Monsters Ice- cream @ Sunway Pyramid

Gong Xi, Gong Xi.

Today marks the 5th day of the Chinese New Year and I think everyone probably should be back on their work desk by now facing a lovely Monday after a long holiday HAHA It's funny how we easily brush off our working momentum but how difficult it is to stop our holiday momentum, which of course leaves us being rather unproductive and fat from all the tidbits, teehee.

Came back to KL on the 3rd day of Chinese New Year because mum and sis wanted to go mall strolling. I think it's the best time to hit the malls in KL because when everyone else is back home, the malls (and parking) here become rather empty and so nice to stroll!

So we went to Sunway Pyramid and managed to try out the new ice- cream from the newly established stall located on first floor.

Monsters Ice- cream

F1, Sunway Pyramid

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Monsters Ice- cream

There weren't many people at the store when I was there. I think there was only one lady placing her order but because we placed our our order and flocked the stall for pictures, it attracted many others to check out the ice- cream making process too! That's why the store looks like they have many people flocking it in the picture above LOL

Basically you get to customise you own ice- cream. There ares Five (5) ice- cream to choose from: Thai Tea, Green Tea, Chocolate, Mocha and Vanilla. Then you pick the combination of toppings that you want. Refer picture below:

Monsters' menu

We chose Green Tea ice- cream with red bean and cornflakes topping, RM8.90! 

Oh, I forgot to mention why the hype of this ice- cream. It's a 'new' form of the chop chop ice- cream- you know the ones that you select your ice- cream and toppings then they will mash it up and nicely serve it to you after it's nicely combined?

Monsters ice- cream is practically the same where the ice- cream and the toppings will be mashed to combine BUT it will be flattened and then rolled to be served! 

Check out the process of making tiny ice- cream rolls!!

Step 1: Place toppings onto the 'ice pan'. Ours was cornflakes and red bean.

Step 2: Measure the ice- cream base out. Wasn't expecting real green tea but it was real liquid foem green tea!! I think they would have some other combinations in it rather than green tea alone.

Step 3: Pour liquid on toppings

Step 4: Mash and fold. As they continuously mash and fold the ice- cream, the liquid will soon solidify.

Step 5: When it reached ice- cream consistency, ice- cream is spread wide like this

Step 6: Roll em' up!

Tada!!! Many tiny ice- cream rolls!!!

Initially we bought this just to have fun HAHA So I wasn't having any expectation on it's taste but it turned out tasty! The green tea flavour tasted like those authentic Japanese powered green tea! It's not too sweet, red bean where mush nicely (Sis who didn't like red bean didn't mind it here) and cornflakes gave a nice crunch to it, YUMS!

You can request for additional toppings at RM1. You can add on whip cream if you like but I didn't because I was only after the ice- cream rolls so whip cream seemed redundant that time.

It was fun seeing them make the ice- cream so if you haven't it's worth a try! Oh, FYI the guy makes it better than the lady LOL

Check them out on Facebook and Instagram!

Okay, going off to make dinner. 

Happy Chinese New Year! 

Uptown Cafe, Johor Bahru

I'm back in my hometown for Chinese New Year and have been baking a lot these days, so much till I feel full by just looking at the cookies made LOL Being back home also means that I get to laze around, not work and don't feel guilty for not working. 

So I was cleaning up pictures in my phone and realised that I have not blogged about this cafe. Been procrastinating because the food was so bad, I didnt feel motivated to write a review on it. Anyway, to not waste picture here we go!

Uptown Cafe

66 Jalan Pertama 1

Pusat Perdagangan Danga Utama

Entrance of Uptown Cafe

If you haven't noticed, there are many cafe sprouting like mushroom after the rain! not just in KL but in Penang and Johor Bahru too. I think it was Christmas so my sis and I wanted to have something different for lunch and we decided on Uptown Cafe because it was relatively new then.

I think the location is very good in the sense that it's located near the highway, just turn in from the highway and you will be a able to spot it on your left, very close to Shell petrol station nearby.

Also, since the shop is situated at a new commercial area there is no problem finding parking! Ample of parking lots so no stress to that.

A few pictures of the interior of Uptown Cafe:

Two level dining area

Bamboo shoots to welcome you right at the entrance then you see modern designs on the wall

Several kinds of lamps and lightings. This cafe confuses me LOL

Oh ya, these are the modern designed walls

Not too sure if the deco was done by a professional but it didn't work for me. Made me very confused on what to expect from the cafe- it's very chinese (bamboo, lanterns, red cloths) yet very westernised (modern wall deco, chairs and tables).

Actually before even stepping into the cafe I was confused already by the food theme. Not sure what cuisine they are aiming to specialised in? There was thing huge ass banner outside the shop that listed out their menu. I see western, chinese and... Malaysian meals:S

Fish & Chips RM17

Decided to have something safe and went with Fish and Chips. Food arrived pretty late so I was expecting good wait-worthy food. Not too sure if they breaded their own fish or just fry those prepacked type but it was not too bad. The potato wedges was good but those are off from frozen packs, hence nothing to shout about. Salad was done in house for sure, vege came in chunks:S Not too sure why they wouldn't use a grater and make life easier?

I thought that the meal was rather pricey because I'm footing RM17 for a rather small portion of Fish and Chips. Then we also ordered pizza for RM20 which turned out extremely bad.

US Chicken Pizza RM20

Funny, the story of the pizza. The menu stated only the name of the pizza without the description of it so I had to ask the waitress what do they served in the US Chicken pizza. I remember her clearly saying "Chicken... tomato". I assumed that maybe she wasn't very fluent in English so she just gave short answers.

When the pizza came, OMG it looked so sad... worst than the Jusco's bakery pizza! When we had a bite guess what? The waitress was spot on, I could only taste chicken and tomato. Very bland tasting pizza and the chicken bits tasted weird. Got a chunk of chicken with smelly fats on, I was so turned off and angry.

How can you let this dish come out of your kitchen and charge your customer RM20 (excluding tax). It should at least be of Dominos/ Pizza Hut standard! I mean those are very commercialised tasting pizzas but at least it works better than this in house sloppy made pizza.

Yup, I had to spit out the chicken that tasted and smelled really awful

One slice was without chicken or tomato, just skinny cheese :O

Never ever going back there anymore! My friend been there for coffee and I don't remember her complaining so maybe if you're there for coffee it's still fine but food... a NO NO. Good thing we didn't give the desserts a chance because it looked pretty sad on display.

Revisit: N Square Restaurant @ Bandar Dato Onn, JB

Hello! Just finish intensive theory writing so I decided to take a break before I proceed to other sections of writing. Making full use of my good mood now before it swings back to depression once I start thinking and writing again LOL The plan was to go out to IKEA and Tesco for window shopping and to see if there's any nice yet cheap CNY stuff for me to buy. 

When I was about to change and get ready to go out, I felt hungry so decided to warm up my nasi lemak for lunch to scrooge on food a bit. But after lunch, I got a bit sleepy so I think my plan to go out today is postponed till further notice:S

Hence, I'm here churning out another blog post that I was suppose to write a few weeks back but was too busy getting depressed LOL

This is a revisit post on... 

N Square Restaurant

62 Jalan Perjiranan 2

Bandar Dato Onn, Johor Bahru

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If you read my previous post on N Square, you would know that I thought their milkshake needed some fixing because it tasted more like ice blended than milkshake. 

So this time, my sis gave it another shot because she was craving for milkshake anyway. The owner dropped me a comment on my blog ensuring that she would improve the recipe of it and she did! Was surprised that she asked of my opinion of the improved version of milkshake. Never thought that she would remember, since the diner was packed.

Strawberry Banana Milkshake, RM8

Now it really taste like milky milkshake!! Super love it especially when it's only for RM8! Now it's nice and creamy, not icey anymore. If you order this strawberry banana milkshake, you're in for a thick milkshake treat! 

Aglio Olio Spaghetti, RM14 (if I've not mistaken)

The spaghetti is good! Not too oily, nicely flavoured with mild herbs. This is my mum's favourite dish! My sis ordered one serving for herself too. It was a little hard to peel the prawns but they were generous with their seafood so you got yourself a steal!

Baked Homemade Meatballs, RM10

This is a MUST HAVE please! Was super excited when I saw this on their menu. Oh ya, I think they recently revamped their menu and I noticed a few new items on it! This meatball dish is tucked under "Main Dish" section but I think it serves us well as a shared appetizer. 

Fishing out the crazy amount of cheese

Meatballs soaked in tomato gravy and topped with lots and lots and lots of crazy gooey cheese!!! So much cheese till I thought RM10 wouldn't be enough to cover the cost for the cheese! This dish is served with garlic bread and it was such a spectacular dish, I'd prolly name it as N Square's signature dish! 

I'm sorry but I have to spam you with more pictures of this Baked Homemade Meatballs because it's so good that a picture or two just won't do! If you want more meatballs, you can request for them I think RM1 for additional piece? Something like that. 

Beeeeeef!

Scooping out the chunks of juicy meatballs

Ugh! So much cheese... need both hands to scoop!

Oh baby! LOL

Grilled Chicken Chop, RM12 (I think)

The last dish was the grilled chicken chop! As usual very generous amount of chicken given all very nicely cooked. Love it that they don't overcook the chicken, I've tasted many cheap chicken chops that always overcook their chicken till its all dry and sad. 

Valentine's Day is coming so this could be one of your options to consider if you want good food, generous serving but such low price! 

Rants about China House @ Penang

Suppose to be doing work but I can't seem to find the article that states that there is a lack in theory blah blah blah... I swear I read it before, why didn't I jot it down somewhere? Gah. So after looking through my journal collections, I got a bit restless and everything else seem to be more interesting than journal reading again LOL

So okay, I finally got motivated to write a little about China House even if I don't think I'll return to that cafe soon because they bad customer service (more like bad impression).

Btw, it's Valentines Day soon! Feel like cooking up a storm on that day! Like bake silly pink heart shaped cookies or something but I don't have my baking utensils with me now. But having second thoughts because I feel that my baking stuff wouldn't be appreciated if compared to buying them from shops so I might as well save the trouble and buy, lolol.

China House

153 Lebuh Pantai, Georgetown Penang

China House was a cafe/ restaurant that we visited when we were in Penang last year. Everyone seem to be raving about the place (not sure now if there's still a rave). I was on the fence deciding to visit or not to visit but I was encouraged to go so okay, we didn't had much activity anyway so no harm having teatime at 9pm, wtf hehehe

See what I told you about our meal times all jumbled up in Penang since we're eating all the time. It was hard to segregate meals into the typical breakfast, lunch and dinner.

That's Naomi with her grumpy face within 5 mins of us setting foot in China House

Not sure if you're interested in the story and I've told this story many times to my friends but why not write it here once and for all. Skip this part if you just don't bother to read lengthy explanations of what I mean by bad customer service. 

So we arrived at about 9pm for cakes and tea. The place was rather packed and the alleys to rather squeezy. No one showed us to our tables, waiters were just dashing everywhere, we felt a little lost not knowing whether to sit and then place order or place order then sit. Or should we wait to be seated or just do it the Malaysian rush-for-table style?

We decided to check out the cakes first since we were rather lost at what to do. Walking towards the long table of cakes was harder than though because people including waiters should be rubbing shoulders with you. My sis was actually SHOVED aside by one of the waiters! Are you serious? :O That explains her grumpy face in the above picture.

Okay, so we finally made it to the long table 

The long table did actually have more cakes than normal shops would. I think there were easily 10 different types of cakes on the table but most of them almost finishing by then. There were also a few cakes in the refrigerator not too far from the long table of cakes. 

Before telling the guy which cake I wanted from the refrigerator, I think my sis got pissed off again by one of the waitress aka cake bearer. Her duty was to take the cakes from the refrigerator and bring it over to the counter to cut and pack for take- away. My sis saw her with the cake so quickly move aside to let her pass. Instead of being thankful, she told my sis off saying that she's blocking her way!!

By "Blocking the way', she meant the way where my sis is currently standing at after making way for her to move. She could have continued walking in her original pathway because my sis moved aside, but she just HAD to walk at the place where my sis was standing (after making way for her). WTF is this?

There, cakes in the refrigerator.

Even after deciding on the cakes, no one attended to us so I had to go ask the waiter/ counter guy on whether I need to sit and order or order and sit. So apparently we needed to sit first, so we found a place to sit ourselves. The waiter came, handed us menu and before we could place an order he zoomed off :S

China House Menu if you're interested

I was already ready to order but it was so hard to hail the waiters who were constantly dashing about. Oh, of course there are waitresses who might come in handy if they weren't so syok sendiri standing their flipping their hair, grooving to the music, behaving as if they are those muscle guys  hired by Abercrombie and Fitch =.=

Hate gedik-ness, pff.

Okay, I get it that you love your job. Nothing wrong with that, so DO your job!

Yay, we found a spot to sit!

Ours is table 10. The place comes with free wifi. 

Our cakes came soon after we placed our orders, thank God for that or else I'd have flipped. We chose Oopsy Daisy, a peanut butter chocolate cake and Lemon Curd Layer cake. The peanut butter chocolate cake was a cake from the long table and the Lemon cake was from the refrigerator. 

Oopsy Daisy RM15

The chocolate cake (from the Oopsy Daisy)  was a little dry but if eaten with the peanut butter cream, it did mask the dryness. Peanut butter cream was quite good, could taste the thick slab of peanut butter. It's personal preference but I like lighter tasting less sweet cakes so good thing we also had the Lemon Curd cake.

Lemon Curd Layer Cake RM15

Lemon Curd cake is generally one of my favourite cakes because it has the tard taste and not entirely sweet. I'd usually stay away from dense rich chocolate cake because that's a little too much for me to handle. Lemon Curd Cake at China House was quite okay, the cake was better than the chocolate cake in the sense that it was not as dry.

The cake prices there are rather expensive. One slice cost RM15 before tax and honestly, cake tasted like slightly better homebaked cakes- like the ones we amateur make at home, Yikes. However, their cream on cake saved the day.

Earl Grey Tea, RM10 per pot (I think)

Good thing about China House is that they allow you to share a pot of tea. Not sure if you could refill with hot water but even if you could, I think it would take you a while to stop one of the waiters for hot water. Also not sure if they would give you the Stink Face if you ask for refill :S

The weird thing about China House is that occasionally the waiters are not literally in your face kinda rude. Example, they do say "Thank you, please come again" kinda lines but somehow you don't feel their sincerity in customer service. Probably the holiday crowd made it worst, it was so hard to sit and enjoy our teatime because everyone was zooming here and there so it gave us the 'rushing vibe'.

If you're looking for somewhere to sit and chill, maybe China House on it's fullest days isn't the place to go. In contrast, Mugshot Cafe provided extremely good service despite their equally busy routine.

Cashier was pretty quick with collecting money though. Not surprised LOL

Few more shots of us at China House. Doodle to stand a chance to win some prize I think, so I did: