L. table by Lavender

    Ever since the One Utama old wing has been renovated and revamp, there has been a number of new places that I've been wanting to try out like Plan B, Lavender, and Satay Satay, just to name a few. A few months ago i decided to try Lavender for the first time. It was one of the only places in One Utama that was open for breakfast. 

    The decor and layout of the whole place was very nice and had a very nice feel to it. You can choose to dine inside or outside. The service however was horrible. Even though all the waiters and waitresses had an electronic gadget in hand to take orders rather than the more traditional notepad....i think they would have been more efficient holding a notepad. I don't know if it was too early for their brains to be working or to put  a smile on... but they all had a very grumpy look on their faces. Not only that but they were very blur and slow! And this is not what i look forward to when i go for breakfast early in the morning.

   Their menu looked very good...'looked' very good. It really did the job. By this i mean that it made me want to order the food. It made me look forward to the food. Even when the food arrived, it looked so good that i could not resist taking a few pictures. However, when i finally took my first bite, i was VERY disappointed. ALL the dishes we ordered were bland and under seasoned to a point that i wanted to soak it in a bath of salt and pepper! And for the price i paid, i expected the flavors to be spot on (the price was not exactly reasonable). 

    This is what we had that morning. I would just like to point out that looks can be very very deceiving! (If i had to say one good thing about Lavender, it would be that their french fries were nice.-THAT.is.all)

Turkey Burger with turkey bacon

Lamb Pita

   I don't want it to seem as if all i do is complain, but I have to tell guys this story.When my sister went to the bakery and bought a ham sandwich (which cost her almost RM15)..they bakery part of the store didn't want to serve her the sandwich. They said they didn't serve whatever that was in the bakery to the restaurant. However, they said that she could bring it in and eat it there. Now for the best part! When she brought the sandwich into the restaurant..sat down and requested for a plate..the waiter told her she COULD NOT have a plate for her sandwich because it wasn't from the Lavender Restaurant!! I don't understand why they couldn't bring her a plate! If we were all sitting at the table having nothing but a glass of water and she brought over the sandwich from the bakery then i would understand why they wouldn't give her a plate. I would understand that they would be making a loss by that. BUT we were having drinks and food so i really don't see why they couldn't give us a plate! I guess that there will be some things in life that i will never understand. And this is one of them. 

   I think you can probably tell that I'm never going back to Lavender. I don't see the point of paying a lot of money or in fact ANY money for bland food and sucky service. However, i have put down the address for L. table by Lavender. Maybe some of you will like to try it out for yourselves. If you do try it out, please let me know about your experience there, good or bad. (if there are some good comments about it, i might consider giving it another shot...someday)

Price: 4/10 

Food: 3/10 (HALAL)

Ambiance: 8/10

Cleanliness: 8/10

Service: 3/10

Satisfactory level: 4/10

L. Table by Lavender

                                                                       Tel: 03-7728 6933                                         Address: G213, Ground Floor, 1 Utama Shopping Centre.

Mukha

    One Sunday after mass, my sisters and I decided to give Mukha a try. The layout and ambiance was quite impressive. The outside was filled with a few mismatched tables and chairs and had a very charming feel to it. The inside was also very inviting. Yes, the place looked like a place where most hipsters would dine at but the barista and the guy who took our order were pleasantly nice and friendly.

    So anyway, we ordered the Eggs Benedict with a side of salmon, Bacon wrapped asparagus and French toast with Nutella. The waiting time was quite long so be ready to wait especially if you come during their busy hours but trust me...the food makes up for the waiting time. 

Eggs Benedict (with salmon)

For a person who just started eating eggs with runny yolks (they use to disgust me but now I'm obsessed with them), i found the Eggs Benedict to be really good. It was well cooked and well seasoned. The eggs were poached well and the hollandaise sauce was thick and really tasty. However, i think the salmon made a real difference to the dish. In fact, it was what made the dish really yummy. To my amazement, even though the salmon they used was not freshly cut salmon (they used sliced and vacuum packed salmon), yet it tasted really fresh! *So make sure you get the Eggs Benedict with a side of salmon! :) *

Bacon wrapped Asparagus

The bacon wrapped asparagus was satisfactory but in comparison to the other two dishes we had, this was definitely at the bottom of the list. Don't get me wrong, it was still very yummy because anything taste yummy with bacon involved but in my opinion, this dish was more of an appetizer to me than a main. The asparagus were cooked well. I say it was cooked well because when it was served, the asparagus still retained its gorgeous green colour as well as a real crunch to it. I've come across restaurants who have really killed the asparagus by serving it wilted and a dark green colour which is a sign of overcooking or failing to shock the asparagus in ice cold water to stop the cooking process. 

French toast with Nutella and Banana

Next we had the French Toast smothered in Nutella and slices of banana. O.M.G!!! This was a slice of heaven! Even though this dish took forever and was the last to arrive, i now understand the true meaning of save the best for last. When i took my first bite of this, i was in heaven when i bit into the two slices of bread with a piece of banana and warm Nutella oozing through my mouth..thinking about it is making me drool. It was SO good! If i had to criticize this dish, i would say that it could have been better if the french toast was a little crunchier and if they had caramelized the bread a little more with some brown sugar. If they had done that, i think it would have been more than perfect! 

I would definitely go back to Mukha to try more of their food, coffee and desserts. However, i think i will go there on a weekday during a non peak hour to avoid a long wait.

Price: 8/10

Food: 8/10

Ambiance: 8/10

Service: 5/10

Satisfactory level: 7/10

Mukha Cafe @ TTDI,

15, Lorong Rahim Kajai 13, Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

Tel: 03-7732-2248

Opening Hours: 
Mon. 08:00-22:00,Tue. 08:00-22:00,Wed. 08:00-22:00,Thu. 08:00-22:00,Fri. 08:00-00:00,Sat. 08:00-00:00,Sun. 08:00-22:00