Out & About: Cosans Coffee, Sunway Pyramid

We found ourselves with a bit of time to while away in Sunway Pyramid shopping mall. As is common on weekends, the mall was full of shoppers and the post lunch crowd. Mom did some bit of shopping and after a while we got into a peckish mood. We found a relatively vacant cafe called Cosans Coffee and plonked our rears into some seats (relief for bad achey backs).

I liked the decor, dark browns, woods and earthy tones matched with blacks. Felt masculine and more muted than say Starbucks or CBTL. The seeming toned down ambiance appealed much to my older sensibilities.

The menu was for the most part, typical of coffee cafes, drinks based on coffee and teas with a selection of foods that go well with both. I was for the most part quite unimpressed about the place, but the aroma of the coffee wafting from the coffee machine decided it for me. Waited in line and was quickly attended to by the boyish gaggle of Baristas there. They were fun, making good recommendations and actively courted for favourable response from the customers. I did notice that they spoke good Manglish (not Mangled English, but Malaysian English, interspersing BM words into their English) further making them feel open and friendly and peculiarly disarming.




We ordered a few drinks, and 3 slices of cake (peckish or plain kebulur?). I order my customary Americano On The Rocks (Espresso poured over ice) and Sis had a Coffee Frap. The cakes were Almond Cream Sponge , Mississippi Mud and Chocolate Hazelnut Slice. Quite different cakes but with a central note of chocolate and nuts carrying through.





The skies opened and Angels sang when I took my first sip of my American OTR. The now cool brown & black liquor was very deep, smooth and carried with it an extremely long finish of dark chocolate. The drink elicited a wonderful chewing response that somehow further amped the chocolaty undertones. Glorious it was. Sis' drink like wise too had this deep finish, that sat atop the thick and creamy mix of the blended drink. It had been a long while since I had such coffee with a Strong individual character such as this, being accustomed to Starbucks (Medium Roasted beans mostly) levels of Espresso based drinks.





We enquired as to what kind of beans they used and the Baristas stated that theirs were a blend of Arabica beans from the Indonesian continent. On the mouth feel and aromas, I imagine it would be a mix of Arabica and Robusta beans (get off your snooty Arabica high horse and try other beans Razee!). Such a good character of coffee to use as their house blend. In the end, I ordered another large American OTR before we left. It was that fucking good!

The total bill came up to almost RM 100, including the small tip we left for the Boys. Money well spent.

posted from Bloggeroid

Out & About: Dinner w Glenn & The Guys @ Frisson Coffee Bar

Glenn, our old time secondary school mate was back in Malaysia for a spell and wanted to hang around and do dinner. Avian, our very own Mr Glue quickly set up a get-together at Frisson Coffee Bar in Damansara Uptown.

The place had been in operation for several years already as it were yet none of us had tried the place. Thus yesterday evening we all met for din din (emphasis on making a Din, we were raucous!).

The conversation just flowed and it was amazing to be able to just immediately pick up where we left off, as if we didn't have the years of growing between any of us.

Avian, Glenn, Ali, Azlan, David and Me.

Glenn's Beef Striploin in Herby Pasta

David's Grilled Salmon w Vegetable Bolognaise

Azlan's Mac N Cheese, topped with Breaded Chicken & Salted Egg

Avian's Breaded Chicken on Pasta Alfredo (could be Carbonara)

Mine - Glazed Donut Beef Burger w Beef Bacon, Egg n Cheese and a Side Salad

Like a good book, one can always come back to it, familiar yet find something new every time.

Out & About: Late Lunch at Sushi Tei, Tropicana City Mall, PJ.

Mom had the desire to buy some fabric for her latest curtain project for the Kajang house. So we drove down into the hell that is Jakel in Shah Alam where I later spent over an hour driving around looking for a parking lot. Tiresome hour later, Mom finally emerged from the hell mouth, victorious in subduing many meters of dangerous fabric.

Then we drove back to Sg Buloh to pick up a few things at home before driving back out for Lunch. I decided that it was to be Japanese food and selected Sushi Tei in Tropicana City Mall. And Yes, just that day alone I drove over 120kms!

Thank heavens by the time we reached the restaurant at 3.30pm, the Lunch service crowd had totally dissipated. This allowed us most expedient service, perfect for our already hangry selves.



I proceeded to order a bunch of items off the menu to start (usual suspects of cold marinated baby octopus, cold green seaweed and crispy baby crabs while we sipped on cool cups of iced green tea.



Then it was on to more serious stuff - Crisp Spider Maki, lightly torched Mentai Mayo & Crab Roll, Sweet Daikon Maki, Crisp Salmon Skin






Mom then also asked for her favourite 'Pregnant Fish' - Grilled Shishamo, to round off the order, a Sushi Tei Salad w Salmon Skin (hey, we need the greens to balance out all the ther stuff right?), while I ordered another specialty roll of theirs - Deep Fried Tuna Mayo in Seaweed Roll.


The last 3 items perfectly sated us for the day where we skipped dinner altogether. The lunch at Sushi Tei came up to just shy of RM 125, which is a bit more when compared against Sakae Sushi or Sushi King. However, it was a good lunch as the quality of the food and the speed of service certainly is above the latter.

Out & About: Dinner at Haroo Story Langkawi

Decided at the very last moment to grab an early dinner with Mom yesterday. I let her decide this time as I selected the spot in our last makan-makan jaunt.

She chose Haroo Story, the Korean Culture Cafe in Langkawi Fair, as she had a hankering for some spicy food.

Upon arrival we were welcomed by the smiling and lanky waiter who led us to our table. This halal-sourced meats restaurant (a thing in Langkawi, whereby most meats are Halal slaughtered and prepared) features sparse and open style of decorating, which I found to be agreeable. A quick peek at the menu later and we had our minds made.

Barely 5 minutes after our drinks arrived, the dishes arrived in quick succession (food preparation here is usually quick) heralded first with complimentary thin triangles of Kimchi Pancake and a bowl of cabbage Kimchi.

First up was our Spicy Topokki, a rich and satisfyingly face melting stew-like dish of rice dough and tofu skin accompanied with a small cup of squid and tofu skin broth.

This dish is an excellent introductory dish to Korean food if you havent had any before, because I feel that it suprises the heck out of you if you think only Malaysians can handle chilli-spicy foods. This rich deep stew is counter balanced with sweet sliced onions and spring onions, dampening the heat of the chilli sauce it is cooked in. The rice dough is amazingly tender, with a gummy texture that encourages you to chew and hence let that amazing hot sauce do its magic in your mouth!

I am not someone who can take spicy foods all that much, but this dish is so good you would want to slowly savour it, but its spicy kick encourages you to cram your maw as fast as you can.

That broth supplied on the side is an incredible salve against the relentless spice. This genious soup, flavoured so mildly with squid and tofu works well to tone down the heat a few notches (and thus more time to finish the dish).

Mid Topokki, our Kimbap arrived. This is a Korean dish that is most reminiscent of Japanese rolled sushi.

The flavour styling is also quite similar (except for the addition of the mayonnaise dots on the plate). Our Korean host and restaurant-proprietor was quick to suggest that we use the slices of Kimbap to mop up the Topokki sauce. This certainly elevated what could have been a mildly flavoured dish.

Then Mom's order of Dolsot Bibimbap arrived. It is a rice dish of cooked chicken slices, raw colourful slices of vegetables and topped with a raw egg in a hot stone(ware) bowl. You enjoy it by stirring everything in the bowl to let it 'cook' and add in squirts of Gojuchang hot-sauce (this is one of the hearts of Korean cuisine). The resultant rice mix takes on a moist 'nasi goreng' like texture, dependant on how fastidiously stirred and turned it is. Word of caution though, this is a sizeable portion and very filling so plan on sharing it with someone.

My main dish of Spicy Beef & Vegetable Soup (Yukgaejang) arrived right after we started stirring our Bimbimbap. 

This dish had a deep beefy flavour yet still strangely light and fresh tasting. The beef slices are brought to a rolling boil and all the other ingredients added- raw veges, strings of mung bean noodle, and cabbage kimchi, before being poured into a stone(ware) bowl. Arriving at our table bubbling and spitting, it comes with a bowl of rice but it can be had on its own. I had to fight off my Mom who was scooping up more of my soup than her own Bibimbap!

Lastly, despite our already stuffed bellies, I ordered a dessert of Yuja (Citrus) Bingsu.

Resembling most to Malaysia's ubiquituous ABC, this dessert however ended being our star dish alongside the Topokki. This bowl layered scoops of vanilla ice cream and globs of orange and lemon slice jam (closest description I can manage) with incredibly smooth shaved milky ice. The result is altogether AMAZING! Cooling, creamy, sweet and sour, mildest hint of bitter from the citrus peels, and thirst quenching. It superbly calmed our palates after the unwavering assault of spicy-delish dishes.

The dishes all totalled to a bit over RM120, with drinks (Calpis Yoghurt Soda and a Mineral Water) but it is money well spent.

Coupled with the fact that our waiter went the extra mile in bringing us the food picture-board and explained the dishes to us and the lovely Korean Host/Proprietor who also always came by to check on us and shared how best to enjoy her offerings, I think we have found another favourite place to eat in Langkawi.

Out & About: Halal Food in Prague

One cant go on travelling in Europe and continuously partake in non-halal meats (or worse, go Veg all the time, ugh) without serious repercussions of guilt right?

Haha.

So a couple of us decided we were to look for proper Halal food in Prague. Thankfully the presence of Middle Eastern cuisine and cultures is very much a common thing here, so there was indeed at least one shop/cafe in every street block or shopping complex.

First off was a simple Food Stall in a nearby shopping complex called Safir. Where we had these delights.

Yup, an utterly delightful Namoura. A sweet honeyed dessert of baked almond and sugee.

Brother Hj Manan tucking into his dish of Lebanese styled Briyani and Chicken in Spicy Tomato.

Ogle!!

I had a small order of mixed grill. A simple dish of skewered chicken, lamb and beef over pickles with a wedge of lebanese flatbread. I was too hungry to bother with snapping any pictures. :P

The day after, after our long Walking City Tour, a few of us decided to gallivant at the Palladium Mall in the Republic Square and have more halal meats. 

Walked around until we worked ourselves an enormous appetite. As Rezeki would have it we found this proper restaurant and was immediately taken in by the handsome waiters to a table  (they were very persuasive waiters okay!). 

El Emir, Lebanese Restaurant.

Could they be siblings? 

A quick peruse of the menu we made our minds and moments later we were tucking into really good Lebanese at El Emir Restaurant, a western styled sit down that offers Halal dishes. The food here I would argue to be even more authentic than all other I have had. 

Now, this is a proper Mixed Grill Dish. Unff!

Can you smell the delicious aroma of grilled meats over the tart pickles. Yummy!

En Ali (camera shy isn't he?) decided upon having the Lamb In Spices,
which doesn't describe much but imagine a silkier and smoother biryani
with a whole lot more subtlety. It is at once rich and satisfying without
making one feel jelak. Glorious Lamb Shank over steamed basmati grains.

Then we went back home to digest. 

The next day, knowing it was going to be my last Lunch in Prague, I went back there with Bro Hj Manan where I ordered the biggest sampling platter they had. Hahahaha!

 

In yer face homies!
That is a masterfully prepared Mezze Platter. Grilled Meats - Shish Tauk, Lamb Kebab, Raw Dried Beef, Grilled Beef Cubes, Falafel, Spinach and Cheese Parcels with Aubergine Moussaka, Tabbouleh Salad and Chick Pea & Sesame Hummus with a basket of Lebanese Flatbread. 

Just look at those glistening juicy meats. The slices of Raw Air-Dried Beef was surpassingly good, gamey, and rich and moist, despite it being dried. 

The cold and cooling side dishes worked in tandem with the warm and spiced meats. 

 

Gloopy side dishes. Yummmmmm.

Best cap to the meal, a deep, European styled dark coffee.

Our bill came up to about CZK 1100 (Czech Korunas, or Croners) for each of the 2 days we went, which translates to about Rm 170-180 for 2 persons. Not too bad at all of the portion sizes and the quality we had. 

A Few Of My Favourite Things: Shih Lin Street Snacks

After 3 years of not having 'em.

Oyster Mee Suah. Have not had this in 3 whole years, as it is not available in Langkawi. :'(

Shih Lin Crispy Chicken Rice Box Set (mana box dia?), of fluffy sticky rice, fried boneless chicken thigh, soft tofu and diced century egg, all slathered with sweet soy& ginger sauce.

Oyster Mee-Suah and Crispy Chicken Rice Box set. :)