Coffee and Spices

Coffee Master Somerset is no more! How sad is that? Starcat and I went to Somerset one Saturday, in hopes of eating our Hawaiian Pizza Toast when we were greeted by a totally different layout and management staff! Then the cruel truth.. Coffee Master Somerset has been taken over by Coffee and Spices..

Stunned, we both decided to stay on and try it out anyways.. We were terribly disappointed at the lack of items in their menu, and the fact that there was no Hawaiian Pizza Toast!! Hai.. but we decided to try their Vanilla Ice Blended and their Nasi Lemak with Chicken Curry. Their menu includes sandwiches, and several other rice dishes and noodles as well as the usual coffee/tea/juice fare, but we didn't feel like anything else, so we both ordered the same thing.

The Vanilla Ice Blended was more like a watered down milkshake, especially when you compare it to the Vanilla Coffee Ice Blended from Bing. There just wasn't any kick in it, and Starcat and I were really disappointed in the drinks. We were hoping against hope that the food would be good.

Vanilla Ice Blended

We were pleasantly surprised when the food came to our table! The Nasi Lemak presentation was rather impressive, they were rather generous with their portions. Although the Chicken Curry was not as great as the one from Coffee Master, the sambal for the nasi lemak was really really good! It reminded us of the nasi lemak that we used to eat back in school, so we whacked the whole sambal down! Good stuff the sambal!

Yummy Nasi Lemak with Chicken Curry!

The staff are really nice as well, very helpful and polite! Thumbs up for the excellent service! Plus they gave us free cakes! Haha! We were sitting and chatting for a really long time, so they gave us cakes too! So sweet! The cakes tasted good too!

Free cakes!

The drinks at Coffee and Spices range between RM 2.50 to about RM 6 plus, depending on what you order. The Vanilla Ice Blended was about RM4.50 I think. The Nasi Lemak plain is really cheap, RM 2.80 whereas the one with curry is about RM5.5o as well I think. Not more than RM6!

I would really recommend this place for the Nasi Lemak, and I should be going again to see the additions to the menu (as promised in the menu itself!)! Ambiance wise, it's almost the same as Coffee Master, although I must admit that I prefer the layout then. But do go and try it our for yourselves, there may be more good things coming soon!

Coffee and Spices,

Somerset Gateway,
Level 4.

Magenta

My friends and I went to Magenta to celebrate L's birthday last week. We decided on Magenta as we thought that it would be nice to celebrate her first milestone in style! I've been to Magenta before and was rather impressed with their decor and the overall ambiance of the whole place. Their food is pretty good too and is served to you in huge plates and bowls (which kinda look like basins at times) and is beautifully arranged. They really take fine dining in Kuching to a whole new level as this is the only place that I have been to so far that has provided me with a feast for both my eyes and my tastebuds.

Soft Shell Crab Salad

The restaurant is dimly lit, no harsh lights that tend to hurt your eyes sometimes and is decorated with antiques such as plates, wooden cupboards, a gramaphone. Chiffon scarves hang from the ceiling, serving as partitions and kinda give off a romantic, dreamy feel as well. There is a sleeping Buddha near the door as well, although I must say, I'm not entirely sure how that fits into the decor..

We decided to just have a huge feast as we were celebrating! We ordered the Soft Shell Crab Salad as a starter, and a Hawaiian Pizza, the Classic Aurora Chicken Chop, Fish and Chips and Braised Lamb Shanks for our mains. The salad was great, I loved the soft shell crabs! Very tender and fresh. The greens were nice and crisp as well, very rfreshing for a starter. My chicken chop was fantastic, it was nicely prepared with pineapple rings on top, served with sides of salad, onion rings, a bread slice topped with an egg slice, turkey ham, salsa and cheese, as well as two dips. Very, very satisfying..

The fish and chips were really fresh as well, and served with fries, a salad and tartar sauce. The lamb shanks were braised really well, the meat was so tender that all u had to do was lightly tear the meat off with your fork. L thought that it was too tender though, she likes cutting her meat.. The mash potatoes that came with the lamb was excellent! The best mash I've had in a long time! The pizza was a surprise though, the pizza base was more like a crispy thin naan.. But the topping was really yummy, really chunky turkey ham pieces and pineapples, they were really generous with their toppings. And it was a good thing that the base was really thin, we had so much to eat!

Braised Lamb Shanks with Mash

Soft shell crab salad, our own arrangement!

The lovely Aurora Chicken Chop!!

Fish and Chips

Hawaiian pizza

I had my favourite calamansi with red plum! I found that drink in Sibu, and I thought that it was the only place where I could get it. But this time round, they used lemon I think. It was a really tangy, sharp sour, not the slightly milder taste that calamansi has.

Super sour calamansi and red plum

They have pretty efficient service there as well, although you shouldn't admire the lizard door knob too much. L did that and got a "surprise" from a real lizard.. hehe.. I recommend this place to anyone who has something to celebrate or who just feels like pampering themselves. It really is something else.

Magenta

32, Lot 141,
Nanas Road,
93400, Kuching.

Tel: 082- 237878

Takopachi in Kuching!!

YUMMY TAKOPACHI!!

I found Takopachi in Kuching!! No more longings to go to either Singapore or KL for takopachi anymore! I stumbled upon it accidentally really, it was one of the spur of the moment decisions to go to Jalan Song for dinner and I was already planning on having the mee mamak when Starcat and I found the stall!

The stall claims to be the first takopachi stall in Kuching (which is right!) but they call it takoyaki or something else like that. Anyways, for those who do not know what takopachi is, it's a round dough ball stuffed with either octopus, ham and cheese or any other stuffings that the stall offers. The balls are then toasted (I don't know what else to call this cooking method) in an iron pan and turned around constantly so that the ball is nicely browned and crisp. They then top it with some flaky brown thing and a little sauce before serving it to you piping hot.

The takopachi stall here serves two types of stuffing, octopus as well as ham and cheese. We ordered a mix and was rather pleased that it came really fast. Their version is more like the Singapore version, more dry, as compared the the ones I've eaten in KL which are completely sloshed in gravy. I prefer the dry ones, not as messy to eat!

Word of advice, order the ham and cheese takopachi. I found the octopus one too doughy, as the octopus piece was rather tiny. The ham and cheese one had more of a taste to it too, and was delightfully cheesy! As we ordered a mix, it was more of a guessing game to see who got what stuffing, and sadly, I got more octopus than ham and cheese.. Oh well..

The stall is near the satay stall at the other end of Jalan Song (not the one near Pizza Hut) and I think that an order of Takopachi is about RM4-RM4.50. We ordered a lot of food that night, can't really remember how much was what. But I will go and check again another day when I have my takopachi cravings!

Takopachi Stall,
The other end of Jalan Song.