Petaling Jaya: Metal Box Restaurant & Cafe ++++ Favourite Face-to-Face Pan Mee

#throwback

Here comes another throwback post of my KL food hunt during Deepavali weekend!! This time, I'm gonna share about a new cafe that I've visited in Empire Damansara and also share with you my love for Face-to-Face Pan Mee.

First of all, let me share with you my experience dining at Metal Box @ Empire Damansara. =D 

I was discussing with friends about places to try. So many new cafes in KL since the day I moved back to Taiping -- HOW TO CHOOSE?? Bunny gave me a few choices and I decided to try Metal Box Restaurant & Cafe. I like the special design of the cafe and the photos from other food blogs seem very promising.  

And, I'm glad that all the guys are willing to try this place with me. *so touched... Awww.....*

Photo taken from EatDrinkKL: http://eatdrinkkl.blogspot.com/2014/10/metal-box-empire-damansara.html

Upon arrival, my friend told me that one of the chef is actually from Taiping. Same kampung! Should give some support. XD Apart from that, when I was reading other food blogs, I found that there's one chef from The Red Beanbag, now opening his own pioneering cafe in a amicable exit. This makes the food seem more promising isn't it as The Red Beanbag has been so famous for so long in Publika with their awesome brunch menu. 

Simple, yet complete menu of Metal Box. 

Pasta? YES

Brunch menu? YES

Main? YES

Dessert? YES

Coffee/Chocolate? YES

Juices? YES

Since it is quite new, expect for long queue! 

We went there around 1.30pm and we queued for around 25 minutes for our seat. 

Got ourselves an outdoor seating that day and luckily the weather was fine. 

5 of us took a while to decide on what to eat. I've ordered their Specialty French Toast (RM14.90) and a cup of Hot Chocolate (RM10.90). Two of my friends ordered big breakfast, one ordered pasta and one ordered Guinness pancake.

Waited for a while and most our food were served, except my french toast. Luckily they served my Hot Chocolate, so I spent my sweet time tasting my drink and snap photos of my friend's food. *annoying girl =P *

Guinness Pancake (RM14.90) that attracts me the most!

Served with Raspberry sauce and Gula Melaka Syrup. The raspberry sauce is so concentrated and nice. Reminds us about our trip in Tasmania, where we visited a raspberry farm.

Close up of the pancake! 

Love the golden pancake. so nice!

My lovely Hot Chocolate. =D

How cool can it be to dine in Hard Rock Cafe, Penang??

I'm not from a rich family. I'm not living an "atas" life. Hence, to me, Hard Rock Cafe seems like a dream cafe to me. But this year's Halloween, I have the chance to dine in there for dinner. I'm grateful with the spontaneous idea, to join the Halloween event organized by Hard Rock Cafe. I'm even more grateful to meet the bunch of friends that could "click" with me so well.

I treasure the moment.
A random trip.
A group of awesome friends.
A pleasant evening.
A great dinner.
A nice environment with nice music.
And FAITH, that make everything happens.

It's the end of October and we decided to go for a getaway. One car and there we go. 

Had nice duck rice as lunch, then shop for 2 hours at Gurney and then chill by the beach. 

Sand. Sun. Sea. SoulmateSSS =D

After strolling for 40 minutes, we went back to Bayview to get change and prepare for our Halloween dinner. XD Honestly, I really like our family room in Bayview although it is a little old and the lights are too dim. Love the space and it feels so cozy.

Ok, time for dinner! I put on my newly bought heels and there we walked to Hard Rock Cafe which is just located beside our hotel.

We reserved a table for 5 and we were sitted at a corner, near the stage. Literally beside the speaker. 

Hmm.... NOT strategic enough.. And that night, there's quite a number of people there, though not as happening as I thought. Not much screaming for a Halloween night. (Maybe this is how to celebrate Halloween the classy way.)

The nice decoration above the stage.

Upon ordering, I noticed that the menu isn't that expensive as I would have expected. It is about the price range of Morganfield, TGI Fridays, etc.... Not bad not bad. And their cocktails aren't as expensive as my dream place -- Marini on 57. Quite a surprise to me.

And the portion of food here is HUGE! I couldn't finish my plate of half chicken. XD

Friend's mac and cheese served with grilled chicken breast. 

I've tried and it is nice! Friend complaint about the chicken breast but I am someone who like that kind of texture. Would rate a 3 over 5 for this.

Chicken Quesadilla -- nicest dish of the night.

Friend's dish as well. Haha. I think my friends really feed me well. Everyone let me try theirs. <3 

Love the chicken in there and the sauce! Sour cream~ yumz~ Salsa sauce~ Slurps~

Seafood spaghetti. Looks nice right. 

Take a break from showing you all food photos.
This is a close up of the decoration. Like this photo very much. Lights of hope! =)

Photobooming of food photos -- a phenomenon

Read a few articles about taking photos of food. One of the articles that I read from Elitedaily (Click here for the article) shows photos of people taking photos of people taking photos of their food. It seems like taking photos of food is an Asian thing. Of course, there are plenty of articles complaining photobooming of food on social media. Why people want to take photo of their meal?? One article says that it is merely to show off and of no meaning. Hmmm.... Perhaps it's true!

Being someone who take photos of food TOO, I have some statements to defend myself against showing off on social media. First of all, I take photos of food for my food blog and the blog is a place where I keep my memories and share my thoughts. NOT SHOWING OFF. Secondly, it is a way for me to keep track of the quality of my food. There's one cafe that I always visit shows deteriorating quality for their waffle design. So disappointing. Sigh. NOT SHOWING OFF as I only post that once on Instagram (other ugly ones I keep to myself) XD

In general, I do agree with people that got frustrated with food photos on social media. 

"YOUR HOMECOOKED FOOD DON'T HAVE TO BE ON FACEBOOK EVERY SINGLE DAY!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO POST YOUR BREAKFAST, MORNING TEA, LUNCH, AFTERNOON TEA, DINNER, SUPPER AS IF YOU ARE DOING A REPORT"

However, if someone posts it during a trip, or a celebration, I can accept tonnes of photos on my news feed (I can just scroll down as if it is transparent.. haha!)

Google image from:
http://fusionfoodtruck.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/what-americans-think-about-asian-foods-and-even-asians-2

Food photography is an art! Maybe asian will excel in it! XD 

Kuala Lumpur: Nana's Green Tea & Vineg Plus

Finally........ Finally........ Finally........

I had the chance to try Nana's Green Tea @ LG floor, The Gardens Mall. There are so many photos about this new (not really for now) Japanese restaurant, especially their desserts. I was tempted for months and I was determined to give it a try. During my random trip back to KL over the Deepavali long weekend, I decided to travel to Midvalley area alone to try Nana's Green Tea and of course did some shopping there too. XD

Gratefully, my friend, who is working in Midvalley, has time to meet up with me! I was not alone when I try Nana's Green Tea ='D (I did imagined myself trying out my long waited green tea latte alone, with people around staring at me. That sounds a little sad. huhu.....)

Ta-daa!!! Surprisingly, the restaurant is pretty small.

No wonder people have to queue to enter during peak hours.

While waiting for my friend, I spent some time looking at the display (pretty detailed and real).

Hmmm..... I really don't know which to choose. All seem so nice to me! My only chance this year (maybe) to try this restaurant, I must choose something that I will really like. (Why I so stressed?)

At first, I wanted to try their green tea parfait. Saw too many instagram photos on this dessert. 

Should I try? Should I try? 

But after looking through their lunch set menu, I'm more tempted to try their lunch set. Similar price as their parfait and I can try their green tea latte. Seem like a good deal. In addition, my friend told me that he tried their lunch set and find it very nice. So yeah, I ordered a lunch set of Oroshi Hamburg with an iced green tea latte + azuki beans. 

Here is it! Iced green tea latte! 

THIS IS AWESOME!! The green tea taste is so strong! Totally my cuppa green tea latte. =D

Me with my lunch set!
This should be one of the very few photos I took with my food throughout the Deepavali weekend. Fail and tired blogger. 

Oroshi Hamburg

That scoop of whitish thingy on top of my hamburg is actually white radish. Initially, I thought it is mashed potato so I was a little disappointed. But the chicken hamburg is really a bomb! Thumbs up! Juicy and soft. Nice try nice try. The salad is quite special too. Not just normal lettuce leaves with mayo or thousand island. So overall, I'm satisfied with my lunch. =D

Penang: Brew cafe

#throwback

While driving back from Alor Star to Taiping for a weekend, I was hungry. Then, I've decided to drop by Autocity, Juru for breakfast. Was thinking for subway breakfast set but when I parked my car, I found a new cafe at the flea market area. *blink blink* *eyes widely open and smile widely* =D

I felt a little awkward at first to try on the new cafe myself but I convinced myself that it is my S-T-Y-L-E. Hoping for a great breakfast and a nice cuppa coffee to brighten up my day. 

Jeng Jeng! Ordered a ham+cheese sandwich breakfast set (RM16.90++)

The sandwich is disappointingly SMALL. The sandwiches in the menu seems huge and the plenty of filling. But look at this! Aikzzz....

Side view of the sandwiches. Erm... Very disappointed looking right? (Agree? Agree?)

A surprise! They served me 2 drinks. Orange and americano. 

Hmm... If I don't remember, coffee is in the add-on set. So yeah, I did finished them all XD

They have indoor and outdoor seatings. 

I chose outdoor seating because I prefer some morning sunlight. 

Some cute decorative stickers on the glass window.