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| "Poison Apple" from Maison |
I'm starting off with my most recent experience, for the visual POP - the "poison apple" dessert from Maison - which, natually, is housed within a mall. Having read the review on Yum List and watched the video on that page (check it out for *major* food porn) I was expecting it to be nestled between some other shops, like many of the
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| Inside the sugar-candy apple is a delicious apple creme, with a yummy cinnamon crumb on the bottom |
I only had the apple (RM65, c. $16) and some Earl Gray tea (RM12 or c. $4), and it was delightful for the novelty effect. I mean - it was tasty, but the outside shell wasn't interesting or really worth eating, and the inside was delightful though there wasn't much of it. I AM hoping to talk some coworkers into coming back with me for the insanity in the video - I mean, when again would one have a chance at something like that...?!
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| Nasi Lemak take-out from Souled Out |
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| Smoked salmon on a delicious house-made bagel, with a refreshing light salad at Wild Honey |
Earlier today, while having brunch / lunch with a coworker, I discovered a second favorite (not second-favorite, but the second place I really liked) local restaurant. Wild Honey is (shocker!) in a mall, in fact directly across from my first favorite place. It's billed as an all-day breakfast place, and their menu has an intriguing selection of breakfasts from around the world, both sweet and savory, and some interesting coffee/tea and juice selections.
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| The Thai iced tea came in 3 parts: tea ice cubes, hot milk in the cute bottle to melt the ice cubes, and a little pot of simple syrup to sweeten to taste - delish AND adorbs! :) |
The smoked salmon bagel I had (RM36, c. $9) was truly delicious (can you SEE all that salmon just standing on end in there?!), and the light green salad was such a refreshing change from the surprising lack of vegetables in the regular meals I've been having (lots of rice and meat, little veg). The bagel I believe was made in-house, and seemed like a really delicious cross between what we think of as a bagel and bread; not sure they boiled it to get that bagel-y exterior, but regardless, it was super yummy.
The Thai iced tea (RM12, or c. $4) was fun and delicious (though the whole milk was somewhat too heavy; maybe next time I'll ask for skim, if they have it). My coworker also really enjoyed his breakfast - it was his first morning in KL, and I'm happy to have brought him here!
I didn't get a photo but, though in the mall, the ambiance here is cute, chill, and comfy. There are even some nice colorful armchair-type seats, so I can foresee coming here on future lazy weekends (I don't imagine we'll be having many lazy or even free evenings...) to read or do a crossword.
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| Suki-Ya - with a 2-hour limit on what you can stuff |
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| All done! That's some soft-serve green tea ice cream in the forefront |
Yesterday I also went out to lunch with a different coworker. He's been here in KL for over 6 months, so is almost a local and suggested that, despite the long line, we go to Suki-Ya, a hot-pot / shabu-shabu place in the Japanses section of, you guess it, the mall.
The wait was long, the food was tasty and cheap - all you can eat for around RM40 / c. $10 (I got a water which added RM3 to the price). Not sure this will be a frequent place for me, but certainly glad to have checked it out!
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| Page of Hummi on the Al-Amar menu |
Ok, ok, want to know what my first (chronologically) favorite place is?? A Lebanese place called Al-Amar. The menu started with an impressive full page of different styles of hummus (I had a Beiruti, RM18, c. $4.50) - fabulous, with just the right consistency and amount of tahini mixed in - so fabulous when someone gets it right!
Oh, before the hummus came, they brought out the mint lemonade I ordered, which was crushed with ice and had a fantastically tangy and minty flavor - just delightful. They also brought out an amuse-bouche, I guess, which had these two small pita-bagely things with a bit of humus, spicy olives, and some zaatar in olive oil. SO good, and totally cute.
The hummus came, and then was followed by a basket of little puffy just-out-of-the-oven warm pitas. Perfection. The Chich Tawouk (skewer-grilled marinated chicken, RM39, c. $10) was perfectly spiced (though the pita it came in was superfluous)
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| Delish! Icy-frothy mint lemonade, zaatar in olive oil, humus, and spicy olives at Al-Amar |
As everything was SO delicious, I actually left part of my meal to take home, and tried their balkava (RM16, c. $4). Amazing!
So, overall, for roughly $30US, I got a tremendously delicious multi-course meal - that also lends itself quite well to leftovers. Hell yea, I'll be coming back here! :)
Finally, I have found it - food heaven!! These are my people, they understand how to make a real hummus, a pita worth eating, and a well spiced chicken skewer. And to top it off, they were playing an Arabic version of Autumn Leaves. Hallelujah and amen, I have reached the promised land!
Two coworkers were talking about wanting to find good middle eastern food (this came up after we tried some at the food court at work that was *terrible*). I'm delighted to now let them know that I have just the place!
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| Hummus Beiruti and Chich Tawouk at Al-Amar - perfection! |
Ok - it's getting late and I'm getting tired - so in the spirit of posting this tonight, I'll just end here by saying that pretty much all the food-court food I've tried (other than some juices) has been terrible (as expected), and several places I just walked into with no pre-planning have also been disappointing. So, it certainly not the case that all food here is mana from heaven. However, it is very possible to find very tasty things, and often on the super-cheap.
I, of course, have a list compiled from various reviews, and will keep reporting. :)
Below a few more photo-based comments.
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| Lot 10 Houtong Food Court - where the best local street vendors set up shop - no regular food court! By the time I made it here, I really needed to sit somewhere more quiet and chill, away from crowds, but didn't want to leave without at least trying something. I picked what looked like a pork bun, but turned out to be a sweeter dough, with some crunch to the outside and some flakiness. The inside was dark and nondescript, and the whole thing was utterly delicious. I munched on it as I was walking out of Lot 10 and was almost questioning my decision to leave. Will definitely come back. |
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| What I think will become a common lunch for me, from the supermarket at the work-mall |
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| Boring and relatively pricey (RM 48, c. $12) breakfast at the Pullman hotel |
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| Lunch at The Greyhound, a place I just walked into (vs. having found based on good reviews) - some sort of shrimpy rice that was quite tasty, as was the broth in the top left; I did not partake of the green chilis on the little place |
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| A salmon appetizer at The Grayhound; it was pretty good, though the side of plain lettuce, green beans, and strips of cucumber was a little awkward to manage |
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| A relatively disappointing dinner at Michelangelo's, a highly rated Italian place at the Pavilion. Too bland, just unimpressive and uninteresting |
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| I don't know if this really was delicious, or if for whatever reason it just totally hit the spot. At the lounge restaurant at the Pullman hotel: smoked salmon on ciabatta with some sort of creamy cheese (not actual cream cheese, as they claimed on the menu), and greens, capers, etc. Even the fries were extra tasty. |
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| Really disappointing chicken satay and greasy sauteed veggies at the Pullman |
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| First night's room service; the wonton soup (the silver carafe holds delicious chicken broth) was super good; the "international cheese plate" was... bizarre! Huge slabs of 2 kinds of unidentifiable bland cheeses with a small handful of crackers; overall, the hotel food was super inconsistent, even on the same dish; occasionally quite good, but more often than not very disappointing - and relatively pricey. I know, no big surprise there... |
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