When it comes to chocolates, just like many other forms of indulgence – wine, whisky, cars, women, and so forth – the premium stuff are almost always better. One of the more exclusive brands available anywhere has got to be Godiva, the chocolatier named after the legend of Lady Godiva, a naked lady on horseback (check their logo!)
Godiva cafe at Pavilion KL, this hot chick is Winnie
The company was founded in Belgium in 1926 by Joseph Draps, over the past 80 some years it has grown to become one of the larger premium chocolate brand in the world with annual sales over $500 million. We are fortunate enough to have our very own Godiva Cafe at Pavilion where you can purchase a lot of their products as well as have coffee, cakes, and other good stuff.
Perfect getaway for a lovely tea time.
ciki pours some coffee while Yazeed explains on
A couple weeks ago a bunch of us were invited to Godiva Cafe for a private function that aptly named The Chocolate Story where we were taught a bit of history about chocolates (you can learn them from wikipedia too, but wikipedia doesn’t give you chocolates to eat), and get our hands messy in a Master Chocolatier workshop.
to melt the chocolate, you only need a single candle
According to the brand manager Yazeed, Godiva sources only the best ingredients to make their chocolates. For example, the best cocoa is from Ivory Coast, and hence that is the only place Godiva get their cocoa.
After the chocolate history lesson, we were shown the ways of chocolatiers. First, we melt a bar of Godiva, and all you ever need is a single candle. Try doing that with your pasar malam stuff, I think you’d need a penunu bunsen. (this is due to the much higher sugar content, among other things, in mass produced chocolates)
and make our own chocolate derived goodies
With the melted chocolates, we then made our own chocolate products – chocolate lollipops, chocolate biscuits, chocolate cornflakes, and all these with bits of other stuff to make them real pretty too.
We were then served some food while the chocolates were being chilled.
and you can buy some godiva hampers as Hari Raya gifts too
In conjunction with bulan Ramadan and upcoming Hari Raya, you can now get your hands on “GODIVA Chocolatier Hamper Collection” – there are three types altogether and cutely named Jubilee, Impression and Jewel De Nile
oh yes, ahh, i see, it’s like that haaa
It was overall a fun, informative, and definitely very satisfying session at Godiva, I got to learn quite a bit about chocolates that I previously hadn’t a clue about, and of course, get my chocolate cravings fixed too. You can read Kim, Ciki, taufulou, and KampungBoyCityGal’s accounts.
and a grou picture for all the lucky buggers
Writing this is making me crave for some proper chocolates again, gahhhhh!
Address:
Godiva Chocolatier Cafe
Level 2, Pavilion
Jln Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
Tel: 03-2142 5252
Ben’s is one of the latest restaurants to open on the 6th floor of Pavilion KL, replacing the ill fated Carat Club, as I suppose, the owner probably discovered that diamonds and food doesn’t necessarily go well together.
If you’ve just spent 2 month’s salary on a piece of carbon, chances are your appetite might not be very good.
Ben’s at Pavilion, 6th floor
Ben’s is another restaurant under the BIG group, which also owns T Forty Two, Plan B, and such. Their website is at thebiggroup.co, yes a URL with .co and not .com.
Ben’s interior has it’s design cue from Delicious, there’s sofa and tea table both indoor and outdoor, smallish dining tables and comfortable chairs. The outdoor area overlooks Jalan Bukit Bintang, giving it a nice city ambiance but without the exhaust fumes from cars on street level.
Spaghetti Pomodoro with chunks of Pecorino Romano cheese
The menu at Ben’s is almost too extensive, you’ll most likely find yourself spending at least 5-10 minutes going through the listing of dishes on your first visit. I did the same, and finally settled on Spaghetti Pomodoro. A pretty simple pasta dish that turned out to be a delight, I love the chunks of Pecorino Romano cheese on it, and everything was just in the right balance – sauce, pasta, everything.
beef lasagna, spaghetti carbonara, portobello mushroom burger
On the very next day, I went to Ben’s again, this time with Winnie & Horng.
Our orders took some 20 minutes to prepare, a pretty long wait for weekday lunch, but luckily it was worth it. The beef lasagna ordered by Horng was superb, packed with ample amount of cheese, beef, and cooked to perfection. You could cut it with just your spoon. The pickest eater gave his approval.
Winnie had spaghetti carbonara that did not disappoint. I’m not a big fan of cream based spaghetti but this one was pretty good when I had a bite. Of course, the chunks of romano cheese helps. 
wagyu beef pie
I opted for the portobello mushroom burger. I first had this type of burger back in the States, and so far only very few places has this on the menu.
Instead of one huge mushroom, the burger had 2 slightly smaller one instead, sandwiched by 2 pieces of sourdough, cheese, and some greens. It was pretty good, but would be better with one giant mushroom and probably less healthy choices of bread instead, then again I’m nitpicking.
On another separate visit (this time on Saturday), Haze ordered the Wagyu beef pie for lunch. She love the beef, but thought the pastry was slightly too thick.
KY, Haze, Horng, Winnie
Main dishes at Ben’s are priced from just below RM 20 to RM 30 and up, with majority in the RM 20+ range.
Customer service is exemplary, case in point: Winnie found a single strand of eyelash on her pasta after eating 70% of the dish and informed the captain. The captain was very apologetic and offered her a dessert (we had the velvet cake, was good!), and on top of that, took the dish off the bill. We postulate that the eyelash probably belong to Winnie herself to begin with.
Now if only they can shorten the time it takes to serve those delicious dishes, this would be a perfect mid-range lunch option.
Address:
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
From the outside the restaurant is a classy bungalow, much like those at the soon to be decommissioned Bangsar One. You can park your car on the street, or valet for only RM 2.
Levain Italian Restaurant at Imbi
The decoration inside the restaurant is done tastefully, with pretty window curtains, cute little chairs, tables, and bits of beautiful brickworks too. The place really looks like something plucked straight out of Lygon street in Melbourne. The ambiance is really good.
Seafood aglio olio
LeVain is a bit of a partially self-service restaurant. You order at the counter, get your drinks and a number for your food after payment. Some 10 minutes or so later, the friendly servers will have your food at the table. This also means that if you have a table more than a few orders, food can arrive seemingly at random intervals.
My suggestion is to order together, or don’t wait for everyone’s food to arrive before eating.
teriyaki beef sandwich, potato salad, tomato soup
The best thing about LeVain tho, is the value you get. Most dishes are priced below RM 10, with only a few (such as seafood pasta at RM 12.50) slightly over the red colored bill. They serve free water too, so you’re not always obligated to order drinks either.
more spaghetti, Mychelle, KY, Queen, Horng, Winnie, Terence
As for the food, well, they aren’t top notch but they do hold up pretty well compared to restaurants that typically charges at least 50% more. I liked my seafood spaghetti and took a bite of the terriyaki beef sandwich which tasted pretty nice too.
Serving size at LeVain is smaller than almost everywhere else outside Penang, but hey, eating a smaller main dish leaves room for dessert and maybe a starter too right?
LeVain is opened for lunch and dinner. My experience is strictly from one Friday lunch visit, so dinner might be completely different. Cheers!
Address:
Levain Boulangerie Patisserie
Jalan Delima,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.14664, 101.72061
Tel: 03-2142 6611
Since I moved to the site office for work, I’ve been visiting Pavilion quite a bit due to the close proximity. So pretty soon I started exploring a bit more and a couple weeks ago, stumbled upon this curiously familiar looking restaurant on the 5th 6th floor by the name of Grandmama’s.
Grandmama’s to Madam Kwan’s is like BK to McD. The decoration is similar, and so is the menu (nasi bojari, char kueh teow, fish and chips etc). There are rumors saying they are owned by siblings or something…
Grandmama’s char kueh teow and beef hor fun
Since the initial visit with my colleague, I’ve been to the place in three separate occasions. I can happily said that the 3 different dishes tried so far have been all pretty good, at least taste wise.
The Char Kueh Teow comes with a couple big prawns, slices of fish cake, squid, chicken, and the usual chives and bean sprouts. Despite the seemingly non traditional ingredients, it turned out to be a surprisingly decent dish. The flavor and the kick is as good as you’d find from any air conditioned restaurant.
Curry Laksa, or curry mee as known to Penangites, comes in an overly large bowl and contains taupok, prawns, squid, ladies finger, and brinjal which I love. It’d be better if there’s some bloody cockles though (or coagulated pork blood, but I think that would be way too much to ask for, hehe)
curry laksa, nasi bojari, and hakka fried rice
The other dish I had was the unassuming looking Hakka Fried Rice. A plate of fried rice with dark sauce that has prawns, chicken, and plenty of chopped long bean in it. This one was pretty good too especially with some cili padi to go with. I had this after Horng’s favorable comment.
Terence, Winnie, Mychelle, Pauline at Grandmama’s, Pavilion KL
Ngau Hor (beef kueh teow), Chicken Mushroom Rice and Nasi Bojari that others had too turned out to be plenty good, though my other colleague ordered Fish and Chips that tasted just average.
So while food is generally pretty good at Grandmama’s, the pricing is a bit on the higher side. Nasi bojari costs RM 22, and most other hawker style dishes are around RM 14.5 to just below RM 20. You do get free plain water though.
Still a place worth visit for it’s pretty decent quality of food and good ambiance while not always overly crowded like Madam Kwan’s.
Address:
Grandmama’s
Lot 6.01.01, 6.01.02
Level 6, Pavilion KL
168, Jalan Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
Tel: 03-2143 9333
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
