Bad Ass Coffee

Badass Coffee is a pretty decent alternative to the likes of Starbucks or The Coffee Bean. At the time of writing, I've made three visits to the outlet in Tropicana City Mall. The café's mainstay to being a viable competitor to the aforementioned coffee giants in Malaysia appears to be their beans, known as Kona beans that hail from Hawaii. These beans are supposedly among the best in the world, and rare enough that the café sells 2 blends of it, the 100% Kona and the 10% Kona blend, with the latter's beans mixed in with normal imported beans (most likely from Brazil or Africa). 100% blend brews cost roughly twice as much as their 10% counterparts (e.g. espresso, au lait,  cappuccino, etc).

I've given the Au Lait (both 10% and 100%) and Latte a try (don't ask me why they have both on their menu, I thought they were supposed to mean the same thing in French and Italian). Although I'm pretty certain anyone who's had their taste of Melbournian coffee will find this nothing to shout about, I can say that the taste of the 100% blend is rather rich and smooth, albeit a bit bolder than I'd like. Add the fact that they used Australian milk (Farm House) with their brew, and it makes for a rather pleasing taste altogether. As for the 10% blend, I found it slightly too diluted (could be the fact that I had it iced), but it was fresh and free of that sour aftertaste I sometimes get from Starbucks coffees.

The latte didn't really taste much better than the 10% Au Lait, but it was probably better to me because it was hot, and again better than SB and TCB's offerings, probably just based on the milk used.

I haven't tried enough food here to be able give any sort of solid verdict, but I have had the Oxtail Soup on my first visit (which was unfortunately without my camera, thank God for mobile phone cams), which turned out to be pretty good, if a little starchy. I intend to give some of the pastries a try on my next visit.

The café's surroundings are softly lit and comfy with a choice of outdoor and indoor seating, and there's the standard free Wi-Fi connection for the regular netbooker who drops in. The staff are friendly and patient, ask them anything about Badass and Kona and they'll try their best to help you :)

*Those who visit 8 times or more will also be granted a VIP card that entitles them for discounts on stuff bought there, including merchandise.

Sushi Tei

Dropped by Sushi Tei on recommendation from my brother one weekend, after his claims that food there was better than the currently (as of this post) ultra popular Sushi Zanmai. The outlet we visited was in Tropicana City Mall, PJ.

We had some of the monthly specials, as well as a couple of our common favourites. First off, the salmon moriawase, comprising a mix of select sashimi slices and lightly seared salmon meat. I found the sashimi here much fresher than Sushi Zanmai's offerings, and almost comparable to that of Kissaten's; excellent for its RM18 price tag.

Another item from their specialty menu I tried was the Spicy Chicken Karage roll. I personally don't consider chicken sushi one of my top choices, but the "Spicy" prefix attracted me, and at RM8, I felt it couldn't hurt. Turns out it's a surprisingly delicious dish, so good that I ended up ordering a 2nd one! The chicken was still warm from the pan, succulent and slightly crispy, and it all blended will with the sesame seed-peppered roll and spicy mayonnaise.

Carol ordered her usual Chicken Katsu Don, and according to her it was also slightly better than the one she had at Zanmai; great news for chicken katsu-don lovers :)

Apart from some sushi and various small dishes off the kaiten belt, I also tried the Chuka Ildari (Baby Octopus) and Chuka Wakame (Frozen Seaweed), which were both fresh and pretty tasty. The wakame was tossed with thin slices of 'cili padi', which I found a little strange, but I had no complaints there :)

Overall, I give Sushi Tei a thumbs-up, and recommend it as a great alternative to similarly-priced sushi hotspots like Zanmai and Sakae.

Kissaten Japanese Restaurant

I had dinner with the family at Kissaten Japanese Restaurant, seems their pork burgers are a hit. Since the restaurant has a fusion-esque theme to it, we decided to try a variety of dishes, from sashimi to pasta to steaks, and of course their renowned pork burger.

The sashimi turned out to be really fresh, something that's pretty rare among local Japanese restaurants - sweet, smooth, and doesn't feel like it was yanked out of a freezer and left to thaw. The miso ramen and gyoza turned out to be pretty standard stuff, taste and presentation-wise, a safe bet if you're not feeling particularly adventurous.

I had the Salted Pork Belly Spaghetti, which I'd say is a simple but nice fusion dish. The saltiness of the meat slices blended well with the lightly flavoured pasta, garnished with seaweed strips and a poached egg sandwiched under the meat. The Wafu Mushroom Burger was served in a manner more like a sizzling steak dinner, and the meat was juicy and tender, albeit slightly saltier than the salted pork pasta (?!) 

The pork burger was really quite good, juicy and tender, topped with egg, salad, cheese and a variety of japanese sauces. The top burger bun even had a Kissaten logo and name stamped on it!

Finished off with a cup of coffee, and it looks like they use illy beans in this resto. The coffee was smooth and not too bold, just the way I like it. My brother ordered a Banana Cheesecake for dessert. The texture was rather pasty, taste-wise it was pretty much like any good cheesecake, except that I couldn't make out any hint of banana! Give this a pass unless you're into plain ol' cheesecakes.

Service was good on the first visit, and the staff were friendly and helpful. This is an overall good restaurant to visit if Japanese fusion and pork dishes are your thing, and if you have a budget between RM30 - 80. I'll definitely be back for more.