Red Bean Bag at Publika

Hello folks. 

Nowadays, malaysian in Klang Valley have plenty of breakfast option. From traditional malaysia breakfast to western, we can find it all here. My mom & sister love to have their breakfast at a place called Red Bean Bag. It's not my first time being here but this place always popped up in my head whenever I think about having breakfast. It is currently one of the famous place to have a breakfast among foodies. Once the place is open prolly around 9.30am, it will be flocked with hungry people. Even when i arrived 30 minutes later, i had to wait for my turn for seating. This place boasted with highly trained baristas so for coffee lover, it's a must visit place. 

People queuing in front of the restaurant

This place served interesting dishes for breakfast like the amazing banana bread. Almost all the menu are unique dishes made from scratch with some of the more famously familiar like egg benedict.

Two pages of menu

Our choice of breakfast are Sumo, Classic French Toast, Portobello & pancake, and brownies for dessert. First up, sumo. The dish doesn't really reflected the name. Nothing japanese about it. Ok, maybe the pan fried salmon. Comes with soft boiled egg, spinach, 2 potato rosti with a dash of hollandaise sauce. This dish share a similarity with Acme's Salmon Gravlax that i had earlier. The hollandaise sauce was really nice. The rosti however lost to Acme's but might be a winner for someone who prefer a more crunchy texture. But still a good dish for breakfast. 

Sumo

My mom ordered Portobello & pancakes. Just like the name suggested, it was kinda like egg benedict but using pancake as carbs. The pancake was fluffy & moist. Goes well with other elements inside the dish. Portobello was cooked perfectly. Topped with some greens to balance the meal.

Portobello & pancake

French toast is always one of my favorite dish for breakfast. Normally i would eat it sweet but it was quite flexible as savory also just as nice. Here, they served sweet french toast. Thick toast with slices of almonds & a cube of butter. It was one of the best basic french toast. Toast was lightly done. Soft & moist. Served with honey & compilation of fruits. 

French Toast

To end our meal, dessert is always the perfect way. We had reconstructed brownie served with avocado ice cream. We were curious by the ice cream actually which led us ordering this. The brownie was ok to me but the ice cream was a pure win. Each scoop rich with avocado taste like eating avocado itself. This dish reminds me of tiung mess with slices of strawberries & chunky honey comb inside. 

Avocado ice cream with reconstructed brownie

Red Bean Bag

Solaris Publika

Acme Bar & Coffee at Troika

Hello folks. 

Before there is Acme at Bangsar, there's first Acme at Troika. There are some difference between these 2 even though they shared the same name & owner. Unlike in Bangsar, Acme Troika doesn't have beef brisket & ribs but have lots of cake selection. Price wise, both are the same. 

What intrigue me to try eating here is when few weeks ago my office colleague had a dinner here. She said the lamb here was good. So hey, that is good reason enough for me to drag my stomach here all the way from downtown. Parking wise here no problem as there is a multilevel carpark just across the restaurant. For muslim eater, masjid KLCC just a few walks away. Quite nice interior design as well. 

Inside of Acme.

And they have quite a good choice of cakes but i'm not sure whether it is baked in house cakes or out source cakes but those cakes certainly looks good. 

Assortment of cakes

Like I've mentioned above, there are some dishes here that doesn't feature on Acme's Bangsar menu. The menu look full of promising dishes.

The menu

Even though my friend recommended their lamb, in the end I've ordered something else. We had Salmon Gravlax Rosti & Grilled Chicken Breast. Salmon Gravlax Rosti is quite similar to the infamous eggs benedict. Salt cured Salmon rest on a bed of Potato rosti then topped with poached eggs & hollandaise sauce. The sauce was really good. Creamy & well flavored. The rosti was nicely done with the potato was nicely shredded & cooked. 

Salmon Gravlax Rosti

Next, is the Grilled Chicken Breast. Now, this is not your typical grilled breast. Served with buttered fried rice with green peas, mango kerabu with percik gravy, oh man, it was delicious. Chicken was soft & tender goes perfectly well with the percik sauce. Kerabu was perfectly done to add sweet & sour to the dish. The rice was good with less oil. But I still think it was kinda expensive for a rice dish though. 

Grilled Chicken Breast

Lastly, we complete our lunch with a dessert. Same as bangsar, they do have sizzling brownies. Same dessert, same taste. 

Sizzling brownies with oreo ice cream

Acme Bar & Coffee

Troika, Jalan Lumba Kuda, Persiaran KLCC

Holy Smoke Cafe at Seksyen 13, Shah Alam

Good day folks.

Recently I've found another hidden gem in a less explored part of section 13. Unlike laman seri & tadisma business park, this area only crowded with clinics, convenience store & nurseries. But on the back, there's a quite an interesting cafe called Holy Smoke Cafe. Unlike the coffee themed cafe that currently hitting Shah Alam like a storm, this cafe adopted a different look. More of an American Diner similar to Johnny Rockets minus the dancing waiters. The interior design is quite creative with familiar faces on the wall like Elvis. 

The interior

As for the food, since it was based on American Diner, food like burgers are a must. Not many choice of them. They have steaks as well as pasta & local food like mee bandung, fried rice & maggi goreng. 

The menu

The food here have some of familiar ones & some are quite interesting ones. The asian food & starters are quite interesting. We decided on NZ Lamb Chop, Salmon Penne Carbonara, Holy smoke burger, Grilled Chicken Chop & Holy Smoke fried rice. First up, Holy smoke burger. Homemade patty topped with slice of cheese with a homemade sauce kinda like bolognese with a bit of sweetness from the caramelized onions. The patty was nicely done & lightly seasoned. Comes with fries & garlic butter mayo. No donner for this one though.

Holy smoke burger (RM 18.90)

Their holy smoke fried rice are quite interesting. Kinda like nasi kerabu style. Lot of condiments on the side like diced fried tempe, long beans, carrots, green chili, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbages, fried anchovies, & fish crackers. Fried rice tasted like nasi goreng kampung with chicken topped with fried egg & homemade sambal. 

Holy Smoke Fried Rice (RM 15.90)

It seems like their forte lies on their steaks menu. I had their NZ Lamb chopper. It was worth the money with 3 rack of lamb chops served with choice of 2 sides. The lamb was perfectly done with no lamb smell. The meat was tender & not too rubbery. 

NZ Lamb Chopper (RM 36.90)

Another grill we had was chicken chop with the choice of deep fried or grilled. Our choice will always be the grill. Same as lamb chop, there are choice of 2 sides & sauce. To me, nothing to shout about apart from being decent. Chicken grilled perfectly, maybe lacked the marinade. 

Grilled Chicken Chop (RM 18.90)

And of course, we just had to try the pasta. Since we had some meat & chicken, we decided to go for some seafood. Hence, salmon penne carbonara. The portion was very nicely big. Sauce was creamy but to me, carbonara sauce will always goes well with beef bacon because it will add extra seasoned taste to the sauce. It was still an OK dish to me. 

Salmon Penne Carbonara (RM 16.90)

So for Shah Alam folks who wanted something different from mamak or melbourne theme cafe, head down here at seksyen 13 for Holy smoke cafe. 

Holy Smoke Cafe

Jalan Bola Jaring 13/15, Seksyen 13, Shah Alam

La Cocina at USJ 10

Hi people.

Anyone here up for a spanish cuisine? Fancy for a Paella? Unlike its Mediterranean counterpart, Italian cuisine, spanish cuisine took awhile to be accepted here in Malaysia. Not many restaurants serving spanish cuisine. La Bodega is one of them. Even i have never been to La Bodega. My usual place to curb my craving for spanish dish is La Cocina. Last time it was in USJ 9 in front of Murni Discovery now they moved to a bigger place at next door area USJ 10. 

Like a true spanish restaurant, their main focus are spanish dishes with few dishes of italian & fushion. Of course, when we talked about spanish dishes, most food lovers would think of Paella & tapas. And they have quite a number of that as well. I'm sure you will get lost in the tapas menu. 

Tapas menu

Paella menu

I've visited this place twice before i made this post. My usual order would be the set of 2 tapas, a Paella & a dessert. Usually, the only Paella i ever seen are seafood based but here they have multiple choice of lamb, seafood & chicken. Even squid ink infused paella. Awesome. Our choice of tapas are Gratinated Eggplant & fried calamares. The choice of Paella was Cordero & to finish off our spanish meal we had creme catalana crepe. 

First of, the tapas. I was never a big fan of eggplant until months ago. Here, the eggplants was cooked in a somekind of bolognese sauce then sprinkled with parmesan cheese. It was quite good when eaten with on the house bread provided. Eggplant soaked the sauce which makes it more pleasant. I like their fried calamares. Well cooked with light but well seasoned batter. The combination of garlic & mayo makes it a perfect combo. 

The tapas

For those who planning to order Paella, be ready to wait around 20 minutes before you can get your Paella. The cooking process took quite a while so make sure you have your tapas to occupy you or in this modern day, your phone. Cordero paella made of chunky lamb pieces with herbs. It was quite pleasant but a bit tad salty. The lamb was soft, tender & well marinated. The saffron was sufficient in this dish. Kinda like fried rice but spanish way. This dish is meant for sharing since it was quite big. 

Paella Cordero

Lastly, the dessert. It was our day that they gave us another same dessert free on the house. A thin crepe with orange cheese filling then drowned in a pool of creme catalana, kinda like spanish custard. Drizzled with orange jam. It was very nice. The filling was sweet, sour & salty with the custard was mildly sweet. 

Creme Catalana Crepe

So for spanish cuisine lover, you have another option besides La Bodega. I'm not sure if this place is on par with La Bodega but certainly worth to try. 

La Cocina

USJ 10/1E, Taipan Business Center

Cake Jalan Tiung at Seksyen 9, Shah Alam

Hello people. 

Recently my brother discovered a brand new cafe open in Shah Alam selling only cakes & desserts. From what he described, this cafe sounds really promising with every week the cafe will introduce a different cake. As you all might know, Shah Alam is still young in modern F&B business but cafe culture fever has started to creep in here several months ago introducing the likes of Kopimeo, Toran Coffee, Cotton Craft, and Grease just to name a few. All these cafes shared some melbourne infused cafe atmosphere in them. 

Cake Jalan Tiung just opened few months ago but have been attracting lots of attention especially young people (hipster kind mostly) with their awesome cakes & desserts. Every week will feature a different cake so for more info on which cake every week, do follow then on their instagram, cakejalantiung. 

The entrance

The interior

The counter

This entry will cover my twice visit here recently. So there will be a lot of cakes pictures here. Don't say i didn't warn ya. 

Besides awesome selection of cakes, they also have other kinds of desserts like cupcakes, brownies, cookies & marshmallows. 

Customer will have option of eat in or take away the cake since the seat is quite limited, take away might be a good option. I was able to secure a seat to had the chance to eat in a slice of cake & a signature dessert. The cake was Sea Salt Choc Cake. A moist, less sweet choc cake then a minor sprinkle of sea salt on top. The sponge was divided with a choc cream in the middle. It was really good. One of their best seller. The next customer after me just sapu habis all of them on the counter. 

Sea Salt Choc Cake

Next is their signature dessert, Tiung Choc Mess. Basically it is a medley of deconstructed choc cake, choc pavlova, some nuts, slices of strawberry, whipped cream & cookies. Then pour milk over them. It was heavenly. The choc meringue was crispy & the choc cake was moist & absorb the milk nicely. Definitely a must try.

I like the idea of every week different cake approach. This just gave customer strong reason for a revisit. They close on Monday and Tuesday for baking. Reopen on Wednesday till Sunday. 

Cake Jalan Tiung,

31M, Jalan Tengku Ampuan Zabedah J 9/J, Seksyen 9, Shah Alam