[Review] The Vanilla Place - Subang Empire

The Vanilla Place, situated within Subang Empire, is a place where they serve coffee, cakes, pastries, pastas, sandwiches, and other desserts including macaroons. A small kitchen located in between two rows of shops, located on the 2nd floor of Subang Empire (if not mistaken), or the lot number FK101 to be precise.

I had a chance to try the pastas there as we were having a small birthday dinner celebration for one of my friends there. They decided to give it a try after getting much positive reviews about the restaurant.

It was a Sunday night and the crowd in the shopping center was obviously lesser, so is the restaurant. There were only a table occupied during our arrival, and frankly speaking the place is quite small and only enough to accommodate a small party, probably around 40 people with my estimation.

Given the small dining area, the number of staff doesn't really seemed to be proportional, even on a Sunday night. There were a few waiters/waitress with the kitchen crew of course. We're served by a waitress and have all the freedom to choose where to sit since there's no other customers there during our visit.

We noticed the lunch and dinner promotional sets available including starter, main, a drink and a scoop of ice cream. However, the sets are only available during weekdays, too bad then.

We decided to try their pastas instead of other food available such as sandwiches, pastries and lasagna. We ordered four different types of pastas which include Carbonara, Aglio E Olio, Smoked Duck and Masala.

I myself ordered the Smoked Duck pasta. It is served with smoked duck breast and grilled cherry tomatoes, I believed. The duck breast is tender and juicy with a layer of fat as shown in the pictures. Onions and garlic were used to spice up the pasta, giving it a strong aroma, together with dried shredded parsley i believed.

My girlfriend ordered the Aglio E Olio, shrimp pasta with grilled vegetable toppings. The pasta tasted quite similar to my Smoked Duck, but with different toppings. Two big shrimps were served with slight grilled vegetable like broccoli, button mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.

My other friends ordered the Carbonara and Masala Pasta. I didn't have the chance to taste it but from what they claimed is, the Carbonara is not half bad with typical creamy texture of carbonara. She couldn't really identify what is the little star on her pasta is made of. As for the Masala pasta, its more like eating rendang with pasta.

Most of their pastas are priced at RM15.80, exclusive of the 6% gov. tax and 5% service charge. As for the drinks, we all ordered different drinks and I only can comment for my own. However, if you do not wish to spend too much on drinks, tea pots are available and I think it is more than enough for two persons to share.

As for myself, I ordered a hot Cappuccino which comes with a pretty fern-liked pattern as the coffee art presentation. The Cappuccino also comes with a small piece of sesame cookie. Priced at RM8.00, the Cappuccino was OK for me, as I'm not a coffee fan hence I do not really have the skills to taste it.

We took our sweet time chatting there after our meal and was prompt by the waiter if we are interested in any desserts. But with our stomach filled by pastas, I guess we will give it a pass until next time we visit here again. A simple search on the net shows that many good reviews are given for their desserts especially their cakes, macaroons and pastries. Maybe one day we will come here again and give it a try, but for that day, it's time to head home and prepare for next day's work.

[Review] Thai Garden Village (TGV) - Kepong

For those who stay around Kepong area, probably you have heard about this Thai restaurant that is located between Kepong and Jinjang. The Thai Garden Village, or known as TGV (not to be mistaken with the cinema company) is one of the most happening Thai restaurants around this area.

Located in between Kepong and Jinjang, along Jalan Kepong, nearby Shell petrol station, behind World Motor Trade. Unless you are from this area, otherwise it is unlikely you will notice it's existence within the factory and scrap area. The restaurant location is once a food court, namely Meteor Garden, which existed some years ago until it miserably failed and ended its operations, just like most of the food court around this area.

I believed the boss of TGV spent a big amount of money to renovate the area into what it is now, aiming to create a comfortable Thai dining experience by "shifting" the whole Thai experience into this Thai Garden Village. No doubt, the decorations and landscape designs are something very fresh to me, especially in this Kepong area. With the ample space, the owner is able to include many trees and plants, as well as a small fountain in his outdoor section of the restaurant.

I remember reading in newspaper some time ago, about this restaurant, the owner invites a Thai chef from Thailand to exclusively prepare authentic Thai food, to ensure the best quality served to his customers. I have no chance of meeting the chef nor the owner himself that day, so I guess I will let the food to do the talking instead.

I arrived at TGV around 6:30p.m. in the evening, where the sky is still bright, providing good natural light for some shots later. The car park is big enough to accommodate easily 50 cars with my rough estimation. At the entrance you will notice some Thai statues of elephants as well as some human figurines, those you commonly found in Thai restaurants or at Thailand itself.

We were warmly welcomed by the waitress, greeting us and asking the total number of people in our group. She then asked whether we would like to sit inside or outside. Both indoor and outdoor brings a different feel and atmosphere. The kitchen and beverage corner is located indoors, there is also a playground for kids to enjoy during their meal, as well as aquariums with fishes and souvenir section selling souvenirs to the customers. It's really like you have stepped into Thailand, especially with the non-stop Thai songs playing while you dine.

We decided to dine outside of course, why dine inside when we can enjoy the nice environment outside, since it is not raining anyway. The waiter came to us with a simple menu, with different Thai dishes to be selected. Unfortunately the menu lacks of pictures, which makes us hard to decide on which dish to order by just reading off the names as we are not familiar with Thai dishes.

After taking orders, I spent some time exploring the "garden" area of TGV. There's a BBQ grill corner inside the garden, preparing special grill dishes like sotong, fish, lamb etc. There's also different sections within the garden. Some within wooden huts, which I think provides better lighting when having your meal at night later. There's also some sign posts stating the distance to various places in Thailand, a perfect spot for people who likes to take portrait pictures.

 

 

Let's move on to the food shall we? We ordered the typical Pandan Chicken, Steamed Talapia with spicy lime sauce, Sizzling Seafood Taufu, Stir-fried Kailan with Salted fish and a pot of Seafood Tom Yam. The price for the food here are quite decent, with the vege slightly overpriced in my opinion. The beverage is another big portion that you need to fork out if you are going in a big group. Typically in chinese restaurants, drinks can be settled by just ordering chinese tea. But in TGV, the minimum amount to pay for a drink is RM2, which is normal chinese tea (Tie-guan-yin), jasmine tea or green tea. Fruit juices will cost you RM4.90 per glass, Coconut will cost you RM4.90 and Thai Coconut RM5.90. Other drinks such as Ice Lemon Tea and Beer are also available.

The Pandan Chicken is decent, but the size is inconsistent, with some pieces particularly big and some as small as can-be-eaten-in-a-bite. Taste is good, well marinated. With the price tag of RM3/piece and a minimum order of 6 pieces. Comes with a tasty Thai Chilli sauce, but the chicken taste best by just eaten on its own.

Next will be the seafood sizzling taufu, priced at RM16.90 if not mistaken. Using japanese egg taufu, I found this dish to have everything else besides taufu. The portion of taufu is overwhelmed by its side ingredients. However, taste wise I will say it's decent too. With some prawns and squids, together with mixed vege and button mushrooms, it's a not-so-bad side order to be ordered, but beware of the small portion.

Next will be the stir-fried Kailan with salted fish, priced at RM14.90, which I think is overpriced, but expected for such restaurants. Besides being small portioned, there's nothing to complain about this dish.

Here comes the two main dishes for the day, the seafood tom yam pot @RM22.90. Served in a very "flammable" way as you can see in the second picture below. The amount of seafood is disappointing but the taste is good. With squids, prawns, fish meat and mushrooms, this tom yam pot will definitely make you tambah nasi.

The last dish for the day is the Steamed Talapia with Spicy Lime Sauce, which is one of the signature dishes that the waiter introduced to us. The Talapia fish given is a big one, priced at @RM26.90 each. This is one different steam fish that you should try besides the common types that you can find else where. Fish is very fresh too, no complain for this. Worth the price paid. Other options such as Thai Asam steam fish, Teochew steam fish, Deep fried and etc. Fish options will be either Talapia or Siakap.

The rice here is served in pots, like those you found in other Thai restaurants. Serving Thai fragrant rice if not mistaken by my taste buds. Each bowl will be charged RM1.50.

The total bill at the end was RM180+ with 7 people, with a big amount came from the drinks. This is not the end of my TGV review, I visited that place again as requested by my parents the next two days, but unfortunately this time I did not bring my camera along with me. So please do bear with me with just boring text. The one mentioned above is with the accompany of my girlfriend's family. This time will be my own family.

In this time, we ordered a few dishes, with some difference from my previous visit. This time, we ordered the Deep Fried Talapia with Mango Salad, Stir-fried paku with belacan, Pandan Chicken, Seafood Tom Yam and Mixed vege. With the previous experience, we cut down some beverage expenses.

The Deep Fried Talapia with Mango Salad is the most satisfying dish among all, with the big Talapia provided and the generous amount of Mango salad topped with grounded peanuts and big pieces of cashew nuts , and the price of RM26.90 also. Definitely worth the price, much bigger than the steam fish we ordered previous. 

Other dishes will be around the same, but would like to highlight on the mixed vege, which is not recommended. The coconut served this time is much smaller than my previous ones. And when the waiter was serving the coconut, I saw different sizes of coconut on his tray, which is something I would like to highlight. The bill for this time is RM120+ for 5 person, inclusive of 6% gov tax and 5% service charge.

To wrap up about TGV, I will list down the pro and cons of this restaurant, and well of course, this is just my personal pinion.

Pros:

• Very decent dining environment, especially within Kepong area
• Decent food
• Good service
• Very clean toilet with sexy woman pictures for men and handsome guy for ladies

Cons:

• Inconsistent food portion (Pandan Chicken and Coconut)
• Small portions of vege and taufu (which I think is common but preferably bigger portion)
• Beverage doesn't taste good