The Olive Tree, Menara Hap Seng

It’s not often that we come across buffet lunch priced below RM30. This afternoon I had lunch at one of such places. RM25 for an eat-all-you-can meal at Olive Tree. If you go in a larger group, the price per head comes down – RM60 nett for 3 pax….and on weekends children below the age of 8 eat for free!

The spread isn’t huge but it is sufficient for a very decent and satisfying meal!

  

Address:  Ground Floor

Menara Hap seng

Tel : +603 2031 7887

Master, Visa and Amex accepted.

Mulberry Restaurant & Bar, Jalan Ampang

Along a row of what I would call run down buildings, number 9 clearly stands out, what more with the huge font ‘MULBERRY CAFE’. To find the parking to this building is a little on the challenging side if you have not been here before. Let me give you a simple guide as to how to get here. There is obviously no access to the parking lots from the front of the building. 

You would need to drive along Jalan Gereja, go up the hill that leads you to St John’s cathedral. Drive past the cathedral and look out for a huge number 9 on your right. Tell the car park attendant that you are going to Mulberry, get the parking paper (yes, it’s just a thin piece of paper) from him and when you dine at Mulberry, get it stamped for free parking. Easy peasy!

Set lunch was available at RM30. I had the fruit punch – love this tangy drink!

  

 I chose Mexican seafood salad for starters. I love the colourful and impeccably presented salad.  The seafood was fresh and the taste was simply superb.

For the main course, I decided on the pan- seared lemon salt red tilapia. Served with sautéed vegetables as well as  pineapple and apricot chutney , I found the taste of this dish to be unusual….I would think that’s the best word I can think of. I wouldn’t say it was delicious, but it wasn’t bad either….it just tasted, well, UNUSUAL!

This is my dessert –semolina pudding. If you are wondering what semolina is, it is the coarse grains which are leftover after flour is milled.

Address: 9 Ming Annexe

alan Ampang

50450 Kuala Lumpur

Mastercard & Visa accepted

Ah Yip Herbal, Summit USJ

I’m back at Ah Yip Herbal for some nutritious soup. This time around the soup was a bit 

overpowering. However, the oiled vegetables ie yau mak was excellent –crunchy and fresh.

This is chicken with black fungus which I ordered  for its purported health benefits – reducing cholesterol and blood cleansing. With its bittersweet taste, it complemented the chicken very well.

Duck thigh noodles- as always this is served in herbal soup. If ribs which fall off the bones easily are considered excellent, then duck meat that fall off the bone easily should be good too – and this was what I  got.

Address: Lot LG 51 & 52 Lower Ground Floor

The Summit Subang USJ

Persiaran Kewajipan

USJ 1 47600 UEP Subang Jaya

Tel :   +603 8024 7793

 Mastercard & Visa accepted

Gilly Café Inn

It was noon and we needed a ‘cave’, a hiding place, to just get out from the scorching heat outside. A look at the set menu told us that prices were reasonable and so we just chilled out at Gilly Café Inn for a short while.

The set came with free orange juice and ice cream. We ordered 4 different sets to share:-

Orange juice

Ice cream

This is Hakka style braised pork (RM9.90) – with some rice at the bottom of the bowl, the braised pork and egg were tasty.

Roast chicken rice (RM8.90) – we all got a pleasant surprise when this arrived. We were thinking of conventional chicken rice….but the owner thought out of the box and presented us with chicken on top of some rice in a bowl. I must say it was good.

Noodle with gravy (RM7.90) – with its thick noodles and equally thick gravy, this dish had sufficient ingredients to make it delicious.

Fried noodles (RM7.90) – stir fried over what I call intense heat from the stove, I have no complaints, but rather compliments for this plate of noodles.

Address: No 5 , Ground Floor

Jalan Manis 3

Taman Segar, Cheras

Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +603 9131 3772

Yume Cuisine, Tropicana City Mall

I’ve always referred to this restaurant as the Sponge Bob restaurant as you can easily spot it due to the Sponge Bob T-shirt hanging next door. I was told that the owner actually started off with a business in fashion and accessories but then decided to give food a try.

Our drinks  -coconut (RM6) , grape juice (RM6.90)  & herbal tea (RM3):-

Special rice noodle (RM18) – well, with a name like this I expected the noodles to have some oomph..and yes, it certainly did have something special. The noodles were firm and the soup was tasty. Love it!

Special sweet and sour pork (RM18) – what makes this dish so unique is the fact that it is served in ice. I have often wondered what ice & a piping hot dish like this would turn out to be – and…well, it turned out to be truly delicious and I would highly recommend it.

Broccoli (RM12) – one can never go wrong with this dish…hence I’ve no complaints about it.

Stir fried escargot with celery (RM20) – I’ve always loved escargots (read : cooked Western style)  but this version, which was spicy was a first for me and I would say it was surprisingly yummy.

Prawns in dragon fruit (RM30) – prawns cooked with dragon fruit and served in just the skin of the fruit – frankly, I’ve never come across this dish before and the first bite already told me that this would be a dish I can eat anytime, anywhere.

Steamed bean curd with minced pork and prawns (RM12) – despite its rather simple presentation, this dish was very appetising.

All in all I would sum up the food here as excellent!

Address: 33 & 33A Ground Floor

Tropicana City Mall

No 3 Jalan SS20/27

Petaling Jaya

Tel : +603 7725 6636

Visa & Mastercard accepted

Papa’s Café, Tropicana City Mall

What drew me in to Papa’s Café was the spanking white walls which instantaneously gave me the impression of an impeccably  clean eatery.

Cincau ice (RM3.50) and barley. The barley drink came in a set together with the sang mee set priced at RM9.90.

Vanilla milk shake (RM7.90) and strawberry milk shake (RM7.90) – I would say Papa’s Café serves one of the better milk shakes. I can vouch for this as I am a HUGE fan of milkshakes!

This is the sang mee which I mentioned earlier. It comes with a generous amount of cabbage and fish cake. The springy noodles were yummy.

Nasi lemak ayam (RM9.90) – with the usual compliments of peanuts, cucumber slices, anchovies, sambal, hard boiled eggs and a chicken thigh, this nasi lemak was just alright.

Salmon steak (RM25.90) – I would call this a salmon steak with a difference. Served with fries, cucumber slices and some mushrooms and sweet peas, I found this rather interesting. The salmon was fully coated in sauce..and that would be my only complaint of this dish –would prefer if the gravy/sauce is served separately.

This is called papa’s kiddo (RM9.90) – a platter meant for kids. With the usual kiddie stuff such as sausage, fried eggs, sliced cucumber, hash brown and some fries, this dish made a good breakfast.

Address: Lot L1-56

1^st Floor

Tropicana City Mall

Petaling Jaya

Tel : +603 7729 8158

Malaqa Nyonya House, SS15 Subang

We were craving for good, authentic Nyonya food once again last evening after our nice meal nyonya meal in Melaka. So, we decided to take a slow drive around SS15 in search of one. We saw this place called Malaqa and decided to give it a try.

I love how this place has been done up to give me that real Nyonya feel as I walked in….

We ordered warm water (50 sen each) and a strawberry smoothie (RM9.50) and an apple juice (RM4.50). The apple juice wasn’t freshly squeezed juice and was way too sweet for me.

This is chicken ponteh – 4 pieces of chicken for RM12.50. It was not bad, but definitely did not match the ones my Nyonya grandma used to make.

This is lemak pineapple prawn (RM14.50) – with the right amount of coconut milk and spices, this was indeed awesome.

Steam ladies fingers (RM7.50) – perfectly steamed to maintain the crispiness of the okra yet not over steaming them, this was a great dish..and  I’ll say the sambal was slightly better than grandma’s!!

Golden pillow (RM6) – we did not have any idea what this was…and when it came, I did not touch this at all. This had durian paste fillings and I am NOT a durian fan. I must say that it would be good if the waiter had told us what the ‘pillows’ contained when we placed our order.

Address : 84G, Jalan SS15/4

Subang Jaya

Tel : +603 5612 3618

Opening hours: 10am to 11pm

Website : www.tachihouse.com.my

Mastercard & Visa accepted