Olive Garden, Mid Valley

This was a pretty new restaurant or bistro in Mid Valley. It serves mainly Italian food, DOHHH! As you can probably see for yourself below:

It was pretty packed as it was the weekend and we were pleasantly surprised to find friendly staffs and fast service. It was staffed by a full Filipino crew so it was really a big difference compared to some by mostly Malaysians.  I don't mean to be harsh but most of the bad experiences I have had in terms of service in eateries around KL were mostly from our own countrymen!

Anyway, we were informed politely by our server that all mains would come with complimentary bread basket, and a choice of either soup or salad which could be picked from the choices in their menu. The bread basket, soup and salad are also refillable!!!@@

Check out the slightly salty sweet buns below. They were quite nice and soft in the centre with big flecks of coarse salt sprinkled on top. I quite enjoyed it!

The drinks were bottomless too! OMG, this place really knows how to feed their patrons! 

Hubby had the creamy tomato-ish soup and I had their gnocchi soup. Both were not bad although their gnocchi were a little too doughy in my opinion. 

The complimentary warm rolls were slightly hard, reminiscent of the French loaves but they are good once you dip into the hot soup.

I would say the highlights were their pasta. I had the creamy seafood linguine and the seafood were amazing. I could still remember the juicy succulent prawns!

Hubby had the meatballs bolognaise. I am not a fan of bolognaise outside but I guess they were quite nice as he polished off the whole plate. Heh! The meatballs were juicy and tasty too!

OLIVE GARDEN

F051 Mid Valley

KL

Chateraise Patisserie Japan, Isetan KLCC

Everytime there's a new bakery in town especially those from Japan, most KL-lites would be queueing up to try the latest craze. The current one is the Chateraise Bakery which is also very popular in Singapore (according to one of our friends). Located in the Isetan supermarket in KLCC, even in the late hours on a weekday the queue was pretty long. Once you chose your cake, a chip would be given and you continue to wait in line until your turn to pay. Upon payment, your sweet treats would be ready and waiting in a bag. They even added a cold pack inside to keep your desserts cool.

Hubby had their Strawberry Mochi to go because he loves their sample of vanilla mochi. I convinced him to take the strawberry one just because I wanted to try it too! Oh and he loves his strawberries!!! Kekekke

Verdict: Chewy soft mochi covered with powdery castor sugar filled with strawberry jam and cream cheese? OMG! It was heavenly!

I had the Strawberry Tiramisu to go but I think it was not very impressive. Granted, my judgement might be a little off as I only had it after one whole day in the fridge. Nevertheless, the cake was pleasant enough but for >>RM11, I was expecting something better.

PS: I would probably try their #1 hot seller next time: a strawberry vanilla sponge! 

ChoySum Patch

The progress of my Choy Sum patch is extremely promising. I can't wait to have the first batch to eat soon! PS: I just threw all their seeds on moist soil and water them regularly. Or rather, Hubby does. LOL.

Week 1.5:

The first seedling!

 Week 2:

Tiny Seedlings

 Week 3:

Growing up fast!

I think ChoySum must be one of the easiest vegetables to grow in the current Malaysian weather. It was hot for the past few weeks with occasional heavy rain. On a sad note, my free seeds (okra and kangkung) did not seem to have any progress despite being planted for a while. I even used their planters for other plants instead already as I decided that 4 weeks are long enough to determine whether or not the seeds will germinate. Heh

Woo Pin Fish Head Noodle, Cheras

Fish head noodles are made from evaporated milk-infused fish broth, with bits of tangy pickled vegetables to further accentuate the fresh deep, fried fish head and yummy fish parts in them. There are a lot of differing opinions on how a good bowl of fish noodles would be. I had one really good one before in Jalan Kuchai Lama but we were recommended this shop by a salesman (when we went to pay for our furniture). That piqued our curiosity and we decided to try out their noodles for late lunch the other day.

Situated in Cheras, their orange-colored signboard is hard to miss.

Even at 3+ in the afternoon, the shop was still bustling with activity. Aside from fish head noodles, they also seemed to be famous for their fish cakes and various finger foods. 

This is one of the best Assam Lime juice I had for a while and it was packed with the refreshing sour flavours from the calamansi. The sweet and salty Assam took away some of the sourness and made this a perfect drink on a hot, stifling day.

The fish head noodles was not as sour as I would love them to be but overall, it was a heart-warming dish. Hubby's was accidentally exchanged for the more expensive garoupa one as opposed to my normal one. Sadly, we didn't know until the bill came. So, I didn't get to try that out but apparently it was very good.

We would have written off this shop as we were arguing with the waiter over the misunderstanding and their attitude left a lot to be desired but their boss apologized and we left the shop feeling slightly better. We ordered a Large Normal Fish Head Noodles and even when our food arrived, the waiter told us "This is the large one" as mine is the small one. Then upon getting the bill we saw that we were charged the Garoupa one which was nearly double the price of the normal one. When we queried, the waiter insisted that he told us that's the Garoupa one. We were just annoyed as we could have just have eaten the normal one but charged the expensive one. It would be nice if they have just explained it nicely and apologized for the mistake instead of being rude to us. We would have paid. Anyway. we were quite annoyed and was about to walk out as we have paid but the boss intervened and apologized. He convinced us that the one we had was really the Garoupa so we were happy enough to pay (since he pointed the bones were different etc).

Interested? Look for them at:

WOO PIN FISH HEAD NOODLE 湖滨鱼头米

A-7-GF, DATARAN C180, 

JALAN C180/1, 43200 CHERAS, 

SELANGOR

Restoran Taima Hokkien Mee, Kota Kemuning

Despite being located in a pretty secluded area; far from the centre of a town etc, this small shop is quite popular with the locals staying nearby the area. That said, it is actually a branch from a pretty famous "Hokkien Mee" shop. Despite its name, they sell a lot of other hot food here. 

I just took down their opening hours here in case anyone's interested in trying them out.

I had their lime and sour plum juice which was a little too watery for me. I loved the one at Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles though.

Although the blanched vegetables looked a little limp, they actually tasted very good. I especially enjoyed the crispy bits from the fried garlic and the simple oyster sauce was the perfect complement to an otherwise plain dish.

The deep fried chicken wings would be an enjoyable dish if you loved fermented beancurd (tauju) as they were all marinated in the red velvety marinade before deep frying to a crispy gold. The wings were quite big size and were deliciously tender. However, they seemed to think we would need two wings each (even though we ordered only one set: 2 wings) and ended up giving us 4! They charged us for two sets so I think if 2 wings are sufficient, maybe that should be made clear to the waitress beforehand. ;)

In my opinion, the fried rice was the best of the lot. Fragrant, fluffy rice fried to perfection with bits of Chinese sausages and prawns made this my favourite~

The "Hokkien Mee" was not really up to my liking. I found it a little too bland despite it being the main star of this shop. Hubby seemed to like it just find so I guess that's pretty subjective.

Address: 

Restoran Taima Hokkien Mee,

Jln Sungai Burung AA32/AA, 

Bukit Rimau, 40460 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Quivo, Pavillion

This was one of the best finds in Pavillion this year! We were looking around for dinner and initially we thought about trying out the Greyhound but it was fully booked and waiting list was at least 45 minutes away. We saw the menu and was okay with it so we went in. 

The lightings gave a warm ambience and the modem decorations were really inviting. Service was exceptional with friendly, helpful staff. Water was refilled frequently and plates were cleared pretty much in an instant.

I had the Wagyu with Bacon burger and it was AMAZINGGGG. I had my patty medium rare like how I would like my steak and they didn't disappoint. The pickled cucumber, or gherkin was a nice touch as it cut into the richness of the burger. It was a good idea as well for people like Hubby does not enjoy any sort of pickled products with his burger. The herbed wedges were crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. It's an OMG moment all the way; until I got to the green salad. It was quite wilted and a little disappointing. However, the whole dish was a standout anyway and I would be happy to get that burger again. Even the plain sesame seed bun was YUM!

PS: Did I mention it's gigantic in size? Hubby was more than happy to devour the rest of my burger. 😝

The BBQ Pizza came on a crispy-naan like base. I think it's quite good but just couldn't get the huge amount of parsley they heaped on the pizza. It tasted Mediterranean-ish and I honestly did not enjoy it much despite the amount of delicious cheese on it compare to my burger. Hubby on the other hand LOVED it so much that he finished the entire thing on his own! LOL! 😜

Definitely a good choice for delicious, hearty food right in the heart of KL!