Its been a while since I was here my last post dated May 2010 HERE so I didnt know what to expect. It had remained an insanely popular place since its opening, and from general feedback, I was informed that the quality of breads has since deteriorated, service is bad, its packed to the rafters everyday, etc etc.
Hence I had avoided a re-visit; til just a few days back, when a bunch of us decided that we would like to brunch out on BREADS on the 2nd day of Raya.
Thanks Pop for the pic!
I thought its a good idea anyhow, to experience for myself hows it is like now. So I told everyone to arrive at 1130am, to beat the lunch crowd; so to speak. Tough luck though, for it was packed even by then; cars were packed on both sides of the roads & the place was crowded with no empty tables available.
This is worse than Ipoh dim sum crowd on a weekend; I thought in despair.
One of the more popular breads this pretty star shaped bun.
Anyhow, long story short, we resorted to glaring at the occupants of tables that were almost done with their meals, and I stood pointedly right beside their table with my arms folded. Ok, perhaps that was an exaggeration, but you get the drift.
30 mins just to get a table, 15 mins of wait for me to get a miserable tray for my breads and another 30 mins queuing up at the cashier to pay for my purchases.
By the time I sat down with my food, I was faint from hunger & frustrated as hell.
My purchases: A durian cheesecake, a mentaiko bun, a curry chicken loaf & a tuna + fishcake bun (Ok, they have got nice fancy names but I lost the receipt! Hehe.. ).
I had the cakes here on my last visit & thought they were pretty decent. This visit I zoomed in on the durian cheese cake immediately, & I would rate it a fair 6.5/10.
It wasnt too dense nor too cheesy and it had just enough pungency; just like how I like my durian desserts.
Curry chicken loaf.
Mentaiko Bun & Tuna + fishcake bun.
All of that cost me about +- RM24.00. The cake was around RM7.90 (I think) & the buns are averagely RM4.00 RM6.00.
Luckily enough for me, food wasnt too bad. Yes, some breads/buns were left out a bit too long & it has harden slightly. Still, the retail traffic is such that most popular breads are sold within an hour or less of hitting the shelves. So that probably only happens to the least popular buns.
My mentaiko bun was one. Perhaps it is weird to eat fish eggs & bread, but I loved it. Briny popping marinated fish eggs with chewy bread. Yums!
This funky named bun wasnt something I would have bought if I knew what was inside. Tuna flakes stuffed within a fish cake roll & that stuffed into a normal white bun is not my kind of bread.
But this I love! My curry chicken loaf is wonderfully crispy on the outer crust, yet chewy & soft on the inside. Did you see the air pockets? Thumbs up for texture!
As a personal preference Ill stick to the healthy & whole grains since Im not fond of fluffy empty breads, but there are a few here thats just too cute! Like this one!
This is a huge favourite ok, almost every table has one on their trays! Its basically a white bun coated with chocolate flakes & filled with cream.
The pizzas here are decent too, and you have the choice to either choose from the ready baked ones, where they are displayed at the bread counters, or you can order your pizzas ala-carte.
Both pizzas are different of course, as you can see from the visuals below. Naturally prices differs as well; with the freshly baked ones at RM10+ and the ones by slices around RM5.00 each.
Look at the crust! Nice, thin & crispy!
These are the individually slices ones.
Mushroom & Cheese.
Sausage & cheese.
While the above are round with thinner crust, the ones below are triangular & thick crusted.
Seafood pizza & Ham Pizza.
For more substantial meals, go for the pasta & soups.
MORE PICTURES of what we had that day:
It was a bread outing!!
Some ! of the h ealthier, whole grains loaves.
So yes, its not hard to see why Levain Boulangerie is so popular. There are breads, sandwiches, pastas, pizzas, MACARONS (yes, another post on that one) packaged with a cosy; albeit bustling ambiance.
Conclusion:
Good variety of breads/buns. Decent food pizzas & pastas. Limited selection of healthy or European breads. Popular mainly for its atmosphere & suitable for patrons who are not particularly seeking for artisan European breads.
So whos been there before? Whats your opinion of the food/breads? Tell me!
LeVain Boulangerie Patisserie
No. 7 Jalan Delima, Off Jalan Imbi, (right beside CocoTei Japanese Restaurant)
55100 Kuala Lumpur
03 2142 6611
Open: 8am to 8pm DAILY
All pictures are:
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