Pepper Lunch @ Aeon Maluri

Pepper Lunch @ Aeon Maluri is a casual, fast-service restaurant franchise based on a Japanese teppanyaki-style cooking method (with branches in Pavilion Bukit Jalil, Main Place USJ and KL East Mall including Genting & Cameron Highlands) offering a unique DIY teppanyaki dining experience.

Although Pepper Lunch has been in the Malaysian market since 2019 (I think I first noticed them in Pavilion KL), the branch in Aeon Maluri was opened just last year in November which makes it very convenient for me when I'm out grocery shopping in Aeon.

Pepper Lunch offers options of premium steaks, sizzling curry rice, teppan pasta, deluxe combos (of 2 or 3 meats), Japanese classics (with teriyaki sauce) and cheesy omelette rice but their signature is pepper rice which was what we started with, their Beef Pepper Rice @ RM19.90 nett.  This Beef Pepper Rice happens to be one of the weekday promotion sets (under Belly Busters) and comes with an egg and refillable Green Tea.

Pepper Lunch offers the novel concept of you cooking your meat on their patented sizzling hot pan for that unique experience of 'Sizzling it your Way' where you get to cook your meat to your desired doneness, so the protein is served raw to your table.

On the table you'll find bottles of garlic soy sauce, sweet brown sauce (not a fan) and more black pepper for you to season your meat and rice further should you feel the need to.  The taste of the black pepper is adequately sufficient but I love more + a drizzle of garlic soy too.

I had the Beef & Salmon Pepper Rice @ RM24.90 and, similarly, the salmon and beef was served raw for you to cook.  The beef is sliced so thinly that it's automatically tender.  Between the beef and salmon, I preferred the beef.

Although the instructions tell you to mix everything together until the meat is cooked, I prefer to let the meat sizzle and cook on the hot pan separately, that way I can get a bit more browning on the meat.

I also ordered a side dish of Mashed Potatoes @ RM4.20 to share.  Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the mashed potatoes because of the brown gravy.  Let's just day I'd rather eat KFC's brown gravy...lol! :O  Other side dishes include miso soup, edamame, french fries and crispy fried chicken.

Since we enjoyed the food, we made a return trip soon after.  My son had the same Beef Pepper Rice again but since it was a weekend, there was no promotion set offered, so it cost RM21.73 this time.

I decided to try one of their teppan pasta and ordered the Beef Aglio Olio @ RM24.17 (other options include Seafood Aglio Olio, Salmon & Prawn Carbonara and Chicken & Cheese Chicken Sausage Aglio Olio).

Going for the beef aglio olio was a no-brainer as beef is a less common option for pasta than seafood and chicken at most places.  The thinly sliced beef is the same one you get with beef pepper rice...the only difference is this one comes with a preset sauce for you to drizzle over your beef and pasta.

I asked for the cheese to be omitted.  I noticed a bit of extra seasoning besides the chilli powder...possibly some seasoning (like chicken powder) together with a sprinkling of dried parsley.  I guess if you still needed further seasoning, you could use the garlic soy and black pepper that's freely available on the table.

My Personal Opinion

Overall, I think Pepper Lunch hits all the right spots when it comes to a satisfying peppery meal with either beef or salmon (chicken and prawn options are also available) and you can have it with either rice or spaghetti.  Between the two though, I prefer it with rice...while beef is my first choice for protein.

This place offers an affordable (prices are appropriately reasonable) and quick meal (the food does arrive at your table pretty fast since it's served raw for you to do your own cooking).  And it's all done with their patented sizzling hot teppan which makes cooking it a breeze for everyone.

Pepper Lunch

S10 Second Floor Aeon Maluri

Jalan Jejaka

Taman Maluri

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tap Room @ Bamboo Hills (Again)

Believe it or not, this was our third visit to Tap Room @ Bamboo Hills in 6 months! :O  Well, we love the vibes and ambience here, and the food and drinks, of course...and we always end up having a good time here! ;)

Let's see, our first visit to Tap Room was just for snacks, desserts, coffees and beers as we already had a lavish premium beef lunch at Kampai Yakiniku before that.  For our second visit, we had a proper meal there, specifically their pizzas at Pizza Duo, together with some nice starters from Tap Room.

This round we tried a few more different appetisers from their tapas menu starting with the Grilled Eggplant @ RM24.80 featuring roasted eggplant with golden baby shrimps, lemon aioli and sriracha sauce.

The lightly battered baby shrimps were nice and crispy eaten with the mildly sweet and earthy roasted eggplant pieces with a bit of crunch and freshness provided by the baby pink turnips and edible micro herbs. It was a delightful enough starter to start. ^_~

Next was this dish of Roasted Cauliflower @ RM24.80 which consists of a whole roasted cauliflower with coconut flakes and served with either pomodoro sauce or a creamy sambal terasi.  What you see here is the pomodoro sauce which is typically a tomato-based sauce (though we also requested for the creamy, slightly spicy sambal terasi later).

I was inspired to order this dish when I saw it on the menu coz I've always liked fried cauliflower at Indian restaurants + I was reminded of a cauliflower dish I similarly enjoyed at a (now-closed) restaurant.  This preparation is slightly different (of course)...the roasted (and softened) whole cauliflower had a sweet glaze over it almost like brown sugar (or gula melaka) and the toasted coconut flakes offered yet another layer of sweetness to it.

Just like our previous visit, we ordered a third dish to share, the Ultimate Cheese Sandwich @ RM66.80 thinking to indulge again in the awesome pizzas we had so enjoyed on our last visit.  But that derailed our intention dead in its track! :O  Why, you ask?  I thought I was ordering a third starter...and it was clearly not when it arrived.  We were clearly not expecting such a humongous sandwich! O_o  It certainly did not look anything like the portion size of the one in the menu.

Not only was the bread huge, they were thick as well (at least an inch thick), the ultimate cheese sandwich was filled with smoked duck, mushrooms, baby spinach, caramelised onions, cheddar, mozzarella and truffle oil.  It was served with a side of garlic+honey+soy shoestring fries and a salad of baby spinach, cherry tomatoes and red turnip.  Not that the sandwich wasn't good but we were so full (there were 4 slices and we each had one) we couldn't eat anything else let alone our initial plan of coming here to eat the pizzas we enjoyed so much on our last visit.

We were so stuffed we couldn't even eat dessert, so what do we do...we ordered more drinks (so this turned out to be more of a drinking session than an eating session)! :D  There were beers (India Pale Ale @ RM28, Pale Ale @ RM23 & Happy Lager @ RM23), 3 glasses of cocktails for RM85, coffees of Iced Caffe Latte @ RM16 and a cold pressed juice of Heart Health (Beetroot/Apple/Carrot/Ginger/Lemon) @ RM18.  There was no better day to enjoy beers at a 68% discount than on the eve of the National Day holidays when we were there! ^.^

My Personal Opinion

This third visit to Tap Room was a visit where we not only ate the least things (only 3 dishes) but also ate the least inspiring dishes.  Not that they weren't any good...they were still decent just less impressive compared with what we had on our earlier two visits.

Their menu has so much variety that not every dish we pick will be outstanding.  We got ourselves stuffed silly in the process...and maybe a little disappointed coz our original intention of coming here to partake in the pizzas we so enjoyed the last time was not met.  But no regrets, we can only get to know how much we like a dish after trying, right?  In the end, we enjoyed our drinking session...and our get-together chit chat session as always. ^_~

Tap Room

Unit P10-01 & P10-02 Bamboo Hills

Taman Bukit Bambu

Off Lebuhraya Duta-Ulu Kelang (DUKE)

51200 Kuala Lumpur

CoffeeLicious (Lunch Options) @ Pandan Indah

CoffeeLicious @ Pandan Indah has been a regular haunt of mine (since discovering its existence months back) for a good western breakfast and a cup of coffee in the mornings to kickstart my day right (and I'm there on a regular basis).

I enjoy the tranquility of a quiet morning while sipping on my cup of coffee.  But CoffeeLicious isn't just about breakfasts, they have lunch options too.

And seeing how much I did enjoy their breakfast items, I came with a friend for lunch one day.  She chose the Spaghetti Carbonara Lunch Set @ RM25 inclusive of a drink.

The moment the spaghetti arrived, we were bowled over by just how large the portion was.  It came generously filled with chicken ham and fresh shiitake mushrooms (button mushrooms would have been better, of course) topped with cheese and a sprinkling of dried parsley served with a piece of crunchy sourdough toast with garlic spread.

I had the Spaghette Bolognese Lunch Set @ RM23 (which also includes a free drink) and served with the same garlic-infused sourdough toast as above.  You can again see how plentiful the meat sauce was...and they were not kedekut (stingy) with the minced chicken either.

I found myself enjoying this bolognese more than I thought I would as the tomato sauce was just nicely balanced, not too acidic like many I've had before.  Of course, I told them to hold the cheese in my spaghetti.  Again, it was a very big portion and you'll definitely come away feeling full.

Our drink of choice was of course Iced Latte....which is my friend's favourite choice of coffee and mine too, a firm favourite when I'm here.

Besides these pastas set, they've also introduced a couple of new sandwiches that are heartier (and probably more suitable for lunch though they can also be for breakfast if you're extra hungry or have a bigger appetite) and they include the Chicky Chick Sandwich, Avo Prawn Sandwich and AvoWhole Sandwich.

As you can see, many of their dishes are avocado-focussed, so if you're fan of avocado you know where you can get your fix....and I'm a fan! ;)  So I started with this Egg & Avocado Toast @ RM20 comprising of scrambled eggs and avocado over a piece of sourdough toast (with coffee, of course, a Hot Long Black @ RM9).

The scrambled eggs are as per usual, nice and fluffy, with slices of fresh, creamy avocado.  If you're a fan of avocado, you'd know that avocado and eggs is a perfect combo! ;)

Although I love eggs and avocado together, I would have liked it better if the avocado was mashed for that creamier texture instead of just sliced.  I made a special request the next time I had this and was happy they obliged and agreed to make it into an avocado mash for me...yumzzz! ^o^

On one of my visits here, I tried something from their new sandwich menu, the Avo Prawn Sandwich @ RM28 paired with an Iced Latte @ RM12.  I was a bit taken aback when the dish arrived as it looked nothing like the pic in the menu...it was served more like a Japanese-style sando sandwich.

Releasing the sandwich from its packaging, I could see that it was filled wth prawns, scrambled eggs, mashed avocado and cherry tomatoes.  I'm afraid I didn't like the prawns as they were those frozen, translucent-looking prawns with an overly crunchy texture.

Needless to say, this was the least favourite thing I ate from here.  I would have preferred if it was served exactly like the one shown in their menu or, even better, an open-faced sandwich coz wrapping it up made the sourdough soft (like those soft, fluffy milk bread used in a sando sandwich)...but I want that nicely toasted, crisp, crusty texture of sourdough as it's supposed to be.

My Personal Opinion

A convenient and pleasant stop for me in the mornings to get my fix of coffee, breakfast and (sometimes) lunch on days when I'm hankering for a western meal.

If you're a lover of avocado (like I am), they have quite a few options on their menu for you to sink your teeth into like the Mushroom Egg & Cheese Bagel + Avocado and Avocado Beet Hummus Toast besides the two newly launched sourdough sandwiches...but their Egg & Avocado Toast is still my favourite (and I make a special request for the avocado to be mashed). ^.^

CoffeeLicious

3G Jalan Pandan Indah 4/33

Pandan Indah

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-4288 3387

Kenny Hills Bistro @ Shoppes at Four Seasons Place

I've been to Kenny Hills Bakers and absolutely love their food (especially the desserts) and coffees there...but this time we decided to try out one of their sister restaurants, Kenny Hills Bistro @ Shoppes at Four Seasons Place.

While Kenny Hills Bakers is more known for its artisan breads and pastries, Kenny Hills Bistro offers a slightly different dining experience, focusing on casual fine dining European cuisine, although some similarities can be found in some of their dishes and desserts.

I had totally forgotten to take photos of the restaurant and its interior as I was fully engrossed in conversation with my friend/dining companion.  We were there for a late brunch and since I miss eating a good western breakfast lately, we started off with an order of the Bistro Big Breakfast @ RM45 (and yes, it's a little pricier than usual but know that it's compensated with quality, fresh, inhouse made ingredients).

But first things first, we must have our coffee fix to start...and that would be two Iced Lattes @ RM14 each, me and my friend's favourite coffee drink.

Back to the big breakfast, it features two eggs done your way (we went with scrambled), an option of beef bacon or smoked salmon (we chose beef), chicken sausage, homemade baked beans, grilled button mushrooms, homemade hashbrown and a tomato compote served with toasted organic white country bread and butter.  That's what a hearty, big breakfast platter should look like...filled with lots of ingredients and mostly housemade.

Everything on the plate was done right, the eggs were fluffy, the mushrooms juicy, the quality beef bacon (and they were quite generous with it too, there were 4-5 good slices) savoury and delicious and so were the sausage and baked beans.  I particularly enjoyed the thick homemade hashbrown with its crispy edges (nothing like those frozen crap) and a tomato compote with the sweetness of the roasted tomatoes coming through.  This is one big breakfast I would gladly have again. ^.^

Our other breakfast dish was The Lafayatte @ RM32 with two poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, smoked salmon and wilted spinach on a croissant served with homemade fries and a side salad.

The poached eggs were perfectly cooked to a runny consistency sitting on a bed of wilted spinach that was sauteed in some cream sauce.  I especially liked the crisp, thick-cut fries...but between this dish and the big breakfast, it's quite obvious which one I preferred.

Did I mention the coffees were really good?  We enjoyed it so much that we just had to have another glass...and more so when we know we were going to need it to pair with our dessert.

Our dessert of choice was this Yuzu Citrus Tart @ RM25 that was so elegantly presented that it was as pretty as a flower...well, quite literally! :D  We stared at it for a while not wanting to violate something so pretty. It has a buttery vanilla crisp crust filled with yuzu curd, almond cream, cream chantilly and topped with yuzu jelly, grated lime zest and a hint of luxury, a bit of edible gold leaf.

The yuzu curd had such a prominent floral aroma and bright flavours while the yuzu jelly had an intense tartness to it but yet so refreshing and tangy against the sweetness of the curd and cream.  The yuzu jelly on its own is highly acidic, so cut just a tiny piece and eat it together with the rest of the tart and it offers a sweet and tangy bite.  It was a zesty symphony of flavours and one that was absolutely delightful.  When I ordered this, the server informed me (proudly) that this yuzu citrus tart is a Kenny Hills Bistro exclusive (meaning you can't get this at Kenny Hills Bakers!)...and for this very reason it's a tart you must order here coz it's unbelievably good! ^o^

My Personal Opinion

Kenny Hills Bistro, like Kenny Hills Bakers, is yet another winner!  I'd call it a slightly more "atas" version of Kenny Hills Bakers...but serving the same good food.

Their Bistro Big Breakfast though I've to admit is priced slightly higher than most cafes offering such a dish but the portion is substantial and it comes with more quality and housemade ingredients that sets it apart from the norm.  This big breakfast is guaranteed to kickstart your day right.

As for the Bistro's exclusive Yuzu Citrus Tart, you have to so get this if you're a fan of all things sour, this dessert gives you that intense, fragrant flavour with bright acidity that you'll completely adore.  Certainly one of the best desserts I've had this year.

Although I've only tried a limited no. of dishes, I'm already confident that the food here is good from just a small sampling of 3 dishes...and would certainly like to return to try more...perhaps for dinner the next time round! ^_~

Kenny Hills Bistro

G-07 Ground Floor

Shoppes at Four Seasons Place

145 Jalan Ampang

50450 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-8953 8985

Tokyo Yakiniku @ Pandan Indah

There are very few Japanese restaurants in my neighbourhood.  In fact, there's just one which specialises in yakiniku (grilled meat), one specialising in udon (Udon-Ya San) and another two specialising in (conveyor-belt) sushi (Sushi Mentai & Sakura Sushi)...and that's probably about it (at least the ones I'm aware of).

So, when we feel like eating Japanese within our taman, there are very limited options to choose from.  That was what led us to reconnect back with Tokyo Yakiniku @ Pandan Indah, a place we used to patronise (I wrote about it here and here) but one that we completely forgot along the way.  I happen to bump into the boss when I was dining at Tasty La La Meehoon (in fact he's there regularly) and that was what jolted my memory about his Japanese restaurant that I've not visited in a long while...lol!

As the name (yakiniku) implies, grilled meat is their speciality, so that's what we regularly have when we're here....and we usually start with orders of one their set meals of either:

BBQ Bacon Set @ RM13.90

BBQ Chicken Set @ RM12.90

BBQ Pork Lean Meat Set @ RM12.90

BBQ Spicy Bacon Set @ RM13.90

or Tempura Don @ RM17.90

Each set meal comes with a choice of side dishes of either tofu pok or fried oyster mushrooms and a miso soup.  You can add on a drink for RM3.  And then we would add on a couple more side dishes to accompany our set meals with our usual orders being one of the following:

Of course no one is going to complaint if there's more bacon...such as BBQ Bacon @ RM10.90.

BBQ Spicy Bacon @ RM10.90

BBQ Pork Neck Meat @ RM8.90

Australian Ribeye @ RM21.80 - the beef here unfortunately is not quite the quality I'm looking for.  I guess I can't expect much really with that kind of price.

Spicy Pork Pandan Roll @ RM6.90 - and no, these are not made inhouse as I've eaten the same thing at other restaurants.

Green Lettuce Stir-Fried or with Oyster Sauce @ RM12.90

Mixed Grilled Vegetables

Grilled Onions @ RM4.90

Even if it comes free with the set meals, we're always inclined to order more Tofu Pok @ RM4.50...

.....and that goes for the Fried Oyster Mushrooms as well @ RM9.90.

There's only one dipping sauce option here....and it's one that tastes like a sweetish teriyaki with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

You can also order their pre-set BBQ menus for 2 (RM48.80) or 4 (RM118.80) persons...and this is extremely popular with most of the diners who dine here.  They enjoy grilling the meat themselves though you can also have the kitchen staff grill them for you.

My Personal Opinion

We used to do the grilling ourselves too (just for the fun of it) but soon realise that the kitchen does a better job...they can get a more even browning on the meats (coz they probably flip them around more often than we do).  So, in the end, we thought why go through the hassle of grilling and having to watch over your meats so that they don't burn when we can just enjoy our food and leave without the smell of grilled food in our hair and on our clothes...lol!

Even after a long hiatus of not visiting...and the fact that they're still around after so many years is testimony to the fact that their food is acceptably decent as their prices are affordable and reasonable for a weekend family meal.

Tokyo Yakiniku

76G&A Jalan Pandan Indan 4/6B

Pandan Indah

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-4295 4833