Sunday 29 June 2014

Chilli Vanilla @ Kota Kinabalu

A Decent Hungarian Cuisine.. 


Chilli Vanilla has been operating for years, located opposite to Wisma Merdeka, Kota Kinabalu. It is operated by a friendly, pretty Hungarian lady who has great passion in providing decent Hungarian food to the customers.


Chilli Vanilla has limited seats due to its small-scaled size. Nonetheless, not much of the locals realise its existence, thereof only the loyal local customers or tourists always pay a visit here.


For all the peeps who might be reluctant to purposely head down to the town to dine in here, you have the alternative now. Chilli Vanilla has recently opened its second branch namely "Thyme Out" at Hilltop, next to the Kedai Kopi New Mui Vui.
Thyme Out is basically sharing the same menu with Chilli Vanilla's
(with cheaper price), except for some signature dishes (only available in KK's).


Besides than the normal menu, a menu board is clearly presented next to the doorstep too.


For the daily specials or month specials, you have to refer to the chalk board.


Chilli Vanilla cooks authentic food with full ingredients added on. That is why it is tastier. All the food are cooked with perfect amount of spices and seasonings, in the Hungarian ways. 
Assorted mushroom is cooked in a healthier way, with herbs.
Black pepper calamari with sumac mayonnaise  
Chicky-chick - Chicken breast strips are fried up to the golden brown perfection,
crispy and juicy (served with the spicy mango chutney sauce).
Frikadelle - The popular beef meatballs fried with Hungarian paprika,
herbs, and stuffed with cheese. This combination is wonderful,
especially when u could chew the cheese with elasticity! xD
Sweet potato fries is genuinely nice as they are merely fried sweet potatoes,
different from others which instead fry it with mass amount of flour.


For the Hungarian main dishes here, food are uniquely cooked. They are absolutely good in making all the special sauces, and their red meat is well done with red wine added to enhance the meat taste.
Beef burger uses tender and juicy homemade beef patty,
served along with the truffle mashed potato.
The Hungarian mashed is way different from the normal one,
slight sour with vinegar added in the ingredients, but still a delicious one.
Chicken roulade is a perfect combination of fried breadcrumbs coated
chicken breast stuffed with spinach, cream cheese, and potato salad.
It is a creative way to make the chicken breast doesn't taste too dry! ;) 
Chilli chocolate red wine braised beef is tenderly cooked with the
slight spicy red wine + dark chocolate sauce.
Do not deceived by the word 'chocolate'. It doesn't taste sweet and greasy at all.
Instead, it smells and tastes specially good with the chocolate and red wine added.
Hungarian goulash - the beef stew with potatoes and hungarian paprika.
The stewed sauce is bold, and perfectly nice to dip with the bread.
Spicy duck grilled tortillas is the dish I would die for in Chilli Vanilla.
These tortillas are super cheesy (like how the Pizza Hut's cheesy crust tastes like),
stuffed with delicious juicy smoked duck breast and jalapeno.

P/S: I have tried the grilled chicken & mango tortillas,
almost similar with this but smoked duck would be my preference! ;P
Lamb pizza is another popular dish here!
This pizza is full of flavours, strong spices are added with generous amount of lamb,
cheesy cheese and crispy pizza crust furthermore adding marks to the dish.
The weird thing here is the 'xiang cai' spreaded on top. x'D
Aglio olio mushroom pasta with duck is awesomely nice!
It tastes like the carbonara, creamy and very "mushroom".


Chilli vanilla has brunch menu from 11am-3pm, consisting mainly the eggs & breads stuff.
Fruit pancake with a full bowl of cream cheese (should be).

Soups and salads are available for the healthy ones.
Grandma's chicken soup - The name itself tells it, grandma's style of
soup rich with vitamins, boiled with chicken, carrots, and cappellini pasta. 

Others than serving the Hungarian meals, Chilli Vanilla has nice cakes. You ought to check with the cake counter for the available choices.


Cakes like red velvet cake and tiramisu are nice in Chilli Vanilla. Of course, there is the one that you could only get here exclusively - their signature one meter cake.
Perfect layers of custard, chocolate & sponge cake,
coated with super rich, creamy chocolate.
The most delicious cake here to die for! 
Red velvet cake



Drinks serving here are good in the sense that they are not sweet, but coffee beverages are too watery and tasteless.
Freshly made juices
Hot mocha
Hot cappuccino
Iced mint kalamansi
Ice lemon tea

Chilli Vanilla is my favourite dining place nowadays as they serve delicious authentic food, as well as tasty cakes. The only cons dining here are the oily smell left on your shirt and the hot environment. 


Address: 35 Jalan Haji Saman 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Operating Hours: Mon-Sat 11:00-22:00, Sun 17:00-22:00
Tel: 088-238 098



CHEERS! 





Thursday 12 June 2014

Donutes @ Kota Damansara

24-hour-operation Cafe..

Being the first cafe in Klang Valley that operates 24 hours whole day long, Donutes has previously commenced its business in Puchong. Recently, the business is being expanded to Kota Damansara, and there goes the second outlet which situated nearby the mamak shop Kayu.


As illustrated on the tree branches wallpaper, Donutes started its very first branch in Kaohsiung since 1989, and further expanded to Taiwan, and now... to Malaysia.


Donutes provides comfy and spacious area for their customers to enjoy the coffees and cakes anytime, as well as for the hardworking ones to burn their midnight oil studying or working here.
A nice gathering place..
with comfy sofa lounge..
A thoughtful idea to provide table lamps for the study and working ones.
or do u prefer a more isolated area to study?
or the outdoor seats instead?
Toilet here is clean.
There's TV for ur entertainment,
and a 24-hr wifi facility.


To ensure that every customer could secure a seat and enjoy a relaxing dining experience here, Donutes sets the simple rules:


Beverages sold are clearly listed on the menu board, or u could get their menu items through the brochure-like menu list.


Cakes are magnificently displayed.
Cakes are sold in slices..
...or in whole.


Donutes sells fresh breads too, but up to 2am only.


Breads are freshly baked daily at three different hours:


Besides that, Donutes sells small bites like Taiwan pineapple tarts, Hawaii tarts, as well as the macarons.


Likewise how others branded coffee shops operate, Donutes has the merchandise area selling their thermo flasks and coffee beans.



To avoid delay in service, Donutes supports self-service with all the food and beverages ordered to be collected from the counter once your number is called.


Donutes coffee basically tastes like normal white coffee. Therefore, you could go for other ice blended or herbal tea if you are not fond of a white coffee taste.
Coffees like its signature Donutes coffee, caramel macchiato,
latte etc could be obtained here.
Other beverages such as grape fruit tea, jin xuan tea,
and apple plum smoothis are available too.


Cakes and breads taste not bad at all. And I like how they are clearly illustrated - every pastry is drawn on the price tag with the ingredients labelled on.
Angel cake with honey flavour filling.
Cheese cake
Cheesy cheese balls
Lemon sauce & honey swiss roll
Peach cake
Lime chocolate cake
Mango panna cotta

Upon the grand opening of Donutes, PJ-ians who crave for a midnight coffee or cake session could now heading to this branch. Nomore headache on question like "where else to get a nice cafe at late hour like 2am?" =P


Address: Jalan PJU 5/13 Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya.
Operating Hours: Daily - 24 Hours
Tel: 03-6143 7262




CHEERS!