Ki Ki Taiwan Cuisine by Fong Lye @ KLCC

I was searching around town the other day looking for a place for lunch. Since babe was over at KLCC, hence I looked around and decided to try this new place up. Well it's not actually NEW but it's new for me. It's called Ki Ki Taiwan Cuisine and as you can see, it's a restaurant having the same concept/management under Fong Lye. So what is the different? Well for one, it's a HALAL place so no pork for you pork lovers. The place is located on the forth floor next to Umaiya Japanese Restaurant.  

The place was packed when we arrived during lunch hour. Waited for a couple of minutes before there were seats for us. They would give you the menu outside and you can start making orders so that when you have your table ready, the food will not be far too long away. The place isn't as spacious as Fong Lye over at MV but still acceptable. The seats are quite close to each other similar to MV branch. Had a few visits over at MV branch which you can refer from [HERE], [HERE] and [HERE]

Went straight away for the menu as I am darn hungry from the time looking for a car park over at KLCC. The food choices are similar to Fong Lye Restaurant. But they took out the non-HALAL food such as the Taiwan Glutinous Rice Sausages but the most distinctive difference would be the rice they served. You see later on what I mean. 

As usual, we started off with a pot of hot Chrysanthemum + Oolong tea to cleanse our taste bud for the food we are about to eat. It's refillable obviously so no worries. The cup is small and looked really cute. 

The appetizer, I had ordered their Fried Tempura. This is my first time ordering this dish and heck it was a correct choice. The fried tempura seemed to be one of the best I had in a long time. Well it looked like our local keropok leko actually. But the taste is definitely different between these two. The texture is soft and chewy but the spices that they sprinkle on it seemed really tasteful. A bit salty but I can live with that. 

Babe was contemplating between ordering her favorite 3 Variety Supreme Diced Rice (San Pei Chi) and this bowl of fresh Clams with Mea Sua. Well, as you can see, the Mee Sua won at the end. Babe really like the one she had over at Taiwan during our trip over last year. It was a rice based that she had previously and she can't wait to try this noodle version out. The soup was quite nice something like our local fish head noodle. Amount of clams are acceptable but not generous enough. Overall, if you like mee sua, you will most probably like this dish. Not for me definitely. Cause this is not filling and you pay more than the usual for it. 

Similar to Fong Lye, all their main course comes with side dishes. There are three side dishes for you.I always like the spicy long bean that they prepared. It's a simple dish but heck, it's the simple ones that is the most hard to prepared right? 

This is the spicy chicken chop set which I had ordered. Actually I had tried this dish before over at Fong Lye but I am really hungry that day so I wanted something really filling and filling is what I had. The set come with the similar side dishes and a bowl of soup of the day. 

Remembered what I said earlier bout the rice? Can you see the difference now? Yup the rice is not topped with their (Taiwan) famous stewed minced pork. OH! I am so sad seeing my rice just topped with marinated chicken sliced. But it's a HALAL place, so we can't have that can't we? But why can't they do stewed chicken instead? haha! As usual the portion isn't that large which means that I finished the rice before even finishing half my main dish. 

My main dish would be this plate of spicy chicken chop. It's actually not that spicy (sigh!) and there's some gravy at the bottom too. So it's not that dry actually. But the portion is similar to Fong Lye which is super generous. The chicken is freshly fried so you can still feel the crispiness of it. Not the best I had but if you are hungry as I am, this is the best dish to order. You can't go wrong with fried chicken. 

As if you are not full and can still fill your stomach, then try finishing this hot bowl of chicken soup with bitter gourd. Damn I like bitter gourd but the bitter gourd in this bowl was tasteless. What is the point eating bitter gourd when there's no bitter gourd taste right? But the soup was quite nice and chicken breast was plentiful too. Damn, I can't even finished the chicken off that day. A bit too full from the appetizer and main course. 

Overall, we had a pleasant lunch over at Ki Ki and it's a good place to chat but not during lunch hour. Try going over after 2pm when it's passed rush hours. The staffs are very friendly and efficient too. They always walked over and asked if we need anything or refills and clear our table once our food are done.  Make sure you come early if you wanna get a table and not in a rush since you might need to wait for it too. It's quite hard to find a decent Taiwan place in town and this is considered quite alright for us. Maybe you can try and let me know what you think of it. Enjoy~! 

Rating: 

Food: 3.8 out of 5.0

Service: 3.8 out of 5.0

Ambiance: 3.8 out of 5.0

Tea Room by Bel Jee @ Wisma Volkswagen

Sorry again for the late update of my dear friend, Bel's TeaRoom official opening at Wisma Volkswagen. The  special date for the launch was on the 1st of June 2011. Congratulation again babe~! The shop is located inside Wisma Volkswagen at Bangsar. Her shop served pastries, cup cakes, nasi lemak, sandwiches and a whole lot varieties of drinks in their menu. The place is handled by herself and two other helpers. The main customers would be the office people from the building and also nearby offices. The place is located nearby residential area, so I believe that her presence will be felt and seen by them real soon. 

These are freshly made miniature cup cakes for customers to taste. Really like the color used which is also the official 'theme' color for her shop. Totally love it. Suddenly felt like I am back in my kindergarten years. The bear on top has been coated so it can last forever. Goodie~! What a waste to throw it away and it's so darn cute to be eaten too. LOLX!!! 

Here are some of the cakes which she made on the first day of the opening. It's not filled but it's getting there. She is making more and more varieties of food all from her kitchen behind the counter.  Yup, there's an oven hiding behind that wall trust me. She is still taking orders for specially made occasion's cakes too. You have more details on her Facebook page [HERE] or her website [HERE].

I had myself a cup of hot green tea with hazelnut. And all their milk used are low fat. She kept on emphasizing on that, which I really appreciate. Again, I will like to take this chance to congratulate my dear friend all the best in her new business venture and finally a dream come true for you babe~! You show us that when we try real hard and put our mind to some thing we believe in, nothing is impossible. Cheers~! 

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

Capricciosa Pizza & Pasta Restaurant @ Sunway Pyramid

I thought I had blogged bout this few weeks back but I can't seemed to locate the post. Darn~! Am I getting old? Nevertheless, here I am again writing the same post one more time. But since this place does give me a good time while I visited it last time, so it's a pleasure writing bout it again now. The place is called Capricciosa which is located over at Sunway Pyramid new wing. It's next to Old Town inside Jusco. I was actually looking for some pasta lunch with babe when I came across this place Browsed through their menu and found that the pricing are really reasonable. And the rest is history as they say. 

Google up the place and found out that it's actually the No. 1 Italian food craze made famous over at Japan since 1978. Wow, that is even older than me. Hence, I saw a lot of Japanese chef pictures inside the restaurant. Seemed like Japanese people really go crazy for their pasta and pizzas it seemed. Was browsing through their menu which fill with a lot of choices to choose from. Decided what we gonna had and straight with the ordering. 

As always, babe ordered her hot cappuccino which isn't that bad. 

For starter, I had decided that we should warm up our tummy with some nice warm soup. The Italian vegetable & meat soup seemed to be a recommended one. And truly it is. Firstly we were taken aback with the size of the bowl. My gosh, for the price that we're paying this was humongous. You can even share the bowl of soup with your friend. 

As you can see, the soup is filled with ingredients inside. It's savory blend of mixed vegetables with fresh cream and their own specially made sauce. Trust me, this taste better than it looks. I don't often praise any other soup this much but this is hell of a good soup. And dirt cheap too. 

This goes the same as my Clam Chowder. And I had to say this is one of the best Clam Chowder I had to date. And I found out that not much restaurant serve this kind of soup too.

Again, the soup is filled with surprises. OK, not bad surprises but good ones. Plenty of seafood in it like clams and mussels and vegetables too. Thick and creamy just the way I like it. $7.90 for this bowl is definitely a steal. Totally worth every dime. 

OK, now for the main course. I had ordered their Carbonara since it's available in their menu. Can't really change the pasta if I remembered correctly. But I am alright with Spaghetti. Again, the main attraction here is their portion again. When the pasta was served in front of me, I was thinking, this is too small for me. But when I spread it open using my fork, I was really surprised with the generosity from them. Damn, it's so large that I barely managed to finished it. Yes, you heard me right. And more over it's good. Well not the best I had but definitely worth your money. Not too creamy but alright. A bit on the salty side maybe due to the extremely high amount of cheese I added. 

Babe, finally decided with this tomato based pasta with garlic and peppers. And when they said peppers they do give you the truck load. And again, the portion is so damn much. I don't normally said this but this place really are so darn generous on their pasta. For the price that they are charging this is definitely worth every penny of it. For those who like black pepper, this is your plate of pasta. But again a bit salty for me. 

Overall, I had no complain on their food except that they could be a bit gentle on the salt. Definitely need to order their soup if you are there. Worth your money and you can even share the soup with your friend. Trust me when I said the bowl is BIG. Even the spoon is not those ordinary ones. They are served with some big ones too. Service is superb and the staffs are definitely friendly. I had ordered their bottomless soft drinks. Yes, they have that too which is really good. I accidentally knocked off my glass and they were so nice and quickly replaced my drink and clean the table up. Even their foreign workers are friendlier and always there's a smile on their face. Good Good Place for lunch : )

Rating: 

Food: 4.0 out of 5.0

Ambiance: 3.8 out of 5.0

Service: 4.0 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