Thursday, February 17, 2011

Valentine Meal that I love to share....

Valentine's Day is a day that every couple looking forward to. Men might need to crack their heads to decide what to do on that special day. Ladies are anxiously waiting what's coming to them on that special day. Perhaps this year going to do a different taste with different style. Candlelight dinner maybe kinda old school to the new generation. Perhaps fusion concept that mixed the East and West might attract the young couple. Women would love to try something new as it would excite them. Do you agree?
 

Who would have though appetizer can be a Japanese fusion with a bit of Oriental taste? Not to forget, you could add a little bit different spice with the YuZu Orange Wasabe Mayo. These ingredients would triggered your taste bud and ready for the main course.
 

Double boiled soup chicken style chicken broth! That's the double chicken taste in there served with the taste of the Kumomoto Oyster and Lychee jam. Looks good and it may sound weird, but I like the slight sweetness in the oyster. Oyster was fresh and it doesn't smell that bad. When you tasted it, you know it's a quality selected oyster. For those who scared to eat a raw food, I think it's not that bad for you to try for the 1st time.


The main course I tried the Beef Medaglione al Forno topped with Mushroom Ragout. It added with the Berries Balsamice and Raisin Bordelaise Sauce. That is a very long name.The beef was prepared in medium. Of course, if you would prefer a well done steak, it's perfectly fine. I prefer it cooked medium though. 

Dessert will the last of course and I'm lucky to try the chocolate cheese mousse and strawberry dipped served with caramelized Granny Smith Apple. Another long name to remember. Basically, just one word to describe this. That is "SWEET".  But again, no matter how sweet it is, I can't finished it. Too much for me to digest in the end. Not to worry, you could always share the abundant sweetness with your loved one. In fact, a valentine meal should ended with loads of sweetness, don't you think so?


I would like to thank Advertlets & Holiday Villa, Hotel & Suites Subang for the invitation. Holiday Villa is a premier 5-star business resort and club that offers ideal gateway for business and leisure. Valentine's Day is over though but fret not!  You could always come and enjoy what they have to offer you for a short gateway from hectic city life. It's strategically located just 25km from the heart of Kuala Lumpur. 
Verdict:
Food          : 7/10
Ambiance   : 8/10
Address
9, Jalan SS12/1, 47500 Subang Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.

Telephone  : 603-5633 8788
Fax           : 603-5663 7449
Email        : hvs@holidayvillasubang.com.my

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Geláre Ice Cream with waffles and pancakes w/ Advertlets

Have a sweet tooth? or just craving for some really good ice creams? and best of all on top of your favourite waffles? Imagine the warm crunchy waffles topped with flavourful ice creams! yummmmo! Thinking about it makes me drool all over again! But hey! I did manage to try it! At Geláre in e-Curve! or formerly known as Cineleisure.

Basically their main attraction are their Ice Cream and to top it off is to share with a nice warm waffles. I was wondering what Geláre meant and to find out that it actually means "to freeze" or "congeal" in Italiano! mi scusi, mi scusi! in Italian I mean. All this good food brings out the Italian in me!

Their ice creams are a marriage between Italian and American. yea like Micheal Corleone! Capisce? They took the Italian ice cream and mixing it with American style Ice Cream which is creamier.

I manage to try out several dishes when I went there.

First was of course their waffles and their Ice Creams! This I tried the Pistachio and Strawberry. Their Pistachios ice cream was a wonderful treat! blasting with a balanced pistachio aroma and with chunky pistachio in it. The strawberry ice cream was not overly sweet.


Next was Chocolate Overload, yes Chocolate Overload and Mocha Chip ice cream and waffle. The chocolate overload is a must try for chocolate lovers!

I have to say the waffles itself is a treat! Crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Yummmo!

If you are a waffle person then you will surely want to try out their pancakes!

This is pancakes with strawberries and cream. The texture of the pancakes are done well. Nice, fluffy and hot! It might be abit sweet for some but to most, it will definitely put a smile on your face!

This is another one I tried, banana pancake

And of course the normal but equally satisfying pancakes with syrup and cream.

Besides all this they also serve other varieties of food such as sandwiches, muffins and cakes.

You can even visit them at www.gelare.com

It is located at the ground floor at e-Curve (formerly CineLeisure) next to Tony Romas.

Service: 8/10 (good but since its new, i shall give it some time to improve)
Food Quality: 9/10 (very good ice creams and very good waffles)
Environment/ambience: 9/10 (love the mural and the colour concept)
Price: 8/10 (reasonable for such quality food - RM 30++ for ice cream with waffles)

My verdict: a good place to treat yourself with some really nice ice cream and fantastic waffles!


View Geláre in a larger map

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Modern Sushi this time?

Again. Where to catch up? Perhaps it's time to try the new sushi place in Sunway Pyramid. I attended the launch and I am pretty much like the food selection. The ambiance is modern and they have a bar too. How cool is that?! Called up my long time high school good friend for a meet up. Robot Sushi is the place to go this time.

Started off with a starter, i.e. ChawaMushi. Steam egg with tasty Gingko nut at the bottom created soothing feeling every bite. Just be cautious as it's too hot when it's served and if you decided to slurp into your mouth just like that, just don't burn your lips.


This one might wrong to me. It looked like something you see a lot in the toilet bowl. But again, it's not what you think! It's beef in the outside with cheesy taste in the inside. Trust me. It was so good that we ordered twice for the same dish. Well, never judge the book by its cover. It may looked shitty outside but it's a real food that makes you order more!


Sashimi are fresh and cold enough when served. I can't say no the lovely Sashimi that I will never fail to order every time I go for a Japanese restaurant. In fact, there is another dish that I will always ordered and quite particular whether it's served hot instead of cold. Hot n Cold. Confused. Nothing to be confused of. I just want my cold fresh sashimi and a hot served Miso Soup. These 2 enough to make me a happy customer. See! It's not hard eh!






The soft shell crab is not a bad idea to order when you come here. It's quite oily on the surface. The deep fried crab is quite juicy in the inside though. It's hot enough when served to us that night. 2 thumbs up for this one. But I didn't ordered the 2nd plate as I am going to make my cholesterol shot up pretty fast if I do that. Control!





The creativity is there when serving the sushi. It seems that the modern concept of Japanese sushi here is focus on the long trail type of serving. Either like a train or a long centipede! God know why they did that. But still it attracted my attention and I can't stop taking more snapshots to these long centipede sushi.




Did I mentioned about a bar? Yes I did! Plasma TV? Hell yea! So, I mentioned before it's a modern concept of a Japanese restaurant in the city, I bet the boys gonna love the place here. While the ladies drinking and eating with their cocktails, the boys might wanna catch up with the latest EPL game here in the Japanese Restaurant. Good combination for us.

Verdict:
Food                4/5
Price                4/5
Service             3.5/5
Ambiance         3.5/5

For more info, log on to ROBOT SUSHI. 
It located at 2 outlets. Sunway Pyramid and 1Utama.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Sun Yin Loong Coffee Shop, Ipoh Old Town

THE REAL WHITE COFFEE PLEASE STAND UP!

After looking at Old Town White Coffee sprout all around our country I first wondered was it from this shop then I found out that it was not.

This is the real one. Sun Yin Loong coffee shop. Its been here since the 50s. As per my dad, he said that It didnt really changed. My relatives came all the way from Singapore just to have this cup of coffee.

They still use authentic table and chairs but of course as time goes by some will rot so they are replaced by the new plastics chairs but the rest of the shop still gives the feel of how it feels 20-30 years back! My fav, "Phak Kopi Ping" it means iced white coffee! yummmm! always had two cups. My dad will order the "Phak Kopi Nga Lat" it literally means white coffee teeth drop. It actually means hot coffee tall or big. Its a term where you drink till your teeth drop coz its so much.

And to accompany the nice ice coffee, you order a butter kaya toast bread. The Kaya is so tasty and smooth it mixed well with the butter...

If you visit it during the afternoon around 1-4pm there is this mee goreng mamak right outside the shop which serves one of the best mee goreng mamak i tasted. Not oily or wet its just nice. You can order and ask them to bring it in. The shop owner is ok.

Its location? Ipoh Old town! where else ahahaha.


Service: 7/10 (your typical coffee shop)
Food Quality: 8/10 (good for the price we pay!)
Environment/ambience: 6/10 (typical coffee shop, warm but cozy)
Price: 9/10 (definitely cheaper than those franchises! and for this quality coffee... worth it)

My verdict: try first before you make any judgement... stop reading what ppl say it taste like try it to know it!


View Restoran Sun Yin Loong in a larger map

K Pop? Let's go K Lunch with KimchiHaru


Thanks to Kenneth and Mag, I've enjoyed a Korean lunch with a budget set meal and of course with a nice environment with its simple yet elegant decoration. Out of the few choices from set meal menu, I choose KimChiJiGae with rice. The meal was served hot and the spicy soup tingle the taste bud too. I can't stop sipping the soup though it's popping hot. That's what a good food can do to you.


I found the motto an interesting thing to know. Not lot of restaurants out there practices this and strive to serve their customers' well. Korean food is pretty much famous with their own way to create the taste in the food. No Ajinomoto. Again, Korean don't use the Japanese seasoning! Of course. But again, it's a unique way to create seasoning mainly from natural ingredients.





I've also ordered the Cheese KimchiJeon. It tasted perfectly good with the melted cheese on top of the fried Jeon. It's like kueh with cheese. It's tasty and light for starter before your main meal. The only down side of it that I need longer time to have it. It took longer time to prepare for it compared to the main meal.



This is an interesting starter and this can be refill as long before your main course finished. Nuts, Macaroni, vegetables and potatoes. The 4 tastes while waiting for your meal. It's quite addicting as I can't stop nibbling without realized that it's too little to nib too long. Lucky, you still can ask for refill. But during peak hours, i.e. lunch hour, waitresses might can't see you waving for more.

For more info, log on to http://wwuw.kimchiharu.com

If you have Facebook account, do feel free to check out their Facebook Page HERE.

Verdict:
Food   4/5
Sevice 4/5
Price   4/5






Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Food Stop at Pasta Zanmai & Seed Cafe, Mid Valley


Basically out of idea and wondering around what to eat. Thanks to the couple we went with gave the idea to have dinner at Pasta Zanmai, Mid Valley. Luckily we reached there like 5 minutes earlier as the place was swarmed with people after we went in. Phew! That was close. After being seated and ordered our food, the review begins. Ok, not that formal though. There was chatting and gossiping in between.


The menu is not so impressive. Lack of variey to choose from. To be in the safe side, I choose a dish that I'm familiar with. Unagi with Egg on top. Bull-eye! The Unagi is tender but lack of seasoning for the maximum taste. The egg, abit cold though. I wonder it is prepared beforehand. It will taste better if it's prepared and cook while it's fresh. This one, I'm just gonna give 3/5.




These closer view of the food indeed create the slurry sensation in my mouth. If you are looking for a traditional Japanese food, well I don't think Pasta Zanmai could give you that. The food concept is the combination of the modern and traditional elements in the preparation of the food.

Verdict:
Food  3/5
Service 3/5
Price 3/5

Better bulk up the service quality or else this might be a short term glory days for you, Pasta Zanmai.



Seed Cafe, Mid Valley



I would say this is a perfect place for catching up with friends. In the middle of busy Mid Valley whereas most places almost FULL HOUSE, my friends and I went to this as it's not crowded at all. In this place, we could laugh and talk with ease. No irritating anxious people waiting for you to get off the table asap. You can basically take your time and catch up with your friends peacefully. No irritation waiters that get up your nerve because there are too many people to serve. All waiters waiting at designated areas of the cafe, so you don't have to worry you need to waive for your life to get the bill/order.



Food wise. The choices are pretty much and standard. Not a place for you to have a full set of meal. It's a place for a bits and bites while chatting with good friends. Yet still, the food was served fresh and up to standard. Pretty quick service too. Overall, I'm pretty much enjoyed my time here. After dinner it's a nice place to have coffee too.