Recently in Cafes Category

The Queen Lounge & Café was officially launched on Friday night with an invite-only guest list comprising mostly of friends and regulars of Café Café (who is owned by the same people).



The interior design of The Queen Lounge & Café can be summed up in a single word - absolutely fabulous. Oh wait, that's two words. You know what I mean though. The ambiance is great, and I can imagine this being the next new hot spot to hang out in town - the place to see and be seen and all that.



The Queen Lounge and Café is co-owned by Peter, who is an old schoolmate of mine. He just has this magic touch for setting up nice cafes with the warm ambiance that draws in the crowds. I remember hanging out as teenagers during weekends at Country Café (the place to be about 10 years ago) and his dreams about opening up a similar place in the future.



Well, he did, and kudos to him for that. The success of Café Café is a testament to his will and resolve, and I respect him for that. Oh, and I'm not just saying that coz I got complimentary martinis the entire night. ;) No, seriously.



The proprietors of Queen's Lounge and Café also own Café Café, a hugely popular café in town - the current place to be. They also have an interior design place called Mari Mari. I'm not sure about the obsession with double affirmatives but at least Queen's is a departure from tradition - I'm just glad they didn't name it Queen's Queen's. ;)



The Queen Lounge & Café was serving complimentary Lychee Martinis to the guests the entire night as well as snacks on the house.



It's made from Kwai Fei lychee, Absolut Raspberry, Cranberry and Pineapple juice with a menu price of RM 22. Queen's has an impressive cocktail menu with a long list of martinis, shooters and wines.



It's quite nice, but I'm a bit of a monster when it comes to drinking so I was asking Peter for a special, customized Rendezvous Lychee Martini - just Absolut Raspberry neat, with a lychee inside. ;)



Snacks were also served to the guests from the Queen's Lounge and Café menu. There were Madurerse Chicken Satay (menu price RM 8)...



...and Thai Style Chicken Wings (list price RM 13) circulating amongst the guests.



I bumped into a lot of people at The Queen's - this is Ita Ting, an old friend of mine from way back in high school.



Peter and Ah Tung, the two co-owners of the place.



Grace Chan. OMG, I look fat in the photo.



The beautiful people I've been bumping into in clubs around Sibu.



Jimbo and some other buddies I hang out with on weekends.



Datina Ting! I haven't seen her since Chinese New Year and she's getting married later this year. Congrats! :)



The proprietors spared no expense in the launch of The Queen Lounge & Café - there were two troupes of dancers with two different sets of routines.



The first dance is a very Chinese traditional dance, transporting you back to the glory of Shanghai, post-Japanese occupation.



I liked the way they dominated the floor with grace and elegance, garbed in traditional Chinese costumes and armed with fans.



The second set features svelte female figures draped in white and performing a martial arts inspired dance.



It's a very lively performance, extremely full on and unique.



It was a great premiere for The Queen Lounge & Café and I have exhausted my repertoire of superlatives to describe the opening of the establishment. It's going to be a great place to hang out at - the next big thing.

Congrats to Peter, Michelle and Ah Tung and all the best in the new lounge! :)

Enjoy Cafe & Restaurant is a relatively new eating establishment that has been doing an advertising blitz at my workplace, with flyers on the windscreen wipers of all the cars parked around here. I've been there once but never got around to reviewing it. I went again last night to check out the place, since the first impression wasn't strong enough to warrant a review.



Enjoy Cafe & Restaurant has a nice ambiance with mood lighting (which makes it a nightmare for photography). The place has a fixation with blue diffused down lights, which I kinda like. It somehow makes the place more calming.



There are also silk screens to act as a privacy buffer in between the booth type seating arrangements. The place is pretty empty due to hefty competition from Sushi Tie, Mitsu Tea House and other popular eating establishments within the same commercial complex. There were only two other tables of diners besides us.



I like the classic juicer and fruits on display at the bar counter. Enjoy Café & Restaurant serves a wide variety of fruit juices. I went with a group of friends the first time and we ordered:



Enjoy Cocktail, Egg Drop Noodles, Beef Noodle Soup, Hot & Spicy Beef



Hot Lemon, Stir-fried Mixed Vegetable, Mince Meat Rice, Hot & Spicy Squid



It didn't particularly make a good impression on all of us, but I went again last night with Mary to do a second review. The service was great this time, perhaps due to the aesthetically pleasing waitress designated to our table...



...which inevitably led to an XX Chromosome post. I passed her my blogger name card to boot. I can't resist! ;)



I asked the waitress for their flagship dish and she recommended Tie Ban Shuang Long (Steel Plate Double Dragon). It's calamari and pork ribs mixed in a delicious sauce with an egg cracked into the hot plate. It's priced at RM 20 and comes with a bowl of steamed rice. It's delicious!



Mary recommended the Tien Chang Di Jiu (Forever and Ever - though it's translated as Forever Happiness in the menu) dessert, which is priced at a very reasonable RM 4. It's a sticky mass of extremely hot yam and sweet potato in starch. The dessert is served with a bowl of iced water filled with ice cubes and it's supposed to be eaten like this:



You're supposed to spear a piece of the sticky and piping hot pieces and then dip it into the bowl of ice water. This immediately cools down the dessert and "solidifies" it and it's ready for consumption. I found it to be an interesting ritual, and quite a lot of fun too.



Enjoy Café & Restaurant is actually a pretty nice place to be chilling out at with a relaxing atmosphere and a laid back ambiance. The food is great too - it has improved by leaps and bounds since my first foray there. The place is lacking in the clientèle department though, due to the stiff competition from the other major eating establishments in that area, but it's definitely worth a visit. Cheers!

Frappe is a coffee establishment located in Travillion Mall. I went there with Joanne last month to check it out and haven't gotten around to writing about it until now.

The interior of Frappe is pretty trippy and you would be forgiven for thinking you accidentally dropped some acid while looking at the reflective full length mirrors.

There are also cup shaped chairs as lounges in the inside of the air-conditioned coffee establishment.

The coffee bar at Frappe offers a range of cakes and other delights (don't ask me why I'm using weird words, my brain is malfunctioning right now) showcased at the...er, bar.

I ordered a piece of chocolate cake that was called something fancy, moist Vienna chocolate cake or something to that effect.

I also had something which I can't remember the name of except it has the name of the establishment on it which was why I ordered it. The flagship dish, or drink, in this case is a half and half mixture of milk and coffee.

I also had Frappe which is the other namesake dish, or drink, which was Mocha flavored and I don't remember how much it cost coz I lost the receipt (thus the incomplete names and prices) but I do remember sitting there until they closed. Heh!

This is Joanne's drink - she had carrot juice. In a coffee establishment. Honestly, I don't know what's wrong with her (other than intolerance towards caffeine). ;)

Oh, so this is what sixthseal.com has come to be - a self-parody of itself and a predisposition to use redundant fillers. :p

dsk Cafe is located at Taman Danau Desa in KL and serves dim sum, desserts and mains. I've been determined to review the eating establishments in Taman Danau Desa since they're a lot of them over here.

dsk Cafe has air conditioned indoor seating arrangements as well as al fresco dining areas to the front for smokers. It has a very nice ambience, and features various Olympic Games posters on the wall, both vintage and recent.

I started off with some dim sim. This is the Emperor Har Kow (RM 3.50) and it's an appropriate name for the best har kow I've had in recent memory.

The Emperor Har Kow contains one huge prawn inside and it's sweet and succulent, with all the flavors preserved well. This is a must have if you go to dsk Cafe.

The Fresh Banana Prawn Roll (RM 3.60) is also deliciously innovative. It consists of a large prawn and fresh bananas rolled with a thin wrap and deep fried.

The Fresh Banana Prawn Roll is also another highlight of dsk Cafe. It comes served with a side of mayonnaise and the sweet banana and succulent prawn works very well together, creating a synergetic taste.

I had one of the dsk Set Menu items for the mains. The waitress recommended the Minced Meat Noodles (RM 7.50). It's a simple dish with minced meat on top of noodles and two vegetable strands to the side. It reminds me of the dish Steven Chow prepared in the movie "God of Cookery".

That's the second movie reference I've made in as many days. ;) Anyway, the Minced Meat noodles is good, very filling and the garlic sauce gives it that umami taste. It's a little oily though...

I finished off with the Sesame Curd (RM 3.00) tong sui (dessert soup). I'm not sure what it is, but it's a thick, coagulated mess and it tastes wonderful. The black sediments and heavy texture of this dessert soup is intriguing...

dsk Cafe is an affordable place for dining and their unique dim sum entries makes this establishment a must visit!

Hong Kong Food Culture is a Hong Kong cuisine inspired eating establishment in Low Yat Plaza, KL. There is a large photo of a street scene in Hong Kong as well as the eatery name printed along the side of the restaurant (which is closed off - the main entrance is further down the mall). I went there for a late lunch earlier today.

The main entrance is a small doorway situated in the front of the Hong Kong Food Culture restaurant. There is an average looking middle aged woman standing in front of the entrance, either contemplating the meaning of life or more likely the special of the day, which is Duck Rice with Ribena for RM 4.90.

This is the interior of Hong Kong Food Culture. I thought that the name is rather unusual for an eating establishment, but it seems to fit the general theme of the interior design. The walls are adorned with a large wall sized photo of the Hong Kong skyline. The place seems to be quite popular and there are various patrons inside ranging from high school students to middle aged couples.

I started out with HK French Toast (RM 3.90 not including the 15% surcharge). It's the similar dessert produced by Kim Gary's. The Hong Kong French Toast (as I like to call it) is made popular by Kim Gary and it's a sinfully delicious version of French Toast with a generous slice of melting butter and golden syrup. It's best eaten when it's served, while it's piping hot and swimming in melted butter.

The HK style French Toast differs from conventional French Toast due to the innovative usage of peanut butter inside the HK French Toast. It's not made in single slices like French Toast but with two slices of bread with peanut butter inside and batter coating the outside, and it's deep fried before being served with melted butter. The Hong Kong Food Culture implementation is comparable to Kim Gary's, though subjectively the latter tastes better, if only slightly.

I had the highly recommended Baked Seafood Rice (RM 12) for the main dish, which was served in a clay pot with the contents tightly wrapped in foil to keep the baked rice and seafood ingredients warm.

The baked seafood rice contains creamy rice topped with all sorts of seafood ingredients such as prawns, mussels, squid, fish pieces, egg and bits of ham.

The creamy rice came out perfect - the baked seafood rice has a rich creamy taste that's just wonderful!

I also ordered Egg in Boiled Fresh Milk (RM 3.50) coz it sounded unusual. It looks like normal milk...

...but the fresh warm milk has an egg cracked into it that makes the entire drink taste like a rich, non-alcoholic egg nog.

It makes the milk thicker and richer, which went down very well as an unsweetened dessert drink. The texture is akin to creamy milk.

Hong Kong Food Culture Review is a great place for casual HK cuisine in KL. It offers an alternative to the Kim Gary chain of restaurants.

Life Cafe is a little quaint place hidden along a narrow street. The place exudes a charming old ambience, with its wooden chairs and constructs, the sliding doors, and the intentional ancient decorations.

The interior is air conditioned, with minimal incandescent lighting. There's a narrow brick walled enclave to the side and normal sitting arrangements on the other side. The place makes you feel like you've stepped into some old-fashioned place out of time.

There's also a private dining area at the back, which is walled off from the main area. This tatami style section is raised, with a short table and mats, cushions and futons for sitting. Basically, you sit on the floor and the table clearance doesn't leave much room for your legs, but it's comfy.

The waitress recommended a range of pies that were freshly baked. She assured us that it was good, and my coworker, who's been here before, agreed. We went for the chicken pie.

It's good, the pastry is crispy and the meat filling is just nice.

I was recommended their Life Ice Cream Coffee. It's coffee, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to replace the ice cubes.

I ordered a boiled herbal egg for starters. It's served whole and un-cracked, in a saucer of soy sauce.

The herbal egg tasted of herbs, and is colored green, even the yolk. It was alright to me.

I went for the Life Mutton Spiced Rice for the main. The mutton is nice and tender, great dish.

My coworker had Life Mutton Spiced Noodles. It tasted about the same but the noodles are infused with something I can't put my finger on. It's good.

Life Cafe also has an unusual specialty - Crocodile meat soup with red dates and ginseng. It's RM 12 for a bowl, which we shared, and the soup is boiled to perfection, with the ginseng flavor shining through brightly.

The crocodile meat was good too. The boiling process made it tender and it tasted strange, but nice. Kuching has a crocodile farm which rears crocodiles and sells the meat to various food establishments here and I believe it's exported as well.

Life Cafe is a good place to have a quiet lunch - grab the tatami style seats at the back if they're not taken. It's the best spot in the place. :)

The Kapitan's Club is a restaurant that is set to look like the heydays of old world Malaya. I've been intrigued by the interior decor ever since I saw it, but never did get around to eating there until recently.

This outlet is located in Pusat Bandar Damansara. I went with my girlfriend during my last day in KL. It has a nice (really) old Chinese coffee shop ambience to it.

The tables and chairs are the old skool type you'll expect to find in some obscure coffee shop in a small town that time left behind.

There's even a huge portrait of a regal looking woman covering one of the walls.

I went for the freshly brewed coffee (RM 4.50). It's good coffee, strong and served piping hot with milk and sugar.

This is Nasi Lemak with Kapitan Chicken (RM 10.50), which we both had. It's served with acar, sambal ikan bilis, and coconut flavored rice with Kapitan Chicken. Kapitan Chicken is their flagship dish that is described as a delicious curry cooked with at least 20 different spices. It was good.

I think the primary attraction of this place is not its food (which isn't anything to write home about), but it's ambience...

I was intrigued by such a delicacy, which I'm told is a whole deep fried soft shell crab in a burger. One of my coworkers told me about it and I've been chomping at the bit to try it ever since. We went there after work last night.

The eating establishment that serves nude crab burger is called D'Alif Restoran Sejahtera and it's a restaurant by the Kuching Riverside that has crabs as it's flagship meal and claims to have invented the nude crab burger.

The readers in KL might be interested to know that nude crab burger is also available in Bukit Bintang. This establishment opened up a new outlet at BB from the literature the waiter passed me.

Back to the restaurant, the place has a nice ambience, two tiered dining areas made to look like a serene rainforest.

It's a good place for dinner; it has an al fresco feeling even though it's indoors due to the massive outside ventilation and no artificial air conditioning.

D' Alif Restaurant also has a live crab display on their premises. This is not the soft shell variety used in the nude crab burger but mud crabs, for normal crab cooking. This place specializes in crabs, and crabs only. You'll be hard pressed to find a non-crustacean based meal here.

I ordered the D'Alif cordial for my drink...its iced rose syrup with a lemon slice inside.

This is D'Alif fried rice, which Bernice ordered.

Here's the Crab Delight that we shared - its two deep fried soft shelled crab on a bed of salad, with Thousand Island dressing liberally applied.

I also ordered Deep Fried Soft Shell crab which says "Tired of cracking the Crab shell, try our special deep fried fresh Soft Shell Crab coated with Egg & Flour mix topped up with Thousand Island Dressing. You can eat the whole crab including the shell".

Indeed you can, the shell can be eaten. Here's a look at the inside once it's been bitten into.

Finally, I present to you, the dish we've all been waiting for...Nude Crab Burger!

There is a whole soft-shelled crab inside, as promised.

I strongly endorse nude crab burger! *thumbs up* ;)

Nude Crab Burger - World's 1st Soft Shell Crab Burger.

Chocz is located in Suria KLCC and the place has a very good reputation, from the various reviews that other bloggers did. I was very keen on checking out this all chocolate specialty establishment, particularly the much lauded chocolate nectar drinking ceremony.

Chocz. (with a period, it seems) is unique in the sense that it offers a wide variety of almost exclusively chocolate products. They offer a wide range of chocolate and chocolate based products from drinks to moon cakes.

There was also a promotion going on when we went there - Strawberry Fantasy. Chocz had a mini table selling pre-dipped strawberries at RM 2 each for regular sized ones and RM 4 for large ones. There are also pre-bagged options at RM 10.

The establishment also has seating arrangements for the ones who want to indulge in chocolate at the premises. There are comfy sofas and chairs for groups as well as couples. The seating area isn't exactly private, but it's nice to watch the world go by.

The flagship drinks are the chocolate nectar drinking ceremony and tchocolat1 and we ordered both. The photo above shows the paraphernalia used in The Ultimate Drinking Chocolate. It comes with a quote from the Aztec Emperor Montezuma extolling the virtues of this nectar chocolate drinking ceremony.

It is served in a special hand made burner, each set with a special stainless steel spoon straw, metal cup, ceremonial tea light, chocolate chunks and a serving of warm milk. There are three options for the chocolate chunks - dark, milk and white. We opted for dark chocolate.

The 5 Steps to Chocolate Heaven literature describes how to make the drinking chocolate nectar:
Step 1 Begin the ceremony by lighting the flame.
Step 2 Fill half of the metal cup with warm milk.
Step 3 Add chocolate chunks until desired density.
Step 4 Stir constantly with the spoon until smooth dense chocolate is achieved.
Step 5 Relax...now you are ready to suck the sweet nectar through the straw.

Thus, we added all the dark chocolate chunks into the warm milk (heat comes from a candle beneath the burner) since we wanted a very dense and thick nectar. We stirred until the white milk turned into dark chocolate. I tried sipping it through the spoon straw hybrid and nearly scalded my tongue.

It was indeed very nice, worthy of being called nectar...it's like drinking pure chocolate with just enough liquidity to be sucked into a straw. My girlfriend didn't like it though...she's generally not very big on chocolate but I did get her to drink the tchocolat1, which is the other flagship drink of Chocz.

Tchocolat1 is described in the menu as a powerful concoction regarded as the drink of the gods. It is served in a ceremonial drinking mug and there are several variations, of which we chose the Aztec version, which is "dark bittersweet chocolate with a dash of red chili spice". I immediately took a big gulp from it while it was still hot and I pronounce it GOOD! The chili was very discernable and provides a unique kick to the drink.

We also ordered from the Strawberry Fantasy promotion. There is the set option of Strawberries & cream for RM 15++ and Strawberries with hot chocolate for RM 18++. We chose the latter, and it came in the form of a bowl of fresh strawberries and a burner with a lit candle on the side providing hot chocolate for dipping the strawberries in. It was nice, but the Aztec tchocolat1 overshadows this comparatively simple offering.

Chocz is a great place, but there is too much of a good thing. I was craving for water, just plain water, please, by the time we finished the chocolate based cuisine. ;)