Got time for Chatime?

Chatime in Sunway Pyramid full of customers

Customers. Again.

          
          Call it an exaggeration if you will, but right now Chatime has got to be one of those things that our current youth culture is crazy about. Just about last year, the Taiwan Milk Tea outlet started expanding and soon enough, the craze for Chatime started throughout the whole of Malaysia.


          Just to understand how much of an impression Chatime has upon our society, you should read this article:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=central&file=/2012/3/19/central/10803399.


          On an ordinary Friday afternoon,all six of us decided to pay a visit to the Chatime outlet at the Blue Atrium in Sunway Pyramid's New Wing.
          
           As usual, many people were seen lining up to have a taste of Chatime's drinks. After a brief moment of discussion,we then decided on our drinks.


           Chatime has a unique system of ordering drinks: Firstly, you will have to state your orders to the cashier and pay for the drinks. Then, you will be issued a receipt with a waiting number in it. Once your number is displayed on the electronic board, then you can claim your drinks from the counter.

Chatime's menu of drinks

and so we ordered:

Glass jelly with fresh milk

Taiwan Plum Iced Tea

Hazelnut chocolate Milk Tea

Fairy Vanilla Milk Tea

And not forgetting the Roasted Milk Tea

           Chatime has impressed us in many ways, firstly the shops  allows the customers to customize their drinks in 3 ways: the toppings, sugar content and the ice content of the drinks.


         The toppings include pearls, red beans, glass jellies and many others.These toppings are worth it as it adds a new flavour to your drink. With a few exceptions, each topping will cost RM1.00 to RM 1.50. 


                     As  for the sugar and ice content, you can opt to have it either at 0%, 30%, 50%,70%,90% or even 110%! The best part is this service is offered Free Of Charged! This means people suffering from diabetes still have the opportunity to enjoy Chatime's milk tea with reduced or even zero sugar content without having to pay more.


        Most of the drinks here range from around RM 4.90 to RM 6.90 . However, do bear in mind that this are without taking into account the additional toppings.


        Secondly, we are throughly pleased that the Chatime in Sunway has manged to handle the long line of customers in an effective. Our waiting number came up around 6-7 minutes after making our orders.


        Among our drinks, we had voted the Glass Jelly with fresh Milk as the best drink because of the sweet milk that balances perfectly with the glass jelly.Despite that, we do encourage you to take your time in deciding your "perfect" drink.


        Still,if you are at a lost as to order which drink, we would recommend that you at least try the Original Pearl Milk Tea along with the pearl toppings.


        One thing that we regretted though was not reducing the ice content in our drinks.It was only later that we realized the large amount of ice cubes had diluted the sweetness of our drinks.


        To sum it up, do make it a point to visit the nearest Chatime at least once in your lifetime.Who knows, your life might be changed just after having that very first sip of Milk Tea... 


            
                          


           


                                  

Last but not least....

We hope our last review has piqued your interest in Chinese food! Now as we approach our third and last review, I just want to say, it's been a blast!

Wan dou ho chan teng, yat ding hou yi sek dou bao (its cantonese :P )

Kim Gary's entrance ( Google Image)

             Well, in case if you don't understand the Cantonese phrase above, it simply means once you find a good restaurant to dine in, you are guaranteed to find satisfying and filling food. A week after our exploits at Sushi King,  we  tried once again to get a place at Kim Gary, and to our utmost surprise, we SUCCEEDED! (Baby Fist pump!)


              In case you are not well acquainted with its history, Kim Gary is a famous restaurant outlet from Hong Kong.  The first Kim Gary opened in 1992 at Sham Shui Po Tong Mei Road, Hong Kong. Through business expansion, the restaurant outlet reached the shores of Malaysia, and finally to Sunway Pyramid!  


              Kim Gary is a "chan teng" (Chinese style restaurant) that attempts to combine Western and Eastern cuisines together. I must say that the fusion works perfectly well as Kim Gary has woo many Malaysians up till now. However, it is highly recommended that you should at least able to speak simple Mandarin or Cantonese in order not to cause any unwanted confusion!


              On the 20 of April (Friday), all six us of us were at the restaurant. Though the restaurant looked crowded, we were still able to acquire a table with a few chairs and a comfortable couch. The waitress was friendly and immediately handed us the menus. Looking around, we could see that most of the patrons then were college students since it was a weekday. After deciding, we took down our orders on the small piece of paper provided. Generally, Kim Gary had a good response time, which was around 5 to 10 minutes.




Now, for the food:


             

Fish fillet with sweet corn cream sauce

Wrapped fish in egg with Shanghai style vegetable rice

Nissin soup noodles with fried egg & luncheon meat

Supreme beef curry baked with Swiss cheese and Spaghetti

Shredded pork and fried egg with Chinese Mushroom rice

Hot & spicy soup noodles with chicken wings in "Typhoon Shelter" style

                       In hindsight, some of the dishes worth mentioning are the" Hot & spicy soup noodles with chicken wings in Typhoon Shelter style", "Supreme beef curry baked with Swiss cheese" and "Fish fillet with sweet corn cream sauce".

         The first dish was noted for its particularly spicy soup which Fu Hui happened to compared to her Sichuanese home dishes.( Fu Hui is from China, in case you don't know =P) The noodles' soup was served in abundance, much to her delight. Besides that, the springy noodles served to whet her appetite which was satisfied by the addition of some chicken wings.

            It is amazing that Kim Gary has succeeded with its own brand of "East meets West" type of fusion cuisines and demonstrates it in the second and third dishes mentioned earlier. For example, vegetables used in typical Chinese dishes  such as Cauliflower and Peas managed to blend in well with the beef curry sauce that was served along with the Spaghetti.

            This restaurant also serves cold and hot beverages. Among the drinks ordered that day were: Tea in HK style, Milo, Fresh Lemon Tea and Mango with coconut milky juice.

             Kim Gary also has various promotions offered from time to time. So, if you don't mind experimenting a little, it would not hurt to consider their food offers which lasts over a certain period.

Yi Lin showing off her Kim Gary membership card.

              Our verdict? Kim Gary offers decent food for a reasonable sum of money. Our advice is to prepare a budget between RM10-RM25. As always, the better dishes require you to fork out more money! 

               Kim Gary is located at Oasis Boulevard, the ground floor of Sunway Pyramid's old wing.(OB2.G.U3) An easy way to the Oasis Boulevard is by walking through the Parkson Departmental Store on the ground floor till you reach the end of the store. From there, there will be several shops on your left and right. Kim Gary will be located at the furthermost right.

                Happy Dining!:)

                           
             
           

WHERE TO NEXT?

Buckle up! Cus we're flying to Hong Kong... =D

The first restaurant is..........



Taken from google images



Sushi King!

    We decided to do a food review on the food in Sushi King at Sunway Pyramid due to few reasons, namely: its reputation and affordable meals. Being located in Sunway Pyramid mall (LG1.42), this famous franchise outlet receives a  diverse group of customers ranging from teenage students to working adults and to families on weekends.


    Being no stranger to Malaysians, Sushi King had captured the imagination of many with its concept of using  the conveyor belt to transport  sushi side dishes throughout the restaurant.

    Last friday (13/4), all six of us decided to have lunch there after our failed attempts to get a place at Kim Gary. As soon as we arrived at Sushi King, we were ushered by an attendant and seated at a long table with comfortable chairs. 

The response time for our orders  was between 10-15 minutes,which was satisfying enough for us.

     Anyway here are the pictures of some  food we ordered:

 The Unagi slice

                               

Shoyu ramen

Tempura Soba

 Nabeyaki Udon

          To start with, the Shoyu Ramen consists of  Japanese egg noddles, served in Shoyu soup(soy bean soup) with slices of teriyaki chicken, one hard boiled egg along with seaweed and vegetable. Unlike other noddle dishes from the hawker stores, the soup was actually nutritious and tasty . I (Erik) actually managed to finished the soup completely, which is saying something because either the MSG(flavouring) content is non-existent or very low. Though, in my opinion, more slices of teriyaki chicken could be added to complement the vegetables and seaweed.

         Yi Lin ordered Saba Teriyaki (Grilled fish) along with a bowl of white rice. According to her, the Saba Teriyaki went well with her white rice since it was served along with sweet sauce. The rice acted as a filler to the rather small portion of Saba Teriyaki that somewhat compensated for its shortcomings with its juicy and fleshy meat.

           Among the ingredients in Adelyn Tan's Nabeyaki Udon were sweet beancurds, mushrooms, spring onions,chicken and crabstick. This dish was particularly unique as it was cooked in a nabe(metal pot), which is where the dish got its name from. This noodle dish had a distinct seafood flavor especially when the prawn tempura was added into the Udon.

          Hooi Xian's Tempura Soba was served with prawn and vegetable tempura. Though the Soba is quite simple with only the wheat noodles and some spring onions, the true strength of this dish in the tempura side dish. Tempura are vegetables or seafood that have been battered with egg than deep fried. Among the tempuras were the long beans, brinjals and prawn. What surprised us though was that the tempuras were a lot less oily than we had expected. Thus,we can say that the Japanese are a health cautious   lot. 

         While we waited for our main dishes, we also took the opportunity to pick up a few side dishes from the conveyor belt that circulates around the whole restaurant. Some of the side dishes worth mentioning are the Unagi slice(picture shown above), Ebi Ten and Egg Mayo sushi. Plus, the (in)famous Wasabi was provided along with a bottle soya sauce and sweet sauce to dip the sushi in. The price the side dishes is determined by the color of the plate as follows:

Blue – RM2.00
Beige – RM3.00
Pink – RM4.00
Red – RM5.00
Purple – RM6.00

 Our recommendation is that the side dishes are worth trying if you do not mind forking out money for the more expensive plates.

 Sushi King's conveyor belt ( Google Images)

      Overall, if you wish to dine in Sushi King, bring around RM 70. That's not because  the Ala carte meal is costly. (it's normally around RM10-RM30) but you just might get caught up in savoring the variety of side dishes Sushi King has to offer.

         

A teaser

The first review should be up in a few days time... Meanwhile, we'll just drop a little hint on the first restaurant we are reviewing.

WHO ARE WE...

We are a group college students and we are going to do a series of food reviews. Fu Hui & Hooi Xian are in charge of the blog's design while the rest of us (Adelyn, Erik, Wilson & Yi Lin) will do the editing. I (Adelyn) will be snapping some pictures for the blog as well .Basically, we will be dining in a restaurant, then doing a small review together...

From left side (Fu Hui, Yi Lin  and Adelyn). From the right ( Erik, Wilson and  Hooi  Xian)