Pickle & Figs, TTDI

I love the name Pickle & Figs, it sounds very english in some ways. Pickle & Figs is located on the same row as the TTDI McDonalds and you would most probably missed it just by driving past it. Parking is a hassle during weekdays though. The interior of Pickle & Figs was kept to the minimal with wooden table, black plastic chair and sofas. But what I loved most was their choice of song, they played extremely good song covers which you can download it through 8tracks.com.

Classic Smoothie

One thing to note about Pickle & Figs was their signature beverages were mainly healthy smoothies made out from fresh fruits. I had their classic smoothie which was a combination of strawberries and several other fruits. Boy, it was delicious, rich and generous. Much to my delight, it was what I would deem a good smoothie.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich with grilled zucchini, cheese and eggs

Different from all the other cafe's menu, Pickle & Figs serves up an array of handmade sandwiches with the likes of salmon, beef and chicken. Wholemeal bread toasted with grilled chicken and an overload of cheese and eggs, it is something simple and filling. It was well seasoned and keeps you full for the rest of the day.

If you are in healthier option of snacks and breakfast, Pickle & Figs might do a great job at it with its simple sandwiches and healthy smoothie. Price wise, you got to expect an average of RM 20, just like your average cafe.

-thevanillapudding-

Tabletalk, TTDI

Tabletalk is a huge disappointment. I was expecting much from this wonderfully designed restaurant and I was so badly disappointed with the level of food I had. But the ultimate deal breaker was the coffee. Tabletalk is located as the same row as Devi's in TTDI, however, it is the first shop in the end of the lane.

It has interior setting of a wonderful hotel restaurant - wooden floor, foldable glass door, patio and plants everywhere. If it wasn't for the bustling traffic opposite, it would feel really wonderful to just seat down for a cup of coffee and enjoy the morning peacfulness. 

We were attended to by a wonderful waiter from Bangladesh. He has been working in the hospitality line for the past few years and it ain't small hotels, he was working for hotels like Shangrila! One of his customer recommended him to be promoted in this restaurant, so here he is.

I just had to take a picture of the interior because it was just so classicly designed!

Cappuccino

This was horrible. It was dilute to begin with. The ratio of coffee to milk was all off. I didn't bother finishing my drink anyways.

Long Black

This was worst. Similarly, it was so dilute that it tasted pretty much like water. We made the waiter checked what was wrong with their machine, they were using the machine, so such problem shouldn't be present. The waiter found out that the worker handling the machine did not caliberate the machine apprioprately and it had apparently caused the beans to turn too thin, hence the water sipped through easily which caused the dilution. 

On a side note, their baristas are NOT qualified barista, the waiter told us himself. So, do not expect 5 star coffee because clearly I didn't get my dose of perfection. And yes they still charged us for the coffee even though we didn't even touch much of it.

Ultimate Breakkie

At least their breakfast set was decent. It was served with potato roastie, sausages, turkey ham, baked beans, scrambled eggs, toasted wheat bread and sauteed vegetables. I felt the baked beans were weird in taste, it wasn't your usual red baked beans but rather it was slightly purplish and the beans were larger than usual. The sauteed vegetables were completely unnecessary and it wasn't even delicious to begin with.

The whole meal caused us about RM 30 and I wasn't even satisfied with any of the food. I wouldn't go back any time sooner. First impression counts and the first impression they left on me was horrible. Perhaps their breakfast set was horrible, I've read blogs praising their main courses, perhaps that is something to look out for when I gain back my confidence for this new restaurant.

Price : 2.0/5

Ratings : 1.0/5

-thevanillapudding-

Yik Kee Restaurant, TTDI

Happy Chinese New Year! I bet everyone of you had your fair share of yeesang and chinese delicacies during this period, also not to mention those hefty calories piling on. My aunt bought us a CNY dinner at the local chinese restaurant in Taman Tun. 

It was a typical chinese dinner with many different courses. In Chinese tradition during the big festival, there are a few essentials in our meals such as prawns, fish, noodles, abalone and yeesang which all signifies something. 

The yeesang is the must have in every CNY dinner. It is a combination of 10 different elements in the whole plate. Usually it is made up of cucumber shred, pamelo pieces, crackers, colored dried vermicilli, shredded mango, shredded carrots and raw salmon. It varies in restaurant. Their yeesang was just mediocre and a tad too dry, we requested for extra plum sauce. The salmon was fine, I wouldn't say it is of supreme quality though. I only give it a pass since the salmons were in abundance which I think should be of lower grade because in many expensive restaurant, the salmons are limited.

Another signature delicacy the shark fin soup. I am an advocate against shark slaughtering. Enough said. Since a couple years back, I never consume shark fin soup -  be it real or artificial.

Chinese believe that fish (yu) is essential so there will be abundance of wealth, romance and career etc at the year end. Hence, the classic steam fish. I'm unsure what type of fish it is, looks like a siakap to me. The flesh was tender and smooth. However, the presentation was horrible and unappealing honestly. The sauce was well just dark sauce and soy sauce - wasn't exactly tasty either. The ratio just wasn't right!

The roasted duck was just plain disappointing. It was too tough or that the duck was really old. With two tables each having a huge plate of roast duck, none bothered finishing it. I wonder why was that. The sauce itself was terrible! Usually roast duck will be served with sour plum powder, which in this case was absent and the sauce didn't made up for it.

Prawns are another staple in CNY dinner which represents laughter - an abundance of laughter throughout the year. The prawns were stir fried in garlic sauce which was really bland. The garlic was too overpowering that it makes you cringe when the sauce touches your tongue - pretty pungent honestly. The prawns were alright, not to say that it was super fresh. 

The usual abalone, mushroom, oyster with chinese seaweed to represent "Fatt Choy" meaning wealth if I'm not mistaken. This was one of my least favorite dish of the night. The chinese seaweed was too much! Overpowering the whole dish and with a table filled with kids/young adults - we cringed at the taste of it. 

This makes to my least favorible dish of the night too! Noodles represented longevity of life in Chinese culture. Unfortunately, this dish was so starchy that we didn't bother eating more than a bowl of it. I felt as though I was eating pure starch!

Lastly, the dinner ended poorly with a dessert. Chinese believed that it is necessary to end on a sweet note to have a sweet and smooth year ahead. The red bean dessert was too thick and sweet - it was a massive goo. Two spoonful and I pushed it away. The glutinous rice ball I believe are prepacked glutinous ball.

All in all, the dinner was really below average. I would not step foot into the restaurant again even for a normal dinner. Well, if a big feast menu ended up so badly, what would the day to day course meal be like? The service was pretty good though - the waiters were very helpful and friendly.

The chef was not very pleasant when my uncle commented on several of his dishes as the chef claimed that no one ever complained about his dishes, we were the first. Well, that didn't end in a very high note.

Ratings : 1.5/5
Price : Unknown (paid by uncle, haha)

Yik Kee Restaurant, TTDI
38, Jalan Datuk Sulaiman, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 KL. 

-thevanillapudding-

Artisan Roast, TTDI

So here's the thing - I've been reading reviews on how Artisan Roast is awesome and mind blowing and a must go for coffee lovers. So, me being me, must give it a try although my dad had already warned me that place is horrible and way out of their expectations. And as my dad's daughter, I should never doubt him because he is has higher standard for food compared to me. 

But I still wanted to try it out, so I met up with a friend at the Taman Tun branch for coffee. He was a long time friend whom I haven't met in ages and what better way to bond other than having a cuppa? And boy, I was in for a big disappointment.

Stepping into the cosy little shoplot, it was a hell lot of people with no where to sit and the chattering of the customers overpowered the music that plays through their system. The smell of coffee was vague though. Expecting myself to be warmly greeted by the person mendling the counter or maybe in this case the barista was a disappointment. Perhaps they are busy and we had to wait for a while to get the barista tending to our orders.

That is fine with me. You are busy I totally get it. But what I didn't like at all was the attitude of the barista - I was greeted by a non-smiling poker face barista that seems to be dreading what he do and he gives the vibe of I-don't-give-a-shit about you attitude. That totally ruined my mood. He seems to be annoyed? Agitated? That's pretty much I can say about his attitude. And honestly, with all due respect, I felt like slapping him the face and splash a cup of cold water to make his attitude take a 360 turn.

As a barista and a person in the FNB business, he should know that the most important thing is the customer service. Regardless how good your coffee can be, a totally bullshit attitude is going to turn off the customer. Maybe the other customers doesn't care or aren't that sensitive like I am, but I am a person who places high importance on customer service and if you can't just give a smile to your customer, you should just pack up and leave.

I apologize that I am complaining so much about their customer services, but that is what irks me. But I wasn't the only one being sensitive, I had friends who been there a couple of time and received the same ole treatment, my parents weren't spared from their attitude either.

We weren't able to get seats inside the cooling aircond, so we had to resort sitting out in the open air. The humid weather killed my appetite for a warm mocha, so instead I ordered an iced mocha. It was a bad move and I am so disappointed with it. Not only was the drink not mixed apprioprately, there were so much coffee powder in the drink that I felt like I was having coffee powder instead of a beverage. I have my friend to vouch for that.

Basically they didn't ensure that everything was well dissolved before adding the ice. So, what I drank was a hell lot of undissolved coffee powder. My friend had the single shot espresso if I remember right and he find the beans to be quite sour to his liking. But then again, that is personal preference.

I ordered the mini slices of cakes because I just workout and I wasn't keen on having a huge piece of cake either. This is the chocolate orange mint cake, I can't remember the name but it taste like one, I think its called Jaffa. Oh well, the cake was moist and the orange mint taste was strong which is good, because I love minty cakes. So for this cake, I give a thumbs up.

I always found caramel to be unsuitable to be used in cakes because when you freeze it, it becomes hard and difficult to eat. In this case, it was tough because it was kept cold and the caramel stuck to my tooth, something that I didn't fancy. So would I order this again? I don't think so. Unless you are crazy fan for caramel cakes, then try to abstain from it.

This is a simple chocolate cake - moist and good enough to satisfy a decent chocolate lover like me. The thin layer of ganache on the top does its role well in giving the rich chocolaty taste and nothing too much while the interior was moist and generally has a melt in your mouth sensation. However, it is best consumed chill. I was sitting out with my friend and left the slice there for a tad too long till it turned slightly too soft.

My friend ordered their cheesecake. I have a friend who is a cheesecake lover, just like me and she claimed that their cheesecake is godly which of course we both decided to have a go at it. However, I wasn't that crazy over it. It was light in texture and not as rich as how a New York Cheesecake would be. I am an ultimate NewYorkCheesecake fan, so this light version doesn't go down well with me. The base is a little too tough for me, I felt it should be more moist by having more butter in it. 

Overall , ther verdict? It is ok and well below my expectations. The food are palatable, the coffee is so-so. My iced mocha was a disaster to be honest, if the barista didn't look like gangsters - I would have requested for a refund. But overall, I think what turned me off the most and what made me pissed the most was their attitude to their customers. 

I've made my complain on their facebook page but would they take action? I don't really know. All I can say that if you are hoping for friendly barista - this is NOT the place for you. What they do is only to ruin your mood by showing their unprofessional attitude. 

I won't be back, neither would my friends. Perhaps another branch, but for the TTDI branch - you've been blacklisted.

Ratings : 2.0/5.0

Artisan Roast KL

4 Lorong Rahim Kajai 14, TTDI, KL

Tel: 03 7733 6397

Opening hours :

Mon-Fri, 8am-12midnight

Sat & Sun, 9am-12midnight

-thevanillapudding-