The Merchant @ Armada Hotel Petaling Jaya - REFRESHED RESTYLED REBRANDED Entertainment Centre

After 17 great years of operations as Merchant Pub, the familiar watering hole in Petaling Jaya has now undergone a major makeover. +BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to experience first hand the restyled and re branded of The Merchant.

The bar offers a swanky comfort akin to a hybrid of cosmopolitan New York bar and an updated London gentlemen's club. Exuding elegance and style, The Merchant is well designed with a stunning long illuminated copper and wood bar that immediately commands full attention.

The Merchant serves up an enormous range of whiskies in addition to a full range of other liquors such as beer, brandy, gin, vodka and wine. The bar also offers an extensive menu of main courses and light bites to delight palates of all kind.

Different spaces are created catering to the various guests' preferences. One such addition is 'The Balcony' an outdoor seating space with curious views overlooking the busy Federal Highway.

Another feature of the bar is the illuminated long and high Onyx Table and barstools perfect to cater to large groups, communal tastings or wine dinner events. Different types of high seating arrangements can also be found at the “Beer Barrel” and “Chess” tables.

For those with a more sophisticated preference, a Cigar Lounge, where retro glamour meets contemporary style is chic yet relaxed. Enjoy the company of friends over a nightcap and fine cigar while listening to the soft sounds of smooth jazz and seductive lounge music.

A dedicated games area with bricked walls offers up a more rustic atmosphere. Here, guests can enjoy a game of pool or score a bullseye on the Electronic Darts Machines.

The Merchant makes for a perfect pre-dinner venue, a meeting place for after work drinks or work off the excess partying at the adjoining The Merchant Live, and end with an indulgent nightcap back at The Merchant. 

The Merchant, a new paradigm in bar experience.

For those that prefer some live entertainment or karaoke you can try out the Merchant Live which is The Armada Hotel's brand new entertainment venue catering to the ante on live entertainment. 

Built around the ambition to create a unique club where design, music and guests form a new dimension of inspiration and quality live entertainment.

Fitted out with a sleek illuminated island bar, state-of-the-art sound system by TW Audio, three spacious private suites offering touch screen karaoke entertainment, a DJ console and a generously spaced stage where performing artists take centre stage, The Merchant Live is poised to turn things up a notch in the quiet hub of Petaling Jaya.

Early evenings at The Merchant Live will see retro classics and one hit wonders from the 80’s and 90’s pumping out all night long. The live band then takes over performing a diverse mélange of the hottest music mixing and blending, contrasting and highlighting the different genres of music weaving a web of music that entrances the crowd to groove along.

Escape into any of the three private suites themed red, gold and silver respectively with up to 30 pax capacity where guests can revel in plush and roomy comfort, and sing their heart out while entertaining in style and privacy. 

For those taking time out for their vocal cords, a Phoenix Darts Machine lay await in each suite with the biggest suite even having it’s very own British Pool Table.

The Merchant and The Merchant Live; your new entertainment destination in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Yaki San Yakitori @ Sunway Pyramid Shopping - Japanese BBQ Snack Food Review

Japanese food is always one of my favourite food; with that +BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to taste another Yakitori outlet; this one resembles those that you commonly find in Japan; kiosk like or fast food type compared to the one (premium yakitori) that we had at Ri Yakitori at The Garden Hotels recently.

Yaki San Yakitori is located at Lot F1 AV 77- 83, Sunway Pyramid, 46150 Petaling Jaya. It is located at the vicinity of Asian Avenue. Yaki San means Mr Grilled; well you guess it, most of the food served here are grilled and fried. 

Yaki San serves an array of Japanese snack food; usually the Japanese eat these snack food with cold beer after a hard day at work i.e. Happy Hour. The setup of Yaki San is one that is of a fast food type; where patrons can order from the counter and either eat at the outlet or take away and eat during their shopping activities. 

Yaki San @ Sunway Pyramid serves an array of grilled items; in fact it has a special auto griller that does the first round of grilling to ensure all round cooking of the yakitori and then another griller as above to charred it a little more before serving to the guest.

Our review started with the order of the Shiitake Mushroom (RM2.90), Chicken with Leek (RM2.90)  Chicken with Green Pepper (RM2.70) and Chicken Thigh (RM2.20). 

Shiitake Mushroom still on the griller

Chicken With Leek

Chicken With Green Pepper

While the second round of orders are the Chicken Karaage (RM2.70). Very crisp skin with a thin layer of chicken; loves this.

Grilled Tofu (RM2.30); another of my favourite at Yaki San.

Chicken Skin (RM1.60); sinfully delicious - better without the sauce. 

and Quail Egg (RM2.70)

You have an option to order the YakiTori with rice in a combo set with 3 sticks of Yakitori (RM8.90) or with 4 sticks (RM9.90).

For families you can order a 10 sticks (RM22.00) or 15 sticks (RM32.00).

For real fans of Yakitori, you can eat the special promotion YAKI SAN's 'ALL YOU CAN EAT' for RM 20 nett per person offer from 25th July 2015 onwards! (12pm-2pm & 7pm-9pm) only. Offer is for a LIMITED TIME only. Please check out whether offer is still available.

Leong's Kitchenette USJ 21 Subang Jaya - Tasty Family Secret Recipe Food Review Best Restaurant

If you are near the Main Place @USJ 21, you can try out some special family home cook secret recipe of the Leong Kitchenette located at 5-1, Jalan USJ 21/7 47620 Subang Jaya Selangor.

Leong Kitchenette @USJ 21 has a very simple, clean and a no frill setup. It offers a friendly family dining atmosphere with simple flavourful dishes.

+BestRestaurant ToEat started the food review with a starter which is Assam Flavour Squid

(RM 16.00). The assam paste was extremely flavourful while the white squid was fresh and has a bouncy texture which was complemented with the ladies fingers and long beans. It has us adding rice as the sauce have the right spiciness and assamese taste.

Next, was the Hong Kong Style Fried Chicken Wings (RM 14.00) (S). The chicken wings skin was fried to a very crispy and crunchy texture although the use of batter was minimal.  The deep flavour of the paste used to marinate the wings was very delicious although a tad of saltiness was evident. Best eaten with white rice.

After that was the Braised Pork Belly with Yam (RM 12.00), a special homemade secret recipe that is used to braised this Hakka pork belly.  Like the earlier dish, it is best eaten with rice. We are a little concern now that we will be too full after the amount of rice that we have taken as it is only our 3rd dish.

To complement our dishes with a vegetables, we had the Stir Fry Watercress with Garlic (RM 10.00). The watercress used was the baby watercress which has a very nice soft springy texture.

Another dish that goes well with the rice is the Bean Curd Home Made Thai Style (RM 9.00). Being Thai, the sauce has a sourish base and a little spicy with fish sauce taste. 

Another dish for the rice was the Chicken Drumsticks with Marmite Sauce (RM 14.00). The chicken thigh are first fried and then coated with a flavourful marmite sauce that has a sticky feel.

For those that like to have a fish to accompanied their meal, you can try out the Tilapia Steamed with Home Made Paste (RM 18.00). It would have been perfect if they add in the crunchy pork lard to give it an extra taste.

A Chinese meal cannot go by without a soup;  for us, we had 2 different double boil soup; the first of which is the Old Cucumber soup (RM6.00). 

and the Lotus Root with Peanut soup (RM6.00).

At Leong's Kitchenette @USJ 21, there are 2 Specialty Dishes; the first of which is the Fried Porridge - also one of the main reason, we are here today as we have never their fried porridge before. The first Fried Porridge that we had is the Mackerel (Tenggiri) Fried Porridge (RM 10.50). How to cook Fried porridge? Essentially you start with frying some ginger with some chicken stock and then putting your ingredient like mackerel and then porridge which is then fried and topped with premium quality sesame oil.

The second is the Abalone Sliced Fried Porridge (RM 12.00). I find this a little more clear compared to the earlier one which has a stronger taste from the fried mackerel fish.

The second specialty of Leong's Kitchenette is the serving of the Crabs, the first of which was the Salt Baked Crab. The crab are first fried and then tossed with salt and margarine to give it a nice dried smokey buttery taste. Love the size and the freshness of the crab which was from Indonesia.

The next crab that we had is the Spicy Milky Crab. This is a real special family recipe; we find the sauce very close to the butter style sauce but instead of using butter, the chef uses the sweeten milk (the one that they used for fish head noodle). We were told that 1/2 can of the milk is used to cook this crab or you can imagine the taste of the sauce.

This Spicy Milky Crab is best eaten with the Fried mantou (RM 4.00) for 6 pieces. The fried golden brown mantou has a crisp texture on the outside while the filling is soft; you can lick up the sauce with this mantou. Leong's Kitchenette @USJ 21 is having a promotion for their crab which is RM 65.00 per kg - (normal price is RM85.00).

If you are one that really enjoy good food and not the ambiance or decor, Leong's Kitchenette @USJ 21 Subang Jaya is a definite place to go for some real home cook dishes and most important for Crab lover you don't need to travel far to enjoy some nice crabs or specialty Fried Porridge.

Pizzolo @ Atria Shopping Gallery Damansara Jaya - Modern Italian Cuisine Review

 

Atria Shopping Gallery has recently open its doors after a major facelift of the entire shopping centre. +BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to review a Modern Italian Cuisine at Pizzolo @Atria Shopping Centre located at C36, Concourse Floor Atria Shopping Gallery, Jalan SS22/23, Damansara Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

The decor at Pizzolo is one of a casual photo studio setting with vibrant colour decor to provide the ambiance for your dining pleasure.

We had 2 salad to start off our review; the first of it; is the Chilled Tomato, Watermelon and Feta (RM17.90). A refreshing start to our review as the watermelon which was cut to a mini log have the sweetness flavour mix with the Feta cheese.

Next, we had the Seared Scallop with Avocado (RM25.90). We love the texture of the large scallop. The Pan Seared Scallop which was sauteed with some light salt was flavourful and goes nicely with the Avocado sauce. 

This was then followed by the Traditional Italian Clam Chowder (RM16.90). The soup was cooked with fresh clam and was very tasteful especially when eaten with the accompanied buttered toast.

The next soup was the Wild Mushroom Cappuccino (RM14.90); we were expecting that coffee would be used to cook this soup; but it was not meant to be. The Cappuccino is the foam that was topped up on the soup. 

After that, we had the Wood Fired Pizza which the first is Roast Lamb Shoulder Pizza (RM35.90). The pizza crust is the thin crust and with it the crunchy feel when one bite into it. We had not really eaten any lamb pizza more so a lamb shoulder. We find the combination taste to be quite tasty.

Next, we had the South Texas Barbeque Chicken (RM28.90); We find the sauce a little sourish to our taste. It also has a very strong smoky taste and for those that loves BBQ sauce; would love this pizza.

Followed by the Sea Clams Linguini (RM28.90). Just love the simple aglio olio style of this pasta.

After that we had some small bites which the first is the Trio of Bruschetta (RM13.90). As the name suggest, there are 3 pieces of bruschetta; the first is topped with chopped tomato while the second is the mushroom and the 3rd piece is topped with chopped smoke salmon.

This is then followed by the Trout Ceviche On Kataifi (RM19.90). The Kataifi is a pastry like angel hair pasta and often referred as shredded wheat. It has a very distinctive taste (slight fishy taste) which you either love it or hate it.

To end the session, we had the Italian Crepe (RM15.90) with an addon Artisanal Ice Cream (RM6.90). We find the sauce which is lemon based; was on a sour note and gives a different taste to this crepe.

Pizzolo @ Atria Shopping Gallery will be a nice place to chill out or dine when you finish your shopping before heading home.