Chatime @ The Gardens

The craze over Taiwan bubble tea has been apparent in the recent months, with the arrival of 'Chatime'. Well, there are other player in the market prior to Chatime, however, Chatime has been successful in branding and ensuring they are located at prominent and visible locations.

I simply love their logo, purple font in 'modern' typeface, 'accompanied' by the tea leaves

For a bubble tea product which started from 2003 in Taiwan, and has since spread its wings to 12 countries, including Malaysia. It boasts an impressive 450 stores worldwide. WOW!!!

Chatime entered Malaysia, with Pavillion, being its first flagship outlet, and just few months after (w/c 25 Apr '11) , into its 6th and 7th outlet at The Gardens and SS15 respectively. Chatime took the opportunity to officially launch its 6th outlet at The Gardens by holding an official media launch in The Gardens itself, on 28 April 2011

Here's some of its popular drinks :

From L to R : Red Bean Milk Tea, Pearl Milk Tea, Passion Fruit QQ, Grass Jelly Fresh Milk, Matcha Latte

I was treated to the Grass Jelly Fresh Milk. I just love this milky, healthy drink, filled with lots of incredibly soft grass jelly, which it was easier to finish up once I finished the drink.

My Grass Jelly Fresh Milk

I can't take my eyes away from the Pearl Milk Tea (as shown in the middle)

Absolute cute sticker to promote its range of 'Mousse' Tea

Jeff & Mei Yan started the media launch by creating 'little' conversations with the media and guests

The CEO of Chatime Malaysia shared on their business plans, and looks like they are looking to grow this world renowned bubble tea franchise rapidly, with plans of opening another 25 more flagship stores in the next 2 years. Oh, what a wonderful piece of news for bubble tea drink lovers.

Sharing of expansion plans by CEO of Chatime Malaysia, Mr Bryan Loo (needless to mention, the CEO has to be 1 of the youngest CEO in Malaysia, and he was repeatedly complimented by Jeff on how good looking he is, and how celebrity looking he is..... and yes, this I ought to agree)

After the official ribbon cutting, some Malaysian personalities were invited to demonstrate their latest beverage series - the Mousse Bubble Tea. 3 steps to drinking the mousse bubble tea.
1) Enjoy the rich flavor of mousse by sipping the top layer
2) Slowly insert the straw to enjoy freshness of tea at the bottom layer
3) Stir both layers till even and indulge in a perfect union..

Here are the drinks from the Mousse Bubble Tea range :

From L to R (Top): Black Tea Mousse, Chocolate Mousse, Jasmine GreenTea Mousse, Matcha Mousse
From L to R (Bottom) : Ichiban Roasted Tea Mousse, Tie Guanyin Tea Mousse

They all loved their Chatime drinks

Beautifully decorated cake by Delectable - totally stunning...

Guests were then invited to Chatime's outlet in front of CIMB, where Mr Bryan explained to the media on process of making the tea. Brewed tea and cooked bubble jellies will be discarded after 4 hours if not used.. (but they usually finish them up in an hour or so)..

Explanation in progress

Explanation on the steps of making the renowned bubble tea

A staff from Taiwan showed the actual making of a bubble tea - scoop 2 scoops of bubble jelly, pump in the syrup, then the milk/tea, shake for 20 times, and then pour them out (she certainly poured out the drink in the most stylish manner)... The process was then tried out by a local artiste.

The local artist took a shot on making the bubble tea

Thumbs up from another local artist, and Mr Bryan Loo

Busy busy outlet

I suppose consumers like the fact that they can choose the level of sugar and ice placed into their drinks. Price of drinks are either RM4.90 or RM5.90 for Regular size, and additional RM1 for Large.

Having a list of more than 120 beverage products comprising of tea, coffee and fruit pumps. When will I finish trying them? hehe..

Chatime available at :
Times Square, SS2Mall, Sunway Pyramid, First Avenue, The Gardens, SS15 and Pavilion
All outlets operate from 10am-10pm, with the exception of Pavilion (10am-11pm)

Alexis @ The Gardens, KL

Alexis, my all time favorite fusion restaurant, with elegant contemporary interior was the place of choice for my buddy's belated birthday celebration. The popularity of Alexis is obvious, as this one at Gardens, being the biggest amongst its 6 outlets, were almost 100% filled, on a Monday night.

With its food quality that meets the mark on every visit, its no surprise that they are this popular.

Caesar salad came with fresh lettuce, bacon and croutons.


The penne carbonara was very tasty. Cooked together with bacon and mushroom, this creamy egg based sauce was just nice, and like the sauce that was 'trapped' in between the penne.

Penne Carbonara. Price-RM34

The kerabu fried rice tasted really good, having all the right element. The rice fried with long beans was soft, the fragrant salted fish, crispy and aromatic fried tumeric chicken, crispy keropok, and really fabulous tasting sambal belacan.. We had to asked for another serving of its belacan, as its quite small portion, and after that, had to order another side order of the keropok, for us to dip along with the belacan. Yumms!

Kerabu Fried Rice. Price-RM25

The gamberetto is 1 of my favorite.. thus, request to order this.. This thin crispy pizza, with tomato based is topped with garlic prawns, oven dried tomato, and lots of rocket. Rocket is a weird tasting green, with slight bitterness, but after getting used to this taste, I kinda liked it.. I liked the succulent juicy prawn too..

Gamberetto Pizza. Price-RM34

The tapas being baked button mushrooms came last. The highlight for this ought to be the mushroomy sauce with lots of garlic, that goes so well with the baguette. As the whole bowl are being baked together with the mushroom, the mushrooms were kept to its hottest, throughout.

Baked Button Mushroom. Price-RM16

We ordered the birthday girl's favorite, the Mixed Berries meringue, a dessert made out of whipped egg white and sugar. I love the delicate crisp crust of the meringue, balanced with extremely airy texture inside. A bite combining the creamy part of the cake that binds the meringue together with the berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries) wasn't sweet, slight sourness from the mixed berries plus the sweet meringue, this ought to be a blissful moment, for any cake lovers.

Mixed Berries Meringue. Price-RM15

My all time favorite - tiramisu was the other cake that was ordered. What I love most is the caramelized almonds that topped this cake.. This cake was also super yummy, with spongy cake layers, surrounding the layer with cheese and chunks of chocolate. The strawberry sauce adds taste to the entire cake.

This 2 will now be my super favorite cake - side by side...

Tiramisu. Price-RM15

A bottle of good wine to celebrate the occasion

A toast to the birthday girl... "Happiness always"..

Alexis
The Gardens, F209 Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-2287-2281

Home Made Fish Head Noodle @ Kota Damansara

Heard so much about Kennedy's at Kota Damansara, but being there on a wrong day ie. Monday (found it closed), had me & Cass opted for Home Made, fish head noodle instead.

I was extremely pleased to find this popular fish head noodle in such spacious and comfy environment.

Nice place for lunch

We had a little boy that required lots of attention...

"Give me your IPhone"....

I ordered their 3 layer milk tea.. This was by far the best I've tasted of 3 layer milk tea, after those that I tried from Kuching years back...Has this fragrant gula melaka taste, that compliments the other 2 layers made-up of tea and milk..The sweetness level was just right too.. Yumms....

3 Layer Milk Tea. Price-RM3.50

I ordered the Deep Fried Fish Head Mee Hoon. I have always liked my fish head noodle with milk, and also filled with lots of spring onion, tomato, salted vege, and I was happy to found generous portion of deep fried fish head, and fish meat. I liked the crunchiness on parts of the fried fish, enough meat for me to bite and the chewiness on some parts...
Overall satisfied with this bowl of noodle.

Fried Fish Head Mee Hoon. Price-RM8.50

Cass had hers with fish paste. Trust it would have been equally good.

They do not sell just fish head noodle, and within their menu, they also sell various toast breads, rice dishes... with a little similarity to chains such as Kim Gary and Pappa Rich..

Home Made Fish Head Noodle
(saw row as Pappa Rich - and they have another branch at Mid Valley)
8-1 & 10-1, Jalan PJU 5/5,
Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara,
47810 PJ
Tel & Fax : 03-6141 7978 / 012-236 1312 (JC Chin)

Another outlet of this

Restoran Tain Siang @ Bandar Botanic, Klang

Since all family members were around yesterday, decided to have dinner together. Finding the right place to eat may not be as easy, as all had different opinion. We ended up trying out Restoran Tain Siang at Bandar Botanic.

Open amidst rows of new shoplots, this Taiwanese steamboat concept stood out from far, with its bright green signage, occupying 2 shoplots.

Still a lot of work in progress around Restoran Tain Siang

Peep through the window decal

This is surely a high-end steamboat. They only offer ala-carte, and not charged per pax. Seemed like nothing cost less than Rm10 per plate. A 6pcs fish egg ball cost RM20, 5 pcs "mongolian" wrap cost RM17.. However, we were curious to try, and ordered 10+ plates to try..

Just part of the menu

I didn't managed to snap pictures of the food we ordered, as the waitress placed them in, all within minutes, without asking prior, and so she decided what goes into which side of the pot. :(

Something that we found special was the 'Squid Sausage', as shown in picture (below), strips of black sausage with white dots. It curls up within secs of soaking them in the hot soup, and tasted very springy. This unique plate of sausage came with a price, at RM32... hmm..

The handmade prawn paste glue tasted coarse and pretty normal, whilst the handmade noodles, which costed RM10 for the small plate was way too expensive. Its real thick noodle texture, and required 15 mins cooking (why sooo long?)..

From L : Five Flower Pork - RM20, Handmade Prawn Paste Glue - RM15, Handmade Noodle - RM10, Squid Sausage - RM32

Their USP, whether the spicy or soup, is that they used 62 different type of herbs to cook the soup base. And the spicy soup based, has this, strong taste which suited well to Taiwanese taste bud. We all loved the soup base, and has this very natural sweetness (they claim no usage of MSG).

The hot pot, and is almost ready to be eaten

Huge space, with quite a number of tables filled up

They currently have this offer of, YOU BUY RM500 voucher, WE ARE THE HOST voucher worth RM300 will be given free OR YOU BUY RM1,000 voucher, WE ARE THE HOST voucher worth RM1,000 will be given free. With the bill coming up to RM315, its only natural that we went for this promo.

Quite a smart gimmick, to get customers to return for at least 2x, instead of 1-off.

Based on the number of filled up table, I would think that there is still market for this kinda business. As this is a rather fresh and new offering, in Malaysia, and worth trying, at least 1x. The set back is, you may not leave with fully filled up stomach. :) UNLESS you are willing to part with lots of $ from your wallet.

Restoran Tain Siang
25-29, Jalan Kasuarina 2, KS/7,
Bandar Botanic, Klang
Tel : 03-3325 1799

Business Hours :
11am-11pm

Lam Mee Ya @ Empire Shopping Gallery, Subang Jaya

A meet-up at Empire Shopping Gallery, with my dearest ex-colleagues/boss, Alicia and Remus. We gave Remus the choice of where to eat, since he is now based back in KK. He opted for Lam Mee Ya, which didn't took us long to agree... He totally loved the food here, as he just had lunch at the same place, and again, during dinner ._.

One thing which I took notice from the 1st time I've been to Lam Mee Ya, is their menu. Overall, its a menu that carried clean look, with clear white background and most importantly, delicious looking food. Simply love their food photography...

Just love their menu... Uhhh.. everything looks so good

Remus immediately ordered the famous Lam Mee Ya char siu bun...
Oh, it was just sooo good... Soft bun, filled with lots of fillings, which tasted extremely delicious. The minced pork was extreeeemely tasty...

Char Siu Bun. Price-RM2.90 each

A change from my usual visit, where I usually go for their lam mee, we decided to order dishes...

Each of us had a bowl of their 'dan dong', and I had the white radish.. It came really hot, and we slowly take each sip with full satisfaction. Can really taste that this has been boiled long enough, for all its natural taste of the ingredients to have came out so strong.

White Radish Soup. Price-RM7.80

Jes opted for the steam rice with lard, good choice! looked absolutely delicious.. Am sure it brought extra 'kick'... the rest of us took the steam rice..

Lard Steam Rice. Price-RM3 (normal steam rice - RM2.80)

Asam Squid and prawn, I have nothing much to say, except that it was just too spicy for us...

Asam Squid & Prawn. Price-RM8.80

The Steam Pork with Black Bean sauce looks appetizing on the menu, and it doesn't fail when came to the real thing. This went so well with our rice.

Steam Pork with Black Bean Sauce. Price-RM7.80

The asam chicken tasted just nice. Chunks of chicken fried, and then cooked together with asam sauce. The asam with just the right level of sourness, made this a real appetizing dish.

Asam Chicken. Price-RM7.80

The sweet and sour pork had just the right texture, and had this caramelized effect. Nice.

Sweet and Sour Pork. Price-RM8.80

Another dish that got us praising was the pork leg with vinegar. Pork cooked till tender, whilst the soup was sour enough, with slight sweetness, made us wanting for more.

Pork Leg with Vinegar. Price-RM10.80

Each time I met Alicia together with Remus, it reminded me of the good old days. I had a wonderful dinner, despite us feeling rather hot, seated quite near to the kitchen.

Jes, Alicia, me and Remus

Lam Mee Ya
LG31 Lower Ground,
Jalan SS16/1,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
Tel : 03-5635 9818 / 5635 9858

TJ Haus @ Subang Jaya

This meet up was in celebration to Aloysius and Janice's birthday. How quickly each year passes by. This place has long been mentioned by Aloysius and Sam, and we finally get to try it.

I walked up the stairs with much anticipation, and enjoyed my every steps, admiring the deco hung at the wall.

The wall and stairs leading up to TJ Haus

As I stepped in TJ Haus, I see a restaurant filled with neat decoration, that combines English style and garden-like.

Inside TJ Haus

While waiting for us to arrive, Aloy ordered this, to first fill up his stomach. The chicken was coated with breadcrumbs, fried till crispy, while retaining moisture within, topped with mushroom sauce. I liked how the sauce complimented the chicken. This plate also came with potato wedges, and salad on the sides.

Chicken Chop in Rich Mushroom Sauce. Price-RM19

Upon my arrival, we ordered the rest of the food for the night.

Pumpkin is not my all time favorite, however, I liked the thickness of this pumpkin soup, garnished with whipped cream and pumpkin seeds. Tasted so rich.

Pumpkin Soup. Price-RM7.50

For the appetizer, we went with the rosti - Swiss dish containing mainly potato. The portion of this appetizer was quite big, however, the grated fried potatoes was rather little, but that was fine, as we had really lots of Swedish marinated salmon, topped with sour cream. This also came with lots of greens. Yumms. From the little share of rosti that I tried, I really liked this. The potato smell was just aromatic, and the onion just complimented it, and this was fried with slight crispiness by the sides. I likeeeee!

Graved Lachs with Rosti. Price-RM19

The crispy duck was highly recommended by Sam and Aloy whom has been here. Duck in a Western restaurant? Interesting.. So we did ordered.. This German Style crispy duck was made by grilling to perfection, topped with brown orange sauce, served with red cabbage and boiled potato. The sour-y tasting red cabbage taken together with the crispy duck, brought just the right taste to the senses.

Crispy Duck. Price-RM24.50

The grilled fish was really fresh, served with thick sauce, topped with tomato, and grilled potato, lots of broccoli and salad by the side. Those that love olives will especially love this, as the sauce had lots of olives too.

Grilled Fish. Price-RM28

As for dessert, we ordered their famous chilled cheesecake, a piece each meant for the birthday boy and girl. A refreshing cheesecake with peach topping. Everyone just loved this, as the texture was really dense, and just so creamy and rich.

Cheesecake. Price-RM12

The other dessert that we ordered was the fried banana. I liked this. With it being fried, its crispy on the outside, coating the sweet and soft banana. Taken with vanilla ice-cream, this dessert is really not bad.

The yummy cheesecake waiting to be eaten.

Map to TJ Haus

TJ Haus Restaurant
27, 1st Floor, SS18/1B,
47500 Subang jaya
Tel : 03-5636 4508

Business Hours :
11am-2pm, 6-11pm
(Closed on 1st and 3rd Monday of the month)