Chilli Vanilla @ Jalan Haji Saman, KK

We've actually heard of Chilli Vanilla a while back but since the cafe is closed on Sunday (and Sunday our favourite day to cari makan), we never got around to visit it. Nonetheless, we've heard quite a lot of good reviews about their red velvet cake and never having reviewed a Mediterranean restaurant in KK, we made a point to drop by Chilli Vanilla for lunch.

First Look

Located in a small shop lot directly opposite Kinabalu Emporium (same row as Moon Bell Restaurant, facing the main road), Chilli Vanilla can be quite hard to spot from afar. But as you come closer, you'll see a small shop with a rustic-looking signboard bearing its name.

Overall, Chilli Vanilla has a homey and casual ambience--a nice place to chill out with friends over a glass of iced calamansi drink on warm balmy afternoons. They also play groovy 80s and 90s music, which is a refreshing change if you're tired of listening to One Direction.

Food & Beverages

Chilli Vanilla is owned by a Hungarian lady, therefore, you can expect to sample  more exotic offerings on the menu. The cafe serves Hungarian and Mediterranean speciality dishes such as the Frikadelle (beef meatballs with Hungarian paprika and herbs, stuffed with cheese and spicy salsa), the Moroccan-inspired Lamb Stew (MYR16.90), Spaghetti Milanese (MYR24.90) and the homemade Liver Pate.

Sticking to a clean, healthy diet? Fret not as Chilli Vanilla also serves an array of wonderful salads such as the Mediterranean Mix (MYR16.90), the Waldorf (MYR16.90) and the Aphrodite salad (MYR18.90) which are all gluten-free. 

Oliver and I decided to try something a little less exotic for a start. I ordered the Chicken Breast and Mashed Potato lunch set (comes with a complimentary creamy mushroom soup and a slice of butter cake), while Oliver ordered the Spicy Grilled Duck Tortilla (MYR17.90).

Grilled chicken breast

Chicken Breast and Mashed Potato lunch set (MYR16.90)

Creamy mushroom soup

Butter cake with walnuts

Grilled Duck Tortilla

Unfortunately, the famed red velvet cake was unavailable on that day. Nonetheless, Chilli Vanilla still has an array of lip-smacking cakes such as the chocolate brownies, apple crumble pie and butter cake with walnuts.

Chocolate brownies

Apple crumble pie

Butter cake

You can also have a glass of wine if you like.

Verdict

We give props to Chilli Vanilla for its uniqueness--there aren't many restaurants in KK offering Hungarian or Mediterranean dishes--but the portion size and pricing are on the skimpy and more expensive side respectively. 

We loved the duck tortillas but found the chicken breast and mashed potato a little too salty. The butter cake that came with the lunch set was also only half the size of an average cake slice and was a bit dry for our liking.

We'll probably come back to try the red velvet cake, other than that, the overall gastronomic experience wasn't particularly exceptional.

Food Buddy rating: 3.38/5

Ambience: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Price: 2.5/5

Food & Beverages: 3/5

Tung Fong Seafood Restaurant @ Taipan, Inanam

When you're looking for a seafood restaurant that also specializes in serving generously-portioned fish/seafood noodle soup, look no further than Tung Fong Seafood Restaurant in the Taipan area of Inanam.

While Tung Fong isn't exactly easy to spot, you can always count on the Inanam Shell station as a reliable landmark. If you're coming from KK, make a U-turn around the roundabout and take the first junction on your left after the Shell station.

Tung Fong is surrounded by several auto shops/workshops, so when you spot a lot of car accessories shops as you turn in, rest assured you're in the right direction. From the junction, head straight and you'll see Tung Fong seafood restaurant located at a corner lot, right next to a home furnishing shop.

First look

The first thing we noticed about this seafood restaurant was its bustling lunch crowd and how good business was. We had decided to come over for late lunch (past 2pm) to beat the lunchtime traffic, and while we managed to dodge traffic on the road, the traffic at the restaurant was still pretty heavy.

Food & beverages

As the name would suggest, Tung Fong offers a variety of seafood dishes to be ordered a la carte or with rice/noodles. From what we've heard, some of their best offerings are the seafood kon lau mee (MYR7) and seafood noodle soup (MYR7).

Normal-size kon lau mee

Seafood kon lau mee

If you'd like to have a bigger portion, opt for the 'ka liao' version which is almost 1/4-size bigger.

Ka liao seafood noodle soup

Ka liao (large) seafood noodle soup (MYR12)

The next time we went to Tung Fong, we brought four friends with us so that we could order more a la cart dishes and sample them all together. Here are some of the signature a la cart dishes on the menu:

Egg tofu with minced meat and mushroom

Mixed vegetables with mushroom

Sabah veggie with eggs

Fish fillet in sweet sauce

Oyster omelette 

Crab cake wrapped in seaweed

Overall the pricing is pretty reasonable, we only paid MYR151 for 10 dishes plus drinks--averagely MYR25.17 per person for a decent seafood meal. 

Verdict

We give Tung Fong Seafood Restaurant two thumbs up for food quality, portion size and pricing. If it wasn't for the horrible traffic surrounding the Taipan area during lunch hour (it took us 45 minutes to reach the restaurant from Likas!), we would've come every day for the fish noodle soup! 

Also, we waited more than 30 minutes for our food to arrive. Probably not the place to have lunch at when you're moody and ravenous.

Food Buddy rating: 3.75/5

Ambience: 2/5

Service: 3/5

Price: 5/5

Food & Beverages: 5/5

Kedai Kopi Wang City @ Iramanis

The other day our friend, Elaine was talking about a coffee shop in Foh Sang that serves delicious ngiu chap. Both Oliver and I have never heard of a ngiu chap place in Foh Sang, so we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, it was already past 1.30pm and the coffee shop was in the midst of closing.

One staff told me that usually the shop stays open until after 2pm, but today they've run out of meatballs earlier in the morning. Business must be really good. Anyway, with heavy heart, we drove off and decided to see what Iramanis has in store. Enter Kedai Kopi Wang City.

First look

Located next to Capstone Christian bookstore, Kedai Kopi Wang City looks no different from the rest of the kopitiams around it. The menu are almost all written in Chinese, with the exception of some dishes which are shown in pictures, so you'd have to ask the staff to recommend which dishes to try.

We liked that the kopitiam is clean and quite breezy--as opposed to some kopitiams that can be quite hot and stuffy. 

Food & beverages
Kedai Kopi Wang City specializes in fish and seafood dishes. Their signature dish would be the kon lau mee with fish slices / wonton / fish balls in a choice of bitter gourd or ham choy (pickled mustard cabbage) soup (MYR6).

Another notable dish is the Korean fried noodle (MYR6)--a dish resembling Hokkien noodle and served with chicken breast meat, diced cucumber, potato and topped with sprinklings of sesame seed.

Other dishes on the menu include the pan mian, rice with minced pork and assam curry fish head soup.

As for drinks, you can order the usual soft drinks as well as nutritious homemade barley drink and lemongrass drink (MYR3).

Lemongrass drink

Barley drink

Verdict
Oliver and I decided to try two of this kopitiam's best-sellers--I picked the kon lau mee with assorted seafood in ham choy soup while Oliver ordered the Korean fried noodle.

I was satisfied with the portion size of the kon lau mee. I'm usually very particular about portion sizes, but this one was just nice. It tasted delicious too! Best of all, the soup didn't have an oily film on top of it. Healthy and yummy!

Kon lau mee soup

The Korean fried noodle looked and tasted just like a plate of Hokkien fried noodle. The portion size was also decent. 

Korean fried noodle

Following the main course, Oliver also ordered the homemade fish tofu that is made of fresh dory fish. The fish tofu (MYR4) comes in four pieces per plate and was probably the priciest item on the menu. The fish tofu tastes good but its mushy texture might turn some people off.

Fish paste tofu

Food Buddy rating: 3.75/5
Ambiance: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Price: 5/5
Food & Beverages: 4/5

Chef Tan's - Coffee. Food. Home @ The Peak Vista, Likas

It was our first time visiting The Peak Vista. Initially, we had wanted to check out October Cafe, since many people had posted photos of it on Facebook and Instagram. Unfortunately, it was full when we came. So, we picked Chef Tan's Cafe.

First look
At first glance, the cafe looked spick-and-span with rustic chic wooden furnishing and a homely ambiance. As we walked through the door, the delightful aroma of freshly-roasted coffee beans filled the air. Ah, bliss!

Food & beverages
We had a look through the menu, which disappointingly didn't have plenty to offer. This outlet basically serves a selection of kopitiam-style Chinese cuisine with a small addition of Western favourites e.g. steak, lamb chop and fish & chips, and finger foods.

Another main offering of this cafe is its coffee selection (hence the yummy aroma!). You can get your caffeine fix from the regulars like the Americano, espresso, cappuccino and cafe latte. If you like something vintage, go for the Vintage 'Kopi Botol', which is basically chilled black coffee in a bottle.

Price
Best thing about this outlet is probably its selection of coffee that has a price range of MYR3 (hot) to MYR7 (cold) -- waaaay cheaper than Starbucks and taste just about the same, if you ask me.

As for food, the price-range for the main courses starts from MYR8.80 to MYR23. I'd say not bad, but if it's Chinese kopitiam meals you're looking for; you can order the same food (pork chop, BBQ pork rice, ginger beef, etc.) at a kopitiam and pay less.

Verdict
I decided to order a bowl of herbal chicken (MYR10.80) and one Vintage 'Kopi Botol' (MYR3), while Oliver ordered the Signature Hokkien Pork Chop (MYR10.80) and a cup of cappuccino. For dessert, we had a plate of chocolate waffles, oink! 

I personally loved the herbal chicken as it was very tender and juicy -- probably slow-cooked for hours in a pressure cooker. The herbal taste was also very prominent, in a delicious-non-medicinal way, with a hint of sweet rice wine. The meal was also generously-portioned, so I was reasonably pleased. My only complaint is that the broth turned out a little bit oily. 

Herbal Chicken

Vintage 'Kopi Botol'

The Signature Hokkien Pork Chop was not as generously-portioned as the Herbal Chicken, but there were an additional serving of salad and an omelet on the plate to complement the pork chop. The pork chop was also slightly different from the normal kopitiam pork chop as it was served with black pepper sauce. 

Signature Hokkien Pork Chop

Despite the extra effort in making good ol' pork chop original, it was nothing much to shout about. Not exactly something you'd come back for again and again.

We would probably come back to have coffee and to bask in the yummy coffee aroma! As for food, as certified 'food economists', we'd still prefer to pay under RM10 per meal :).

Cappuccino with flower on top!

Chocolate Waffles with sprinklings of cocoa powder

Food Buddy rating: 3.5/5
Ambiance: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Price: 3/5
Food & Beverages: 3/5