So while everyone enjoyed their reunion dinners at home and ate Chinese, I steered clear of any Asian food for my reunion session. I had way too many yee sang and 8 course meals for the 2 weeks prior to CNY and was actually dying for something European and fancy.
Hence with my little family, I suggested Acme Bar and Coffee at Troika since I have read and heard raving reviews about the food.
I can tell you upfront that my meal was less than impressive. Or perhaps thats the problem when you walked in with high expectations.
We paid RM39+ for this Crab & Watermelon Salad, which was basically some lettuce tossed invinaigrette, chunks of poached crabmeat (yes, thankfully there was crab meat), sprinkle of almonds, cheese shavings and mirin soy mayo dressing over grilled watermelon cubes.
There was absolutely nothing memorable about the salad and I didnt even think the flavours from the salad jivedat all.
A bit dumbfounded, since everyone who has dined here has recommended this particular salad, I left the rest of the ordering to my close friends. One chose the Snails wrapped in Bacon (RM19++) and another the Salmon Mousse (RM19+).
They said nothing cant be fixed with bacon; and Im inclined to agree. Without the bacon, this dish might have been another disaster.
Thankfully the snails was not too salty from the bacon. The problem with this dish; as Leonsuccinctly put it; was that it lacked any aroma ordepth of flavour. In other words, itbordered on tastelessness. The lacklustre garlic parsley sauce didnt help at all.
Homemade salmon mousse with bread.Creamy salty salmon mousse. We dugged out some chunks of salmon which was even saltier. 
I think at this point we might have walked out if it wasnt for the fact that it was CNY eve. Besides plain laziness, the flow of conversation & our close comradeship kept us to our seats. I for one, silently prayed that the main courses were going to be better than our appetizers, since Im the smart alec who so confidently steered them to this place.
Sambal hebi aglio olio spaghetti, with prawn sambal & olive oil.
The pasta wasnt al dente, but we were forgiving; given that this was the best dish of the night. The savoury, aromatic dried spicy prawns wasfantasticwith the pasta. Or wait, could it be that we were plain relieved that our meal are starting to show some promise? LOL.
Leon and I are heavy meat eaters. A steak or some form of meat are the norm when we dined together. We zoomed in on the Grass-fed Tenderloin (RM79+), specifically request! ed for m edium rare, and crossed our fingers that we do not have to send it back to the kitchen if it was served overcooked.
It came perfectly medium rare, and we sarcastically raised our glasses to the Chef. What a feat it must have been; to get the steak right, considering the uninspiring dishes we just had.
Perhaps we raised our glasses a bit too soon, for the steak was overly seasoned and the fries had a bit too many shakes of salt. We left the fries untouched and had to eat the steak by first removing the outer layer of the meat where the seasoning was. Thankfully, the lovely pink interior-flesh was juicy and we enjoyed the natural flavour of the meat so at least it wasnt a complete waste of RM79++.
The cakes on display was perhaps the favourite section of Acme. Throughout the night, patrons; especially ladies, would walk over and admire the cakes and pastries.
It was understandable; as the cakes were pretty interesting and looked delish.
Cempedak Pistachio Cake. RM15.
Pina Cola! da Cake. RM15. We checked for this one for alcohol, but unfortunately there isnt any.
Banana cake with caramel layer frosting. RM13.
Apple & Olive Oil Cake with maple syrup cream cheese frosting. RM15.
Raspberry & Chocolate Cake with Chantilly Cream. RM13
Rhubarb Pie.
Bounty Cake shaved coconut and chocolate layers. RM15.
Chocolate Cake chocolate chip, ganache, and feuillantine layer. RM15.
Macadamia Cake.
We were wary at first, since our meal has been quite a hit and miss affair. Should we risk it & order desserts?Even Jos iced mocha was insipid and Leons coffee was flat.
Eventually we did settle for the Cempedak Cake, though more out ofcuriosityandfulfillinga need to wrap up dinner with something sweet. The cempedak fruit flavour was very pronounced but that was only in the cream layers. The alternating layers were plain pandan sponge which did a good job of taking away theoverwhelming richness of the cake. Still, we couldnt finish it as itwas too creamy.
Will I be back?
Im not sure.
Perhaps the original chef was off for CNY thus the lackluster food that night? There were raving reviews from many satisfied diners that Im justflabbergasted that my experience were socontradictory.
Anyone here care to share?
Acme Bar & Coffee
Ground Floor at The Troika,
50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mon Thu: 11:00 am 12:00 am
Fri Sat: 11:00 am 1:00 am
Sun: 11:00 am 12:00 am
Website:http://www.acmebarcoffee.com
reserve@acmebarcoffee.com
+603 2162 2288
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