Eat Drink KL: March 2016

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Xiao By Crustz @ Happy Mansion, PJ Section 17

Good vibes, good desserts: After nearly seven years of nurturing her craft with home baking & corporate catering, young pastry chef Koh Xiao-Ly has launched her own patisserie with her sister - it's a lovely parlour in Petaling Jaya's Section 17 (with a distinctive seating space that caters more to couples than clusters), focusing on petite but elaborate French-inspired creations that illustrate its friendly founder's flair & finesse. This is one place to check out for well-crafted sweets.

Xiao specialises in selections of gateau-style cakes & tarts that will evolve from time to time - highlights from her current Magnificent Seven include Le Cerf, layered with hazelnut dacquoise, moelleuex au chocolat & milk chocolate chantilly cream on a crispy-crumbly base, topped with a deer-shaped thin chocolate slice (RM16), one of the many photogenic concoctions that'll show up on social media in the weeks to come. If you're searching for a sumptuously nuanced dessert, try Goma Goma, an eclair with pleasurably nutty accents, irresistibly punctuated with creamy sesame ganache & hazelnut mousseline (RM13).

We like how some of these reveal unexpected complexities; La Vie En Rose is a delicately modulated, floral-fruity treat - sable breton shortbread cookie crust crowned with pate a choux dough stuffed with raspberry jam & sandwiched with rose chantilly (RM16). Also worth trying: Le Citron (RM16; an ensemble of the good stuff - sable, madeleine, vanilla lime mousse, house-made orange marmalade) & Earl Grey (RM15; a tea devotee's dream - sable, Sacher sponge, Earl Grey bavarois & ganache).

We have mixed sentiments about Pa Macha; the pate choux & luscious green tea creme diplomat work well together, but the final component of passion fruit jelly feels too dominantly tangy - it's interesting to sample though (RM12). The only one we'd skip is Le Fruit (RM13), a fruit tart with creme patisserie, vanilla mousse & almond cream, which tastes relatively nondescript compared to everything else here - but it's nevertheless still notable for its use of mint planted in Xiao's own garden. Wash down with Yuzu or Lime fizzy beverages (RM9) & purchase a jar of house-made peanut butter or mango jam to bring home. Xiao By Crustz is a labour of love, & it's done well enough that it deserves a following. Expect to hear more about this place.

Xiao By Crustz
B-G-6, Happy Mansion, Section 17, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Open Wed-Fri, 3pm-10pm; Sat-Sun, 12pm-6pm

The Eat Drink KL mobile app is now available, connecting restaurants & customers to promote a positive spirit of community.
Every restaurant on this app rewards users with a 6 percent discount, instantly & conveniently, everyday, all day long. 
In return, users share photos of their experiences at these eateries, creating a new community of restaurant lovers.
For every transaction, at least RM0.10 will be channelled to a charity of the month.

Stay up to date: The Eat Drink KL newsletter is sent by email to subscribers every Monday; it's the Klang Valley's foremost weekly round-up of new restaurant openings, F&B promotions & other tasty tidbits.
Subscribe to Eat Drink KL Weekly for free via this following link: 
Note to subscribers on Gmail: The newsletter may be in the Promotions folder of your inbox.

Check out the latest edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favourites, with 100 recommended restaurants for Jan-Mar 2016. This eBook is available to read or download at this link: http://issuu.com/eatdrinkkl/docs/ebook

Buckle your seatbelts: Eat Drink KL is partnering with Uber to take restaurant lovers on new adventures across KL & Selangor!
If you haven't used Uber yet, it's time to begin! For new users, just follow the steps below to redeem free rides:
1. Download the Uber app from the App Store, Play Store or Windows Store - and register your Uber account.
2. Apply the code EATDRINKKL as your first promotional code & you'll receive 2 Free Rides worth RM30 each.
3. Request a ride through the app and ride for free to any destination (with two ride values of up to RM30 each).

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

HALE Restaurant @ Menara Hap Seng

Hale & hearty: This joint offers healthier forms of fast food at fair prices - burgers with oven-baked Australian grass-fed beef patties in wholemeal buns (RM11.90), mixed red rice with green curry chicken & pineapple salsa (RM12.90), pasta with grilled chicken & house-made pesto sauce (RM12.90), muesli yoghurt with green apples (RM6.50), cinnamon rolls with reduced-sugar cream cheese & almond flakes (RM6.50) & oregano ginger tea (RM4.50). Meals are prepared to order for a tasty lunch.


HALE
Lot 1-20, First Floor, Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur. Mon-Sat, 7am-9pm


The Eat Drink KL mobile app is now available, connecting restaurants & customers to promote a positive spirit of community.
Every restaurant on this app rewards users with a 6 percent discount, instantly & conveniently, everyday, all day long. 
In return, users share photos of their experiences at these eateries, creating a new community of restaurant lovers.
For every transaction, at least RM0.10 will be channelled to a charity of the month.

Stay up to date: The Eat Drink KL newsletter is sent by email to subscribers every Monday; it's the Klang Valley's foremost weekly round-up of new restaurant openings, F&B promotions & other tasty tidbits.
Subscribe to Eat Drink KL Weekly for free via this following link: 
Note to subscribers on Gmail: The newsletter may be in the Promotions folder of your inbox.

Check out the latest edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favourites, with 100 recommended restaurants for Jan-Mar 2016. This eBook is available to read or download at this link: http://issuu.com/eatdrinkkl/docs/ebook

Buckle your seatbelts: Eat Drink KL is partnering with Uber to take restaurant lovers on new adventures across KL & Selangor!
If you haven't used Uber yet, it's time to begin! For new users, just follow the steps below to redeem free rides:
1. Download the Uber app from the App Store, Play Store or Windows Store - and register your Uber account.
2. Apply the code EATDRINKKL as your first promotional code & you'll receive 2 Free Rides worth RM30 each.
3. Request a ride through the app and ride for free to any destination (with two ride values of up to RM30 each).

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Peninsula Chinese Cuisine, Hong Kong Street Chun Kee & Boon Signature Recipe

Peninsula Chinese Cuisine in Ara Damansara specialises in banquet-style dining at predictably steep prices - at RM35, its roasted crispy pork belly can safely be skipped, while the fried rice with morsels of Parma ham & smoked duck is competent without being compelling (RM45). Forgo the pork chop, mismatched with a cloying, artificial-tasting strawberry glaze (RM42).

Peninsula Chinese Cuisine
Lot 10, 3rd Floor, Evolve Concept Mall, Pacific Place, Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya. Tel: 03-7832-6273

No harm, no foul from this PJ offshoot of a Singaporean family of restaurants: Chun Kee's prawn sauce chicken, crispy soft shell crab with pork floss, sliced snakehead fish bee hoon soup, herbal chicken & sliced fish hor fun might not exactly be the sort of stuff that inspires fervent sonnets, but it won't be a lunch that unleashes feverish brickbats either. Easy meal to finish.

Hong Kong Street Chun Kee Restaurant
 G-37 & G-38, Oasis Square, Oasis Village, Oasis Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Tel: 03-7832-6828

Boon Signature Recipe formerly operated a Kota Damansara outlet, serving decent wantan noodles with roast pork & chicken, char siew & curry chicken. Its founder can now be spotted selling the signature siew yok at KL's neighbourhood night markets.

The Eat Drink KL mobile app is now available, connecting restaurants & customers to promote a positive spirit of community.
Every restaurant on this app rewards users with a 6 percent discount, instantly & conveniently, everyday, all day long. 
In return, users share photos of their experiences at these eateries, creating a new community of restaurant lovers.
For every transaction, at least RM0.10 will be channelled to a charity of the month.

Stay up to date: The Eat Drink KL newsletter is sent by email to subscribers every Monday; it's the Klang Valley's foremost weekly round-up of new restaurant openings, F&B promotions & other tasty tidbits.
Subscribe to Eat Drink KL Weekly for free via this following link: 
Note to subscribers on Gmail: The newsletter may be in the Promotions folder of your inbox.

Check out the latest edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favourites, with 100 recommended restaurants for Jan-Mar 2016. This eBook is available to read or download at this link: http://issuu.com/eatdrinkkl/docs/ebook

Buckle your seatbelts: Eat Drink KL is partnering with Uber to take restaurant lovers on new adventures across KL & Selangor!
If you haven't used Uber yet, it's time to begin! For new users, just follow the steps below to redeem free rides:
1. Download the Uber app from the App Store, Play Store or Windows Store - and register your Uber account.
2. Apply the code EATDRINKKL as your first promotional code & you'll receive 2 Free Rides worth RM30 each.
3. Request a ride through the app and ride for free to any destination (with two ride values of up to RM30 each).