Apart from the food, one of the restaurant appeal is its environment. The decor are designed as if you just walked into an Italian homey family run restaurant. You are at a corner street restaurant in Italy. Not that I’ve been to Italy but that’s how I imagine it would be.

All Italiannies chain of restaurant has the same theme. Once you walked in you will be greeted with sepia-toned photographs decorating the walls, lacy white curtains, dark wooden furniture and checkered tablecloths. All that plus the music and lighting it offers a comfortable and relaxing environment to dine in.

Italiannies has always been our favorite place to have some good pasta. The restaurant is known for their rather generous portions. Their tag line, “So much, so good, so share” and written on their wall, ” The best way to enjoy Italiannies, bring friends and a big appetite.”

Usually right after you sit down and ordered your meals, you’re served with a plate of bread. It always feels warm and fresh from the oven. They poured some olive oil and balsamic vinegar for us to dip the bread with. It is a nice starter. We munch on the bread while waiting for our food.

A few weeks ago during the fasting month of Ramadan, we when to Italiannies, myself and Izwa. I only had the time to write about it today.

We ordered the Quattro Platter to start. It is a combination of deep-fried risotto balls, calamari, stuffed mushrooms and zucchini fritte served with marinara sauce and alfredo dressing for dipping. Although everything in this dish were deep fried non of it were oily at all. The risotto balls is simply marvelous. It’s crispy and yet it melts in your mouth with the taste of cheese bursting from the center. I’m not a fan of cheese but this works for me.

For the main entrees we ordered a the Penne Bolognese. A simple pasta dish which happens to be our favorite. Meat sauce served over penne pasta. There is nothing fancy here, a bolognese is a bolognese is a bolognese. Maybe we were not in an adventurers mood. We were breaking fast and wanted something simple.

Overall we didn’t get over our heads in ordering, even though we were fasting for the whole day. Two dish is enough, Italianies offers a generous portions.

Italianies is a great place to dine with a group of friends.

So this time we decided to stop by and try out its desserts.

There are limited choice of ice cream on its ice cream menu. We ordered the Black Forest Coupe and Cherry Jubilee.

Black Forest Coupe is for chocolate lovers. Its a gigantic scoop of chocolate ice cream with pitted dark cherry, four cubes of chocolate brownies and two chocolate sticks. The Chocolate ice-cream has a bitter chocolate taste, a dark chocolate taste. Something a chocolate fan will enjoy.

The Cheery Jubilee on the other hand is also a gigantic scoop of ice cream garnished with pitted black cherry, whipped cream and chocolate shaved stick. When it comes to ice creme, I’m bias towards chocolate. I would say that the Cheery Jubilee tasted just ok. However according to someone who isn’t as bias as me it tasted awesome. Yes that was her exact words, ‘awesome’.

The cafe is the first shop on the Walk on Curve, it’s right in front of the Curve entrance. So on a sunny day you could sit here out door, which allowed you to smoke while still feel the cold breeze of air con coming from the Curve.

It’s a good place to sit and chill while watching people walk around. During the evening you’ll be entertained with with live music coming form the Asam Pedas restaurant.

California Cafe price however is some what premium.

Chun Buri Seafood and Tom Yam restaurant serves Thai dishes. Located at Kota Damansara, it’s a small restaurant. The all wood deco creates a feeling as if you are entering someone’s wooden kampung house.

The place does not look like it can fit a lot of people, unlike some other popular Malay Thai restaurant / warung that put up tables up to the streets, Chun Buri only has tables inside the outlet.

Normally I would order either Nasi Goreng Pataya or Nasi Goreng Paprik, this time however, we ordered white rice with some dishes. For those who can’t decide which dish goes with what, they have it in their menu several different sets. We ordered package one, a set of meal enough for 3-4 people.

We get a bowl of mix seafood Tom Yum soup. Just nice for my liking not to spicy and not to mild either. Enough prawns, squids and stuff.

Next is the Daging Masak Merah, slice meat with red sauce. It might look really spicy, but it really isn’t. It’s somewhat sweet actually. The meat are all thinly slice, and not too chewy. Just how I like it.

Together with the package, is the Kailan Ikan Masin. Kai-lan vegetable cooked with salted fish. Nothing special here, it’s always good to have some veggie in our diet.

Chun Buri signature dish, included with the package of cause is the Ikan Tiga Rasa. Fish fried till crispy, served with gravy that’s sour, hot and sweet. “Tiga Rasa” in english means three taste. Hence the three different taste in the gravy.

I like how the fish is cooked, probably fried till it’s crispy. The portion that were served is just enough for a party of 3 to 4 people.

Lastly with the package there is the Kerabu Manga. Mango served with some veggie. A type of mango salad.

Overall with it cost us about RM60++ including drinks. Fairly reasonable price.

Since it is Deepavali, we decided to have something Indian for dinner. What better place to dine other then Taste of India restaurant located at Aman Suria, in Petaling Jaya. Formerly known as Maroon Cafe, Taste of India is the same shop, run by the same people except maybe a different management.

When asked the waiter what’s with the name change, he says that the boss wants to be consistent throughout all the other branches. Looking at the menu I notice it says “Taste of India – London, Kuala Lumpur, Kumba Konam India, Paris”. Wow, this is not your ordinary mamak.

The open air environment (with roof) is good for just chilling out. There is a projector mounted and a wall screen. Great for hanging out with buddies and watch a football game or two. Just like in Mamaks but with fancier food and service.

They offer vegetarian, non-vegetarian, local and western food. The waiters here really know the menu and could recommend dishes. They are quite friendly and offered a good service.

Unlike your average mamak stalls that gives you cheep silverware with spoons that are easily bend, Taste of India gives you good solid heavy silverware.

In order not to stress our brain in choosing what to order, we decided to go with the sets. Each set comes with a drink and an ice-cream desert.

We ordered the Chicken Briyani, Mutton Briyani and the Tandoori Set for myself.

The Briyani is rich with herbs and spices. The taste of all the herbs and spices is somewhat overwhelming. Served with curry and a small bowl of Raita, a yogurt like substance made up of fresh cucumber and onions, a lot of onions.

Both the briyani had chicken or mutton buried underneath the rice. Nicely decorated. The Mutton Briyani set cost RM11.90 while the Chicken Briyani set cost RM 10.90.

I ordered for myself the Tandoori set. You get one plain Naan bread and a piece of Tandoori chicken.

A Naan is a round flatbread made of white flour, it bears a resemblance to pita. A Tandoori chicken is a chicken marinated and seasoned with tandoori masala and few other herbs and spices.

Both the Naan and Tandoori chicken are usually cooked in a high temperature clay oven also known as ‘Tandoor’.

Overall the Tandoori Naan set is just average, nothing special. However I do like its green mint sauce. The Tandoori set cast RM12.90.

We also order some extra side dish, recommended by the waiter, a Mutton ‘whatchamacallit’. Ok so I forgot its name, but it was really good. It’s not curry, it’s mutton with some thick gravy of sorts. Next time, I’ll just order a plain Briyani with this Mutton ‘whatchamacallit’.

We had our desserts, each with one scoop of ice-cream.

Overall it’s a great dining experience, good food, great service and a good place to chill. The prices however could be a little bit pricy, but you got what you paid for.

Over at Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara there is a plethora of Kopitiams. Every conner you turn there is a kopitiam shop.

Not just the kopitiams but it seems that the mamaks there are battling each other in who has the best blings for their outlets.

Today we tried dining at Pak Li Kopitiam. Nice place, clean and nice deco. Looks like an authentic kopitiam. I guess they are really proud to be featured on Jalan-Jalan Cari makan, because there is wall with pictures of Jalan-Jalan Cari makan reviewing the shop.

When I go to these kopitiam type of shops, I make it a point to try out their Roti Bakar. Just to compare them.

Pak Li Kopitiam’s Roti Bakar uses brown bread, similar to Old Town White Coffee. They also uses Pandan Kaya paste. It’s crisp, and taste just like all the other Kopitiam’s Roti Bakar.

Misoka ordered the Nasi Lemak. Nothing fancy here. It’s just like any other kopitiam’s nasi lemak, with chicken curry rendang. The taste, according to Misoka, is mediocre. We had had better ones.

I ordered the Lemon Chicken Rice. The meal is just as what its name suggest. You get yellow rice, your typical chicken rice’s rice and Lemon Chicken. Nothing fancy here except for the lemon sauce.

It actually taste quite good. I am used to the traditional chicken rice, so this is something new. I recommend you try this when you visit Pak Li’s Kopitiam.

Appart from Kota Damansara, there are several branches of Pak Li’s kopitiam else where. Two in Shah Alam, seksyen 7 and seksyen 18. And two in Klang, Bukit Tinggi and Bandar Baru.

Visit Pak Li Kopitiam official website for more information.

Izzi is part of “Izzi Pizza”, an established chain of popular restaurants specializing in Italian and Asian cuisine in Jakarta, Indonesia. Izzi Kuala Lumpur is the chain’s flagship restaurant and the first of several outlets to go international.

I don’t think it has anything to do with Izzi broadband, but they do have free Wifi at their outlets.

We went to Izzi at Bukit Bintang, one of its big outlets. It’s cozy and they played nice easy listening music. The waiter who greeted us was very friendly. Maybe we were just lucky and he was in a good mood. Whatever it is, happy waiter makes happy customers.

We ordered a regular pizza, shared by two people. It’s just nice.

Since both of us are such meat eaters, we ordered Beef ‘n’ Izzi. Pepperoni, sausages and some beef strips were the topings.

It’s good, well not the greatest pizza I had ever had, but it’s ok. I like the pizza’s thin crust.

The pizza cost RM 34.80.

For the deserts we ordered Apple Strudel and Chocolate Dome.

Izzi’s strudel is a favorite among regular Izzi customers, so say the waiter. We tried the Apple Strudel and we could see why it is a favorite. It was lovely, the pastry is just nice and the filling was not too sweet.

Apple Strudel cost RM 3.90.

The Chocolate Dome on the other hand is a must try for chocoholics and all chocolate fans out there. It is especially made for those who crave dark chocolates. The smooth dark chocolate desert was heavenly. Highly recommended for choc lovers.

Chocolate Dome cost RM 4.90.

Overall it was a satisfying lunch. Sharing a pizza was a good idea, we were not too bloated. It’s just nice.

Homst, located at Persiaran Za’aba, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, categorize itself as a Chinese Muslim restaurant. It is very cosy and comfortable and the outlet is typically Chinese, Cantonese and Teo Chew with some homemade variety dishes.

A great family outlet, for large Chinese food style dinner. However during Ramadan the fasting month, we didn’t eat there but ordered takeaways instead.

Homst makes it easy for takeaways. You call the number, they’ll prepare it and by the time you reach there your food is already there. Well if they have some sort of a delivery service, that would be awesome.

Here is what our typical Homst takeaway looks like.

Five types of dishes with white rice.

Some tofu.

Sambal prawns.

Egg foo young.

Some vagie, Kailan.

And pandan chicken.

While Homst might not be the best Chinese food you will ever taste, it is not bad either. With the cosy environment, friendly and efficient service, makes Homst a great dining experience.

Yesterday we went to Madam Kwan for berbuka puasa. Madam Kwan chain of restaurants have been around for quite sometime and I’ve seen a few outlet pop-up here and there.

We went to the Pavilion’s Madam Kwan outlet, located at the Lower Ground floor, where the Pavilion’s Food Republic is.

‘Truly Malaysian Cuisine’, is Madam Kwan’s tagline and they stay true to it. Even though they do serve western meals on it’s menu, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

When I’m in Madam Kwan, there is only two things I had in mind. The Nasi Lemak and Nasi Bojari. I had Nasi Bojari this time.

Cost around RM20++, it is a pretty heavy meal. You get a scoop of fragrant rice, coloured and fried with bits of chicken, garlic and dried prawns, served with either beef or chicken tender rendang and also some asam prawns. If that’s not enough you have a nice big juicy fried chicken thigh.

Nasi Bojari is one of Madam Kwan’s signiture dish and I highly recommend it.

I also suggest you try its ‘cendol’ for deserts. It’s nothing special but I like that they serve it separately from the brown sugar syrup. This way you can choose to have your cendol desert extra sweet or not to sweet.

The prices are not cheap, but I can say it is worth it. Bare in mind that you are paying for a premium. Its restaurant are nicely decorated, air conditioned, and served by friendly and helpful staff.

Madam Kwan also has a very quick order to serving time. I don’t mind waiting for my food but sometimes when you are hungry, it’s nice to have your food served quickly.

Currently there are four outlets that I know of, one in Midvalley Megamall, one in Suria KLCC on on Telawi Street Bangsar, and one in the Pavilion KL. I’ve been to all of these Madam Kwan outlets several times, and I could safely say that its food and service quality is consistent throughout each outlets.