For your information, Espresso Lab does not classify their coffee such as Mocha, Latte, Cappucino and etc. Here, every cup starts with espresso. If you like some milk in it, just specify whether you want one shot, two shots, three shots or more. The more shots you have in your espresso, the milkier your espresso gets.

The espresso that I love very much here at Espresso Lab is their Afogado. Afogado is a coffee-based beverage. It usually takes the form of a scoop of vanilla gelato or ice cream topped with a shot of hot espresso. The bitterness of the coffee mixed together with a scoop of sweet vanilla ice-cream makes a great combination. I love this very much.

Espresso Lab is a no-frills coffee place. So you are encouraged to bring your own snacks here. If you love their coffee and would like to purchase some of the coffee equipments, you may do so here too. Espresso Lab sells their coffee beans for retail and wholesale customers too. So if you are a coffee addict, head on to Espresso Lab at Publika today.

Details of this coffee lab:

My Espresso Lab Coffee Roaster
Address: D1-G4-6, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Jalan Duta Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel No.: 603-6211 0662
E-mail: leong@espressolab.asia
Website: http://myespressolab.com/

The Mango Delight is priced at RM10 a piece.

The other “cake” which are available that evening was their Tiramisu @ RM10. It was very average and the portion is too little.

If you notice, there are many new cafes cropping out around town. The Bee and Plan B are some of my favourite cafes for now. Comparing Typica Cafe with The Bee and Plan B, Typica Cafe’s cakes and coffee are much pricier. I ordered their Coffee with Chocolate Milk at a whopping price of RM15 a cup. It was again, very average. Not as good as the one I had in EspressoLab or Coffee Ritual. For RM15 I could buy a packet of 15 sachets of 40gms coffee in any supermarket.

If you think RM15 for a cup of coffee is expensive, let me tell you that there is another coffee, Typica Cafe’s Ice Drip coffee is priced even higher at RM28 a bottle. A tiny bottle. The reason why the bottle of coffee is placed in a huge cup with ices is to prevent the coffee from being diluted by the melting ice. So if you want it cold, this is how they would serve it.

The biscuits are very good, but very pricey. They are sold for RM8 for 50gms of biscuits.

Our total damage that evening was RM80++. I could use that to get myself a very good dinner. I don’t think I will be back anytime soon as I know that there are many better places left which I have not tried.

For your information, unlike the other cafes around, Typica Cafe does not serve cooked food here. Only cakes, biscuits and coffees.

Details of this place:

Typica Cafe
Address: GL-08, Ground Floor, Shaw Parade, Jalan Thambi Dollah 55100 Kuala Lumpur.
Website: http://typicacafe.blogspot.com
GPS Coordinate: N 3.140366, E 101.712198

We ordered a cup of Coffee Latte and Capuccino. Both of which are equally good. The coffee isn’t acidic at all and is silky smooth. I enjoyed this cup of coffee very much compared to the other Malaysian franchise coffee shops around. Both the Coffee Latte and the Capuccino are priced at RM8.50 a cup. Quite expensive but if I were to compare The Bee’s coffee with Typica Cafe, the latter are far more expensive.

We knew that our coffee break wouldn’t be complete without any cakes. So we ordered The Bee’s Fat Boy Bakes Cakes. For some reason unknown to me, The Bee named their cakes “Fat Boy Bakes Cakes” on it’s receipt. Could it be that their cakes are supplied by a fat boy? Anyway, we ordered The Bee’s Cheese cake with Mars Chocolate Bar @ RM10.50. My first impression was “Oh boy, this fat boy can really bake!”. It was simply delicious. It was chessy creamy on top, and chunky and chocolatey at the bottom of the cake. I enjoyed every bite of it.

The Bee Tiramisu Cake is also priced at Rm10.50 a slice was good. The nuts on top were very crunchy and sweet. Although it the earlier cake outshine this slice of cake, we nevertheless enjoyed it very much.

The Bee also organises events from time to time for it’s customers. Events such as live comedy shows, coffee appreciation classes and others are organise to allow The Bee to engage it’s customers and to know them better. If I am not mistaken, they do have live band performance. So if you are interested in joining their event, do check their website out.

Since its opening, The Bee has managed to attact many locals to its restaurant. Wooden tables and chairs of different designs and sizes can be seen are place randomly around the restaurant making it’s restaurant look very unique and artistic.

Generally, we enjoyed our time at The Bee and will be looking forward to coming here again. You can find the details of this restaurant and their other outlet below.

The Bee
Address: 36B, Level G2, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Jalan Dutamas 1, 50480, Kuala Lumpur
Tel No: 03-7960 2160
Website : http://www.thebee.com.my/
http://www.twitter.com/TheBeeMY
Opening Hours: Mon – Thurs: 9am – 12am
Fri: 9am – 1am
Sat: 10am – 1am
Sun: 10am – 10pm
Tel: (6016) 6736 142

The Other Outlet
Address: 2A-G, Block K, Jaya One, 72A Jalan Universiti, 46200 Petaling Jaya
Opening Hours:
Mon – Thurs: 9am – 11pm
Fri: 9am – 12am
Sat: 10am – 12am
Sun: 10am – 10pm
Tel: (603) 7960 2160

To start off our lunch, we ordered Samira Thai’s Fish Cake @ RM16.00 for five pieces of fish cakes. It comes with a sweet and spicy sauce which goes really well with the fish cakes. The fish cakes were very flavourful but was a bit too dry. Samira’s chef is very skillful in decorating its’ dishes. I am amazed by the effort put by the chef to make each plate look beautiful. Look just how beautiful these carrot look.

Next up was Samira’s Thai Hor Mok. Hor Mok is nothing but Western-style fish mousse flavored with red curry paste, kaffir lime leaves, sugar and thickened with coconut cream. This dish goes really well with rice, and if you have not tried hor mok before, do order this. A plate of Samira Hor Mok is priced at RM23.00. This dish is loaded with squids, prawns and fish fleshes.

Samira’s Omellete Rolls is priced at RM16.00. It was loaded with seafood ingredients, green and red peppers and other unidentified ingredients. This is one of the most flavourful omelletes I have tried so far. The omellete was just yummy. I wish I can cook like this.

Then, came our Samira Yellow Curry Beef. The curry was cook just right. It wasn’t too think or too diluted. Even though the curry was not spicy but it was packed with flavours. This dish goes really well with the RM4.00 Jasmine rice that we’ve ordered. very recommended if you take beef.

As we wanted to try more items on the menu, we also ordered Samira’s Thai Chicken Tom Kha. Compared to the earlier Samira Yellow Curry Beef, this dish didn’t shine that day. The reason why it wasn’t our favourite because the chicken meat were a bit too tough. Samira’s Thai Chicken Tom Kha is priced at RM16.00.

As for desserts, we ordered Samira Pumpkin Coconut. The coconut liquid was sweet and milky and it tasted just like the sauce you would have for mango sticky rice. Each bowl of Samira Pumpkin Coconut is priced at RM8.00

We ordered Samira’s Lemon Grass Juice to quench our thirst. It was priced at RM7.00 a glass. Very expensive indeed.

If you have not been to Sentul Park yet, do visit here when you have the time. And if you are feeling posh and would like to try Samira out, check out their details at the bottom of this post. Overall, our lunch was a good one, thanks to the delicious food that we had and the beautiful scenery which had captured our eyes the moment we stepped into Samira.

Details of this Restaurant:

Samira Restaurant
Address: Lot 268, Sentul Park, Jalan Straachan, Off Jalan Ipoh, 51100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel No.: 012-921 3880
E-mail: reservation@samiraasianterrace.com
Website: www.samiraasianterrace.com

My Kemaman coffee was served in the dirtiest cup ever. The stains around the coffee cup gave the impression as if it was not washed earlier before they made my coffee.

Then our Nasi Lemak with Curry Chicken arrived. The rice was alright, but the curry chicken meat was very tough.

The chicken was so tough that I told myself that I was so fortunate that I didn’t ordered it. VK ordered it, so he had to finish it all up. I just took a few bites, and that’s it.

Then came, the worst of the lot, my Roti Jala. There was nothing wrong with my roti jala, but everything was wrong with the curry chicken that comes with it. The curry was just too salty. I know, the curry was intentionally made this way, but it was too salty. After complaining to the restaurant operator, he also agreed with me that it was more salty than usual.

My advice, if you have to have your meal in Publika, go to Plan B instead of Chawan. But if you have to go to Chawan Cafe, go to their Bangsar branch. They provide better service and better food there. In the mean time, I hope Chawan at Publika would do something to rectify these problems they have over there.

Details of this restaurant:

Chawan Cafe
Address: G2 – 66, Level G2, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Jalan Dutamas 1, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel No.: +603-6411 6488

We ordered Fat Boy’s Fat Basterd. Fat Basterd consists of double beef patties, extra thick bacon, cheddar cheese, fried egg and homemade Fatboy’s sauce on sesame bun for RM28.00. Now that is one Big Fat Basterd.

I ordered Fat Boy’s Swiss Shroom @ RM18.50. Swiss Shroom is made up of hand crafted patty, sautéed Shitake mushrooms, and melted emmenthal cheese with garlic aioli on a whole meal bun. Honestly, it tastes really weird. The Shitake mushrooms and the emmenthal cheese with garlic aioli don’t go well with each other. I regretted ordering this.

All Burgers are served with fries and done Medium Well unless otherwise instructed by customers. My advice is to always order your burger patty medium well, because the patties are made of processed meat. They are not fresh enough for you to have it medium rare.

My mom didn’t like burgers, so she ordered Fat Boy’s Honey Mustard Chicken Kebab for RM19.00. So she got herself some boneless chicken filets seasoned with honey mustard, skewered and grilled with onions and peppers on a bed of smashed potato and veggies. Compared this to the burgers, I would recommend you to order this instead. It is easier to eat and it tasted much better.

Since Fatboy’s is a Burger Bar, you are allowed to customise your burgers in just 4 simple steps. Choose your buns, choose your patty, some additional add-ons, sauces and “wah la”, you got yourself your very own self-customised burger.

Details of this restaurant:

Fat Boy’s, The Burger Bar
(directly opposite The Square and near Ben’s)
Address: Lot G2-30, Level G2, Publika, No.1, Jalan Dutamas 1, Solaris Dutamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +6 03 6206 1352
Email: fatboys.malaysia@ymail.com
Website: https://www.facebook.com/FatboysMalaysia
Opening Hours: Daily, 11am-10pm

I ordered Antipodeon’s Croissant with Scrambled Egg with Bacon Sausage for RM18. It wasn’t the most awesome breakfast that I have ever had, but it was good. The croissant was soft, the sausage was very flavourful and the eggs were cooked to perfection but it was overpowered by the sausage making it taste bland.

Antipodeon’s Cheese Mushroom Omelette @ RM17 tasted a lot better. The mushrooms do make a lot of difference. It was more fragrant and more flavourful. As the portion was a little bit too big, we got tired of it towards the end.

We also ordered Antipodean’s Apple Pie. It was okay but I prefer the softer version of apple pie.

The breakfast doesn’t come in set, so we ordered Antipodean’s Cuppacino Coffee – The Merdeka Coffee which originates from Indonesia. The coffee was very fragrant – very recommended.

Antipodean is very popular among the locals and expatriates. So you have to be prepare to eat really fast. Otherwise you could find yourself being stared at by other hungry patrons eagerly waiting for your table.

Antipodean Café is located next to La Bodega in Bangsar and is open from 8am onwards daily. You can find the details of this restaurant below:


Antipodean Café
Address: No.20, Jalan Telawi 2, Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS Coordinates: N3 07.921 E101 40.312
Business hours: 8am onwards daily
Tel No. : 03-2282 0411

So if you are like me, too lazy to do prepare it myself an American breakfast, my other option is to head over to Bangsar Village 1 for Plan B. Plan B is a modern Aussie meets New York coffee shop which serves hearty breakfasts, contemporary wholesome sandwiches made with freshly baked breads. They also serve pastas and a variety of rustic desserts.

Plan B Breakfast Platter is priced at RM24.00. It comes with two eggs cooked in any style (either sunny side up, omelette or scrambled), served on toast with grilled turkey bacon, golden hash brown, juicy breakfast sausages, baked beans, sautéed mushrooms & sautéed tomatoes.

Each serving comes with a small cup freshly squeezed orange juice & a choice of coffee or tea. I ordered their Cappuccino Coffee. It was very good. If you ordered this ala-carte, a cup of Plan B cappuccino coffee is priced at RM7.00.

If the breakfast portion is insufficient to fill your stomach, you may also order additional breakfast sides. I took some pictures of their menu for your easy reference.

If you look through Plan B breakfast menu, you will notice that they use eggs in all of their breakfast meals. As we are a big fan of salmon, we also Plan B’s Eggs Royale.

A plate of Plan B’s Eggs Royale @ RM16.00 comes with two delicately poached eggs with smoked salmon, served on a toasted English muffin with Hollandaise. I have no idea what Hollandaise means, but after checking the dictionary, Hollandaise means eggs and butter with lemon juice

.

This breakfast doesn’t come with a drink so we ordered another glass of orange juice for RM10.00. The amount here is 3 – 4 times more than the one served with the breakfast platter.

Plan B is packed most of the time so if you want to avoid waiting too long, come earlier. Alternatively, you may also go to their second branch at No.65, Level G2, Publika, Solaris Dutamas at Jalan Dutamas.

The Gist of It:

Plan B
Address: G05, Bangsar Village 1,
Jalan Telawi 1, Bangsar Baru,
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Phone No.: +603 2287 2630
Opening Hours : 9.00am – 1.00am daily; 12.30am (Bar & Kitchen Last Order)
Website: www.thebiggroup.co/planb

Hokkaido Ichiba needs no introduction from me. But if you do not know already, Hokkaido Ichiba is a Japanese Restaurant which serves ala-carte Japanese Food in The Gardens, Mid Valley. If you are in Petaling Jaya, fret not, they also have a branch in 1-Utama. So let’s get to our food review now.

The star of the night has got to be Hokkaido Ichiba Salmon Sashimi. Priced at RM22, a plate of Salmon Sashimi comes with seven really thick slices of fresh, I mean, really fresh salmon flesh. This is by far, in my opinion, one of the best Japanese restaurants which serve the nicest slices of fresh salmon sashimi in Malaysia. It is amazing how these salmons are kept fresh even though we know very well, these salmons are imported products. I could only imagine how fresh salmon sashimi could taste in Japan. With that said, I am also fortunate to be able to taste this salmon sashimi here in Kuala Lumpur.

The Salmon Belly was very good too. It is slightly oilier compared to the Salmon Sashimi. It is also very fresh which I assume was from the same fish as the earlier one. It is slightly more expensive though. A plate of Salmon Belly comes with 5 thick slices for RM30.

My next favourite is Hokkaido Ichiba’s Dragon Roll. For only RM30, we are served with a whole fried tiger prawn jumbo ebi wrapped with layers of seaweed, rice and avocados topped with a generous amount of flying fish roes.

If you love unagi as I do, you must order Hokkaido Ichiba’s Teriyaki Unagi. For a small plate at RM28, you’ll get a plate of unagis, perfectly flavoured a generous amount of teriyaki sauce. It was so good that, I enjoyed every bite of it.

Winter Roll @ RM22 contains thick slices of tamago/eggs and shrimps wrapped with seaweed and rice topped with some mayonnaise and egg roe. Compared to Dragon Roll, this Winter Roll is a softer version of the former.

Some of the other things we ordered are Hokkaido Ichiba’s Chawanmushi. I didn’t took any picture of it as it was too difficult to take it to properly present it here. Nevertheless, I can tell you what ingredients they have in their Chawanmushi. Well, they also have the usual stuffs like eggs, chicken slice, mushrooms and etc.

What I usually order for drink in any Japanese restaurant is Ocha. Here, you may order their Green Tea Latte for only RM6 a cup. Its green tea added with some milk. If you haven’t tried this before, try ordering it once. It’s really good.

Hokkaido Ichiba is quite pack during the weekends and people are still queuing up even after 2pm (when we arrive). So come early or book your tables to avoid disappointment.

Hokkaido Ichiba – Kita No Zen (Japanese Restaurant)
Lot T-201, Third Floor, The Garden Mall
59200 Kuala Lumpur
GPS Coordinates: N3 07.145 E101 40.538
Tel: 03 2283 1060

Flam’s is very well-known for their thin crust pizza. Its thin crusted pizza is baked in a huge brick oven with woods are used as the medium for the fire. The oven was placed outside of the restaurant, so we had a chance to witness the whole process of making the pizza.

Ingredients are spread generously on dough and the whole pizza are placed into the hot brick-oven. Since the oven is uses wood fire, the pizza could be burned if it is placed too long in the oven. Therefore, the cook has to keep his eye on the pizza at all times.

After turning the pizza several times the pizza is finally ready. Before serving, the cook adds some final touches, cuts them into pieces and places the oval-shaped pizza on a wooden board.

I may be different, but I find that if I were to witness the cooking process of a dish, it actually opens up my appetite. It indirectly makes me appreciate the dish even more. This Mushroom Flam’s Deluxe @ RM38.80 is an old time favourite here. It was seasoned and glazed with a mixture of fresh mushrooms, cheese, some secret oil and herbs.

Next, we had Flam’s Chicken priced at RM26.80. The marinated chicken was slowly cooked in an oven, quite similar to how the malay “ayam golek” was cooked. But this far better than the “ayam golek”. Here, the chicken was cooked to perfection. The chicken was very juicy and tender. The sauce which comes with it enhances the flavour of the chicken even more. I absolutely love this dish.

If you are into seafood and pasta, I recommend you to try Flam’s Seafood Pasta. Priced at RM26.80 a plate, the pasta comes with a variety seafood ingredients : fresh mussels, octopus, clams, squids, scallops and a tiger prawn. You can either have it the Olio style of the Tomato base style. Personally, I prefer the olio style more so that the seafood taste won’t be over-powered by the tomato flavour.

Flam’s mushroom soup is among the best mushroom soup I had ever tasted. It was made with fresh blended wild mushrooms. This creamy mushroom soup is served with garlic toasts and is priced at RM13.80 a bowl.

We also had Flam’s Escargots Bourguignone @ RM19.80. Each escargots are placed into a custom-made plate shaped like tiny bowls. The snails are seasoned with garlic, parsley and butter before baking it in an oven. I didn’t quite like this dish as I find it too watery. I personally prefer the ones whereby the snails are baked with cheese on its shells.

For desserts, we ordered Flam’s Chocolate Fondant @ RM18.80. The chocolate fondant is prepared upon order. It needs a 15 minutes preparation time. Therefore, if you are in a hurry, remember to order this dessert earlier.

We also ordered Flam’s Home-made Tiramisu which is priced at RM9.80. Below are some pictures I took in Flam’s.

Flam’s Restaurant Indoor Layout.

Flam’s Restaurant Bar.

Flam’s Restaurant Outdoor Layout.

Flam’s and Elixir are owned by the same French boss. Elixir is a bar which serves alcoholic drinks. Here are some pictures I took in Elixir before the crowd comes in.

Overall, I find our meal here very satisfying. Flam’s is a pork-free restaurant and is also open for lunch daily from 12pm onwards.

The Gist of It:

FLAM’S (The Thin Crust Pizza)
Address: No. 37, 39, 41 Changkat Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel No.: 03-2145 8111
Fax No.: 03-2145 8999
Website: www.flams.com
Facebook : flams.kl
GPS Coordinate: N 3 08.860 E 101 42.484