Butter + Beans at Seventeen @ Happy Mansion, Seksyen 17

When KS was struggling to decide a place in PJ to meet up with his friend for a drink, I happily suggested Butter + Beans at Seventeen @ Happy Mansion as it seems to be receiving quite a lot of good reviews.

Situated among the shops below the old but well-kept apartments in Happy Mansion, it is hard to believe that an area like this keeps one of the best most talked-about cafes.

Looking at the chalk-drawn menu on the wall (which also displays a huge portrait of a friendly bear), choices at Butter & Beans are pretty limited, with most standard espresso-based beverages plus a selection of bread and pastries of the day to choose from to go with your drink.

KS ordered the Americano (RM 6), which has quite a fruity aftertaste with a medium body.  I think the ratio of water and espresso is just right, without over-diluting the fragrance of the espresso.

I was quite happy with my cup of cappuccino (RM 9), although it was just slightly below my expectations.  It has a smooth and creamy texture but flavour is slightly mild.  (I'm sorry, but I realized I've recently outgrown my taste for milky, caffeinated beverages)  

After chatting a while, we began to feel hungry (it's almost dinner time) and especially sitting right in front of the pastries display the whole time, I really couldn't resist staring and drooling for just one slice of the beautiful pastries.  I must say, their pastries are selling like hot cakes and are fast vanishing from the display.

We had the Blueberry danish (RM 5), a buttery, fragrant danish with creamy custard and sweet blueberries.  I love the custard as it give a nice moisture and sweetness to the danish.  Blueberries were quite unnoticeable behind the custard and truthfully, with or without them, it wouldn't have made much of a difference.  Although it's nice but slightly on the pricier side.

But what I love the most is defiinitely the ambiance of this cafe.  Butter + Beans feels like your neighbourhood cafe, with very friendly service and approachable attitude.

However, Butter + Beans is a very small cafe and could barely accommodate any more than 10 person inside the air-conditioned cafe.  So, if you're thinking of doing a large gathering of friends/family, you may want to seriously rethink your choice of venue as larger tables are very rare, mostly being outside the cafe.

Despite the extremely small space, never did we feel over-crowded or uncomfortable.  In fact, it was just the opposite.  We continued chatting for over 2 hours while we slowly enjoyed our coffee and snacks until it's time for dinner.

Butter + Beans has definitely made to my favourite cafes to visit.

Butter + Beans at Seventeen

BG-1, Happy Mansion
Jalan 17/1

Petaling Jaya

GPS:  3.123129,101.63461

Opens:  Daily - 8.30 am to 8.30 pm

Scones & Brownies @ CRUMBS Malaysia, Pavilion

Coming all the way from the shores of Hong Kong to Malaysia, CRUMBS Malaysia @ Pavilion offers freshly baked-in-store scones and their signature smooth frozen yogurt.  Since we wanted to fill our stomachs before heading to our company's annual dinner (well, we Malaysians never start the party on time), we forgo the yogurt and ordered the scones and brownies.

Their freshly baked handmade scones (RM 2.90 each) comes in three flavours - raisins, chocolate chip and cheese scones.  The scones don't come in their usual round shape - a flat rectangular scone.

I tried only the raisins and chocolate chip scones.  Unfortunately, the scones were lacking some moist and a bit flaky, resembles more of a biscuit instead.  On its own, I felt it was not good but if it goes with the frozen yogurt, it may be able to fit well.  Between the two, the raisins scone was a better option as it has a nice sweet taste amidst the salty scone, with a slightly more moisture from the raisins.

On the other hand, their Double Chocolate Brownies (RM 3.50 each) are to die for.  These brownie slices are very rich in chocolate and totally addictive for chocolate lovers.  It is moist and inside, you can still feel the melted chocolate, even after leaving it overnight in my room.  It is also surprisingly not very sweet.

CRUMBS Malaysia

P1.11.04, Level 1

Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

(near the Pavilion Food Republic)

Breakfast @ Swiss Oven Bakery & Cafe, Menara MIDF

I was initially on leave for study but a last minute meeting forced me to be back to the office.  Since there was still some time to waste before the meeting, I decided to have a proper breakfast at this newly-discovered cafe hidden inside Menara MIDF @ Jalan Raja Chulan called the Swiss Oven Bakery & Cafe.

KS had tried this place (another branch at Sentral KL) numerous time before and claimed that its croissants were very good.  Unfortunately, when I went there, the croissants were already sold out and I had no choice but to settle with another breakfast set, which has sausage, sunny side up egg, beef bacon with a slice of toasted bread (RM 6.90).

It is a simple but delicious breakfast at an affordable price.  Everything is fine except the egg was a bit too oily while the cucumber slice was overly huge.  Other than that, a pretty decent and filling breakfast.

To go with the breakfast set is a complimentary black coffee or teh tarik.  To add milk, that is an additional RM0.50.  However, as it was nearing mid-day, I wanted to cut down on the caffeine and hence, decided to order a Caffe Mocha (RM 6.00).  Unfortunately, they didn't let me upgrade for a nominal fee.

Anyway, it was a pretty decent, large mug of mocha.  The mocha was lacking in a lot of ways - coffee didn't taste very strong or aromatic and it was way too milky.  Still, for the price paid, it was reasonable. 

Despite with almost no one during the time I was there and preparing this breakfast set was supposedly not something very complicated, the service was a bit slow.  If you are in a hurry, definitely not a place you want go to, but the place is indeed a nice place to unwind and relax.  The place is brightly lit, especially with the natural sunlight, and well-conditioned.

Swiss Oven Bakery & Cafe

Ground Floor, Menara MIDF

82, Jalan Raja Chulan

50200 Kuala Lumpur

The Tea Cosy @ The Rocks, Sydney

It's been a while since I stepped back onto the soils of Australia.  Right after I landed in Sydney, I decided to stroll around The Rocks looking for somewhere decent to have brunch.

Almost to the end of George Street, I stumbled across this tiny little souvenir shop called the Irish Design Shop.  Tucked deep inside the rear courtyard of the Irish Design Shop, lies a cute cafe, The Tea Cosy @ The Rocks.  Previously known as the "Tara Tea Room", it serves really nice Grandma-style scones.

As you enter the 180-year old heritage building, you will slowly be greeted by the wonderful smells of freshly-baked scones (not to mention, the beautiful decorations of Irish themes all over the place).  I was pretty lucky as I came just in time for the tray of scones to come right out from the oven.

The Devonshire Tea (AUD 12 per person) consists of two freshly-baked scones with all natural double thickened cream and gourmet fruit jam, served with any choice of drinks.  As I was too early, there were only limited choices.  I went for the Apricot scone and Raisins scone.

The scones, they are really huge!  I must admit, they definitely tasted slightly different from the ones I had before - more crumbly.  I love the Apricot scone as it is sweet and has slices of apricot in it.  However, I was not very fascinated with the Raisins scone as the raisins were a little bitter (or maybe I was just too bloated to have another bite).

Their jam are all homemade with fresh ingredients.  With so many choices available, I went straight for the Staff's Pick of Pear & Vanilla jam.  It was definitely a wise decision as the jam is really good, although on the sweeter side.  I just couldn't help licking off every bit of the jam off the knife.  You know it was made from the real thing as you can feel little bits of the pear.  Pairing up with that double cream and jam on the scones, it is just so wonderfully tasty.  Yum yum.

For drinks, I ordered the Barry's Imported Irish black tea.  Served loose in a pot dressed in handmade tea cosies, it was a pretty sight.  Unfortunately, I didn't really like the tea as much as I wanted as it sort of gave me quite a numb feeling after a drink or two.  I shouldn't have been so adventurous and stick to the usual English Breakfast or coffee.  Well, at least I know what Irish tea tasted like.

Enjoying tea by the sidewalks was definitely a very relaxing and enjoyable treat, while getting some sun to warm the body.  But if you come here during the weekends, it would be more lively as you can enjoy the sights and sounds of the famous weekend "Rocks Markets".

The good thing about The Tea Cosy is that they put up a sign right outside the store to let you know when the next freshly baked scones will be out, so that you will know when to come back and get your hands on those scones.

I will definitely return here again for the scones and jam.  Word of advice, the portion can be quite big for a small eater (I couldn't finish it myself), so do bring along a partner to share.

The Tea Cosy @ Irish Design Shop

33 George Street

Sydney

Australia

Open Thursday & Friday (10am - 4pm) and Saturday & Sunday (10am - 5pm)

Kaya Puffs @ Sin Eng Heong, Ipoh

If you think kaya puffs (加央角) is just something very ordinary and it would have tasted pretty much the same, then you have definitely not tried the kaya puffs at Sin Eng Heong bakery, Ipoh.

You know you are at the right stall when you see a very long queue, that doesn't seem to move very much.  In fact, we have waited more than 30 minutes standing in the queue waiting for this sweet, crispy treat.  My friends have already finished their rounds at buying the taufu-fa and the salted chicken, and yet, it's not even our turn to put down the orders.  But at least, the wait was worth it.

The kaya puffs are very fluffy and crispy, loaded with a generous amount of fragrant kaya paste.  Made based on the family's secret recipe, the kaya paste is very unique - smooth, creamy texture.  Although on the sweeter side, the kaya puffs are very yummy.

 If these kaya puffs tasted so good hours after purchase, imagine how good it would have been if it was eaten freshly straight out from the oven.  Sold in a 5-pieces pack or a 10-pieces box, each kaya puffs costs only RM 0.80.

Just a word of advice, do come early so that you can beat the crowd, otherwise, you'll have to endure a long, boring wait.  Not to forget, an assurance that you'll get hold of this little, tasty treat.

Kedai Biskut Sin Eng Heong

64-66, Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri (Jalan Clare),

30300 Ipoh, Perak

Tel: 05-2439659

Black Sesame Swiss Roll @ WheatField Bakery & Cafe

This should be my second time going back to WheatField Bakery & Cafe @ Damansara Heights.  Although it is a bit out of my usual route, it is worth going there for their black sesame swiss roll.

So, how did I come to know of this bakery?  Well, thanks to Groupon, I was there to redeem the cash voucher.  One of the shop-assistant was so kind enough to help me choose what to buy (trying to use up RM40 on bread & pastries in one go is really, really challenging) & he recommended me the black sesame swiss roll, their best-seller.

So, I trusted him, which was quite the right thing to do because it is truly good.

The swiss roll is very soft and moist, filled with generous amount of black sesame paste.  Every bite you take, you can taste the fragrance of the black sesame.  Because it is chilled, it tasted as though you are eating ice-cream with cake - it just melts in your mouth.  And the best part is, it is not very creamy, so you can keep eating without feeling bloated.

Everyone who had tried it kept pestering me to go back to get more for them.

Quote from KS:  "It is super good!" :) I totally agree.  The black sesame swiss roll truly deserve to be the best-seller.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get hold of the black sesame roll today. I was too late :-(  It was all sold out by noon.

Seeing how disappointed I was, the shop-assistant recommend me another best-seller - the pumpkin swiss roll.

The pumpkin version is nice but it does not have that X-factor as compared to the black sesame swiss roll.  Nevertheless, the sweetness is just right and you can find thin slices of pumpkin on the surface of the swiss roll.

However, I find it a bit tasteless and dry at the start until I reached to the center where all the pumpkin cream is concentrated.  The center part is very nice, not too creamy and has a strong pumpkin taste.  If the pumpkin cream had been spread evenly throughout the whole roll, I think it would have tasted great.

But if you ask me, the black sesame roll is still to die for. You have to try it to believe it.

WheatField Bakery & Cafe

14, Jalan Medan Setia 2,

Plaza Damansara, Bukit Damansara

50490 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 603-20113727

Cupcakes @ Cookie Box

Don't they just look cute & adorable...