Ah Weng Koh Breakfast @ Imbi Market, KL

Went jogging the other day with sis. After that's done we had breakfast guilt free HAHAHA Well, breakfast is the most important meal of the day! So I asked her what she wanted to have and she said breakfast at Imbi. Initially I was lazy to drive all the way into town so I convinced her to have breakfast at the nearby coffee shops. 

But the sun really shined upon her the other day because when we were at the coffee shop I myself didnt know what to eat. Everything seem... heavy. So I conceded and drover us both to Imbi Market for the famous toast!

Ah Weng Koh Hainanese Tea

Imbi Market a.k.a. Pasar Bukit Bintang

It was a Sunday morning around 9am but the food area at the market was soooo packed! There weren't any seats left but since I drove so far I was not gonna leave before having breakfast as planned. So I had to stand right next to a table that look like they were finishing their food. I didn't give them pressure to hurry up and leave the table but you know I just stood there with hawk eyes on their stools:S

Hungry people in the morning

Finally they left soon after, quickly sat down. Had to share the table with three groups of unknowns but that was inevitable especially in that circumstance. Oh yes, while I was waiting for my table itself I see this old man holding up to 10 cups of coffee/tea and yelling on top of his lungs HELLO! HELLO! HELLO! to signal that he's coming through.

That was super intimidating! He wasn't rude or anything but he seem to be in such a hurry and he was yelling like non stop and he was taking orders in Cantonese I thought I'm dead meat. Anyway, managed to flag him to our table and I quickly told him 2 set buns 2 coffee.

Toasted buns with thick slab of butter and kaya

According to my sister who has been here before, there are two types of toast. They have normal toast bread and toast bun. I had the bun, shown in the picture above. 

LOOK AT THE BUTTERRRR

This shop is really generous with their butter! It's a huge slice of butter sandwich in between your hot toast so it tasted so so good! Usually kopitiam will scrooge on their butter so much so you only wished you had made your own breakfast at home. But the funny thing is homemade toast and eggs doesnt taste as good as outside's, I have no idea why LOL

Talking about eggs, I forgot to order eggs! Actually when I told the uncle that I wanted two sets of bread, somehow in my mind that meant I wanted the toast to come with eggs. When our bread and coffee came, he was in such a hurry that he threw my change on the table even before I handed him money HAHAHHA He meant no disrespect but I suppose it's just now market folks are.

So ya, I didn't dare ask him for eggs.

About the coffee, I'm not a big coffee fan but my sis told me that it's their signature drink so I decided to give it a go. But! Apparently I ordered the wrong beverage. It was supposed to be Hainanese Tea which is kind of a mixture of coffee and tea. I ordered Coffee. I thought they only sold one type of famous beverage! wtf was I thinking LOL So Coffee turned out to be bitter and super thick milk coffee! Mum would love it but I only manage a few sips.

Two sets of toast (buns) and coffee cost RM8.40.

Nearby laksa stall

To compensate myself, I ordered Laksa from the stall nearby where I was sitting. The gravy was very good! Thick and fragrant! Love the coconut milk taste in the curry!! Quite a lot of ingrediants also for RM6! There goes my jogging effort LOL So much for insisting on a light breakfast.

Meehoon Laksa RM6

The uncle cooking the laksa was very nice and friendly even if he was super busy. I'm very intimidated of those busy uncles and aunties because they tend to be rude and they would scream at you if you are not fast enough in ordering or if you order using a language that they don't understand:S Back to the uncle, he was very nice and I was glad his laksa turned out nice too! The lady helping him isn't as friendly as he is though so I just ignored her HAHAHHA

Sis ordered Nasi Lemak, RM1.50 from this random lady walking around with her tray of nasi lemak. It's a nay on the nasi lemak though. Not fragrant enough, so sad looking too. Still feel I make one of the best Nasi Lemak! 

RM1.50 Nasi Lemak- Rice topped with sambal and a tiny winy slice of egg

I'm planning to go back for more toast though and half boiled EGGS!, during the weekdays that is, because my chicken heart can't take the seat wrestling, screaming uncle ordering and the people starring at me as I eat kind of situation. Told sis we will go back on weekdays, 8am! Take that! HAHA

The Replacement @ Jalan Dhoby, JB

Finally, it's the weekends!

Been down with a cranky stomach lately thanks to my ABC porridge. I realised that these days my stomach can't take too much of fiber or else it will start churning real badly and I'll be visiting the loo like it's my best friend. Good thing my stomach isn't acting up as bad as it did when I had green bean soup.

Since my stomach is feeling unwell, I got the chance to stay at home and rest. And get bored. Hence, blog. I met up with Wawa and Simren a week ago I think when I was back in JB and we decided to catch up at any random cafe. The Replacement was new so we decided to give it a shot

The Replacement

33- 34 Jalan Dhobby, JB

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This is how The Replacement looks from the outside. 

It's a plain white building. It's a lodge too, that explains why their kitchen i.e. cafe isn't very spacious. Actually I thought the space was very limited- almost like a large bedroom size. While there are other cafes that have limited space, I have to say that The Replacement really do not know how to maximize the tiny space that they have. 

Now, I'm telling you the layout of the cafe so you would be prepared. Either you get lucky and get that two seaters by the side of the wall (I think there were 4- 5 two seaters) or you get unlucky and have no choice but to share one huge ass table.

The huge ass Knights of Camelot kinda table

This is the huge ass table I was talking about. I think that this would fit 10 people at least, great for big families you know like those that dine with their grandparents all the way to their grandkids? Yup. 

But a far as what I have seen during my trip to The Replacement, those big ass family doesn't seem to be the primary market. Everyone that came in were young people in pairs or at most in groups of fives. When we arrive, we were seated rather quickly. That's a good thing. The bad thing was that we were seated right in the middle of the huge ass table, sandwiched between groups of unknowns seating at both ends:O

Oh, hi unknowns :S

This made us feel really awkward. We couldn't even talk at our normal volume because it really felt like our private space was violated. Thank God the girls on our right soon finished so we quickly scooch to that end of the table. 

So there we were in the huge ass table, only both poles of the table occupied because NO ONE was willing to take the middle seating like duh! So you see, lots of space wasted. They have this bar seating facing the window but the space is really squeezy so maybe if you want a quick drink that would be okay, if not I'd probably exit. 

They do have pretty lamps hanging over our heads at the Knights table though

The Replacement practised half self service. So you have to get the menu, order and pay at the cashier then be seated and wait for your order to arrive. 

The menu. 

Ordering was also a bit awkward for me because we don't get to seated to decide what to have. Instead everything was done in a hurry in front of the cashier area. They have a few chairs for you there but it was still so weird because I felt like I had to quickly get it over and done with and not hog the tiny area =.=

I wasn't that hungry and most of the menu was bread. You know brunch kind of menu? I had enough bread in KL so I decided to have cake instead. 

Five selection of cakes on display

The best looking on that look worthy to be ordered turns out to be yam cake. Since I was sharing the cake and neither of us fancy yam cake, I decided to order Strawberry Shortcake. It looks like a bad idea but the others weren't far off better so I just settled for the Strawberry cake hoping my prejudice towards their cake was wrong.

Caramel Latte, RM11

Simren's Caramel Latte came pretty quickly. I'm not a big fan of coffee but I did have a sip. Well, al I can say that it tasted almost like the Nescafe that my mum makes at home. Paying RM11, there was a higher expectation. I might as well spend it on the commercialised Starbucks instead. 

FREE water!

Water was free but you would have to go get it yourself. They have these bottles on a cart at one corner of the shop with glasses as well. So please help yourself! Not sure how many can you take but we took 2 bottles of water.

Strawberry Shortcake RM12.90

Then my cake came. As expected, it wasn't that good. Not worth my RM13. The cake tasted a little too dense for liking and it was sweet. To add on to the sweetness of the cake they had this strawberry jam,which tasted like those jar types from the hypermarket, in between the layers and also some buttercream. OH MY GOSH, that was the last straw! Even though we shared the cake, we find it really hard to finish that one tiny slice:(

Corque Madame, RM18.90

Wawa haven't had lunch so she ordered the Corque Madame which was super overpriced! This made me really angry because this dish is just a slice of bread with melted cheese, tomato sauce (I think) and egg on top. It took them 45 minutes to an hour to serve. The portion was really tiny for a RM18.90. I might as well add on RM5 and have a big breakfast in Bangsar!

People say that KL food is expensive. Well, yes no doubt a meal in cafe or restaurants in KL would cost you RM15 at least but the difference is the food is worth the price! Cafe in JB seriously pisses me off. Just because they want to imitate God knows what, they are charging such a high price on disgusting tiny portion food. 

PLUS! The ambience of The Replacement was rather bad- awkward seating, white walls etc so why the heck are you charging so much? It's understandable that all business aims for profit but this is really too much

Approximately RM43 for the tiny things we ordered :S

The Replacement should really be replaced.

But then again, I don't know why are they so many people on Facebook who actually compliment this place like it's one of the best places in JB. It's either they are easily contented people or they are really nuts. Also noticed lots of people who dress up nicely in chiffon dresses and what not, coming to The Replacement with DSLR camera with their nose stuck high up in the air.

Why ah? So glamourous meh drinking overpriced meh coffee here?

We were like, uhhh. Should have gone across the street and spend our money on three portion of chicken chops instead. Nevermind, take picture to compensate our loss LMAO

At least Simren really liked the dried flower

The Ice- cream Project @ Jalan Dhoby, JB

I'm suppose to go out for dinner with Rebecca but as we were just about to leave the house it poured heavily! So now we are waiting for the rain to subside before leaving. Gosh, my appetite is cranky again. I know it's meal time but Im not feeling that hungry but I don't feel like eating:(

Anyway, yesterday was super fun because I brought Reb out for some ice- cream! She has been wanting to try this for a long time but didn't had a chance too. So off we go for our sister's day out!

TIP, The Ice- cream Project

31 Jalan Dhoby

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A swing outside TIP

Selfie in front of the shop because it's sisters day out <3

The thing about TIP is that it's apparently a very famous place to get ice- cream in JB. Maybe it's because we don't have many ice- cream parlours around. Anyway, my point is you can't expect the best customer service there la. In fact once I entered, I somehow have the feeling that the people there are very stuck up. Initially, I thought that it's just me so I just brushed it aside but when I met up with Wawa today she said that memang the boss there isn't too friendly.

This shop gave me the same feeling when I visit China House in Penang for cakes. It's not to say that the waiters there, wait I dont think I should call them waiters because no one will wait after you. It's all self service. Well, the workers there aren't rude but it's just that they give you this snobbish feeling which is my pet peeve.

A few pictures of ice- cream in the making:

It's quite cool to see the nitrogen that is being used to freeze your ice- cream! Oh yes, your ice- cream will be made only when ordered and that's why it tasted very fresh! Love how the milk tasted, it was literally eating frozen creamy FRESH milk!

Interior of the shop

Pretty cool nook 

Though they have limited space in the shop there was more than ample seats for everyone when I was there but I could imagine that during a full house probably customers will get sightly uncomfortable especially those sitting right in front of the ice- cream maker. That's because everyone would be flocking that are while waiting for their ice- cream to be made. 

One huge ass mirror really good for selfies

Brownies & Cream, RM14

There are only four flavours of ice- cream on the menu. Totally forgot what the other three were but yeah that's all you got! They do have an extensive menu of teas though. Initially I thought the tea menu were ice- cream flavours because it is an ice- cream shop right? But no, you only have four ice- cream choices.

A little disappointed because I was going to order the Earl Grey flavour HAHAHAHA Turns out it was tea so nah. Still puzzled by the lack of options of ice- cream in an ice- cream shop. They might as well be a tea parlour:S

Reb finally getting to try TIP!

FREE water!

Yes, they do provide you with free water if you would like to quench your thirst after having ice- cream. Though TIP's ice- cream wasn't too sweet, in fact I loved how it tasted and need not drink water after that I still went for the free water just because HEHE.

Of course, everything there is self service. You will see the self service sign everywhere. When I mean everywhere, I do mean everywhere. The first sign that you see greeting you at the entrance of the door is a self- service sign. Then when you enter I probably spot three to four similar signs inside that small area. 

TIP screams SELF- SERVICEEEE!

Then they also have a self- service sign above the free water station indicating that you should order, pay, get the ice- cream by yourself. Don't expect anyone to clean up after you're done yes? See that containers next to the free water station? That's where you ditch your paper cups and what not.

All in all, I love their ice- cream because it really tasted fresh and authentic. Brownies and cream did tasted like the real brownie crumbles and milk cream! But then again, for RM14 I won't be able to have it on a regular basis. Probably once in a blue moon, so definitely an indulgence!