Ms. Jazz reviews: PH Pastry House

Its always pleasant to discover new places to chill out, and PH Pastry house provides the perfect ambience for a casual hangout with friends and family.Opened no less than 2 weeks ago, PH Pastry house primarily focuses on pastries (duh). We were able to relate the similarities with Levain Patisserie in their menu, with a small selections of simple breakfast items such as scrambled eggs and french toast, salads, pastas and pies. Coincidentally, both cafes are situated within walking distances.

I was immediately captivated by the facade and interiors of the cafe, a minimalist concept, with beautiful alfresco settings, both upon entrance and behind the cafe, its interior focus primarily on black, white them and bricks, surrounded by glass which enhances the brightness of the cafe creating a cheerful and casual dining mood.

Alfresco area

RM3.90 per macaroons

Since we've only tried the desserts this visit, i'll leave you guys to explore on the rest. It was unfortunate the desserts here did not flair too well, with many rooms for improvement- im referring mainly to their dry sponge base, which has ac oarse texture that requires some pressure forking through. Fortunately, the coffee is pretty good. Using Bristol coffee beans, my cappucino has a good fragrance, and the foaming was smooth and lovely.

Affogato

Cappucino

I love the concept of this place very much! Looking forward for some more dining experiences in PH Pastry House

PH Pastry House

54 Jalan Utara,

55100 KL

03-21411228

Open Daily 7am-9pm

Facebook page for more info:

www.facebook.com/pastryhousekl

Ms. Jazz Reviews: Antipodean, Bangsar

One should be excited when they see new cafes sprouting around town, after all, there isn't many decent ones available, especially one that serves a good breakfast selection and decent coffee.

Antipodean gives us exactly that, a cosy cafe settings that remind us of Australia's. Blackboard were sprawled across the side walls of the cafe, serving the purpose of a menu, as well as a decor. Much to my delight, a whole list of breakfast items were available, and if they serve PORK bacon (yessss they do!), and all day breakfast (yesss they do too!), i'm SOLD. Scrolling down the menu on the board with alarming speed -i'm well trained like that. I was somewhat dissapointed that eggs benedict/ egg florentine wasn't one in the menu. There wasn't even a choice of poached/ scrambled for your big breakfast, how is that possible? i wish the owner who reads this re-consider to put it in! Trust me, all the breakfast lover would be thrilled!

Truth is, i was a bit hesitant to write this, fearful that if people discover this place, it will be swamped with people, and i end up not able to enjoy my peaceful sunday breakfast day here. But then i thought, heck with it, i'm sure word of mouth gets around faster than my measly little blog. And if eatdrinkkl wrote about it, there's really no hiding. :(

So among all the offerings of what sounds like a delicious set of menu, we opted for Pumpkin & Corn Fritter with Bacon (Pork Bacon yessssss!) for RM15. I had my expectations with Corn Fritter, Especially when you tried the ones in Mart130, Melbourne. You don't go for the secondary.
The version here tasted a bit odd to me, It was served in a soft texture filled with what i suspect an egg mixture and corn kernels with a mild taste of indian spices. It doesn't come with relish like the ones i was accustom to, and it was a bit dry. All in all, i didnt quite like it

Open shredded chicken sandwich (RM16) , sour dough topped with a bed of rocket leaves and a generous amount of shredded lean meat and drizzle with mayo-like sauce. Simple comfort food, but the chicken lacks seasoning, and the sauce fail to uplift the flavours.

Potato Salad on the side

Both dishes standard may not be up-to-par but i must add i'll still be back to try if not all, most of their items in the menu. i mean how can you resist banana pancake with butterscotch (RM14) Big Breakfast (RM18), or French Toast with bacon and maple syrup (RM18)?

Antipodean places a strong emphasis of their coffee, using quality coffee bean from Indonesia  , i've given their Cappuccino a try, it has a strong bitter lingering taste, but lacks the luscious coffee scent i look for, but gratefully, the foaming was perfectly done.  

Antipodean Cafe

20, Jalan Telawi 2,

Bangsar, KL

Tel: 03-22820411

Open 8am- 10pm on all days

Ms. Jazz Reviews: Plan B, Bangsar Village 1

Not sure whether it’s a mini attempt for the Revival of the old BV, but with the recent sprouts of new trendy and chic cafes in the Bangsar Vicinity, it would be a tough competition to beat. This however did not deter Plan B which was opened recently, whom has seemed to charm its way through the crowd.
The place has a nice laid-back vibe, with its interior being simple but trendy, with astray of desserts and baked goods displayed on the long stretch of service counter. When busy, the place possibly hums with vibrancy. It would be a place I’ll love to be seen in, reading a book over a cuppa coffee.

Plan B’s line up is not at all conservative, with a good range of offerings from breakfast (notice how I highlight the word), asian dishes, pastas, sandwiches, and the displays of desserts, it offers something to everyone. I haven’t tried enough dishes, but if I would be to generalize, their desserts flairs better than their mains.
The similarities of successful chain Delicious were glaring. It was in fact the first thing I’ve commented after a quick scan of the menu, without quite knowing it is in fact own by the former Delicious Group.

Prices, much to our delight was slightly more affordable. Main course ranges at about RM20++ whilst you can enjoy desserts at RM12++

Vietnamese Pho (RM17) was a disaster. Few strands of noodles only to be emptied after a few spoonfuls, the beef stock is MSG filled and the beef slices? Don’t even go there. Not sure whether it’s even fresh as it tasted “GAMEY”, dont think anyone uses that word to describe ill-tasting beef, if not- you read it here first. haha

Asian Style Golden Softshell Crab Spaghetti (RM19) tossed in creamy butter sauce, topped with crispy curry leaves & chilli flakes. This spaghetti is for you if you like yours slightly soft, with a spicy kick to it. It wasn’t the best, but it was pretty good considering the price and glad to say they did not skimp on the soft shell crab, which was well-flavoured and deep fried to perfect crispiness.

Praise should go to the Red Velvet Cake (RM9). I often get excited about Red Velvet because of its dramatic appearances of colors. Plan B’s version offers a mild chocolate flavor, moist dense crumbs and thick cream cheese frosting which has a rich buttery flavors/texture , hmmm.. Let’s just say that this is one fine looking devil

Chocolate Truffle Torte (RM12) “Torte” is derived from the Italian word torta, which is used to describe a round cake/ bread. Of course I’m not well versed enough to know that, I just made reference to Wikipedia which is my bible of all things. This dessert is intensely filled with melt-in-your-mouth bittersweet chocolate with an almost fudgy texture. It wasn’t particularly to my liking possibly because it’s not of a good quality chocolate (which in my humble opinion is eminent when it comes to this dessert). But I could be wrong; chocolate are very subjective to personal tastebuds.

When it came to a café concept dining, I can get really anal about my coffee. What’s the point of serving good sandwiches and desserts when there is no good coffee to complement them with? Rooms for improvement for the coffee served here. Whilst the temperature is done right, and the foaming smooth, our flat white (RM5) lacks aroma and caffeine punch, which was a pity as I would love to have that red velvet balanced with a bitter strong coffee. I’d probably ordered a double shot on my next visit here.

Geisha Tea from T2!!! For those not familiar with Tea Too aka T2, it is one of australia largest loose tea retails. I used to craze over them. Crazieapple commented that this is quite nice and has a fruity zest to it.

Iced Mocha. Weak. Weak. Weak. ENuff Said

Crazieapple, The one who eats but does not blog

After a tiring-day at work.

Too soon to give an overall conclusion on this place as there is so much more to try, namely BREAKFAST which warrants another visit soon!!! Wooohooo!! (See you there this weekend? =P)

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Plan B

Bangsar Village 1,

Jalan Telawi 1

Open hours: 11am-10pm

(directly opposite starbucks)

Ms. Jazz Reviews: Jones the Grocer (Singapore)

Breakfast (or brunch) has always been my favourite time of the day. I'm not much of a nasi lemak, roti canai kinda person. Rather i enjoyed a good cuppa coffee, and some poached eggs, sausages and bacon, and of course the ambience also plays a factor in fulfilling my day.

When Silverspoon first opened, i kind of whine to my team, demanding for english breakfast to be served in our place. Although in reality, given the location, and the target market, it wasn't really the most brilliant ideas. But whine i did. demand i did. the idea was thrown away within a blink of an eye. :(:(:(

One of my aim in Singapore is to satisfy my deprivation of some good breakfast, so i did my research beforehand. Unfortunately, i didnt really get to explore the ones jotted on my notebook. Such as Epicurious/ prive. (how frustrating that things never go according to plan!)

But Oh boy, do i LOVE LOVE LOVE Jones the Grocer @ Dempsey Hill (mmm kinda remind me of a classic popular song by aaron kwok, "dui ni ai ai ai bu wan....") i know.. that was totally random.

In this case, ambience plays a huge role for my LOVE x 3, the space is open, and inviting with long communer tables that encourages people to share. i LOVE how they have a huge steelframe service counter for beverage right in the center of the restaurant showcasing the art coffee making, i LOVE how they had a good selection of homemade/imported jams, sauces, spaghettis, and others for sale (p.s. including chilled foie gras (NOT PATE) at a very reasonable price, i LOVE how they SELL a good range of cookbooks and better still you are allow to browse them while you dine.

Basically before i ordered, i'm already a happy woman, easily satisfied.

The big breakfast i had was wonderfully heartening with huge portion for the huge belly (that's me, by the way) A combination of sausages, button mushroom, bacon fried to crisp, toasted with two fat slab of butter, grilled tomato and one of the fluffiest, creamiest, scrambled eggs i've had in a long long time. I've lapped up the very last bits in the platter.

The minor glitch however would be the spanish eggs. A nice presentation of a shallow ramekin arrived on the plank wood, with eggs and cheese, napoli sauce threatened to spill topped with saute spinach, pork bacon (yes u heard right, PORK! it's singapore after all). You can't go wrong with cooked eggs, but much to our dismay, the spinach is overly salted.

Isn't this  an artistic shot? looking at it for a few seconds and i feel my head spinning =P

Coffee in Jones the grocer is reliably good. And if you are interested to take your brunch to another level, a considerable wine selection is available for your consumption.

Overall, i felt that Jones the Grocer carries a good balance between food and ambience. Breakfast- was still incomparable with Melbourne and the search must go on but i had to say, it has satisfied my craving for awhile. The ambience of a simple, comfortable and trendy cafe serves an easy purpose for being a good hangout spot.

Fact check: Their Jones the Grocer Outlet at Al Mamoura has just been awarded the Best Cafe @ Abu Dhabi Time Out Award. (Why Abu Dhabi? that's just weird....)

With 10 outlets around the world, mainly based in Australia, Singapore, and 3 more upcoming ones at the Middle Eastern, i really hope much for them to consider Malaysia to be their next, i'll be your favourite customer- i promise!

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Jones The Grocer

Block 9#01-12 Dempsey Road,

Dempsey Hill

Singapore

Tel: +65 6476 1512

Operating hours: 9am-11pm daily

http://www.jonesthegrocer.com/

Crazieapple is back and reviewing: Carousel (Melbourne)

 Being single and beautiful means you'll get asked out for dates a lot. (Just kidding!! =P)

 Having the privilege of studying in Aussie means having the opportunity of having a nice sceneric view while having breakfast/lunch, enjoying the breeze, having a beer, chilling out with your date mates.

Carousel, a modern and stylish cafe, is situated in the perfect location, overlooking the serene Alberk Park Lake. Nothing about this cafe doens't scream "Perfect date place!!!" (well, unless you're going out with a date from hell)

The cafe offers an all day breakfast, lunch or even snack. The outdoor deck where we sat on is almost the perfect spot one could get. The pic below is what i eat my lunch to:

. 

 

J-E-A-L-O-U-S already? hehe 

One of the reason why i haven't been updating Augustdiners (apart from being lazy), is because i lost my camera in an unfortunate event.. =( unless you guys wanna hurt your eyes with bad quality food photos, i'll be updating alot less frequent, and try to leech on Chowvi's pro DSL.. hehe

Pics from this post are by courtesy of Chowvi:

Testing out my professional photo-taking skills.. i would say i'm doing a pretty good job!! haha make him look so cool rightt?? haha (he's actually quite lame in real life!! hahahahaha JK!)

 Chow's Duck Pie with a salad of roated celeriac, toasted hazelnuts, beetroot, frisee, rocket, radicchio and quince vinegar dressing

 When i asked, his verdict was: "Very Good!! Different from normal pies.. Best eaten while listening to the song below:"

Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand

Erm... yea.. told you my friend is weird.. -.-''

Moving on to my meal,

Sparkling water for a start and double latte for the weirdo.. haha

I need to cut down on my caffeine intakes whenever i can afford to, since it's exam period.. I should let my body off on caffeine on weekends..

 

I ordered the infamous Carousel Burger, consist of beef hamburger, cheddar, caramelized onion, bacon, butter lettuce, tomato, fried egg, pesto aioli, garden salad and pickles. The combination of all the ingredients is like a burst of all heavenly flavour; the sinful greasy bacon, cheese, with a mix of salad n pickles.. It was messy to eat but nonetheless, a favourite pick!! Love how the hamburger doesn't taste too processed (much like McDs). Not recommended for girls on a date, not a pretty sight eating this!! hehe

This is definitely a recommended choice to those who wants for pay carousel a visit!!

 

 

Time to whip out your sunnies!! 

Happy and Satisfied Patrons

After meal, i conveniently took out my lecture notes and started revising there.. We don't wanna waste no nice weather, keeping myself at home and rot with my books, do we? hehe

Oh, and a lil' beer doesn't hurt right?? =)

Surprisingly much more productive because someone confiscated my phone and refused to talk to me.. When there's no other distractions to turn to, you'll automatically turn to your books.. haha

Chow's very artistic (konon-nye) shot. For more of his "arts", you can check out

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chowvi/

I loved everything about Carousel on this beautiful day!! The sun, the breeze, the food is superb, perfect view to cleanse your eyes, friendly (not to mention hot ) waiter... Definitely a hot spot to hang out!!

Ratings:

Food: 8/10 

(unfortunately, i heard the breakfast was nothing to rave about)

Service: 8/10 

(cashier even addressed Chow by his surname when he paid the bills: "thank you Mr Thian". Doesn't this kinda service normally happen in Business classes?)

Ambience:10/10

(nothing to complain unless it rains and ruin the sceneric)

Overall: 8.5/10

Carousel

22 Aughtie Drive
Albert Park Lake VIC 3205
(03) 8646 6000