tomato and broccoli and I think some carrots too but there weren't many vegetables in there which is fine by me. What I like the most with the greatest subtlety in touch of all is pepper and chili flakes sprinkled across the pasta. I didn't notice it until I felt a bit of a heat when chewing my food. Very nice touch. Spruced up the taste a bit more and yet I didn't even notice it when observing my food before eating.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM32. RM10 for the Green Tea Latte and RM22 for the pasta. No GST nor service charge imposed.

Final Verdict:
7.5/8. If the Green Tea Latte were a little more strong in it's taste, I would've given it an eight. The food may not be outstanding but it does it's job and is fit enough to be categorized as above average, at least for the Smoked Salmon Alfredo with Poached Egg. The ambiance is marvelous. I love how the interior looks like bright and wide open spaces. The tenant cats cheer up the place with their playfulness. Even when I was sitting from way inside, I can see then prancing around playing out side. Such a joy to witness. :D

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