When I first went to Melbourne a few months ago, I noticed that the local coffee scene is very different than Malaysia, and very vibrant.
Every other corner is a cafe, mostly locally owned and operated with some international chains like Max Brenners. Restaurants and breakfast places like too usually serves excellent coffee (MART 130 is an absolute must visit). It is a land where Starbucks aren’t doing well at all with their, as some agrees, watered down coffee.
breakfast set (blergh), flat white (awesome)
After getting spoiled with good coffee from down under, Mellissa then decided that we should hunt for the best coffee in KL, and her housemate Jun Wei happened to know just the place we need to go. Le Passione Cafe at Hartamas Shopping Center.
Other than 2 cups of flat whites (they are similar to latte, but served in ceramic cups), we also ordered a breakfast set and a baked potato during that particular late afternoon snacking session.
coffee with proper coffee art. KY & Mellissa
The coffees were excellent, smooth, creamy, and very flavorful. They’re worth every sen of the RM 7.95 Le Passione Cafe charges (with 10% service). A piece of biscotti and a shot of cold water accompany the coffee too.
The food however, were rather disappointing. The eggs were nice, but turkey ham and those canned mushroom were pretty miserable, baked potato wasn’t anything to shout about either.
For really good coffee around town, go to Le Passione Cafe, but eat at your own risk.
Address:
Le Passione Cafe
K9, Plaza Ground FLoor,
Hartamas Shopping Centre,
Sri Hartamas, KL
GPS:
3.163548, 101.656076
Tel: 012-882 0717
I found myself at Plaza Damas last weekend. After several hours of attending to certain business, it was suddenly dinner time. We decided that perhaps it would be a good idea to explore something at this comfortably small but elegant mall instead of heading elsewhere to quiet down the little growling sound from my stomach that is starting to get annoying.
“Fish Satay” in lemon grass
We past several restaurants before deciding upon Penang Village. Being from Penang island, I am always skeptical towards restaurants that claim to serve Penang food. However, I was feeling a little adventurous that day, and whatever food I could see from those customers that are already eating certainly looks inviting.
nice ambiance and surprisingly good food
The menu is simple and illustrated with enough photos of the dishes to guide those who can’t read English or Malay. We ended up ordering 5 items for the two of us, nasi lemak with beef, nasi tomato with lamb, kailan (vegetable) with salted fish, fish satay, and otak-otak.
beef nasi lemak and lamb nasi tomato
Even though it was a weekend evening, the food didn’t take more than 10 minutes to come. The nasi tomato and nasi lemak came with pretty good meat curry (rendang and kurma), the rice tasted very authentic and even the presentation was rather high class. A small glass of acar accompanied the rice.
The otak-otak served is of the Penang variety, for the uninitiated, it is a type of steamed fish paste with mixture of traditional spices. The otak-otak was not oily and nor over powering, just nice and a good companion to the rice dishes.
I especially like the interesting “fish satay” served on a lemon grass stick. It reminded me of the same thing I had at Bumbubali (a Balinese restaurant at Puchong), very succulent and delicious. The taste of fish cake and the core infused with lemon grass aroma was simply brilliant. This would be my must-order at Penang Village.
Penang otak-otak, kailan with salted fish, fish satay
The rice dishes were around RM 12+ each with the other dishes slightly cheaper. The dinner costs RM 60+ for the two of us, 5 dishes and 1 drink. A pretty decent price for the quality of food and location. I am not too sure about their other classic dishes like Char Kueh Teow, but if they can have similar quality it wouldn’t be disappointing.
Plaza Damas is located at Sri Hartamas
Other than Plaza Damas, Penang Village has branches at USJ 9, TTDI, Alamanda Putrajaya Mall, and a couple other locations at Indonesia too.
Address:
Hartamas Shopping Centre (Plaza Damas)
Lot G8B&9, Sri Hartamas, KL
GPS: 3.163548, 101.656076
Tel: 03-6201 9816
