Ribs by Vintry @ Damansara Heights

After so many compliments from so many floggers, I picked this for our new year eve dinner.

WARNING: Contains seriously non-halal content!

Starter: Roast Pork

The meat and lard was quite good. I thought the roasted skin should be crunchy, instead it was hard.

Main: Angel Hair Pasta

(Photos taken after adjusting white balance)

Topped with caramelized roast pork cubes & sprinkled with chili flakes.

How was it? I couldn't recall. Probably indicating it was actually forgettable. ;p

Main: BBQ Pork Ribs

Yes, it was big.

No, it didn't fall of the bone.

It didn't meet our expectation for tenderness. I thought ribs are soft & tender!
*disappointed*

Fortunately there was something else that brought satisfaction.

Star of the night appeared last: The House Wine.

The bill.

Maybe my expectation was just too high after reading all the reviews.

Based on the food we ordered, we were disappointed. The poor service had also contributed in spoiling the night, luckily both of us were in good mood since it's new year eve.

So, my opinion is, if you are looking for something porky, if you are craving for pork, I think Belly Good is a better option. Probably I should try out El Cerdo someday.

Last but not least,

Happy New Year 2011, everyone!

Umma Son Korean BBQ Restaurant @ Desa Sri Hartamas

It was dear's 24th birthday. No celebration, just a simple dinner. After considering a few options that I offered, at last he picked this:

Umma Son, literally the mother's hand, means mother's cooking.

It was my second visit, while the first for dear. Thanks to Selina for recommending this place. It's owned and operated by a Korean lady who speaks fluent Cantonese after residing in Malaysia for years.

BBQ pork. RM18 per pax.

Look at these slices. Thick huh?

While grilling the pork, the friendly staff keep telling jokes and stories about their Korean customers. See how Szee was attracted to the stories?

No, you won't taste or feel the fatness. The lard melted upon grilling, and drained into a bowl. See the drain underneath the grilling pan? It was served with fresh lettuce and dippings, forgot to take a picture of it.

As usual, Korean restaurant always serves complimentary and refillable side dishes.

Their signature dish = my favourite dish = fried seafood with glass noodles. Oh my, how shall I describe it in words? Two thumbs up!!! Price: RM18? Forgotten, around there la.

Korean rice cakes. RM10? Not sure, forgotten. But I am sure that it was really nice! Very chewy and not too sweet, definitely differs from the texture of Korean rice cakes that you get elsewhere.

A recommendation from the staff. Bean paste soup, served with rice. Tasted like more flavourful version of miso soup, not bad. Priced around RM15, I couldn't recall!

The food were in large portions. What we had ordered were enough for 3-4 persons, I guess. Try this place if you opt for authentic Korean cuisine.
Umma Son, 1st floor, above KK Mart (somewhere opposite to the Desa Sri Hartamas food court).
Opens at 5pm-2am.
Tel: 03-2300 2010

 

 Happy birthday dear.

May you have great achievement in your career, life full of happiness and of course stay healthy always. ♥

The Spaghetti Farm @ MidValley Megamall

Surprised to see I talked about food but without any photos? Yeap, I didn't take any. You'll know why shortly. Anyway you probably can google its photos easily, or simply visit to their website here.

The Spaghetti Farm, at the LG floor of MidValley Megamall. Somewhere near Kenny Roger Roasters, and next to C-Jade Express. Szee was so interested in it since its opening but until recently only we paid our first visit.

Glanced at the menu, the price seemed to be reasonable, for a spaghetti restaurant in MidValley. We ordered 2 spaghetti, plus RM3.20 for a soup(choice of 4; mushroom, chicken, asparagus and tomato; we picked mushroom) and a carbonated drinks.

My personal review of the food that we had:
Mushroom soup: Very instant-soup-tasted. For both of us who actually can make mushroom soup from all fresh ingredients, okay maybe we expected too much from a fast food restaurant.
Fishfarm spaghetti(prawns and peas) RM11.80: Texture of the prawns was kinda weird. Nothing special about its sauce, it was just like diluted ketchup. Okay maybe we expected too much from a fast food restaurant.
Farmhouse(beef and cheese) RM8.80: Cheesy sauce at the bottom and bolognese sauce on top. The cheesy sauce was not creamy but watery, and flavour of the cheese was not rich. After mixing the sauces, the pasta was so gamy. Perhaps some would enjoy the gamy taste of the beef but I wasn't.

The meal costs us almost RM25. It wasn't really cheap for such quality of food. We walked out from the restaurant with a conclusion: Other than first-timers who want to explore new places, those who intend to walk into that place for the second time are probably unable to make themselves a simple spaghetti. ;p

Okay maybe we expected too much. It's just a fast food restaurant. So that would be our first and only visit to The Spaghetti Farm.

Vivo @ Times Square, Kuala Lumpur

I haven't finished my talking about last Saturday. While waiting for the redemption booth to be ready, we took a walk in the mall, thought of having lunch since it was already noon time. Then we found this restaurant at the LG floor. We went to Vivo at The Curve for a couple of times and had very good dining experience there. So among all the restaurants in Times Square, we picked this. ;)

I like their promotion very much. Usually restaurants offer special promotions only for weekdays, but see what we have here: Weekends Special! Free one Power Juice (worth RM7.80) with the purchase of 10" or 13" pizza.

Mushroom soup.
Nothing special, but for the price of RM3.90, ok lar.

The complimentary juice. I had Tropical Swing, i.e. mango + orange.

Our favourite Vivo pizza-- Bed of Mushroom.

Lots of fresh mushroom slices, together with almond flakes and cream cheese chunks, sleeping on the bed of mozzarella cheese and pesto sauce. The pesto sauce gave a hint of herbal aroma to it. Flavourful and appetizing. The one we had was thin crust, but as you can see from the photo, it wasn't very thin actually. I never try their thick crust before, but the thin is just nice for us. Crunchy outside and chewy inside!

Creamy Mushroom Spaghetti. RM10.80

Again, lots of fresh shitake mushrooms in creamy tomato sauce. Warm, smooth and mouthwatering. Yummy!

Just realized that our lunch was so mushroomy. Plus a cup of hot peppermint tea, the meal was around RM41.

Vivo serves food that suits almost everyone. From chicken to salmon, from pizza to tiramisu; you choose. All food are halal, and there are plenty of choices for vegetarian. Everything we ordered was actually vegetarian food. Their branch in Times Square is spacious and with more sofa seats, but for no reason I prefer The Curve branch, maybe feels more friendly? Unknown.

Remember to fill up the comment form upon your visit. Previously I did and in return I received a RM5 voucher. :)

Interested? Click on the logo below for their website.


p/s: Dear look at the quality of the photos... I wanna get a camera la... *sob sob*

Sakura Cafe and Cuisine, Jalan Imbi

It was a Saturday. Evening. As we expected, Szee and I stuck in jam when we were heading to Times Square. The traffic was really slow in Jalan Imbi. So we turned into an empty parking at the roadside, for an impromptus dinner.

Tadaa~

Sakura Cafe and Cuisine

This restaurant exists since long time ago, before I was born. I was here when I was a kid, my parents brought me here for a few times. I could recall that their nasi lemak and assam fish head were their signature dishes, according to my parents. But I don't really remember how it taste. So now me as a KL-ian brought a SP-ian to this tranquil restaurant which was quite well known in KL during 80's.

Looking out through their glass fixed window, we felt glad to be here, warm and calm, rather than the heavy traffic out there.

Tit bits

Nasi Lemak RM14.80

Curry chicken. Two chicken thighs; soft, juicy and spicy.
Sambal ikan bilis. Lots of onions. Similar to chinese style nasi lemak (my own definition).

What makes it different from others: the sambal shrimp. Dried shrimp floss, ones who cannot tolerate hot food might find it fiery hot.

Achar

I prefer my grandma's version. This one is too garlicky for me.

French baked onion soup RM8.00

Served with bread and butter.

It tasted and looked like a dish that Szee cooked for me before. But of course I would prefer Szee's. Haha. This one? Nothing special, forgettable.

Calamansi RM6.00

Too sweet. Would taste better if lesser syrup was added.

Sakura serves a wide variety of food. Noodles, rice, porridge, abalone and shark's fin, Chinese dishes, Western grilled entrees and sandwiches. Note that they serve no pork and alcohol. Muslims can feel free to dine in here.

If I trap in traffic jam in Jalan Imbi again, I think I would try Sakura's Western grilled entrees for my next visit.

By the way, they provide delivery service too.

After the dinner, we left our car parked in front of Sakura, and we went to Times Square on foot. In the rain.

Yaki-Yaki Japanese BBQ Buffet (October Promotion)

Today is a not-so-boring day. We went to a new place for brunch.
It's not a new place, though. It's 'new' because we never been there before.

Yaki-Yaki Japanese BBQ Buffet Restaurant@Jalan Bukit Bintang. Next to Low Yat Plaza.

The restaurant is currently having a promotion until end of the month. The buffet lunch and hi-tea is only RM28.90++ on weekdays. That's why we were going. I even made reservation 1 day before. Once we reached I realized that the reservation might be unnecessary. There were lots of seats and only a few tables were occupied.

Before we started, the waitress told us that our promotional price didn't include salmons and oysters. If other choices like scallops, prawns, sashimi, etc (according to what i'd read from other food bloggers) were available, it's so reasonable even without salmons and oysters! I thought.

I didn't bring my camera. Just snapped a few with my humble phone.

Quite dark dining environment. Cannot be seen clearly from the photos. Aiks my humble phone.

The stove with red-hot charcoal inside.

It was the red flame but it turned blue in the photo. Aiks, my humble phone.

My invention--BBQ edamame. ;P

Honestly, both of us were disappointed. The choices were so pathetic! Maybe I thought it's almost the same with Tenji or Jogoya. But it wasn't. Or maybe they downgraded the food choices for the promotion period. Eventhough they have 4 different sections for the BBQ materials, but for us the food was almost the same. Just that the chicken, pork or fish were marinated with different sauces. There were only a few prawns and we didn't see any scallops! Vege were limited too, only a few mushroom skewers and some green peppers.

The sushi and sashimi section. Did I see any sashimi? I couldn't recall but Szee said he saw a little. The sushi choices were not many but some of them looked cute.

This section is similar in other Japanese buffet restaurants. You put your table number in the goblet next to the desired dish, and the waiter will serve to your table.

An almost invisible section. The Japanese pancakes. I tried it before at somewhere else, hot and nice. These were cold.

Desserts. The fresh cut fruits didn't look nice, so we didn't take any.

They do not have Haagan-Dazs but they serve Baskin Robins.

So many handmade mochi.

Cakes and jellies.

We were quite disappointed by the drinks section too. All the 'fake' juices. No coconuts! There was a counter with a few glasses of sample mocktails. I ordered the combination of orange and pineapple juice. The waiter took out a large jar of juice, stirred and poured into a glass then passed it to me! I thought the juice will be freshly squeezed after I ordered. ;(

I am not sure whether this is the quality of promotional food or it's the quality of Yaki-Yaki. Okay maybe the food and choices were there, but just didn't suit us. Szee said, "I rather go to Seoul Garden in 1U!" Yup we had a good time in there, with student price. We had steamboat, grilled food and even created our own stir-fry recipe.

We walked out from the restaurant at 2.30pm in disappointment.

To be continued...