Thursday, October 30, 2014

Doiffee Café @Taman Desa, Old Klang Road – Delicious Gourmet Coffee and Thai Inspired Food Review


Doiffee Café @Taman Desa located at 10A, Jalan Desa Jaya, Taman Desa, Old Klang Road Kuala Lumpur is a distinctive new café that is serving up gourmet coffee and Thai inspired food serving in the neighbourhood of Taman Desa, which does not have many such cafe in this area and Old Klang Road.


The café is decorated as a homely décor that exudes a charming setting. All the tables and chairs are different unlike other restaurants, which have standard furniture throughout the café, as it allows the customer the option of having to seat comfortably like at home.


So, what does Doiffee means? Doi in Thai means mountain - Doiffee Café literally means Mountain Coffee Café as coffee is usually grown on mountains quoted by the owner. 


At Doiffee Café @Taman Desa, the coffee serves here are of a few roast type, with bean supplies coming from France i.e.Malongo – specially for the espresso, Singapore Highlander and the Caribbean Cuban.


For a start, we had the POPCORN COFFEE. Although the coffee was of a mild and light taste, the popcorn flavoured infused taste and aroma of the popcorn was strong and flavourful. Fans of popcorn would love this drink.


Next, we had the Iced Latte, it was a light shot of coffee with smooth blended snow ice. At Doiffee Café @Taman Desa, they have a special ice shaving machine that can churn out smooth and fine snow ice.


After that, we had the Hot Chocolate which was from France. It has a distinctive and strong chocolaty taste and aroma. It is a comforting hot drink to warm oneself especially cold weather night, more so for us that night as it was raining cats and dogs while we were leisurely enjoying our cuppa of hot chocolate. 



For me, this was followed by the star of the night, which is the AFFOGATO. The affogato was of the French roast which has a double shot of espresso, it was very strong and you can taste the kick of it while it was a nice pairing with the smooth gelato from KAPITI. The sweetness of the vanilla gelato from New Zealand was blended well with every scoop of the espresso mix with it. 


We start off our dinner with a special Thai Salad i.e. PAPAYA SALAD, it tasted like vinaigrette papaya with a strong dash of chilli padi. The papaya was still has the crunch which is nice and was a good starter to whet your appetite.


This was followed by the MANGO SALAD, the mango was of the Japanese Lilly Mango and tasted very refreshing minus out the sourishness in other mango type. Coupled with the onion and chilli padi in the dressing, it was a tad more spicy for most people. We like the roasted peanuts toppings as the crunch add an interesting dimension to the salad.


When the SUMMER SALAD was brought to the table, our eyes were feasted as the salad was very well decorated with brimming fresh garden lettuce at the bottom, and was topped with alfalfa, pomegranates, cherries tomatoes, capsicum, and carrots. 


There are 2 home made dressing for this salad i.e. Refreshing Dressing which we had and Oriental Dressing which is unique and might need to get use to it to enjoy this salad.


Our first main dish of the night is DRUNKEN SEAFOOD SPAGHETTI; it is one of the specialties serves here. The generous topping of scallop, prawns and squids makes this dish super yummy for seafood lovers like me as each spoonful of spaghetti is accompanied with one of the fresh and chewy seafood pieces. 


The sauce is infused with some red wine, peppercorn with a strong aroma of the basil and fragrant that makes eating this dish very tantalizing.


The next dish is the KERABU MINCED CHICKEN SPAGHETTI – as we were used to eating pasta with a lot of sauces, this dish was a little surprise, i.e. a little dry. It looks quite plain as it is, it tasted very much like a dry noodles that we had but the taste of the minced chicken meat was cooked with mint, basil and with some spices, which made it interesting.


For dessert, we had the MANGO STICKY RICE which is a very popular Thai style dessert. The glutinous rice was very flavourful eaten as it is. Most shop that I had this dessert, the glutinous rice is usually quite bland and starchy. Although the santan that came with the dessert was a bit too little, it was very flavourful nevertheless and was ideal for the mix of the rice, santan and the sweet ripen mango.


Lastly, we had the very picturesque KOI FISH JELLY, this KOI FISH Jelly based is the perfect mixture of coffee taste into the jelly, while the darker colored was with extra doses of coffee, which was very fragrant when eaten. 


Doiffee Café@Taman Desa, also serves the emerald pandan egg santan jelly which has a strong pandan flavoured taste.


The night ended with another cuppa we had, it was the CAPUCHINO, a bit light for me though but a splendid end to a night out with my fellow bloggers on the Café Hopping Malaysia project.


At Doiffee Café@Taman Desa, you can choose to relax in the ambience of home like, while sipping your favourite drinks in this part of town with your family and friends. The food serves at Doiffee Café@Taman Desa is quite interesting as it is presented to diners. Like the saying goes, we eat with our eyes first.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

The Porki Society @Sea Park Petaling Jaya - Boat Noodle - All Pork Review Best Restaurant



The Porki Society @ Sea Park Petaling Jaya is a new Boat Noodle Restaurant located at 10, Jalan 21/19 Sea Park, Section 21, 46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor


Boat Noodle is one of the latest food craze in the Klang Valley these days. Most of the time, it is more of the fun of doing it rather than really going for the food.


Boat Noodle is a street dining concept from the Land of the Smiles - Thailand. Currently, there are many proprietors bringing this concept into Malaysia, to cater to this latest craze.


The Porki Society concept is using plain daily material like wood pieces to make it into colourful stool and tables. Concept wise it looks like the wood use from recycle material – a clever deployment of a lively hawker like outlet. 


The seating concept is one of a Thai fast food outlet and provides a nice environment for some simple and quick meal


One of the main focus for Porki Society is the main ingredient is PORK. So every dishes that are served here are PORK based. So, if you are a pork lovers, this is the place for you.


To start off, we had of course the boat noodle itself i.e. there are 2 version one which is dry which can come with the normal Mee Hoon 


or Dry Rice Noodles

and the other soupy version which you can also choose to have the Mee Hoon. 


Soupy Rice Noodles –  the dark Thai sauce flavoured broth has a unique taste with the use of the special Thai fish sauce and it has a slight burnt taste – which lingers throughout the restaurant.


Both the version has a small serving of the noodles, with a piece of slice pork and ½ a meat ball, some pork liver cutlet, some bean sprout and aromatic coriander leaves.


I find the noodles and all the snacks which go pretty well with the spicy chilli dip sauce. The chilli sauce is a little spicy for some but was just good for me.


At The Porki Society @ Sea Park they serve a variety of tasty Thai street titbits / snacks which, among some of the favourites that are served in this restaurant are as below


The CAP MOO PORK RINDS – which is actually Pork Skin in thin cut out like twisties or fries like pieces which is deep fried to a crisp – It is very crunchy, which is good as a snacks and will be a perfect pairing for some cold beers.


LUK CHIN MOO – PORK BALL IN SOUP – The pork meat ball was very juicy and tender with strong dry squid pieces, which help to enhance the overall taste of the meatballs. 


This was then followed by MOO TUN SIGNATURE MARINATED PORK which taste and looks like some braised pork cutlet, the gravy was tasty and the meat was braised until it was tender not overcooked. 


Next, we had the MOO LUAK CHIM – SIGNATURE AROMA PORK. This is actually slices of tender pork in plain soup. It tasted like the one we had for our Chinese Pork Noodles. Although the taste was a bit plain, eaten with the chilli sauce, it add a new dimension to the taste altogether.


MOO TOO PORKI – This pork is like a mini fried pork chop fillet. I like this as it was like a fried to the right texture, which was still crisp on the outside and you can really taste the marinade extruding out from the tender chewy pork meat with every bite. 


This dish is very addictive, in that you will find you want another piece as you finish a piece and so forth. 


MOO PING PORKI BBQ – This is very much like the Malaysian Satay, quite nicely grilled but a little expensive as it cost Rm4.90 per 2 pieces. Each of the grilled skewer was individual grill and was still succlent


Again, very addictive to eat and also a nice pairing if one would to eat it with a cold beer.


The Porki Society @ Sea Park is truly a unique dining experience of Boat Noodle. So, if you are really a big fan of this craze then you can give this place a try-out.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Taste Enclave Classic@Pavilion - Tasting Best KL Hawker Street Food in Pavilion Review


Eating hawker street food have never been more comfortable to me than this. For once, I get to enjoyed some of the few best hawker street food of Kuala Lumpur in a posh and comfortable dining place.


Now you can enjoy all this tasty KL hawker street food without the sweat at Taste Enclave Classic@Pavilion located at located a Lot 2.65.00, 2.67.00 & 2.74.00, Level 2, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, No. 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.


The dining concept here is a simple modern design, which is brightly lit unlike those hawker place where it is dim and most of the time you don't get to see what you eat. Also at Taste Enclave Classic, it is super clean compared to the dingy places where these local favourites are served.


Taste Enclave Classic @Pavilion brings some of KL favourites and nostalgic hawker fare like Nasi Ayam Singapura, Heun Kee Claypot Rice, Jalan Kayu Prata, Ah Hui Bak Kut Teh, Tong's Roast, Sentul Ah Yap Hokkien Mee, Xi Min Mini Wok and Big Tap & Fruit Juice Bar with an OPEN KITCHEN concept - which you can see the cooking process taken, to cook your favourite hawker fare right before your eyes.


I ordered a very special drink called the Avocado with Gula Melaka. It is a very interesting mix of blended Avocado with the distinctive sweet taste of the Gula Melaka. It is not too sweet and was quite refreshing start for the night.


For dinner, we had the Nasi Ayam Singapura set, which consists of a plate of Steamed Chicken. The steamed chicken was very fleshy and have a firm texture which too me is the most basic requirement for a nice Chicken rice meal.


This is because at Taste Enclave Classic@Pavilion, they use the Choi Yuen (Village) Chicken which, its meat are of a much better quality compared with the normal chicken (farmed and cage chicken) which usually are quite plain taste and soft texture.


Teochew Braised Eggs - this is the Singapore style braised eggs which has its root link back to the teochew style that Singapore is popular for. This is part of the Nasi Ayam Singapura set.


and lastly the Oyster sauce vegetable to complete the Nasi Ayam Singapura.


Then we tried the Roast Duck From Tong's Roast, the skin was crisp and meat was tender yet succulent to every bite. This set is served with White Rice.


This was then followed by Claypot Rice from Heun Kee - The Claypot was filled with Waxed Chinese Sausages, Chicken meat and the Salted fish which is a must for this dish. My suggestion is to mix and eat this rice as quickly as possible, as any delay might cause some dryness to the entire dish.


Next, we had the special Bak Kut Teh from Ah Hui Bak Kut Teh. This is a KL style Bak Kut Teh, meaning it is of a clear soup type, which unlike the Klang cousin, which is of the thick gravy type. For KL version of Bak Kut Teh, it has to be having, a strong herbalish aroma. For my kick of Bak Kut Teh, I usually frequent  a place in Pudu for my fix of this dish and always used that as my benchmark for any other Bak Kut Teh. The version here, although still quite aromatic and flavourful, still lack the total fire power of my favourite BKT.


Lastly, we had the Murtabak from Jalan Kayu Prata. It was a Chicken Murtabak that was nicely done and tasted delicious, when eaten with the curry and dhall that came with it. It was as expected from the outlet although the filling is much more at Taste Enclave Classic @Pavilion compared to the original shop which I had.


Taste wise most of the offering of hawker street food from Taste Enclave Classic @Pavilion are as close as what you get from visiting the individual outlet, but as mention, you dine in a comfortable and classy ambience, that will delight your senses and taste buds at a small premium price.

Read our other review of

Taste Enclave @ Sunway Pyramid Hotel - Bringing Popular Famous Street Food In A Comfortable Ambience 

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

COEN Cafe@Pavilion - New Cafe That Serves Scandinavian Food and Gourmet Coffee Review



There are not many restaurant that serve Scandinavian food in Kuala Lumpur, I had the honoured to review the newly opened COEN Cafe @Pavilion which is located a Lot 2.65.00, 2.67.00 & 2.74.00, Level 2, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, No. 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.


COEN CAFE@Pavilion offers a modern contemporary interior featuring clean aesthetics design combined with natural and raw materials such as wood and steel.


One will notice while dining at COEN CAFE@Pavilion, are their custom-made chairs which are functional in design yet comfortable.


After our sumptuous dinner at the Taste Enclave Classic@Pavilion, we had the Swedish Seafood Cake, which is a very unique dish in that it is made out of six layers of alternating bread and a seafood mix of salmon, shrimp, eggs and mayonnaise.


It is then top with a generous amount of Deshell Prawns and Smoked Salmon. The sides are lined with slices of cucumber and lemon to add to a refreshing taste. Gently squeeze out the lemon juice as you cut out the section, and the blended zesty lemon juice will enhance the overall flavours of the mixed mayonnaise sauce.


This Swedish Seafood Cake is served chilled.


Next, we had the Affogato, the blend of double shot Espresso (Brazilian, Ethiopian  and Sumatran beans) was an in-house developed blend.


It was of a bitter taste on your first sip, while the flavours lingers around your mouth and stay smooth in your throat with the fresh coffee aroma, was indeed delicious. Coupled with the silky smooth vanilla ice cream, every spoonful was a mixture of the all the natural sweetness and flavours of the coffee.


For those who loves to listen to some light numbers after a nice meal, COEN CAFE@Pavilion has a resident artist that performs 'Live' and belts out some of the favourite tune to wind you down after a long day.