Halibut and scallops at Monte's, BSC

Dining options are everywhere when you are in the metropolitan city of KL, and price ranges from low to high, as you please.
There are just so many places we can enjoy good food and environment that it became such a norm, and yet, it's not unusual to still hear the city dwellers complaining of having a tough time to decide what to eat.

Whenever I am back in town and catch up with my good ol' friends or colleagues, we always come to the part to decide where to eat and it is ridiculous, given the wide variety staring at us right back in the face!
Well, perhaps it was due to the fact that we are spoilt for the choices that we just feel nothing is good enough? I don't know, but usually, I leave it to them to decide...hehe :-P

Sometimes we end up in shopping malls where there is a whole list of restaurants to choose from; it makes the selection easier.
Bangsar Shopping Center is a place that I pop in once in a while, and a few of my friends seem to think highly of the restaurants here.

We were hoping to try out WIP, but unfortunately most of the tables were reserved and I did not think that highly of eating at the bar counters which led us to Monte's Restaurant and Wine Bar located on Level 1; right above WIP.

I liked the environment; unfortunately no photos, as we were busy talking and it is even a wonder that I remembered to snap photos of the food!;)

Our Appetizer is something that I love; fat and juicy scallops!!:)

Baked Scallops with herb sauce (1/2 Dozen) (MYR33.00)



Scallops need no testament to how delicious; and I liked how Monte's kept them fresh and juicy to the core despite it being baked.
Did I mention Fat and juicy too?



The mains we ordered:

Grilled Halibut (MYR38.00)
Imported seafish served with aubergine and potato salad



It has been a while since I've seen this fish appearing on the menu; and I enjoyed the way the fish maintained its freshness and sweetness despite being grilled.
A delectable fishy treat for me; and my reunion with halibut! :-)

Spaghetti Aglio E Olio (MYR23.00)
With garlic, red chillies, parsley, black pepper & olive oil



Overall, I enjoyed the food and the nice ambiance that I am inclined to think of visiting this place again someday when I am in town, along with my family and hubby? :-)

TGIF peeps and have an awesome weekend, I look forward to your recommendations ;-)

Pasta and Pizza @ Pizza Hut

How long has it been since you have had a meal at a fast food outlet? I mean, like really sit down, order, stare at your plate, and eat while your orders come one by one and you glancing at the waiter checking off each dish off the list?


It has been so long for me, that I can't even remember when; and the fast food I am referring to are chains like McDonald's, KFC, A&W, and Pizza Hut which seem to appear all around the world.
I remember ordering them as take-aways (oh wait, our secretary did the ordering, we just eat), and Oh, maybe the last time I was at a fast food was with my colleagues at McDonald's last December...oh, never mind.

Recently, we had vouchers for KFC/Pizza Hut (in case you didn't know, they belong to the same parent company) from our recognition awards at work, full moon (baby shower) reciprocal/thank you gifts, etc and we get to spend them on fast food, YEAY! (one more step to health suicide)

After doing take-aways a couple of times, we decided to have some fun dining and catching up at the fast food restaurant, Pizza Hut with the family.
It's good, to feel the difference between the take-away and dine-in; besides the environment, that is.

Menu for the dine-in and take-away is different; that's obvious :)


For starters, any meal set you order comes with soup and you don't get it when you do take-away.


Seafood Marinara with spaghetti (RM10.90 - ordered as an add-on to our set meal. Normal ala carte price is RM11.90)

The Napolitana sauce, teamed with parsley, tomatoes, onions and olives made it great company for the spaghetti (recommended paste for this), and throw in a couple of shrimps and big juicy squid strips, and this is a winner.

The shrimps came in the deep fried versions too, served at the side.

For some reason, the garlic bread which was supposed to come as the starters, came after the spaghetti was served.

Nothing much, the garlic bread at Pizza Hut used to be one of the earlier ones and was raved about back then until they are found everywhere in the bakeries.
It had not changed much, though I remember the sizes being slightly larger than these.

Our pizzas are here; regular pan pizza.
Thai Seafood

This was spicy tuna, crabsticks, squids, onions, mixed herbs, fresh coriander and spicy Thai sauce all together in one.
Sadly though, I think there was not much of spicy tuna to be found, although the squids made up for it.

I remember that there were lot more stuffs on the pizza when we ordered the take-away. I do like the spicy and unique taste of this pizza, and it had a really fragrant aroma about it too, just more ingredients would make it better.

Chicken Supreme

The helpful waiter recommended this for more chicken; as it came with chicken meat, chicken pastrami, chicken sausages, capsicums, onions, and button mushroom compared to the other chicken pizza.
(Maybe I ordered the wrong seafood pizza, should've asked for his opinion!:p )

Total bill was about RM60++ inclusive of service and government taxes, and no, we didn't use the vouchers as those were for KFC. (maybe a KFC dine-in, I'm not too sure)

I am not big on pizzas, but really, I think no one in my clique (same year of birth) has ever gotten away with no memories of Pizza Hut during our childhood?:)

Pizzas takeaway for the family

It has been a long time since I've had pizza; but it has not gone unnoticed the flourishing business of pizzerias in Malaysia and also the heavy influences of these fast meals in our hectic lifestyles.

The history of pizza in Malaysia started from Pizza Hut; which is one of the earliest pizzeria in the country and remains the most prominent one till this day.
How could anyone forget the catchy tune of the Pizza Hut's delivery number 7552525 in the advertisements and jingles heard on radio and televisions back in the 90s?
Pizza Hut has indeed established itself as a household brand since then.

Today, Pizza Hut faces competitions from booming pizzerias everywhere, and there is word that the quality is on a losing end compared to the competitors.
I am no expert in pizzas, so I will not comment on the quality either; which I've always believed is more of a matter of personal preference/taste.

Pizzas are comfort food and sometimes, come in handy when food is needed for lunch and in a fast manner =)
Having had a few gift vouchers for Pizza Hut/KFC (they belong to the same company), we spent them on ordering pizzas for lunch.

Thai Seafood


Hawaiian Chicken


Royal Masala


Hawaiian Tuna


Honey BBQ Wings


Garlic Bread


It was pretty much a meal of bread with cheese to me; that's my personal translation of pizza =)

A taste of Italy @ Italiannes

I used to walk away from this restaurant after hearing some not-so-good reviews from some of my friends but I have another friend to thank for who organized for a gathering here and I was hooked since.

Okay, not exactly hooked as in I can't live without this place but I kinda liked the food and the ambience of this place which reminded me a little of Italy too (not their music though, I find it a little mind-blowing sometimes, maybe I was just there at the wrong time or the wrong DJ)


The old pictures on the wall and the checkered tablecloths just make them all so old-school, quaint and homely, don't you think?




Authentic olive oil (I don't know if it's extra virgin or not) is always a must when you dine Italian



Because you need them for the bread



Their set lunches come with a choice of starter/appetizer which can be a choice of soup or light snacks along with a main course.
Since we ordered two sets, we opted for one of each.

Tomato soup was the soup of the day


Tomato bruschetta

With some of the extra tomatoes in the middle




That was a whole lot of tomato to start a meal eh?

After the tomatoes, we had our fish, the Italian way!

Grilled dory served with angel hair spaghetti


Ain't the first time I ordered this, and I still love the sourish taste the lemon lent to the nicely grilled fish with the spaghetti.
It was no easy feat to finish this by yourself, so it's always advisable to share over here.

Breaded fish with french fries


Now, as an Italian friend once told me, fish is always abundant in Italy and they are always fresh because the Italians love their seafood!

And you know what I said in return?

MAMMA MIA!

Italian Set Lunch @ Santini Cafe

After reading about the set lunch promotion from Food Promotions, I invited my family to Tropicana City Mall one Saturday afternoon (when I was back home) for a nice lunch.

The mall was still pretty new, and renovations are still underway in most of the shops.
Santini Cafe is located on the ground floor, and is just next to San Francisco Steak House. Apparently, they are sister companies owned by the Tai Thong group.
Now, isn't that an interesting piece of news?


It is still pretty new as well, and they have really cheerful and enthusiastic people standing outside the cafe, waiting to tell you all about their lunch promotions.

They must be pretty happy that we walked in after their brief explanation.

As we sat ourselves down, the same staff who stood at the entrance just now (Indian guy), walked to our table again, and with an extremely friendly attitude, repeated whatever he said outside for our benefit again.
In fact, he even described the preparation and the type of food we are getting ourselves into.
I am very impressed; this is what I call self-initiative and proactiveness without even being annoying to the customer.

There are 4 choices for the daily set lunch; as follows (refer to the one for Saturday)


There is the tagliatelle radicchio which as he explained, looks like koay teow (haha, nice description for Italian food) or you can choose to stuff yourself with the Milanese breaded chicken.
Besides these 2, you can also opt for the Pasta of the Day; which was the Spaghetti with tomato sauce and mussels or Pizza of the Day (which they claimed are oven-baked and have this really thin crust that we must try).

We took them all; since we are in the right number =)

We were quickly served (service is prompt here) the breads, buns and butter usual only this cafe is a little out of the ordinary.
We get the french loaves
There's even rye bread in the bread basket


Instead of the usual butter, we have the parmesan cheese condiments and the spices to go with your bread.
Interesting start =)


There's even a carasau bread which has garlic spread on it

This tastes like your naan, or your tosai, as some commented (Smiles)

It was pretty good, and it was not too overwhelming in the garlic scent or oily.

The set lunches also come with the free flow of drinks; choices of Coke, Sprite, Iced Lemon Tea, Tea and Coffee (yeah, get it, refillable, FREE flow - what you get in Chilies)
Mind you, these don't come in small glasses either!

I've probably downed a few spoonful of sugars from a mug like this!

Even coffee and tea's refillable =)
How's that, coffee-lovers?

Breaded Chicken Milanese Style served with fries and tomato bruschetta

Everyone came to a mutual consensus that this was one of the best choice for the set lunch that day.
The chicken was breaded and fried to golden perfection.
The serving style was similar to that of Chilies' and they have definitely loaded the fries in this



Tagliatelle Radichhio served with dory fish, olive oil and a touch of chili

I couldn't contain my disappointment when I saw the small chunks which they call dory fish.
The plates were, OMG, huge that it's even bigger than my face!
The amount of pasta in it, hmmm, those tagliatelle which is like hardened koay teow could even go on top of my head and make my hair.
It was oily, and I was not too keen on this dish, I am gonna have to pass the next time I hear some weird name for a pasta.


Pasta of the Day; Spaghetti with tomato sauce

Looks appetizing but apparently, some of the spaghetti strands do not seem to be properly cooked as they were still hard. Let's say they taste like your hardened mee; not as hard as your Mamee sticks though.

Anyway, they still beat the tagliatelle radicchio hands down.

Pizza of the Day


This, on the other hand, was not too bad. As the guy said, it is thin crust and served with chicken (more like chicken floss) and mozarella cheese, this is a winner.

Perhaps the baking in the oven had to do with the good and unique taste that is just not in the other pizzas that we have tried.

We were too stuffed to try their desserts; and they have recommended a few; including a unique creme brulee; which looked so enticing in the menu snapshot.
Well, there will be another time, it is a really a great place to dine in and to share banter with your family or friends and I for one, second that warm and pleasant service provided by their well-trained staffs.

Thanks to Food Promotions, I have found another nice place for Italian food/set lunches in KL =)