El Toro Butchery & Grill Restaurant @ Subang Avenue

Yet another new butcher shop had made it's way to Subang. No I am not talking about the market's butcher shop but an actual steak house of course. This new place is called el Toro or The Bull in Spanish (Yup, I google that up) is located at Subang Avenue next to Taipei Taipei Restaurant. Saw this place as it's next to my usual hang out place after gym. So decided to give this place a try since I wanted to beef up yesterday night. OK, that was corny. Parking is free of course at the basement or you can park outside and risk being summon by the local authorities. Your choice. They have in door and out door sitting so you can choose to chill out outside while enjoying your meal. I think you can even order beer from next door since I saw a customer ordered it during my visit. 

I'd decided to sat outside to enjoy the view of traffic building up while waiting for my friend. Once seated the waitress placed this three bottle of sauce on the table. Yeah, they have BBQ sauce and mustard. Went through their menu and realized that their specialty would be their Australian (HALAL) beefs and also Burgers. 

Decided to ordered a bottle of ice lemon tea while waiting for my friend. Well, I have to say this is my first time having ice lemon tea from a bottle. The bottle was really nice and cute. 

After browsing the menu, I had decided to try one of their recommended burger from the menu. Since my friend had decided on lamb, so I ordered their beef. The meal came around less than 10mins which is reasonable fast. As you can see, the set is quite simple with fries on the side. It's freshly fried so it's still crispy. Salt are added by ourselves, so you can decide your level of saltiness. The patty is not that massive but do pack a good one inside. It's really pack but still spills some juices inside although I do prefer it to be more juicier. But I can live with this. They blend their own patty if I am not mistaken so this is really good. Beef bacon is a bit salty but I am alright with it. This is really a good patty although not the best I had but still above average. 

Finally my friend's lamb burger arrived. The patty was really juicy even from the picture above. According to my friend, it was really good and filling too. My friend didn't even managed to finished the bread off as it was too much. I didn't have a try out of the lamb but from my friend's feedback and expression, I know it was good. For the price we are paying I am really satisfy with the quality and quantity of food that we are being served. 

I was surprised when I saw the bill as it was RM40 for all of the above inclusive of tax. Then I'd realized that they had a special 20% discount for all dine-in. Not sure when the promo gonna end but I am definitely going back again for lunch with my lunch buddy since she's such a sucker for juicy patty like me. They also served side dishes like potato salad, soups, fries and beef rolls to name a few. Other than beef they do served pan fried salmon in Teriyaki sauce. Their specialty would be steaks, ribs and lambs of course. You can choose from Wagyu rib-eyes or sirloin which goes from RM50-RM55/100g. They also served black angus rib-eyes and sirloin for RM25/100g. I also realized that they served grainfed & grassfed rib-eyes and tenderloin and even Premium ones too. Wow~ That is a lot of selection. As mentioned earlier, their beef flew in from Australia from what I know. So do drop by and give it a try and let me know how it goes. 

Rating: 

Service: 4.0 out of 5.0

Ambiance: 4.0 out of 5.0

Food: 3.8 out of 5.0

Location: 

El Toro Butchery & Grill

SG-07, Subang Avenue, 

Persiaran Kemajuan SS16, 

47500 Subang Jaya

Tel: 03-5611 7713

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

Re Della Pasta Taste Bug's @ KSL City Mall

This is my second visit to KSL City Mall over at Johor Bahru. It's located nearby Holiday Plaza. It's one of the newest entry of shopping malls in the city center. My first visit is like 2 months ago and the place actually didn't change that much. I am looking for a decent place for dinner and had surveyed the whole building. Finally I decided to dine in this restaurant called Re Della Pasta.

I was browsing their menu and the waitress was so nice to come out to introduce some of them for me. Since they served some wide varieties of pastas and pizza, so I have no problem deciding my choice of food that night. But still, I had asked for recommendation from the waiter who is ever so helpful throughout my dinner course. I had decided to try their pasta and pizza each.

Home-Made Pasta Salad - RM8.95

I am deciding between their mushroom soup and salad. At the end I had decided on their home made pasta salad. It's home-made Spirelli with tuna, sweet corn, egg, onion, olive and parsley. I have no complaint on the salad but I do wish that it could be colder. Not really a large portion but just nice for one pax.

 Spaghetti Con Fungi - RM15.95

There are at least 20 over choices of pasta in their menu. But sadly they don't have Carbonara in it. Although they don't have my favorite pasta but they do have a variety of in-house pasta. I am really impressed in their menu but then again I need to taste it before making a judgement on them. So I ordered something close to Carbonara. This is actually a vegetarian pasta cooked with creamy white wine sauce with mushroom as their star. Presentation was really good but the portion seemed to be a bit small at the beginning. But when I started to dig in, I was really surprised to see how I was wrong.

Portion was really generous and the spaghetti is not over cooked like some places I tried before. One thing that I want to express is the mushroom they used. Plenty and Generous. They used at least 3 or 4 types of mushroom in the pasta. This is the first time I am so impressed of a Con Fungi Pasta.

 4 Season Pizza - RM17.85

They have around 10 variates of pizza in their menu and again I can't decide on any of them so the waiter recommended this for me, since I can taste four of their other pizzas in one. Actually the waiter recommended one of their specialty in another menu but since it was a seafood based, I had declined. All of their pizza are thin crust which I really happy to hear. They have pepperoni, cheese, mushroom and green peas based pizza on the same pizza. 

I had half of that and I like the mushroom based the most. The tomato based sauce used for all the toppings are the same. But mixing it together with mushrooms is really good. Pepperoni was abundance and I was really happy for that. The green bean portion was the least my preference. Anyway, it's really a good piece of pizza overall.

 Iced Cappuccino

A bit strong but luckily my first sip was at the end of the dinner. Nothing special but just an ordinary but not that bad glass of cappuccino.

 

At the end of the meal, as I am preparing to reached for my wallet to pa the bill, I was surprised that it wasn't in my pocket. Checked everywhere and I still can't locate my wallet. Guessed that I left the wallet in my car. So I had asked the waiter to wait for me while I walk over to my car to check. I even offered my passport to be hold by them while I go and search for my wallet. But he was so kind to just asked me to go and come back with the money when I find it. At the end I found it and paid them. Even filled up their customer feedback form and gave them a really good review on both food and service. Definitely going back on my next trip down South. 

Rating:

Food : 4.2 out of 5.0

Ambiance: 4.0 out of 5.0

Service: 4.7 out of 5.0

Movida Kitcher.Bar.Kitchen.Lounge

 

I was actually wanted to try out Cravings over at Sunway Giza but ended up at this place called Movida. It's actually a bar cum lounge which served food during lunch hour too. My ex-colleague told me that this place served some kind of a buffet during lunch hour. Actually I (we) are still looking for a place other than Louisiana for some good all you can eat lunch.  Coming back to Movida. We arrived around 12.15 and we are among the first to arrive. Not much sign of the buffet available but we did asked the waiter and he confirm it's available. 

After reading the above, I realized that their 'eat-all-you-can' has a 'catch' on it. As you can see above, the buffet style lunch only provide a all you can eat on their dessert and soup. You can only choose one main course for the price of RM14.80 NETT. This is a bit of a let down as who can drink 5 over bowl of mushroom soup or 5 plates of salad?

This is the salad section with tons of fresh salad for us to feast on. But as I mentioned earlier, how many plate do they expect us to eat? Unless you are on a diet and salad is your new best friend. 

They are serving mushroom soup that day. My favorite kind of soup but we will see how it really taste later.

 

 Salad isn't that bad but not much to brag about but fresh. 

Back to the soup. Totally disastrous. This had got to be one of the top 3 worst soup I had. I like my soup thick but this is just too much. It's too thick and worst, the powder isn't diluted well. And when we queried the waiter bout this, he had the nerve to say it's just the way they serve their soup. WTH?!!

Let's go to the main course now. Hopefully the main is better than the appetizers. I had ordered their grilled lamb with pasta on the side. The whole meal really does looked appetizing after the sad start on the appetizers. Grilled lamb was a bit hard to bite off but tasted alright. Spaghetti was really bad. Couldn't really taste anything. Sad sad meal. 

My friend had ordered their chicken chop and it wasn't what he expected. Maybe the taste is good? Portion was really small. Chicken was normal and the only thing worth mentioning is the croquet potato. It's actually potato mixed with cheese and cooked to crisp. 

OK, overall, I can summarize this place up pretty easy. I think you can guess what is my answer too by now. Not worth my money at all. Only spend your money here if someone is buying. Maybe the bar is better at night. Not sure how good is the ala-carte dishes in the menu, but not sure I am taking that chance again soon. 

Ratings: 

Food: 3.5 out of 5.0

Ambiance: 3.8 out of 5.0

Service: 3.5 out of 5.0

Ben & Nick's Cafe @ D'Tiara Subang Jaya

Been thinking of paying this place a visit for some time since I saw the place during supper with my friends after gym. The place is called Ben & Nick's Cafe or B&N for short. It's located inside D'Tiara Apartment next to Subang Avenue. It's on the corner facing Old Town Kopitiam so you won't miss it. From what I read, the owner Sonny Cheah who started the cafe after retiring. With his son Ben at the kitchen, they whipped out several good dishes  from what they can cook and changing the menu from feedback from the customers. 

The restaurant is small but do not judge them from the size of the place. The place can comfortably seat around 50 customers at the most. The place is designed like an English tavern, with most of the tables placed outside for the alfresco experience. The interior decoration is what attract me the most which I read was mostly provided by Cheah's wife own collection. 

I saw the picture of their mushroom soup from the menu and I straight decided to order it. It's so delicious just from the picture itself. The portion of soup isn't that large but just right to share with my babe and a small piece of garlic bread on the side. The soup is mild and not that thick but the fragrance is nice and soothing. Not the best I had but definitely above average and worth a try. 

Babe decided to ordered their combo blanket since she can't decide whether to go with steak or pasta. This is the best choice since it's a combination of beef strips with beef bacon and smoked onions; Cajun marinated chicken strips with tomato salsa. All wrapped in a cheesy grilled tortilla. If that is not enough, it's served with Romaine lettuce and bread crumbles. This is really a heavy meal for lunch but since both of us are hungry so we shared. The beef tasted better than the chicken since the latter fall a bit flat on the taste.

As for me, definitely Carbonara since it's been a while that I had one. I had asked how big is their portion since I am really starving. The waitress told me that all their pasta is served 200g. I had ordered their beef bacon with Fettuccine pasta. OK, I don't really know how much is 200g but when it is served in front of me, damn it's large. The sauce isn't that thick as of my liking but still it tasted really good. A bit salty but just right. Had a bite into the pasta and it's a bit plain. Take another taste of the sauce and take a bite into the pasta and it tasted better. Really strange. I concluded that the sauce is really good but the pasta fall flat because the sauce isn't that thick to stick on the pasta.

All the heavy lunch and what better way to clear our taste bud but a hot cup of illy Cappuccino.

Overall lunch was alright. There's hit and misses here and there but still a good place to have a nice quiet decent lunch. They also served steaks, desserts and some other good appetizers. The place is cozy in the afternoon so you can have a nice chat with your friends and with the decorations, you really feel that you are in an English tavern. Price isn't that expensive since the portions are really generous and all. 

Rating: 

Ambiance : 3.8 out of 5.0

Service : 3.8 out of 5.0

Food : 3.8 out of 5.0

MeatWork @ One Solaris

I had heard or read about this place for a couple of years now. But doesn't really have the chance to pay it a visit since it's not my normal hang out place. And I don't really have any customers over at MK too. But since babe was on duty over at CS that afternoon, I had decided to walk over to try it out. Out door parking is not easy so it's recommended to just park your car inside One Solaris. There are a few places around that area which worth trying out but maybe on my next visit. Since babe gonna be here at least once a week or two.

The place seemed a bit old to me. Old in terms of their deco and setting. From outside, it seemed like they have a lot of staff but once entered it took them some time to come over and take our orders. We went through the menu and most of their servings are patties based since they are selling their in house Gemas brand. They do have other choices like steaks and pasta too.

I saw Carbonara in their menu and decided to give it a try but since the place is famous for their Gemas patty, I had decided to give that thought up. Babe decided on their Marinara and she changed the pasta from Linguine to Spaghetti which the waiter obliged to. Portion was just alright. Taste wasn't that much spectacular. The seafood portion was generous as you can see from the picture above. Not my plate of pasta but babe like it.

They have a few burger to choose from and I had asked the waiter and he had recommended this to me. It's their own GEMAS gold classic burger. It's a 200g beef patty topped with melted aged cheddar cheese, tomato ketchup, American mustard and pickles. There are some cut fries on the side too. A little too simple for me maybe. I was thinking of more side dishes at least some salad or coleslaw.

Let's see now, the 200g in house patty is their signature dish but heck, it's a bit over-rated for me. The patty is fat and juicy but maybe too juicy. Cause I had ordered medium well as always and the patty fall apart when I tried to slice my knife into it. Damn! It's so saddening. A good patty had turn to waste if you asked me. I like my patty to be solid and juicy rather than juicy and fall apart even before I sink my teeth into them. The toppings are too safe for me. I need more cheese and look at the onion, it's so pathetic. Just two small slices of them. I like mine big and sloppy but I know this is not possible over here. 

We had ordered our drinks earlier on and it took them ages to get them ready for us. We had finished our dishes and they just managed/remembered to get us our drinks. But at least they tried to make up for it by pouring us some plain water. Again, I think the staffs are sufficient just that I am not sure what they are doing standing at the back of the counter and not outside serving the customers.

Food was over-rated but not sure of the rest like it's steak and all. Most probably won't be going back since it's quite pricey for lunch (RM80+) for the both of us. You can come over and have a try for yourself. I might not like it but to some, this might be good. Maybe their Carbonara is better, but I won't be going back unless someone is buying. haha!

Ambiance : 3.5 out of 5.0

Service : 3.5 out of 5.0

Food : 3.5 out of 5.0

Address: 2G 3A, 

Jalan Solaris 5, 

Block H  

Solaris Mont Kiara 

50480 Kuala Lumpur

The Teapot Cafe @ SS2

I was invited for lunch last week at this cafe over at SS2. Initially we were supposed to have Korean for lunch but finally decided on this place as we can sit a bit longer after the meal. The cafe is at the same row as the previously Foh San Restaurant facing the bridal shop. I had actually passed by this cafe so many times before but didn't realized what they are serving until my babe's sister told me that they serve Western food. The name made me thought that the place was serving some English tea or something all this while.

Once we're in, the place was almost full house during lunch hour.  A lot of working ladies like to dine here as they can ex-change stories at work and the ambiance was so nice and calm. The place is handle by a Malay lady if I am not mistaken so it does attract a lot of Muslim's customers.

The deco of the place may seemed a bit old but it does gives some English home feeling to it. Why the name Teapot? You will know when you enter the shop as there are plentiful of teapot of different design being displayed on their shelves. Maybe the owner is a teapot collector?

Browsed through the menu and I finally decided to go with their Roast Beef Set which consists of Garlic bread, Soup of the day, main and also dessert and drinks. The garlic bread was  normal but at least it's still warm but not that crispy that I thought it would be.

The soup of the day was their pumpkin soup. This is one good bowl of soup I had. It's thick and not too creamy. Finished the whole bowl even before you can say "pumpkin stew". Portion was alright, not too small but just right to warm up your tummy with.

Now here comes the main dish which was the roast beef set. The beef are sliced thin and a salty sauce was poured on top of it. The sauce was a bit salty to me actually. Initially I thought it was black pepper sauce but it isn't. The portion of the sliced beef was really generous. If that aren't enough for you, they main still have some side dishes like vegetables, potatoes and a bun. They lost me with the bun there actually. 

Ellie ordered their fish steak which isn't that bad from it's out look. Portion was definitely enough for a lady to have. The fish was marinated with a lot of basil leaves and herbs spices. Isn't the best fish I had since I am not a fish lover anyway. But I do love the potato salad on the side.

After the lunch, three of us sat and chat for another 1-2 hours and the crowd started to leave around 2pm. They also served pastries like curry puff, breads and cakes. Oh, I almost forgot to mentioned that the set also come with a slice of Chocolate Eclair and a choice of coffee or tea. Not my everyday set lunch since it's not that cheap. But it's a good place to  sit down and have a tea while catching up with some friends.

Ambiance Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0

Service Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0

Food Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0