It is no doubt that many of you have heard about Godiva, the premium Belgium chocolatier, but I supposed some of you would be like me, who didn’t know about Lady Godiva at all.
The legend goes like this – Lady Godiva is a really hot Anglo-Sexon woman who rode naked through the streets of Coventry in order to change her husband’s mind of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants.
Hence the logo of Godiva Chocolates is an outline of the naked Lady Godiva on her horse, covered only with her lush long hair.
the very first Godiva cafe, at Pavilion KL
Incidentally, the term Peeping Tom also came about from the same story. Everyone in the streets of Conventry had closed their doors and not look at Lady Godiva out of respect, but this perverted Tom dude did not. Hence peeping Tom.
Learn something new everyday huh?
super yummy Godiva chocolate cake – Sight, Smell, Taste
A couple weeks ago I had the luxury of a food tasting session at the world’s very first Godiva cafe at Pavilion KL thanks to Winnie.
To be honest, I haven’t had Godiva more than a few times, and my very first experience was actually from the xmas eve party 2009 exchange gift from Su Ann, a bottle of Godiva hazelnut chocolate spread.
chocolate drinks, and chocolate cakes that goes well with hot black coffee
The cafe offers the usual stuff you’d find at any Godiva outlets – chocolate truffles, chocolate bars, the aforementioned chocolate hazelnut spread, and other Godiva chocolate products/gifts. However, the cafe also offers really awesome chocolate cakes (at RM 15 a slice, really good value if you ask me), coffee, brownies, mocha frappuccino, chocolate drinks and more.
Of course, there’s also the tastefully romantic dining area at one end of level 2 in Pavilion that doesn’t carry too much foot traffic.
Winnie the reluctant make-shift Godiva model, KY
Over the lunch session, I tried a slice of chocolate cake that’s topped with a chocolate truffle that turned out to be easily the best chocolate cake I’ve had. There’s also the chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream that went well black coffee, 6 pieces of those famous Godiva chocolate truffles, and also a few slices of 80% chocolate squares.
Oh, I also had the chocolate drinks warmed by a candle under the pot too, rich and flavorful.
chocolate goodies for you to take home, or as gifts
To be honest, everything tasted wonderful on it’s own, but on a food tasting session, there’s only that much rich tasting chocolate one can take before feeling “muak”. Fortunately the black coffee somewhat refreshes the tongue a little bit.
Ultimately, I think Godiva Cafe is definitely a place worth visit, especially if you bring a date over tea time. The cake at RM 15 a slice offers great value too.
Address:
Godiva Chocolatier Cafe
Level 2, Pavilion
Jln Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
Tel: 03-2142 5252
Last week Haze and I went to meet Ciki for some catching up and plenty of red meat. The location was Prime, one of the five star restaurants that isn’t exactly known to be budget friendly.
We went there anyway only because Ciki promised a 50% discount she was getting from the friendly Director of Communications, Cheryl, whom I also met over the fabulous review session at Favola, the Italian restaurant at Le Meridien.
the irresistible wagyu prime rib
Torn between a lavish self indulgence and not bursting budget, we ordered a bottle of wine and the wagyu prime ribs (per kg RM 478) to share among the three of us.
Prime ribs and filet mignon are my two favorite cuts when it comes to red meat. While I had filet mignon a few times since coming back from the States, this was the first time I had my beloved prime ribs since 6-7 years ago.
served with wedges, and just look at the pink center of the beef
The prime rib is the cut of meat between the 6th and 12th ribs of a cow, and in this case, Wagyu beef. This cut usually has quite a lot of fat marbled muscle that makes it very tender and juicy.
Needless to say, the Wagyu prime rib was excellent. We had it prepared medium rare, Idaho steak fried potato , wild forest mushroom friscassee and light black summer truffle jus are accompanied the dish, we didn’t really need them to enjoy the beef though. It was already so good as is.
The portion was huge too, the three of us actually had trouble finishing it.
red wine, spinach and mozzarella salad, lobster bisque
As we were about to finish, Cheryl joined us “for a drink”. The one drink turned out to be two extra bottles of red wine, and she ordered the spinach and mozzarella salad (RM50) and lobster bisque (RM 45) for us to try too.
The salad came with Master Kobe that were grilled perfectly, figs, aged balsamic vinegar dressing and of course, very delightful mozzarella cheese. The lobster bisque did not disappoint either, I especially like the combination of golden pastry and the bisque, sophisticated.
tiramisu, crème brûlée, chocolate pecan mud pie
After all the meat, salad, and soup, we activated the second stomach for desserts. The Illy Coffee tiramisu (RM 30) was perfect for someone who loves their dessert with plenty of alcohol (Sambucca liquor), texture wise it was a lot softer than normal tiramisu. Of course, the alcohol is added only to request, I recommend it.
Crème brûlée (RM 25) was made with Tahitian vanilla beans and served with fresh berries, we finished it.
My favorite dessert of the day, however, was the pecan mud pie with chocolate sauce (RM 30). It was very rich, flavorful, and absolutely sinful.
KY, Haze, Ciki
The girls spent the next couple hours talking about anything and everything while I made my limited verbal contribution from time to time. It was an awesome dinner and great hang out session that only made better by ….. the fact that Cheryl signed off the bill!
So thank you Cheryl, and when I’m loaded, I’m gonna go to Prime more often. 
Address:
Prime
2 Jalan Stesen Sentral,
Kuala Lumpur 50470
GPS: 3.135631,101.686476
Tel: 03-2263 7888
After lunch at Red Silks in Chinatown, like most people who has nothing better to do, we look for a cup of after meal coffee and a place to chill out. We headed up north a couple blocks to QV (Queen Victoria Building), a rather popular hangout area that houses several restaurants and a couple grocery stalls
Max Brenners at QV
Coffee drinking is actually quite a big thing in Australia. The annual coffee business amounts to some $3 billion, that is plenty of coffee for a population of some 21 million people. The market is a lot more mature than KL, with plenty of privately owned businesses and a few international chains.
In Malaysia, you’d go to Starbucks or Old Town, but in Melbourne, the defacto choice is Max Brenners (although you can find Starbucks, and actually even Old Town Kopitiam!), it is just convenient that there is an outlet located right in the middle of QV with a nice outdoor seating area that is sheltered from sun and wind.
milk suckao and cappuccino
The place is almost perpetually full, we actually had to wait for a couple minutes before landing ourselves a table. Since I was basically a tourist and Max Brenners is famous for their chocolates, Mell ordered a Milk Sukao for me, and from their website:
Suckao is the espresso of the chocolate drinks. It is a small, dense, concentrated shot of rich chocolate. The term “Suckao” is made up of two words that describe the utensil and the unique drink it contains: Suck – to draw the dense liquid through the metal tube. Kakao – the Spanish word for cocoa beans from which this rich chocolate drink is made and which determine its quality.
It is basically fresh milk (refillable) warmed by an aroma therapy size candle with chocolate chips on the side to mix. The quality of chocolate was rather high and I really liked it, not bad at all for $6.
latte, KY, milk chocolate
Mell got herself a milk chocolate ($5) that comes in a “HUGMUG”. The cocoa used is originated from Venezuela, creamy and tasty. The hugmug is specially designed for chocolate drinks at Max Brenners, to be used for hugging with both hands, perfect for the rather chilly weather when we were there.
Carol, Margaret, and Mellissa with her hugmug
Carol and Margaret got themselves Cappuccino and Cafe Latte ($3.30 each), and both the drinks were better than the same offered by the likes of Starbucks or Coffeebeans in Malaysia. Part of the reason being that the milk used here is so much fresher and tastier.
We ended up going to Max Brenners a few more times, meeting up friends and sampling different types of drinks along the way (the coconut + lychee drink was awesome, and the magic waffle balls very interesting). It was sort of a meeting point for Mell and her friends there, for obvious reasons. Good drinks, nice environment, affordable prices.
Max Brenners is located at the heart of QV
Max Brenners has over a dozen branches in Australia, a couple in New York, Philippines, Israel, and there’s even one in Singapore at Esplanade Mall on Raffles Ave.
Address:
Max Brenners
Queen Victoria Building
25-27 Red Cape Lane,
Level 2, QV Square,
210 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
GPS: -37.810657,144.965587
Tel: +61 3 9663 6000
A couple days before my birthday, I got a special delivery from down under, a big package all the way from Australia, the land of dozing wombats and slimy skinks. It was a gift from my hot chick, and I couldn’t be happier receiving the original super star snack Tim Tam and Pods! Just look at them! *drools*
chocolate goodness to die for
Due to fluctuation in temperature while shipping these goodies, the pods seemed to have melted before, but fortunately, while the cosmetic is a bit off, they still taste great! Pods is something like a bigger version of Koko Krunch cereal but filled with chocolate and caramel, very rich and very addictive.
I think Tim Tam needs no introduction to most people, especially those who studied in ozzie. This chocolate mud biscuit is the best seller in Australia. The snack is full of chocolate, caramel, and biscuit in a harmonious combination that treats your taste buds the way good snacks do. Kinda reminds me of Reese’s although they are completely different.
chocolate and strawberry flavors too!
You can get the local version of Tim Tam from places like Cold Storage (they now sell Reese’s too!), but I’ve heard that it doesn’t taste quite the same.
*slurps*
Most everyone who works in an office building has a food drawer filled with snacks for the time when stomach makes the untimely growls. Alongside with the awesome Keebler’s Chips Deluxe Cookies, this biscuit with the silly Hello Panda name is one of my favorites.
well herro panda!
This stuff is made of hollow shortbread with stuffings inside, and my favorite is the chocolate stuffing. One of the two types you can find at Isetan supermarket, the other being strawberry. There are altogether 4 types of stuffings but the vanilla and peanut butter (YUM!) can’t be found anywhere. If only I had discovered this before I went to Tokyo. The sweet and soft chocolate gives a very good taste and textural contrast the blunt but crispy shortbread, sort of like the Oreo experience, but a lot tastier and alot less messy.
ahhh yummmmm
The biscuits come in an over sized tube ala Pringles style. Convenient to store and doesn’t get soft and and limp from the moisture. Best still, you can keep the tube and use it for the great Keebler’s cookies!
A tube is about RM 15+ and contains 450 gram of wholesome bite size cookies. Not exactly cheap, but this thing is awesome it’s really worth it, not to mention packs a meal’s worth of calorie in a snack session. Best. Meiji is a Japanese confectionery brand, but this particular product is manufactured in Singapore.
