Plan B @ Publika, Solaris Dutamas

I heard about this place since last year I guess but didn't have the chance to really set my foot there till last week. Decided to give this place a try and luckily my friend knew about this place and the rest is history like they say. Anyway, let me introduce the place first, it's called Plan B. Cool Name~! It's actually under a big umbrella called the BIG Group (another cool company name). 

The BIG Group opened a lot of their flagships around town and Plan B is one of them. They even have their own grocery market called B.I.G (Ben's Independent Grocery) downstairs. So Cool~! You can check out their website here. Now let's get back to Plan B. 

Publika is definitely a unique place cause I can't find the parking and decided to valet park instead. The price is RM10 for the first two hours. I guess it's alright. Plan B is located at Level G2 and it's quite easy to find even if it's your first time over (like me). There are a lot of seats indoor and outdoor.

I especially like the deco on the outdoor which you can see from the picture above. Yup, those are chairs being hung on the ceiling board. Cool~! The place was packed when we arrived and luckily my friend came early and managed to get a table for us. As we are seated, people started to queue outside waiting for a table. Business is really good during lunch hour I guess. Not sure how it goes after office though. 

Ordered a bottle of mineral water. The mineral water is FOC and is bottle in some sort of a medicine type bottle. Good idea. 

As usual, I started off with some mushroom soup before the main course. I was particularly hungry that afternoon so I go ahead with it.  It's either this or Borscht Soup. I am more of a mushroom guy so I decided to go with this. It's actually vegetarian. This is not the best mushroom soup I have, but it's above average I I have to say. Chunk of small mushrooms to bite on really do tickle my fancy. 

My friend ordered their seafood Borscht soup. We did asked the waiter what is the portion of the soup and he did replied us that it's not that large. But this Borscht soup really make up for it's size with it's plentiful of seafood. I think you can order a white rice and take this as your main if you are a small eater. 

Mushroom or Borscht?  

My friend decided to go with pasta and both of us actually saw this dish because of softshell crab in the menu. They do have Carbonara but both of us didn't ordered that (surprisingly). Both of us agreed that this would be the better choice. It's spaghetti in creamy butter sauce but get this, it's tossed together with  chili padi, crispy curry leaves, and chili flakes. Top that with some soft shell crab and you got yourself an Asian style pasta. I don't think everyone can accept this dish as it's some sort like a fusion between pasta and kam heong cooking style. But both of us really dig this. Super creamy and spicy at the same time. Soft shell portion was really generous. And it's freshly fried too. 

So what's for me? I didn't ordered their Carbonara but went with one of their burger. I was reading the details of the dish when I saw one thing that decided it all, onion rings. Yup, I am a bit of a onion ring freak. The dish was really large. Other than the main patty we have french fries and salad at the side. The bun is soft and I think they might be making those buns themselves too. Just guessing here though. 

Look at those juicy beef patty. The cheese on top and three crispy golden onion rings on top. Simply delicious. How do you eat it? This is definitely not an issue for me since it's a burger freak.  Just cramp everything in there, open wide and just sink your teeth in those juicy home-made patty of theirs. Highly recommended. By the way, I didn't even managed to finish the salad off since I was already full. 

The kitchen was neat and clean and well organized. I can see the barista is busy preparing the drinks for the customers and all.   

There's also three big Samsung infinity LED on the wall. But not sure why are they showing 60s Malay movies on and on?! We had a great lunch and saw some cool chicks. What a great place to hang out too. Price might be slightly high but it's fine with me. The bill amounted to $87 in total. $40+ for a lunch? Depends I guess. You can't really set a price tag on good food now, can you? Definitely coming back here again soon. Who am I bringing next round? 

Rating: 

Food: 4.5 out of 5.0

Service: 4.0 out of 5.0

Ambiance: 4.0 out of 5.0 

S'Mores Bar-Restaurant-Chill Out @ Bangsar South

I know it's been a while since my last update but heck I am getting lazier now to post. Don't ask me why. Maybe due to life commitment or work. But it's upsetting to see my blog left unattended for so long. I still eat around and snap lots of pictures but I don't really have the time to update them in here. After a long morning of sorting out my pictures from my phone, so here goes. S'Mores is located over at Bangsar South which I heard about since last year. I was actually looking forward to their beef burgers but was disappointed that I can't find any over there during my visit. 

So I browsed through their set menu and saw some pasta under their set lunch. Decided to go with that. I ordered a mushroom soup as usual to warm up the old stomach before the main course. Well, it's your usual mushroom soup from the cane if I am not mistaken. Better save the money. 

I can't decide on either ordering their chicken or pasta and at the end decided to go with their cream sauce pasta. Damn, I made a huge mistake. The Alfredo based sauce is too watery to my delight and the portion is that sufficient either. Looks nice but don't really fancy me at all.  

My lunch buddy decided to go for their Pesto base pasta which was a good choice indeed. Well at least it's way better than mine. The mint flavor from the Pesto sauce is quite strong although I still prefer the one from Louisiana better. But this is acceptable for me. 

 In short, cream sauce fail, pesto sauce save the day. Although it's just a set lunch I do have quite high expectation on my pasta. And this cream sauce just didn't pass the average line. 

There's plenty of seats inside and it's air condition which is really good. Like the atmosphere as it's good to bring your customer for a lunch or meeting ending with some beers on the side. 

They do have some promo going on for Happy Hour kakis at night. They served beers and liquors too. Not sure how's the crowd at night but I heard it's quite alright. Maybe you can drop by some day and let me know how's your lunch/dinner goes. Cheers~! 

Rating:

Food: 3.5 out of 5.0

Service: 3.8 out of 5.0

Ambiance: 3.8 out of 5.0

Chef Lim Organic Kitchen @ Scott's Garden

I was driving along Old Klang Road while fetching my new lunch buddy. Saw Scott's Garden and was wondering if there were any new restaurant worth trying. Saw this new restaurant called Chef Lim while passing by the building and decided to give it a try. This is my second trip over to Scott's Garden and the parking is still a bit confusing to me. Most of the lots are still unoccupied which is a bit sad. You can see a lot of adverts on the windows and all. But the outer shops facing the main road are getting more and more by  the day. Chef Lim is located on the top floor above Beef Factory. 

The restaurant is still very brand new from the look of the paint and also the furniture. I like the ambiance of the place as it's very familiar with Full House, which is all white design. The place looked very nice and clean. Brightly lit up and the restaurant is facing outside did have an advantages to it. There were only another table occupied when we arrived. Maybe the place is still very new and not everyone is into organic food yet. So the crowd seemed to be a bit slow. 

Since it's a restaurant that promote organic food, hence there's plenty of health food on their shelves. After scouting out the environment, we got ourselves comfortable and went through their menu. Plenty of choices ranging from Western to Local dishes. They have ala-carte dishes to order too if you are dining in a group. We set our mind on their western dishes. 

Both of us actually are Carbonara lovers. So when both of us saw it was in the menu, we straight away wanna ordered it. But since we are sharing, we decided to order something different and try. The Carbonara came first. Presentation wise, I give it a 6 out of 10. Maybe cause I expect the pasta would be place in the middle high rather than flat down on the plate. Sorry, a bit strict on the presentation here. The pasta doesn't have a strong scent of cheese but rather more taste of the mushroom used. It's not too creamy but just nice and thick. The sauce is a bit special here since there are no pork or meat involved. Not really bad for an organic vegetarian pasta. 

We had browsed through the menu several time and finally landed on this pasta, Anna & The King. Why Anna & The King? Beats me. Maybe cause it's more of a Thai based sauce. It has a lot of vegetables like capsicum, tomatoes and onions in it. The sauce is slightly spicy and sour which might be the reason for the name. Together the pasta seemed a bit flat but when I tasted the sauce alone, it was quite good. But how can you take the pasta and not the sauce right? 

Actually they forgot bout our second order and we had to remind them of it. Maybe they are still new? But then again, the place is not crowded and the waitress are quite free. And we did specifically ordered two plate of pasta. Overall, it's a nice lunch where we have some hit and misses. Not an overall disaster. Good? Well you decide yourself if you do drop by. 

Rating: 

Food: 3.5 out of 5.0 (thumbs up for the Carbonara but Anna need to really work harder with the King). 

Ambiance: 3.8 out of 5.0 (nice and bright. can have a decent chat with your friend since it's really quiet)

Services: 3.5 out of 5.0 (they forgot our order .. )

Tea Room Set Brunch Promo

My dear baker The TeaRoom is having a Promo now. 51% OFF for their Set Brunch for one. You can choose from their Fresh Bake Pie or Pasta and a sliced of their Cheese Cake. The set also include a glass of refreshment. This promo is valid for both dine in and also take away. usual price for the Brunch Set is RM22.20 but now you only need to pay RM10.90. 

That's not all, you can choose from a variety of Pie and Baked Pasta:

• Shepherd's Pie (Chicken or Beef) or;-
• Moussaka - Greek Delicacy or; 
• Creamy Tuna Baked Pasta and 
• Chicken Mushroom Baked Pasta

Here are some of their Freshly Made Cheese Cake to choose from:-

• White Chocolate Lychee Cheesecake or;
• Mars Bar Cheesecake and 
• Dark Chocolate Cheesecake

Choices of Drinks:-

• Iced Lemon Tea
• Iced Peach Tea
• Hot Brewed Tea and 
• Hot Freshly Brewed Segafredo Coffee

Some info about the place. It's located over at Bangsar inside Wisma Volkswagen. The TeaRoom is a small cozy place where you can grab a quick lunch with your colleagues or friends. TeaRoom also specialized in catering baked goods for weddings, company dinners and event launches. You can find out more about TeaRoom through their website [HERE] or Facebook [HERE]. You can buy this promo from ilovediscount website [HERE]. Enjoy~! 

Neroteca @ Jalan Somerset, KL

I had wanted to visit this place out for quite some time but didn't have the time to go over each time. Since it's located nearby Changkat B.B, it was quite troublesome for me to go down after working hour unless for special occasion. Finally, I'd managed to visit this place out after some time searching for it. It took us close to 1 hour to get here from Bangsar. Got some wrong direction and massive jam over at Jalan Pudu on the way over. Actually we can't decide where to have lunch that day and finally I thought of Neroteca. Parking was a bitch since there's not much available and there's a construction going on opposite of the building. We managed to persuade the guard to let us park at the reserved parking at the end. 

The place is nicely decorated with lots of water bottles and also wine bottles. They have another sister company called Nerovivo which is located at Jalan Ceylon which is a bit classier. The place emphasizes more on fine wine dining and all. I heard this place served some lunch set and decided to try it out. Not much customers around but just now. Not too crowded and noisy for a quick lunch. 

The window that we are seated are filled and decorated with lots of this Acqua Panna water bottles. Really nice. We are served with plain water but they do served other stuff like juices and coffee which we didn't ordered. The staff was really fast to take our order and willingly introduced recommendations to us. Now that a story that I need to tell later on. 

Upon ordering, we are served with this paper box filled with garlic and bread. This is so freaking ol' school.  I had plentiful experience with garlic bread before but this is my first with real garlic and all. OK, maybe I am a bit jakun as some of you might have tried this before. 

Even the olive oil is in a cute lil canister. 

Now this is what I called a real garlic bread. We soaked the bread with some olive and vinegar oil. Mashed the garlic on top of the surface and lastly sprinkle some black pepper on top of it. Perfect. 

Both of us finished up the whole basket of bread in a jiffy. Not sure if the bread was that good or we're just that hungry that day.  

Went through the menu and decided to ordered my usual dish, Carbonara. When it was served, both of us was really disappointed of the portion. They were really stingy of their pasta. But that was not all. Take a bite into the pasta and it was not really well cooked or al dante for me. There were still a bit hard to bite on. The sauce was alright but the whole pasta under-cooked thingy made the whole experience quite unpleasant. A good Carbonara gone to waste if you ask me. 

So here's the story that I mentioned earlier. My friend couldn't decide what to ordered and decided to asked the waitress for a recommendation. She recommended something off the menu. According to her it's their specialty called the seafood pasta with cherry tomatoes. It has black mussels, squids and prawns. They ran out of squids and decided to gave us extra mussels and prawns. The dish was massive when it arrived. Maybe it's just the mussels and prawns. The pasta isn't that much again but this pasta did tasted good. Again, the pasta was under-cook. I am not sure if it was us not knowing how to eat pasta or they really screwed up the cooking time.

Anyhow, continuing with the story. We were both guessing how much would this dish cost since it's not stated in the menu. RM30-RM40? Maybe RM50 the most? When the bill came, it was RM78. My gosh~! This is the most expensive both of us had in our life. Sorry if I am over reacting here but RM78 for that dish is a bit too much. So the morale of the story, when waitress/waiter recommended something off the menu, ASK FOR THE PRICE.

Since the portion isn't that much, we didn't managed to filled our tummy up. But luckily we had some bread before the main and we are going for the International Food expo after the lunch. So I guess we can eat more afterwards. The total bill come up to RM120 for both of us and we only ordered plain water. So we had a RM60/head lunch which we can actually went for buffet as my friend said. Anyhow, it's a good experience and I hope that we learn something from this. Well, at least both of us did. Final words, good ambiance, good service but the food was just over rated. 

Rating: 

Food: 3.5 out of 5.0

Ambiance: 3.8 out of 5.0

Service: 3.8 out of 5.0

Locations: 

Neroteca 

G1, Somerset, 8 Lorong Ceylon, 

50250 KL

Contact: 03-2070 0530

Spaghetti Carbonara 101

As you all might have know by now, I am a pasta lover. I had been cooking pasta at home for some time but the sauce was all out from the can. So finally I had decided to make the sauce myself. Went online and search for the recipe for Carbonara and seemed like it's not that hard to do. The main ingredient for the sauce would be eggs and Parmesan cheese. So here's the list of ingredients for my recipe. 

• 4 slices of streaky bacon
• 2 eggs (depending on serving)
• Whipping Cream (optional as this is to make the sauce more creamier)
• Parmesan Cheese
• Shitake or Swiss Brown Mushroom (but I prefer the first)
• 1 Onion (chopped)
• 1 Clove of Garlic (minced)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
• Black Pepper 
• Spaghetti (in my case Linguine) 

I made the sauce first since it's very simple to do. Beat the two eggs in a bowl and add in Parmesan cheese in it. You can also add in the cream at this point if you want to make it creamier. Be generous on the Parmesan cheese although I know it's not cheap but you will love the out come of it later on. 

At this point, you can boiled the water and add in the linguine. It takes about the same time as the ingredients to get ready so you can do them side by side. Add in some salt in it to make it sauteed. Remember to stir it from time to time to make it evenly submerged in the boiling water. It's better if you have a deeper bowl to cook it so it's more evenly cook. You can drain the pasta now but remember, DO NOT RINSE WITH WATER. This is very important. I like my pasta to be al-dente so it will be pour in to the pan right after it's drain. 

As I am doing bacon, I will first heat the pan up and add in the olive oil and put in the bacon streaks. It's very fast to cook so remember not to over cook it. Bring it up to a plate and now you can start the second stage which is throwing in the minced garlic and onions. You can add in the shitake at this point too. Add in some stock from the pasta. Always remember it's very crucial to add in stock from the sauteed pasta and not plain water. At this point the ingredient will stop cooking. Pour in the pasta and mix it with the ingredients. Toss it around and you can add in black pepper at this point. Close the stove and pour in your Carbonara sauce. Let the heat from the pan slowly cook the pasta. You can add in more Parmesan cheese and cream to make it as creamy as you wish. Add in salt and pepper to taste. 

Next serve it in a big white plate. The plate is very important, hence I purposely drove all the way to IKEA to get them. As they said, presentation is everything. Sliced the bacon and put it on top. Add in more Parmesan cheese to it and give it some more pepper. I didn't managed to get Parsley for my pasta but you can add that to give some color to it. This is my 3rd trial and it was perfect. Sauce was to taste and the additional bacon totally boost the whole dish. Point to remember, be generous with the olive oil as it's very good for your health. Use only Parmesan cheese and not cheddar. It's NOT THE SAME. I know it's not cheap, but heck, it's for your own dinner so why holding back? Do not keep the dish for too long as the pasta will dry up because of the sauce. So it's best to consume it right after it's serve. 

Hungry Hog @ Subang Jaya

I was told that there's this new porky restaurant over at Subang. Needless to say, it was recommended by several friends and the rest is history. You can read more bout the place in their own blog HERE. Seemed like they had just moved over to Subang early this year. And they have been making a buzz during these few months over here. So I can assure that the food is good from all these hype.

The place is nicely decorated with porky every where. Something similar to El Cerdo which I visited several years ago. The place has simple and comfortable environment which is suitable for a quick bite during lunch or some place for you and some friends to hang out during dinner time. 

Went through the menu and my lunch buddy who had tried the place before had recommended me their 'signature' burger, Three Little Pigs. Why the 3 pigs? I had a wild guess after I saw the meal was served in front of me. The burger consists of the porky patty, bacon and ham. Hence the 3 little pigs nick~ The meal come with french fries and also salad on the side. 

Let goes to the patty which is the heart of all burger. The porky patty is topped with melted cheese on top. That's a plus point for me. Below those juicy patty are layers of ham, bacon, lettuce and tomatoes. Not too sloppy but just enough to get your hands dirty if you are not too familiar on 'handling' the burger. Yes, trust me, you need some skill to handle a burger without getting all those stuff dropping off while you are chewing on it.

The patty is juicy and just sufficient and not too much as there are bacon and ham that goes with it. But I was taken aback with the amount of oil dripping on the other end of the patty. Yup, those are oil dripping down. Maybe it would be more healthier if they could reduce the oil before serving the burger. But overall, it was a very good patty. I am really satisfied. 

My friend had decided to ordered another type of burger called Plain Jane. And of course as the name goes, it's a plain pork burger without the ham and bacon. So it's exactly the same as the above minus the other two piglets. So if you are not that hungry and on a diet, you could still order this and not feeling too guilty about it.

Don't be alarm as the place has several different furniture set as some of them are donated by their customers. This is a very good way as it felt more retro and modern all mix together. I like the idea of customers sharing their furniture and deco. It adds a certain amount of closeness or homely feel to the place.

Now on a site note, to cut the story short, I left my notebook after my lunch and didn't realized it until I reached home around 6pm. Yes, that is more than 3 hours after my lunch. I quickly search online and found their contact. Called them up and the guy in charge, Mr. Yong told me that he found my notebook and had kept if for me. I'd  quickly drove over and retrieve it from him. I am really grateful towards the management and also Mr. Yong for safe keeping my notebook. Had a good lunch and meet good people in the process. 

Rating

Food: 4.0 out of 5.0

Service: 4.5 out of 5.0 (cause they are honest people and great service provided)

Ambiance: 4.0 out of 5.0 (homely feel) 

Address: 71, Jalan SS15/4C, 47500 Subang Jaya

Contact:  012 - 225 0877

Opening Hours: 12:00 - 2:30pm, 6:00 - 10:00pm
(closed on Mondays)

Athena Restaurant @ Pavilion

First and foremost, sorry for the blurry pic. Was walking away while taking this pic. Over-estimated the capability of my phone again. LOLX! Let's get back to the food now. My ex-colleague had been telling me of this place over at Pavilion that serve nice pasta with a reasonable price. So finally after some pestering, I'd finally decided to give it a try with them. The place is located opposite Starbucks and next to La Bodega. So you can't really miss it. The restaurant had been there for very long and I think most of you had already tried their set lunches. 

For RM19.90++ you have a bowl of soup, main course, dessert and a drink. Sounds reasonable for a place over at Pavilion. But I need to check the food out if it worth the money or not. Cause you can't be charging me a low price for bad food too. You have a few choices of main course to choose from roasted chicken, fish & chips, pasta and even Mediterranean Beef.

 If you are on a rush, you can even have their sandwiches for RM14.90++. 

I forgot if you can order anything else other than Ice Lemon Tea. But the glass was quite large and sufficient actually. 

 Their soup of the day sort of like clam chowder or seafood based to me. Not the best I had but for a set lunch this is a good bowl of soup. It comes with a sad bread by the side. 

Ex-colleague ordered their roasted chicken since he had pasta previously. Portion isn't that large but just moderate. Definitely not enough for any men I guess. But since it's a set, I guess you be full after the dessert. Black pepper sauce was nice and the salad on the side again seemed a bit sad. Not very cheerful that gave me the idea of eating them up. 

 Since I came for pasta, pasta it is for me.  Carbonara too. Since they know I love Carbonara really much, they highly recommended this to me. Portion was quite generous. Not too creamy but just enough not to look too watery. Plenty of cheese and whip cream used I suspect from the taste of the cream. For a set lunch this is above average I guess. Clean the plate up without leaving a single drop of cream. Well that explains a lot. 

 Finally the dessert came and it's chocolate flavored ice cream. My friend was actually looking forward to their strawberry flavored which he tasted previously. The ice cream even topped with syrup which makes it so nice and fattening at the same time. At this point I am really full and satisfied. 

Surprisingly the place isn't that packed during lunch hour so it's a good place to catch up with some friends and have a good affordable lunch. At least it worth my time to drove all the way down from my office to meet up with them for lunch. They served beers too if you are in the mood for some. The place turn into a bar cum bistro at night with food and drinks served. Not a bad place for lunch if you are willing to pay their expensive parking. 

Rating: 

Ambiance: 3.8 out of 5.0

Food: 3.8 out of 5.0

Service: 3.8 out of 5.0