Coffee Amo, Jalan Sultan @ Petaling Street (Second Visit)

"Last time the coffee shop you went with Guan Ren at China Town, the one with 3D coffee ah, let's go this afternoon! I want to try," mum suggested enthusiastically last Saturday.

You can read about my first visit to Coffee Amo HERE!

It was a long weekend & the traffic was smooth so dad agreed to drive us there! Parked our car at a building located directly opposite of Coffee Amo which rates are RM3.50 per hour

We walked up the steep stairways and pushed the heavy glass door open, to be overwhelmed by the loud crowd. Coffee Amo was really packed! The absence of music playing in the cafe somehow amplified the chatters of the patrons. We managed to find a seat at the corner of the cafe with only one chair, so we had to ask for extra chairs table by table.

The menu remained the same so I'm reusing the photos from my previous visit, pardon my laziness :P

However, the 3D coffee is not applicable for regular white coffee (Latte, Cappuccino etc.) anymore :( One will have to order their Signature Flavoured Coffee that is Sweet 16 (Hazelnut Flavoured Coffee), Ocean 11 (Tangerine Flavoured Coffee) or Rose Garden (Rose Flavoured Coffee) that is priced at RM13 each, which is still acceptable as most cafe tends to overcharge their 3D coffee.

I left our seat for a while to make our order and as soon as we're done, our seat was taken up by a couple who was in front of us while ordering. Sigh, the crowd. A kind man saw what happened and he took his bag away from one of the tall chair facing the window, giving us a space suffice for three. Thank you, kind person :)

Signature Coffee: Sweet 16 & Ocean 11 RM13 each

Cuter things taste better, no? :P
Ocean 11 is worth trying, especially for those who have a more adventurous taste buds. I enjoyed the tinge of sweet & sour taste in my coffee, but mum thought otherwise. She preferred Sweet 16 more, as it is rich in nutty taste and has a sweetness that was just nice.

Nutella Moist Chocolate Cake RM10
The frosting was lovely and the cake had just the right amount of sweetness. However, it was tad dry for my liking.

Coffee Amo
1st Floor, 54, Jalan Sultan,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Business Hours:
10am-9pm Daily

E-mail: management@coffeeamo.com
Contact Number: 03-2857 2677
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coffeeamo

Map's Cafe, Bandar Sunway | That Latte Place, Persiaran Ritchie, KL [CLOSED]

[Non-Halal]

Anyone here remembers That Latte Place, a instagram & pintrest worthy place for brunch? Rings a bell?

That Latte Place was a lovely breakfast & brunch cafe located along Persiaran Ritchie, surrounded by the lush greens of Yayasan Seni which is located about a 10 minutes drive from KLCC. It has since moved out on the 28th of April 2014 (replaced by a new cafe called Green Tomato Cafe) & finally after 3 months, That Latte Place finally made a comeback at a new location with a new name, MAP'S at Bandar Sunway

I couldn't contain my excitement as I drove my brunch buddy out to try out this place. I loved That Latte Place a lot and now it is back with a new concept at a place closer to my house! Like That Latte Place, Map's was a little tricky to locate. The end point on Waze was wrong and we had to manually key in the address on our own.

Just go straight from Sunway Pyramid (from KL direction) and turn left before the colourful 3C Complex. You'll see a row of shoplots on the left and you'll spot Map's with it's sleek black signboard! Good news, as parking there was a breeze, and also free of exorbitant "valet parking services".

We pushed the tinted glass door open, to be greeted warmly & enthusiastically by their staffs.

Map's was having a busy afternoon so we resort to a seat at the far end corner where the lighting was less satisfactory. El Fresco seating is available behind the cafe but the weather was too unbearable for us to sit outside.

The interior of Map's feature a mixture of industrial look & DIY decorations. A side of the walls were painted greyish silver, with quirky drawings of food item and the other side of the wall was painted bright orange, with a beautifully, hand-painted cherry blossom tree which gave this place a cherry & vibrant atmosphere.

Every tiny details of the decoration at Map's was just lovely. Do remember to pay a visit to their toilet too, as much effort has been put to decoration & uplift the atmosphere of the toilet *laughs* 

Map's menu. The menu had a complete facelift from That Latte Place. The crowd-pleaser Egg Benedict's and Big Breakfast set was retained, with a little twist added into it. And the best part? Map's has been pork-ified.

We had a hard time picking out what to order because everything seems so good! In the end we decided to just settle for the Egg Benny & Map's Porkballs, which was swiftly served to us after a short 10 minute wait despite the lunch crowd.

Egg Benny RM19
Poached Eggs, Bacon Strip, Ham, Sauteed Button Mushroom on a homemade brioche bread, topped with Hollandaise Sauce & served with a side of salad and sweet corn with bacon.

Heavenly. Map's Egg Benny tasted heavenly. Eggs Benedict's is a simple, but hard to master dish. Map's definitely nailed this dish perfectly. Perfectly poached eggs, creamy hollandaise sauce, fluffy brioche bun, finger-licking good bacon & ham, juicy sauteed mushroom. They all just came together so perfectly.

Map's Porkball RM15
Homemade pork meatballs with slow-cooked herb brown gravy, served with perfectly roasted potatoes and side salad.
Gosh, by far the BEST MEATBALLS I have ever tried. It was love at first bite. So tender, flavourful, and finger-licking good. No unpleasant smell or rubbery texture that I feared. Just pure enjoyment. The roasted potatoes too, were perfectly done, at the right amount of tenderness, not overly mushy nor undercooked. Just perfect.

The desserts available at Map's. Would really love to try em out but our stomach was too stuffed for it. Next visit, I promise! Wait for me cakes....!

Map's have definitely won my heart as my personal favourite breakfast spot in Subang Jaya. The staffs were really friendly, asked for feedbacks and were really attentive. FOC drinking water was served as soon as we were seated, and a new bottle was promptly brought to us after we finished our first bottle, without us asking!

Would definitely return for more!

Map's
No.9, Jalan PJS 11/2,

Bandar Sunway

46150 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Business Hours: 8.30am-6pm Daily

Contact Number: 010-219 3882
Email: mapgroupglobal@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maps.place
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And here's a snippet of That Latte Place. Dad brought my family & I there for my birthday celebration one week before they stop their operation but I didn't had the time to blog about this place due to my A-Levels trials, and it is such a waste for these beautiful place's photo to just sit in my folder. So enjoy the photos!

Dining in the Dark, Changkat Bukit Bintang

*Photos taken using a compact Canon camera cause it'd be too troublesome for me to bring around my "big camera" (and we won't be allowed to take photos of the food anyways :P)

A restaurant in complete darkness. An experience of a lifetime.

Dining in TOTAL DARKNESS.

Dining in the Dark KL, the first restaurant in Malaysia to introduce this concept where diners are literally blind throughout their four-course gastronomy dining which usually last about 2 hours!

Priced at RM118+ per pax, each customer at Dining in the Dark will be served with a surprise menu, where customer can opt for the good o' classic menu, or the vegan menu. Here's the classic menu, as extracted from Dining in the Dark website.

“OVERTURE” – Ice-breaker
Enjoy our complimentary aperitif and participate in our pre-dinner games to prepare yourself for an unforgettable experience.

“PRELUDE” – Appetiser
Begin your journey with four contrasting tastes and sensations.

“INTERLUDE”
A duet of flavours to keep you comfortable and relaxed as you await the next discovery.

“TRIO”
Inspired by tradition, three works of art worth seeing – You’d wish you could have a glimpse.

“FINALE”
A symphony of five different creations dedicated to all sweet endings.

I know, I know, the menu says NOTHING of what is going to be served. That's why it is exciting. You won't be able to know or see what they'll be serving you until you take a bite.

Rated as #1 restaurant in Kuala Lumpur at Trip Advisor , I couldn't believe that I was there.

It was a dream come true. I've been so keen to try out this place ever since I've heard about it and it all came true when I won Jkdrooling's giveaway contest! I got second prize but the first prize winner (Dining in the Dark voucher for two) , Choiyen, requested to switch with me.

Thank you so much!

Guan Ren & I made reservations and eagerly waited for the big day to come. We received reminder e-mails, sms(es) and calls one week, one day and one hour before our scheduled dining time! Kudos to their effort! :) We were told to arrive 15 minutes earlier for a briefing session.

Dining in the Dark's entrance, located in between Movida and The Steakhouse along the street of the forever-friday Changkat Bukit Bintang.

After a horrible parking experience when my family my I dined in El Cerdo (which is located adjacently opposite to Dining in the Dark), Guan Ren & I decided to park at Fahrenheit 88 (cheapest parking around Bukit Bintang area, I did my survey :P) and took a 10 minutes stroll there.

We walked up the dimly-lit stairways decorated with red carpet, mirrors & beautiful lamps, which leads us to the classy waiting lounge, where we were greeted warmly by the staffs.

The friendly staffs served a glass of cocktail to each of us and began briefing us about what to expect. Not sure what mix it was, but I enjoyed the sweet & sour sensation, with a tinge of saltiness in it.

Before our journey into the darkness, we had some pre-dinner game for us to get a glimpse of how it'd feel like later during dinner time. The first game: Search for three paper clips in a container filled with rice & red beans...with a blindfold.

Trust me, it is not as easy as it seems. We took about 5 minutes per person to complete this simple task haha! The rice grains and paper clips just seem to merge together...without our sight.

The second game: complete the puzzle with a blindfold. 

Surprisingly, Guan Ren completed this in less than 2 minutes. Even the waiter was stunned! Guan Ren claimed that it was so much easier than the first game but I wouldn't know cause I did not try this game out.

Once we're done with our game, it was time....

Before we were lead into the dining area, we were told to keep our phones/any light-emitting devices and shopping bag into the locker provided. And also to take a trip to the washroom as it'd be a lot of trouble if you were to visit the washroom in the dark. We were once again asked if we have any food allergies that they'd omit from their "secret menu".

The"Darkness Expert" aka Dining in the Dark visually-impaired servers will be leading you into the dining area. All Dining in the Dark waiters are visually impaired! Our server, Cornellius, was the most friendly & polite waiter I've ever came across! We introduced ourselves to him before entering the dining area so that he could recognize our voice when we need anything in the dark.

And there we go, hands on shoulders, forming a straight line, lead by Cornellius, into the pitch dark....

"Guan Ren...I'm scared,"
My eyes were really uncomfortable, and we seem to be walking into a never-ending journey into the darkness. Voices of chitter-chatters & clinking sounds of cutleries and glasses seems to be coming from every direction, blending in well with the soothing background music.

The room seems so huge. Everything feels so different without my sight.

Finally, we came to a halt. Cornellius then guided us one by one to our seat, and patiently describe where our cutleries were placed, where your partner is seated etc.

*touch* *touch* *touch* found my spoon and knife! *touch* *touch* *touch* ahhh here's my dessert fork! *touch* *touch* *touch* found my serviette!

"So how was your first two minutes in the dark?" Cornellius asked, as he served us our drinks. Two minutes? Our first two minutes felt like 10 minutes! Time seems to past so much slower, without our sight & also digital devices!

And then, our starters were served. Followed by the soup, the main, and  the desserts.

(Yes, that was how our food look like in the dark)

I don't want to spoil the fun so I won't go so far ;) my greatest achievement was to successfully used my cutleries throughout the whole meal! It was tough at first, as I poked the food (or air) blindly with my cutleries, trying to get a hold of the food. But I didn't want to look un-glam using my hands to eat while dressed up so nicely for the dinner

(Note: there are CCTVs around. So you can ditch the thoughts of doing anything funny in there :P)

All I'd say is I'd truly enjoyed my meal, from the starters to the desserts :) When one of your senses is blocked, your other senses becomes sharper to make up for it, which is what we felt in Dining in the Dark. Without our sights, we could truly savour the taste, the texture, and the smell of the food. And not to mention, no excessive fiddling with our phones too ;)

After we've completed our meals, we stayed around & talked to each other for a while. We called for Cornellius when we wanted to leave, and oh my, I had such a hard time adapting when we got out, despite the dimly lit waiting lounge! Guan Ren on the other hand, got used to it within seconds. His secret? Gaming in the middle of the night lol!

We were then ushered to the balcony overlooking the lively streets of Changkat, where we filled up the feedback form & had the menu revealed to us. We had such a great laugh, after finding out how miserably we failed at guessing the food served to us! I only got right for the desserts *cough* *coughs* cakes & beyond *coughs* 

I'd really recommend everyone to try out Dining in the Dark. It really was a unique & valuable experience like no other. Honestly the best dining experience I have ever experienced so far! If given the chance, I'd really want to come back again and play the guessing game of the food served to us. Dining in the Dark's menu changes from time to time to prevent any spoilers :P

Dining in the Dark Kuala Lumpur
44A & 46A Changkat Bukit Bintang
50200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Business Hours: 

6.30pm – 10.30pm Tuesday – Sunday

Closed on Mondays

Contact Number: +603 2110 0431
Reservation: +6012 251 5797
Email: info@dininginthedarkkl.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dininginthedarkkl

Website: http://dininginthedarkkl.com/