Ms. Jazz reviews: Acme Bar & Cafe (ABC) @ Jalan Binjai

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

I just came back from Acme Bar and Cafe (ABC) feeling lightweighted, not because of alcohol, but on knowing that KL have brought on a new shining light to the F&B Scene, and by that i was referring to ABC. Definitely a welcome addition, and a swanky cool place at that.
I jokingly told my friends im skipping our after dinner drinks session in the comfort of my bed and i will complete my entry by today. Nevermind its 1am now, nevermind i have to wake up for work at 7am. I'm quite so determine *yawn*... or maybe not.. Let's just see how this goes.
Located on the Ground Floor of new high end residential development, Troika. ABC occupies two levels, accessible through the main building entrance and is one of the pioneer restaurants in this building; we were told that there are 5 more in planning which would occupy a large area of 18,000sf on the 24th floor. Definitely something to look forward to

Walking into the restaurant brings me back to my study days in Melbourne, the cosiness, and friendly ambience so frequently found in the cafes in Melbourne gives me a familiarity that immediately capture my liking to ABC. With one of the partners who's background in architecture probably would explains the clever designs of high volume ceiling, with a void on its mezzanine floor, uncluttered spaces, plush cushioned seat on one side, and casual loose chairs on the ot! her, com muner tables in the center with the service bar sits handsomely in one corner, several cake selection were already in displayed. We also enjoyed the ambience on 1st floor, a more chilled and relax area with different sofa settings and playful odd corners creating privacy perfect for celebrations and special occasions.

It was ABC's first week of operation, and it is a very successful one at that, the restaurant was already bustling with diners and cheerful laughter and noises uplift the ambience of the overall restaurant.

They are still not operating on a full menu, but one with solid starting point with promises of more to come (ohhh! the tease!!), ABC will also be launching their Sunday Brunch Menu and Set Lunch menu soon, and do expect much more interesting offering from executive chef who was hailed from Luxemburg, and head chef being a Malaysian, which probably explains why their menu offering is a bit of a twist, not so much fusion but a mix of everything western, italian, and asians. You'll be glad to know that the pricing is affordable too, 3-course can set you to RM150 with wine.

Definitely voted one of the favourite starter of the night is the Crab and Grille! d Waterm elon Salad. (RM39) with poached crab meat, mirin soy sauce and toasted almonds. Have you ever tried grilling your own watermelon at home? you should, Ive done it before and its delicious when heated as it enhance those wonderful sweet arom, drip in a little vinegar and voila its good to indulge. With this salad, the dressings were definitely the winner, lightly tossed over the crunchy greens; the flavors meld nicely together and is incredibly light

Salted Egg Yolk Fried Strips (RM15) caught our attention, nicely covered chicken pieces with the salted egg mixture; this would be friendly tidbits to alcohol.

Grilled Zucchini, oregano, and ricotta (RM13) served over homemade tomato sauce which was rich and robust in flavours. No doubt to be popular with the vegetarians.

One order worthy dish is the Grilled Bacon Wrapped Snails (RM17), a modern twist to the usual snails recipe find elsewhere in town, served with coco beans and parsley garlic sauce. The bacon did something extra that added the oomph to this dish. Way cheap considering there is more than half a dozen in that pan.

Proceeding to main course, it was a mixture of hits and misses. While I could not stop slattering from my Roast Sting Ray (RM27), nice perfect flaky texture, that blends so good with the artichokes, fried lettuce, capers, confit lemons and butter, it was the Moroccon Lamb Stew (RM27- No pic) that left us stranded, the flesh tasted bland, result of lack of spices and Im thinking longer cooking hours needed?

Theres a saying that it takes skills to deliver simple dish with divine taste, and this unfortunately did not apply to the Black Crack Pepper & Parmesan Spaghetti (RM27), which was less than memorable. No doubt the dish was served with wallop of shredded cheese, but the taste did not blend together with the Spaghetti resulting in an almost tasteless dish.

Credits should be given to their grilled grass fed ribeye steak (RM57), top notch considering the price and with perfect execution. The steak is well marinated and its good to eat just by its own. Served with hand cut fries, rocket, tomato, and artichokes. The salsa verde by the side is also an excellent complementing sauce.
Their selection of dessert, although limited in item now, should not go unnoticed, especially when the combinations are out of the book. Think Cempedak with pistachio, apple with black olives, and pina colada c! ake. Interesting, no? Our favourite goes to their Cempedak with pistachio cake, a light sponged cake with luscious cempedak flavoured cream (All cakes are RM15 per slice) We heard of the Papaya Ice Cream too, which unfortunately was not ready to be served yet, but loving the thoughts of it already.

Coffee is below our standards, however I believe they will improve in due time, especially since they are only less than one week old and still in midst of training their barristas. My comments? Over frothing, and lack of aroma.

Service is impeccable; food was delivered timely, Kudos to the servers whom were attentive throughout the night, with warm smiles on their faces that shows that they too, enjoy themselves working there.
Be it high powered corporate luncheon, or gatherings with friends, parties, and functions. ABC is filled with endless possibilities, and definitely will be the ho! ttest ta lk in town in the coming weeks.

Our bill came out to RM150+ per pax with wine.

Parking of 3.5 hours set us off to RM9

Ratings:

Food: 6.5/10

(enjoy the twist to the originality)

Ambience: 9/10

Service: 8/10

Presentation of food: 7.5/10

Overall ratings: 8/10

~*~*! ~*~*~*~* ~

Acme Bar & Coffee (ABC)

Ground Floor @ Troika

19 Persiaran, KLCC

50450 KL

Tel: 03-21622288

http://www.acmebarcoffee.com/

Good View Seafood Restaurant @ Tawau Here We come Again

We like Good View Seafood Restaurant so much that we visited twice consecutively.Fresh, sweet & succulent prawns with just a mere poach & and the taste was gorgeous.Raw garouper fish eaten the sashimi way with wasabi was the best thing we did for the night..The garouper fish head & whatever left from the fish were made into this fantastic soup. So bloody good....Huge"see ham"cockles simply poach it & eat it with some chilli sauce...it's so yummy leh... Typical Sabah Veggie which is slightly different from those in Pennisula Malaysia ... tender & nice.

Another shell fish...This is what you see the inside of the sea snail. I like it with lime, garlic & chilli padi. So good leh...Thick slices of Garouper fish stomach fried with sweet pinapple of Tawau was great. This fish stomach must be real big indeed.

The lime in Sabah is juicy but not our opponents. By the way, their beer were sweet.

Below were dishes on the second evening ....welcome back to Good View Seafood Restaurant.

La La Clams cooked with green spinach for a wonderful soup, everyone of us love it very much.My friend like so much of fish stomach that he ordered again but this time fried together with sea cucumbers.LOL ...again fish stomach, my goodness... this is cooked in black pepper . Hopefully no more ordering of fish stomach in the next makan!Flower crabs fried with glass noodles the crabs were lovely but too much of glass noodle. My tummy cannot take it anymore especially bulky carbohydrate food.The fish as usual is always fresh in Tawau but that was not the way we wanted to be cooked, we wanted it raw again with ginger slices & vingear like the last trip I had last year.

Kayu Manis stir fried with eggs and another plate of Sabah Veggie.

Hello where is the raw lobster we are supposed to have??? I guess we had enough seafood for the moment hopefully some other cuisine for a change.

Good View Seafood Restaurant

Jalan Chen Fook, Tawau

Sabah

GPS : 4.242505,117.888084

Air Mata Kuching

Air Mata Kuching

Mata Kuching is one of our Malaysia local fruits.

The flesh is sweet and crunchy.

It is smaller in size than Longan.

I bought this Mata Kuching from market,

sold by a couple at RM5.00 per kg.

Direct translation from Mata Kuching ("Cat Eyes")....well,

after peeling the skin off, it looks like Cat Eyes!

Full Translations : Air (Water), Mata (Eyes) and Kuching (Cat)

You should try this fruit, you won't regret it.

You can eat it directly or make it into so call dessert or beverage.

Wash thoroughly until the water runs clear.

I put inside the fridge to cold it.

After one hour, take it out and peel off the skin.

You are going to need :-

Peeled Mata Kuching.

One Jug of Cold Water.

Some Ice Cubes.

Some Sugar Cane Rock Water (click here for recipe)

In a bowl, pour 2 tablespoon of Sugar Cane Rock Water

and few Ice Cubes, then 2 cups of Cold Water and

lastly drop in few Mata Kuching and stir.

Look refreshing to drink, isn't it.

Ok.....go to the market or fruits stall to buy the

Mata Kuching and make it immediately for you,

your family or friends to drink.

My dear daughter took 2 bowls, same goes

to my husband and son.....me???

Of course, 3 bowls-lah :)

Sugar Water

Sugar Water

One of my friends called me up asking how to make Sugar Water.

Told her that it is very easy to make.

(Please forgive her, she is a working mother and not a cooking mother)

Just wanted to blog this for her or others further reference.

:)

80g of Sugar Cane Rock Sugar.

(if you do not have this Sugar Cane Rock Sugar,

you can use Caster Sugar)

750ml Water. (lesser water, the sweeter it will be)

If you have Screwpine Leaves, will be better because

it enhance the taste (fragrant).

Boil it for less than 10 minutes and the

Sugar Cane Rock Sugar will be melted.

Once done, let it cool and keep at one side for later use

or keep in the fridge for another day to use.

Sugar Cane Rock Water

Ko Hyang Korean Country Delights Now At 1 Mont Kiara

In Klang Valley, Desa Sri Hartamas and Ampang were having the most Korean food restaurants. Meet the latest player located at 1 Mont Kiara serving authentic Incheon origin food. This is a franchise owned business where they currently present at (The Gardens, Sunway Pyramid, 1 Utama,1 Mont Kiara, Fahrenheit 88 and Viva Homes). Unlike other [...]

Bak Kut Teh @ Hock Kien Lang Klang Bak Kut Teh, Kepong

My recent stay in KL saw my colleagues take me to their new favorite Bak Kut Teh spot called Hock Kien Klang Bak Kut Teh. This place is known for serving up some really good Clear Soup Bak Kut Teh and apparently has a number of locations across the Klang Valley.

The restaurant was packed the day we went with Taukes, Office Staff and Families all having their lunch.

Yao Cha Kwai

Oddly enough this is one of a places that actually serves up some really good Yao Cha Kwai. It was crispy and did not taste too oily. An excellent sponge for the Broth.


Fried Tofu Puff

A favorite of mine when having Bak Kut Teh especially when the broth is really good.


Pork Ribs and Pork Belly Bak Kut The

The reason why my colleagues brought me here. Their clear version Bak Kut Teh really accentuated the natural flavors of the tender Pork Ribs and Pork Belly.

Pork Intestines

The Intestines had a bitter taste which I did not enjoy. Initially I thought it was caused by the che! fs not c leaning the Intestines properly but was corrected by my friend who said it came from the internal organs of the Intestine which they intentionally left intact.

Yao Mak

The Yao Mak was boiled just right maintaining light crispness to it and not being too oily.


Hock Kien Klang Bak Kut Teh serves up some excellent Bak Kut Teh around the Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh/Kepong Area. The place is clean and the service is good, which is something uncommon with good Bak Kut Teh joints. It is no wonder why so many people visit this place.

Food: 4.5/5
Service: 4/5
Ambiance: 3.5/5
Price: $ (Under USD $10 per person)

Contact Information
Address: 31, Jalan 3/62A, Bandar Menjalara, Kepong
Tel: N/A
Map: N/A