Oh yes! Twice in a day I was treated for my birthday! The 2nd birthday treat was dinner at Levain. The ambiance was great! I felt calm and delighted the moment I stepped in… but the delight rate goes down steadily, which means the beginning of what a review on something not quite good is happening. But hey, you should continue on reading a little more. I have only heard of the place and so, my maiden visit was for my birthday treat and here it goes…

First, a little bit about the place… no not really

As the place employs the modus operandi of self-service, there are “procedures” or rather steps that one need to follow. One must first find a table of one’s choice (of course!), then one goes to the counter where one shall place one’s orders where one is required to inform the table number. The orders will be delivered to the table. No, one can not just go back to one’s place and wait for the orders to arrive. One will have to take on one’s own, the cutleries (in my case, even the serving plates!). Then one can sit at one’s table and wait for the orders to arrive. My concern when I was at the counter with my friend placing our orders was “what if someone chooses the same table thinking that the table is not yet taken?”. This question should also be in Levain’s mind. Do not expect your customers to know which table is taken and which is not. Do not also make your customers choose who amongst them should wait at the table while the other place his/her order (this is in the event customers come in groups of 2 or more). What if a lone ranger walks in? How can he make sure that his table is not taken whilst he is placing his order at the counter?

Now, the food

My friend had Seafood Aglio Olio, which she said was good and I had to wait forever for my Thai Pasta. Yes, my friend was done with hers when mine came. The birthday girl had to wait! The Thai Pasta tasted more like Assam Laksa than anything else. I was expecting it to have tom yam taste to it but no, it did not. We also had the Margherita Pizza. It was ok, although not brilliant. I will not say that it was bad but I will not say it was good either. So, there you go, a very brief review of the food at Levain.

End of the day, what I have to say is…

Nice ambiance and deco will not suddenly magically make the experience great! Will I go there again and try other items on the menu? I suppose I will give them a 2nd chance… another shot. I believe in giving 2nd chances. Just 2nd chances, 3rd or 4th are generally out of the question ;D

Anyhow, there was an incident when my friend called the waiter more than twice and I am very certain that he could hear her, but he just walked away! Why am I so certain that he could hear her you ask? Well, we sat outside, way at the back where it was very quite and people were talking softly!

Also, the second time I had to go to the counter to place the order for my drink I saw at the counter, dinner set promotion, which the lady at the counter did not highlight to us when we placed our orders earlier. I wonder why… Perhaps she forgot about it, it being Saturday and all.

One more thing, I read reviews that actually said one has to pay for the parking. We did not however, were asked to pay for the parking (thank God for that, otherwise….OMG!)

p.s. – Weekends are when eateries are tested for their performance, by their patrons/customers. Not being able to perform well or at least as good as they do on weekdays can make them look bad. Eateries operators are aware that it is the busiest on weekends and something must be done to ensure good service performance.

You can check the place out here – http://www.levain.com.my/

It was a birthday thing… prefer not to call it a celebration… Watched Pirates of the Caribbean followed by wandering around the mall and ended with lunch….at the Yogi Tree.

I did not originally know that the Yogi Tree serves organic food until I actually read the menu! So, we start with my review of what I had for lunch there. here we go… We ordered –

(1) Carbonara with bacon, mushrooms and egg – it says in the menu that it is without cream! This was why I wanted to try this Carbonara, plus the fact that I like Carbonara… it came and viola! all “dry”! no cream sauce! It was OK but it was a little bit too “garlic-y” for me.

(2) Seafood Aglio Olio – I remember way back when it was difficult to find good Seafood Aglio Olio… nowadays, it is easier to find good, tasty ones and yes, Yogi Tree’s Seafood Aglio Olio is good. It was not bland. It was rather tasty and the seafood was plenty.

(3) Ultimate Molten Lava Hot Chocolate Pudding – when it came, all I could notice was the smell of the ice cream. Not sure how to describe the smell but I think it smelt too much like cream or cheese (not quite tho…) and the smell was rather strong, but it did not put me off as I love desserts. This one is brilliant I tell you!Simply delicious! The melting chocolate oozing out of the baked (I think it was) chocolate cake. Not too sweet as well. And oh, the ice cream, delectable despite the smell and surprisingly, either the smell was gone or it simply was overcame by the taste that the smell was “gone”!

So, generally, what I had was OK. Perhaps I should go again and try other items on the menu…

One last note, when I got there, there was only 1 waiter, serving the whole restaurant and it was roughly half packed! Although there was only 1 waiter, the wait (for the menu and in fact even for the food!) did not feel that long. He was very calm and collected too! He served everyone pleasantly. This is rather difficult to experience nowadays. More often than not, you will get waiters or waitresses who send “unhappy” vibes and look angry and tired. So, good for this guy, whatever his name is hahaha

You can check the place out here – http://www.yogitree.com/