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Posts tagged Cafe
Bloggers Cafe Fusion Food @ Maju Utama Business Centre, Bukit Mertajam
Jul 27th
Usually when a new cafe opens I am quite hesitant to blog about it, fearing that it would close down not long after. Can’t blame me for having that feeling, as many cafes do come and go in a short period.
My skepticism was even stronger because the cafe has a rather corny name – Bloggers Cafe. It makes you wonder if only bloggers are allowed to eat inside, lol. Then there’s their menu, which seem to offer nothing special from its competition like Old Town and Station 1. It’s the same ol’ nasi lemak, chicken chop, instant noodles with ham and egg, toasts and ice blended drinks. Pretty standard cafe food.
But sometimes being normal and not doing anything fancy is actually good enough, as long as the food is not awful coupled with a competitive pricing. Then throw in a clean, comfy environment, courteous staff, free WIFI along with live singing and you have a busy cafe with happy returning customers. In fact, my house is very near to Bloggers Cafe and I hang out here quite often.
Butter and Homemade Kaya Toast @ RM2.50. I had their peanut butter and kaya toast before and they weren’t stingy with the spread at all, each bite was overflowing with fillings. So I was a bit baffled why the same did not apply for the butter and kaya toast lol. It was nice but I still prefer Old Town’s for the crispness.
A Western Set here costs RM12.90, which includes a soup, main course, drink and a dessert. The main course by default is normal chicken chop with tomato sauce with iced lemon tea. But for RM1 extra you can opt to “upgrade” your main course to black pepper or mushroom chicken chop, or have honey lemon instead.
Prince Cafe Hong Kong Cuisine @ Kepong
Feb 3rd
Prince Cafe is a chained Hong Kong style cafe that have a few branches in Klang Valley. As far as I know they had branches in Kepong, SS2 and Mid Valley (closed down) From the recent closure of their Mid Valley branch I am thinking they aren’t doing too well.
It’s kinda obvious (at least to me) that they are aiming to tap into the Yum Cha market, and might want to emulate the success of Kim Gary and Wong Kok Char Chan Teng alike. But as far as I am concerned, the food served at Kim Gary and Wong Kok in Malaysia are not up to the standards. Well I could give their Yin Yong or HK Milk Tea a pass but their food is just a let down.
What I said is based on the fact that I have tried the Kim Gary in Singapore and I feel there is a heaven-and-earth difference. So when your competition is not strong, standards are low hence less room for improvements. That being said, it’s obvious my experience with Prince Cafe to follow was a disappointing one.
Macau style Pork Chop Burger @ RM6.50. While I could tolerate the idea of purposely arranging the pork chops in such a messy way in creating an arty impression – there’s nothing to like about the overly dry pork chops and excessive use of mayonnaise.
Pork Chop Cheese Baked Rice @ RM16.90 had a huge portion but it arrived cold and tasted dry – really dry. They were generous with the mayonnaise on my pork chop burger but decided to stinge on the curry sauce for the cheese baked rice lol. Well luckily the waiter happily obliged to bring us extra curry sauce so it was bearable.
For this kind of pricing and food quality, you are better off sticking to Kim Gary or Wong Kok. Or better still, support local Yum Cha scene and have white coffee at Old Town instead.
Prince Cafe (info provided for the lulz)
No 22, 24 & 26, Jalan Metro Perdana 8
Taman Usahawan Kepong, 52100 KL
Coffee Ritual – Great Coffee, Delicious Crepes @ Section 14, PJ
Dec 22nd
This is actually the article or so called review I submitted to BestFoodJunction’s Restaurant Review Contest held earlier this year. Somehow the the magazine either went scammy suddenly, or they simply do not bother anymore, because there was no update on contest. Based on the contest’s rule, I am not supposed to publish this, else I’d be disqualified.
But since the contest is dead now, I guess it doesn’t really matter anymore. Besides, I spent a lot of time and effort writing this piece, and Coffee Ritual is really a nice cafe with great food so I am not going to let this go to waste. Enjoy!
For coffee enthusiasts who want to try something different with their favorite beverage, Coffee Ritual is not to be missed. Located at Section 14 Petaling Jaya, Coffee Ritual is one of the very few places where Single-Origin Coffee is available.
Being a coffee lover myself, I simply had to try it myself and also see how Coffee Ritual sets itself apart from the big players in the market like Starbucks.
Upon arriving we were greeted by the owner, Chin and his wife, the management duo of the restaurant. After being seated, I picked up the menu and started to browse through the listed items. While scanning the menu, I was amazed at how spacious the restaurant was.
Adorned with simple and appealing designs, a few hand-painted drawings of coffee workers were strategically placed on the walls. The interior decorations were complemented with a display of various time-honored coffee makers. To occupy the customers while their orders are being served, an array of magazines for various reading pleasure can be found readily available.
Despite being a simple looking restaurant, Coffee Ritual has more than 40 types of coffee and over 60 potpouri of starters, main courses and desserts to choose from. For those looking for a complete meal, you would be pleased to know that set dinners comprising of soup, beverage, a choice of main course and desserts, are available at a lower than the normal price.
For any set dinner, you may opt to have specialty coffee like Cafe Latte, Cappuccino or Single-Origin Coffee for an additional RM2 – a sort of upgrade from the normal drinks offered. The same rule applies for combo meals, where an additional RM2 will grant you an upgrade to gourmet coffee.
For those looking for a less elaborate meal, they can choose from the combo sets instead, which come with a main course and beverage. Famished and totally spoiled with the choices presented, I had the dinner set while SL had the combo set. I felt it was a choice, since both of us get to sample the soup and desserts later.
For soup, I chose the highly recommended Cream of Fresh Mushroom. It was wonderfully flavorful, what a great opening dish! Bits of diced mushroom gave the soup a body and consistency, resulting in a desired creamy texture.
The Wok Cafe – Authentic Penang Nyonya & Local Cuisine @ Kota Damansara
Mar 21st
The Wok Cafe is a newly opened restaurant at Kota Damansara serving home-cooked authenthic Penang Style Nyonya Cuisine. If you’re from Penang, The Wok might sound familiar because their first branch – Hot Wok is indeed located in Penang along Burmah Road (previously at Tanjong Tokong).
Opened only about a month ago, Mervyn the head cook and owner extended an invitation to me to their restaurant to try their Nyonya cuisine and Penang hawker food. Being an avid fan of Penang hawker food, I was eager to find out if The Wok could live up to the standards.
It was a surprise visit because I happened to be at Kota Damansara for dinner and suddenly remembered about Mervyn’s invitation. After meeting the owner himself and got ourself seated, he presented us with The Wok‘s menu, which was extensive and had almost all the Nyonya food I’ve ever known. But I was actually more interested in the Penang hawker food listed in the last page, lol.
Anyway take a look at the drinks, can you guess what are they? No they are not teh ais and sirap bandung but soya milk mixed with gula Melaka and rose syrup respectively! I think I have openly expressed my dislike towards gula Melaka before but when combined with soya milk, it was a great and refreshing drink for me. This is so simple you can try making one yourself!
A serving of Otak-otak (for two persons) cost RM5. Under the soft and squishy fish paste was a layer of fish meat. I enjoyed it but I might have loved it more if only it was spicier.
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Technorati Tags: Penang hawker food, Kota Damansara, The Wok
Bagel ‘n’ Coffee Station @ Hartamas Shopping Complex
Jan 19th
Bagel had always been something similar to donut to me mainly because of their very similar appearance. You know, the ring shape. In fact, some people consider bagel as a harder version of donut. But little do they (me included) know that bagel and doughnut are actually very different, right from the ingredients to cooking method.
Bagel ‘n’ Coffee Station at Hartamas shopping complex is one of the very few cafes in KL that serves healthy, fresh daily-made bagels. I am quite surprised that I am actually the first person to blog about this cafe!
Bagel ‘n’ Coffee Station offers a vast variety of bagels (no less than 50) so you are really spoilt for choices here. One of them being Roast Beef Bagel @ RM14.60 from the Deluxe Bagels section. The bagel is first sliced through the middle, then thin slices of roast beef and fresh salad (cucumber, green pepper, tomato) are placed in between. This is followed by a light spray of olive oil vinaigrette on top. Lastly, with the top slice of the bagel in place, it is cut into half and served with salad.
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