Review: Just Heavenly Cafe @ Bangsar Shopping Complex

Just so you are not aware, the Just Heavenly duo of Nigel Skelchy and Allan Yap have roped in Caroline Lee as their COO to open up Just Heavenly Cafe at Bangsar Shopping Complex a few months ago. We went in for tea and got to sample quite a number of dishes... 

Just Heavenly Cafe is located on the second floor of the newer wing. You can choose to have a quite corner inside the cafe or to see or be seen over at the outside which overlooks the concourse area.

We started off with Coconut Chicken Salad which is one of my favourite item on the menu. The chicken is poached in coconut milk and the salad is a mish mash of Nyonya ingredients such as cucumber, onion, pineapple, deep fried shallots, thinly sliced bunga kantan (torch ginger) and lemon grass. The chilli jam dressing gave it a slight hot, sweet and sourish flavours.

In the other Asian style salad, Soba Salad, which to me could be a meal on its own as it has soba noodles, shiitake mushrooms, strips of yam bean and carrots, and some Japanese cucumber cubes with a drizzle of a very Japanese style dressing of soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Loved the addition of local herb of ulam raja which tasted quite similar to arugula and the nuttiness of toasted sesame seeds.

Then we have the layers of toasts, turkey ham and cheese topped with a runny poached egg. Who could resist the golden liquid oozing out from the egg? Find Monsieur Bullseye under All Day Breakfast!

This cafe serve a rather mean burger by the name of BLT Burger. As the name suggest the thick and juicy patty is made from Australian beef served on sesame bun with lettuce and tomato with a chunky mushroom sauce. On the side are a green salad and fries. These are no ordinary chunky fries as the process to cook them are rather labourious. The potato chunks are first blanched before deep frying them twice in order to achieve a tender but yet super crispy texture.

The next item is easily my BoiBoi's fave as he loves smoked salmon. This sandwich has smoked salmon in between wasabi mayonnaise, watercress, tomato slices and croissant. A wonderful light meal this would be, in order to save some space in the stomach for dessert :p

We tried 2 types of quiches. Being a meat lover, Capt'n Hook loves Quiche Lorraine as it has slices of beef brisket and sweet onions. In contrast, I love the Monster Mushroom Quiche as it is heavily packed with 3 types of mushrooms! Vegetarians would adore this one.

It's hard to get perfectly cooked carbonara as some places made it so rich and creamy or some... the sauce just split. Just Heavenly Cafe's Penne Carbonara sits just right on my palate. It's creamy but not insanely rich. I could polish this up on my own!

For those who are fond of tomato sauce based pasta, I would recommend Spaghettini Con Gamberi. The star of the dish is of course the large prawns but I love the freshness of the tomato basil sauce.

Knowing we're in Just Heavenly turf, we can't leave without desserts! We have both the Chocolate Eclairs and Classic Eclairs.

A very decadent Lemon Meringue Pie which the tartness of the lemon curd, to me is just nice... not overly sour, balances well with the not too sweet meringue.

Now, there's this Key Lime Pie which is only available at the cafe and not the other outlets. There's a buttery lime cake layer that sits on a pie pastry with generous topping of cream. Even though it sounded rather heavy but the sharp lime flavour cuts through pretty well.

We can't leave without have a bite on the Chocolate Durian Cake, do we??? Just in case you have never eaten this... inside the smooth and thick chocolate ganache lies thin layers of cake filled with creamy durian puree. One would never imagined that chocolate and durian can go so well together!

We also have some refreshing drinks ranging from Mojo Jojo (fresh lime and mint leaves muddle with sugar, orange syrup and topped with soda); Charlie's Angels (have a combination of sweet red dragonfruit and apple balanced with a hint of lemon juice) and my favourite of all Lemongrass Passion (an infusion of lemongrass and pandan in soda).

We end our tea with cappucino as it was highly recommended by Allan.

And most interestingly the tea served here are by Bradley's and the biodegradable tea bag comes in a cute little cardboard box which can be recycled, of course. Open up the box and dunk your tea bag into the hot water.

Allan & Nigel

Do note that they serve a rather ridiculously big breakfast on weekends... so huge that it covers almost the entire table hehe... do drop by and check it out yourself! There's a wager going on between Capt'n Hook and I... to see of BoiBoi can finish up the entire big breakfast on his own!

Thank you to Nigel, Allan and Caroline for having us over!

Just Heavenly Cafe

Level 2, West Wing
Bangsar Shopping Centre
285 Jalan Maarof
59000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2011 4866
Opening hours: Daily 9:30am – 10:00pm

Have A Blessed Christmas!

Have A Blessed Dong Zhi 2012

So, is the world coming to an end soon [that's 1.00pm Malaysian time btw as Peru (where the Mayans are from) will only be 21 December 2012]??? :p

Whatever it is, today is a rather big day for the Chinese around the world where Winter Solstice Festival is celebrated. Reunion dinner where the entire family gathers is a must and of course the partake of tong yuen (glutinous rice balls) which will ermmm make us one year older. And so, I'm officially one year older already!



More on this here, here and here.

Wishing everyone a blessed Dong Zhi filled with peace, harmony and joy!

Wendy's Flagship Restaurant Grand Opening @ Suria KLCC

We were invited to the grand opening of Wendy's flagship restaurant at Suria KLCC last Friday morning. We were debating whether to attend or not and gave it a go since Wendy's did gave Capt'n Hook and I some kind of childhood memories that we have back in the 80s when we patronised the then Wendy's located at Masjid India area. The vision of burger and fries served in baskets came back to me.

The ceremony opened by a short speech by Mr Eric Leong, Director of Wen Berjaya Sdn Bhd (the master franchise owner in Malaysia which is a subsidiary of Berjaya Group). He mentioned that the new flagship restaurant carried an ultra modern design and furnishing and this new design will be slowly introduced to the rest of the Wendy's outlets. We were told that Wendy's burgers were made-to-order to ensure quality and freshness, the values held by the founder, Dave Thomas. Not only that, customers would be able to customised their orders accordingly.



Later on, Mr John Pain, Vice President & Managing Director of Asia Pacific & EMEA, The Wendy's Company introduced us the short history of Wendy's which you can read here. He emphasised that even though Wendy's is a quick service restaurant but the food is made fresh upon order. Each day the lettuce and tomatoes are cut right at the outlet kitchen because they taste better when they're fresh and they do not come pre-cut from a central kitchen.



He mentioned that Wendy's is America's favourite which is confirmed by Zagat in their 2012 restaurant guide. Well, being naturally curious, I did a search and yes indeed... Wendy's is listed number 3!

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

And so with the partnership with Wen Berjaya, the latest and largest Wendy's in Malaysia is located right at Suria KLCC which also boast the first international looking outlet.



I had a look around and they have a variety of sitting combinations ranging from the normal height tables and chairs, they have stools, high top tables and counters. We were told wi-fi is available too for free and best of all they have multiple power points for your mobiles or laptops that are running out of "juice".



As for the menu, we usually go for beef burgers and Chili is a must of course which BoiBoi have learnt to like it. This time round, I've tried a Spicy Chicken Sensation Burger and I'm surprised to bite onto strands of chicken fibers. Eric informed us that they only use chicken fillets of either thighs or breasts and NOT minced chicken patties. BoiBoi mentioned that his Dave's Hot 'N Juicy is really juicy as it claimed.

John behind the grill

The dessert menu springs a surprise to me with the usage of Frosty (their soft serve ice cream) in cones, floats and shakes. While there is no official website in Malaysia but there is a Facebook page where information and promotions are dispensed. Rest assure you that Eric had vowed to ensure customer service and quality of food from Wendy's will be his top order of the day.



Wendy's Suria KLCC is located over at LC-C02, Concourse Level, Ramlee Mall (turn left when you see Haagen Daz). The other 10 outlets are located at Sunway Pyramid, IOI Mall Puchong, Jaya One, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Mont' Kiara, Giant Kota Damansara, Berjaya Times Square, AEON Rawang & AEON Ipoh Station 18.

Thank you Haridas of Softpillow Mollycoddle & Co for the invite and John, Eric and Esther for having us over.

Holiday Season Giveaways! - CLOSED

UPDATED: 1.04pm

Wow the responses were so good that the 9 giveaways have been full filled. Thank you for your participation. The 9 lucky subscribers are:

1. NicH
2. CyreneK
3. LouiseF
4. EugeneT
5. HueyMinC
6. CynthiaT
7. SuYiK
8. YontenJ
9. JianH

Will inform you guys of the details once I hear from the good people at Zinio. Thank you Stephanie for your kind offer. Have a blessed Christmas ;-)

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In collaboration with Zinio, Babe in the City - KL would love to give away 9 magazine subscriptions *ahem* and I get to keep one sighhh so difficult to choose which one. Yes, you read it!!! It's subscriptions... which depends on how many issues that particular magazine has on offer and it would be any magazines available on Zinio.

Just to let you know, Zinio is the world's largest newsstand and bookstore. With its many digital products and services, Zinio creates better ways for people to discover published content. You can purchase content once to be read on any screen! There's an Explore section that lets you read - even without a subscription - thousands of articles from your favorite magazines and share them with friends.

For this season, Zinio have 300 magazine titles available at up to 50% off their already-discounted prices. Here are just a few sample titles: LA CUCINA ITALIANA, VEGETARIAN TIMES, FOOD ARTS, CLEAN EATING. However, this 50% discount will be available until 20 December 2012, yup just this Thursday which is tomorrow. Click here to view the yummilicious food mags on offer.

Just some of the selections... salivating already?

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS has also put out some fantastic special holiday issues at 30% off:  Food Gifts, Party Food, and even an entire issue devoted to Christmas Cookies! Just look at the colours... so festive! This offer is on until 31 December 2012.

The first 9 readers who email me at babe_kl(at)yahoo(dot)com with the subject "Zinio Giveaway" followed by your first and last name, email address and title of the magazine by 24 December 2012 will receive one magazine subscription courtesy of Zinio. So hurry and send in your details. I will announce it here once I've reached 9. One magazine per person please and I will correspond with you via email if you're within the 9 as I would not like to expose personal information wide open here.

Thank you and happy holidays!

Walnut & Date Loaf

Oppsie daisie... it has been slightly more than a month since my last update. Well it's year end and it's school holidays... have been busy with the young lad oh yeah excuses, excuses! Reviews are limited as we don't eat out as much as we did before. Somehow Capt'n Hook and my senses seems to be able to sniff out msg and we're getting a little intolerant of it as we tend to get thirsty rather quickly after a meal lashed with it these days. As for recipes... hmmmm there were just too many easy peasy repeats but perhaps I will post up some really good new ones.

Anyway, here's something I've baked some time back but I guess it's a good one for this coming festive season. Cakes laden with fruits and nuts are always popular. I've used Donna Hay's Date Loaf recipe from the Modern Classics Book 2 but gave it some tweaks to suit our taste buds.

We love this loaf a lot as it stayed moist and disappeared quickly. I've reduced the sugar as the dates are already pretty sweet. Utmost delish when eaten warm slathered with thick layer of butter!

Walnut & Date Loaf
(modified recipe of Donna Hay's Date Loaf from Modern Classics Book 2

1 1/2 (190 g) cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
130 g sugar (original 2/3 cup)
1 cup rough chopped dates
1/2 cup rough chopped walnuts (originally called for pecans)
125 g butter
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 160C and grease 10cm x 20cm loaf tin.

Sift flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add sugar, dates and walnuts into the flour mixture. Ensure the chopped dates get separated as they tend to stick together in clumps.

Melt butter and milk in a saucepan over low heat until butter is just melted. Cool a little and pour into flour mixture together with the eggs. Stir until combined. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour 15 mins or until cook when tested with skewer. Cool in tin for 5 mins before turning out. Serve warm, either plain or best with some butter.