The Olive Tree Cafe @ Damansara Intan

This lil' green cafe is located inside my working area  but I didn't have the opportunity to try it out for so long. Finally the day came when my colleague decided to treat me for lunch. She decided on the place too with the same reason. It's located inside the compound of Damansara Intan which is next to Tropicana Mall. It's at the same row as 7-11 and right at the 2nd entrance.

Both of us like the decoration inside as it's very calm and soothing. The concept of the whole place I would say is going green and environmental friendly. I like this section of the cafe with the rack full of nicely decorated green ornaments. Sadly Green is not my color according to the master. So you won't see any of these in my house soon. Well maybe a different color. 

When I say lil' cafe, it's actually not that little in fact it's quite spacious. You have a choice to sit on the sofas or normal tables. You can chill out surfing the net over here or having some dessert with some friends during tea time. 

I like the wall paper at the back as it brought out the whole green concept of the whole place. It was quite pack during lunch hour and I need to wait till all the crowds left before I took this pic. haha! 

 

Plenty of drinks to choose from and decided to go with their Aloe Vera Longan. Not too sweet just nice.

They have set lunches to choose from but we decided to go ala-carte. My colleague had ordered their fragrance rice with stirred fried chicken. The rice is really nice according to my friend but it looked to me like there's charcoal in the rice. haha! A decent plate of stirred fried chicken rice. 

Was contemplating whether to order their Carbonara or burger and decided on the latter at the end. Their house special ultimate burger. The patty isn't that large but it's thick in size. It's their own blend of beef patty with melted cheese, slices of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, onions and french fries at the side. You can choose between chicken or beef of course. Not the best I had but it's filling and quite worth the money you're paying. Patty a bit dry to me. 

Overall the food was alright. Nice place to have some relaxing comfortable lunch. They used a lot of natural olive oil in their preparation of food, hence the name of the place. So I guess it's a healthy concept for those who are health conscious. There are also cakes which you can order to go if you like. 

Ambiance Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Service Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0

Food Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0

Little Korea @ One Solaris, Mount Kiara

It was my birthday and it was a last minute thingy for me looking for a venue. I had listed out three namely Daidomon Japanese Buffet at Great Eastern Mall, Fong Lye Taiwan Cuisine at Jalan Imbi and Little Korea over at One Solaris. At the end after some voting among my friends, we decided on the latter. I am really looking forward going over this place as it was quite highly recommended by another well know food blogger.

The place is located outside of Tenji over at Solaris, Mount Kiara. It's facing the main road on the third floor. There's a big signboard on top of the building and it's the same row as Maybank and CIMB. You can't really miss it. There's an elevator so you don't have to use the stairs. There are a few Korean restaurants nearby the area which I might go over and have a try on my next visit.

I heard that the place was popular, so I made a reservation beforehand. And it's a wise move if I do say so myself. The place was packed to the top when I arrived. The place was really busy with customers waiting at the front entrance and all. So I informed the waitress of my reservation and they gladly show me the way.

I had previously asked for a private room as there were around 9 of us. The room is situated on the other side of the main restaurant. The room can fit 12 pax and has 3 hot plate. Air cond was at full blast that night I think as most of us are freezing. I guess it's really good since the room gonna be heating up when we start cooking those ribs and belly. 

Since four of us arrived early, we decided to start one of the hot plate first. This is when everything goes down hill. The waiter didn't asked us what kind of drink they have and just poured us plain water. And when my other friends arrived and asked for tea or other drinks they are a bit lost with the request. Yes, they are foreign workers but they should be well equip with the basic fundamental conversation with the customers, not?

Browsed through the menu and there were a lot of choices ranging from pork, beef and soups.

Since we're waiting for the others, we decided to ordered their famous pan fried flour cake. This is kim chi based with shrimp, clams, squid and scallion all mixed together. Basically it's a seafood kim chi flour cake. Not bad, but maybe the kim chi can be a bit stronger here.

What is Korean cuisine without their famous side dishes appetizers or 'banchan'. This side dishes should arrived even before our other dishes but it arrived really late actually. We were really frustrated as they only gave us one set of each of the above. Even after all of us had arrived, we still need to remind him several time to give us more and refill. Really really frustrating.

Another complain would be the salad which is for wrapping those meat we ordered. It came so late. We had finished our marinated beef and it's still not seen on the table. We didn't realized that until one of my friend asked about it. And we requested, it took them like 5 mins to get it. Another frustration. Is this the end? You wish. Since there are 8 of us, we had requested that they fire up the another hot plate on the other table. But the waiter said that we (8 of us) to share one plate. Huh? WTH?!! There are 3 plates in the room and 4 customers should share one, so if there's 8 of us, we should have two, or am I wrong in my MATH?!! Since some of my friend don't take beef, so we requested to separate the plate. At the end he heated the other plate and at this point most of us are really annoyed and I can sense that the waiter was too. WTH!?!! Service really sux!

This is the marinated beef ribs which we ordered and finished off without any salad to go with it. The beef is nicely marinated and I am not sure why they didn't throw in the garlic into the plate to grilled it. Another complaint would be the chili paste. We had requested extra as they only have us two sets for 4 of us at that point. And when we ordered more the waiter seemed to be a bit unhappy. WTH?!!

The marinated pork ribs came second but we are actually quite uncomfortable at this point as the service of the place really do affect our dining experience. The pork isn't that bad but we didn't enjoy it under the circumstances.

This is the pork belly which is really tempting for me, as I like belly a lot. The fat and lean meat are evenly separated. Delicious. Portion might be a bit little but you can order more.

A friend ordered their Kim Chi styled noodle to share. There's a lot of seafood inside namely squids, dried wort, garlic, onions and spicy pepper. There's also clams and octopus in there too with some spicy ingredients. But the taste fall flat as my friend who tried this in Korean said it's not really the same and isn't that spicy too. Sad~!

Another recommended dish by online blogger, their beef bul go ki. It's actually pan fried sliced beef and vegetable all mix together seasoned with soy sauce, sugar and pear juice. I was warned that it tasted sweeter than usual but I am alright with it. Either you like it or hate it. So some of us finished it and some didn't. Babe wasn't really into it so I have to finished hers. Not bad, something new for me.

This is a complimentary steamed egg by the restaurant. A bit plain again on the taste over here. But heck it's free, so I can't complain much.

Overall, the food isn't as good as I thought it would be and my friend even dared to say that the one we had over at DaoRae, Taipan is far better. Well at least the service over there are more down to earth and generous. We had to wait for a reserved table over at DaoRae and the boss came out and apologized to us personally and even complimented us on so many dishes that night. Service was superb and it complimented the dishes more. But that is not the same over here. It's actually the other way around. The food over here might be better but since the service is so darn bad to the point that my friend walked out to asked for service, I'm sure that this will be our last trip over. 

Yes, the place is pack that night. But they should have hired more people to help. You can't give an excuse of over crowded for the bad service and all. The waiter did his best to serve us but sorry to say it's not even on average level yet. One of my Everything was a disaster that night. The late salad, the late refills and lack of the appetizers, request for extra hot plate being rejected, not offered tea instead of plain water, slow service, refills of water .. .OMG, the list is so darn long. We are just disappointed. And I am really sorry that I had so highly recommended the place to my friends for my birthday dinner. But luckily we had a good round of beers over at Over Time, One Mount Kiara after that. 

Ambiance : 3.5 out of 5.0 (we had a private room)

Service : 3.0 out of 5.0 (this is the worst rating I gave to date)

Food : 3.8 out of 5.0 (hit and misses here and there)

Address: Jalan Solaris 1,

Solaris Mont Kiara, 

50480 Kuala Lumpur, 

WP Kuala Lumpur

Contact: 603 6203 7217

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

Skewers @ Subang Avenue

 I had actually been to this particular place called Skewers 1 or two months back for some beers with my gym mates. Then I saw their menu which offers one of my favorite dish, burgers. Fat juicy patties. So I had finally managed to give place a visit during my birthday. Babe don't have any preference when it comes to dinner venue. So I had to find a place where it's convenient for the both of us since we had movie over at Pyramid beforehand. So this place would just be perfect. It was around 6pm when we arrive that day, so there wasn't much customers. Good~ Heard that their patties are good so decided to have that for my main.

Since I know I won't be satisfied so easily, I had decided to ordered some side dishes to go with my main. So many to choose from and finally decided on their gourmet chillies fries. It's actually steak fries topped with chilli corn carne and melted mozzarella cheese. OK, the mozzarella part caught my attention. It's like putting A&W corny dog sauce on top of hot melted cheese and fries. Not bad, but make sure you finish it fast or the fries will become cold and soft.

I am contemplating whether to order their double patty or single and finally decided to go with their Ultimate glutton burger since I had ordered one side dish. My choice is correct. The single patty is damn large all together. As you can see, other than the burger, you have the salad and also steak fries too. This is really large. The burger consists of a 150g patty mixed with herbs & spices. Again it's mixed together with chilli corn carne (which contain beef), melted shredded cheddar cheese, fried egg, tomatoes, salad leaves, tortilla chips, gherkins & jalapenos. Man, that is a long list of ingredients to pack into one single burger. Trust me, it's huge.

As you can see, the yolk is oozing out from in between the patty. Damn it's so damn glutton as the name says. I am not sure if they do it on purpose or accidental, but I like my patty really much. Not the best I had but definitely one of the good ones. And recommended too. I'd read before that their patty are too dry, but maybe they had improve it after some feedback from the customers.

Babe decided to try their sandwich as she is not that hungry that night. It's boneless chicken with special Thai lemongrass marinated on it. On the side you have some of their pilaf rice and butter vegetables. The bread seemed a bit plain but babe like it. She particularly love the pilaf rice as it's so delicious according to her. Heck, it's not even the main in the dish. Sandwich to me was alright. Nothing spectacular but filling. I mean for the price you're paying, it's quite generous.

What to drink? A good pint of Hoegaarden of course to cleanse all those food down. Ambiance is alright and the service is good. Maybe cause there's not much crowd at that time. During the dinner, an ex staff came in and she shouted at the other staff. Found out that she was requesting her salary but in a really rude and loud way. Kept on telling the other people to F**K OFF!! Damn~ I am paying for food and a good show at the same time. It's also a good place to chill out with friends having some good beers too. 

Ambiance: 3.8 out of 5.0

Service : 3.8 out of 5.0

Food : 3.8 out of 5.0

Address:  

SG-01, Subang Avenue
03 5632 1368

Palate Pallate Restaurant & Bar @ KL

I was invited for a surprised dinner over at this small place called Palate Palatte.Com. It's located along Jalan Mesui which is behind Changkat Bukit Bintang. It's a small cozy place with an open concept but no worries as it's air condition inside but you can still opt to dine outdoor. The place celebrated their 4th anniversary on Dec last year. The place 

The place is nicely decorated by an artist called Su-Ann. I read from the website that she graduated from London and came back after graduation. She drawn the whole place like palate hence the name of the place. The place is co-own by her and Paul. You can really enjoy looking at all her arts all over the restaurant.

Since we're waiting for the birthday girl to arrive, we had decided to ordered some food to eat. I had decided non other than fried calamari. Portion is moderate but luckily we ordered another appetizer. A bit too much flour for me but heck,it's fried and crunchy.

Next appetizer would be the usual nachos. The nachos are fresh from the oven as we can still feel the heat. The dipping are really appetizing. There is this sweat and sour dipping so you can choose ever you prefer.

I had ordered their chocolate with vanilla float. This is because their coffee machine was out of commission. Not bad, it's actually quite nice to drink. But I actually wanted to try their mocha.

After browsing their menu, we had decided to order our main. So much to choose from in the menu but we can only order one main so we decided to share around and try it out.

Before the main arrived, we are served with this funny looking bun.

The bun is served together with this margarine cheese like ball. So cute~ 

Let's get into business now. No need to ask who ordered this. Yup it's me. They served fettuccine carbonara with bacon. The cream was a bit too liquid for me in the beginning but it turned thicken towards the end which I like. Although it should be a good plate of carbonara, but I am not sure why it's not.  Maybe it's because of the lack of cheese in the cream.

You know from the name that the dish spells cow. It's actually pasta with cubes of beef in it. The scent is really strong. For beef lover you might love this one. Pretty filling with the amount of pasta and the beef.

The presentation of the dish was so damn shocking. You have a stick poking into the fish with fried sliced potato being put through it. Not really bad, but just your normal plate of fish and chip to me.

It's simple and it's filling too. You have spiced chicken tandoori style. One healthy dish with tender spice chicken breast.  The chicken is properly spiced up and mixed with the dipping on the side, just nice.

The birthday girl had ordered this mushroom cappuccino which is recommended in the menu. Really strange as it's actually mushroom soup but with whip cream on top. Strangely nice~!

This is a bit plain to me. If you wanted something simple and filling, you can try this out. It's like any other fried chicken to me but with mash potatoes and corn on the side. 

Another recommended dish by the chef would be their saffron terrayaki salmon. Looking at it actually give you some fishy idea. haha~! You have two salmon put together which mash potatoes in between and a few slice of vegetable to add some color to it. The salmon was really soft and tender and the sauce by the side did compliment it. 

We didn't really ate much of this actually as we found out that most of us didn't take egg plant. haha~ Even the carrot seemed to be a bit bitter to me. Weird~! 

There's a bar for beer and liquor if you are in the mood. The crowd really comes in around 8-9pm. Luckily we made reservation that night. Food was alright and the service is good. Sadly that the coffee machine was down so we had to walk over to my friend's shop for coffee at Deluca. We had good laughs that night and since it's quite noisy with the music and all, so we didn't felt awkward talking and laughing a loud. Not bad for a night out with friends or a gathering. 

Food Rating : 3.5 out of 5.0

Ambiance Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0

Service Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0

Address: 21 Jalan Mesui
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

open everday 12pm-12am
friday & saturday till 2am
closed on mondays