ronnycakes reviews: Basix Cafe, West Hollywood, Los Angeles

When I was doing my research for places to visit and eat before our LA trip, I came across Basix Cafe which was highly rated and calls itself a West Hollywood tradition that is a favourite with the locals. Located on a corner lot of 8333 Santa Monica Boulevard, Basix’s menu boasts a large selection of breakfast offerings, from power breakfasts to muffins and buttermilk pancakes. The lunch menu is extensive as well, with interesting sounding pizzas, sandwiches and pastas.

We arrived at the Cafe at around 12.30pm and already the inside was packed to the brim. Luckily for al fresco seating and for outdoor heaters as the chilly wind almost froze our socks off.

The Tuscan Tomato Bread Soup (US$6.50 per bowl) was a slow-simmered thick broth with ripe tomatoes, basil, rosemary croutons and a parmesan cheese crisp. Certainly tangy and refreshing.

The Chicken Tequila Pasta (US$12.50) was a hit; fettuccini with red & green peppers, red onion, cilantro and a jalapeno cream sauce. The cream wasn’t overpowering and you could really taste the tequila in the sauce.

 
For an additional US$2.50, you can add a mini Caesar salad to your meal.

Chicken & Sundried Tomato-Pesto Fettuccini (US$12.50), chicken breast & sauteed mushrooms with a tomato-pesto cream sauce.

The Turkey Club (US$11), applewood smoked bacon (yummers!), bibb lettuce, tomato, avocado, mayo and house-roasted turkey on toasted sourdough. A little bit on the dry side but delicious nonetheless. Portions are seriously huge on this side of the globe.

Spaghetti and Meatballs (US$12.50), 100% certified angus beef meatballs with fresh herbs. Look at the generous heaping of cheese topping!

Basix Special Scramble (US$8.50), 3 eggs scrambled with Italian chicken sausage, mushrooms, caramelized onions & fresh spinach with toast and choice of griddled potatoes, sliced tomatoes or fresh fruit.

Perfect breakfast food with a twist; Crabcakes Benedict (US$10); two poached eggs on crabcakes with chipotle hollandaise sauce, served with griddled potatoes. Wils absolutely loved this one, being a huge fan of eggs benedict.

 
Came with a side of fresh fruits (raspberries!!).

Great food at reasonable prices, I can definitely see why Basix is described as a place with “well-made, uncomplicated Cal-Italian eats with a decent price”. Definitely a must-visit!

Address:
8333 Santa Monica Blvd,
West Hollywood
CA 90069, United States

Map *here*

ronnycakes reviews: Delicious Café’s New Menu, Mid Valley Megamall PJ

Delicious used to be one of those places where what they served was underwhelming compared to what you expected from them. After a few increasingly less satisfying trips to Delicious (used to only go there for desserts but even those started going downhill), I completely stopped going at all for about a year or so. Until we recently discovered on boolicious’ instagram that Delicious had a new chef and a new menu! So adventurous foodies that we are, we just had to see this one for ourselves.

I had something very basic for my main, Aglio Olio Spaghettini with Seafood (RM25.40) which isn’t actually a new item on the menu, but interestingly it tasted a lot better than the last time I had it. I used to have only two words for pastas at Delicious, oily and bland. This one tasted good!

Wil’s highly anticipated Pumpkin Risotto (RM25.90) with char-grilled prawn, squid and toasted almonds. Very unique and very healthy (no overdose of milk or cream) and the seafood was extremely aromatic from being char-grilled. Two thumbs up!

Dessert was an extremely good looking Cold Chocolate Fondant (RM14.90) with a center of melting caramel and a base of macadamia nut brittle. The chocolate fondant and macadamia nuts were delicious (though I have to say it was still a little too sweet for me) but the macadamia nut brittle base was a bit odd. It was quite hard and tough (super chewing needed) and tasted more like soggy oatmeal biscuits than anything else.

 

There is a definite increase in the standard of food at Delicious so for those who have sworn off going back to Delicious, it may be time to revisit it and try for yourself.

Address:
Lot G(E)-011 & G-001,
Ground Floor, Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur.

ronnycakes reviews: Ben’s, Publika Solaris Dutamas

Ben’s is one of those places we’ve been to millions of time, but by “been to” we mean sit down, take a look at the menu, have a few minutes of discussion, then get up and walk out again. For some strange reason every time we go to the Pavilion branch we never ever end up eating there, and it took BIG opening an outlet at Publika for us to finally take the plunge and try Ben’s. We weren’t disappointed at all!

 

In my opinion out of all three BIG restaurant chains currently out there, my favourite one has to be Ben’s, its got such a wide variety of food and best of all the desserts are super amazingly yummy… x)

Ahhh that is the question, and I definitely live to eat x). I love how Ben’s has a little table ornament with a small stack of “small talk” cards for you to make conversation. Perfect for first date fillers. :D

 
We first had this Hearty Chicken Soup (RM11.90) at Plan B and we loved it. Ben’s version is as good, or even better and because I’m not one for Parmesan and asked them to skip the Parmesan crisp that usually floats on the surface of the soup, it tasted even more soothing and tummy-warming. Hearty indeed!

I had the Chargrilled Seafood Spaghettini (RM22.90) with chili flakes and wilted spinach (never really understood what wilted spinach means), which was your run-of-the-mill aglio olio style spaghetti with generous and fresh grilled seafood thrown in.

The Golden Soft Shell Crab Spaghettini (RM21.90) gets top marks for originality – the creamy sauce was cooked with cili padi and curry leaves giving it a kamheong-esque feel. On the downside, it was a bit too rich and one felt a little satiated halfway through. Nonetheless, the soft shell crab was crispy and fried to perfection.

 
Just look at all those fat marshmallows sitting on top of this Rocky Road Cake (RM11.90). Layers of peanut cream and chocolate mousse with rocky road mix on a biscuit base is to die for! Every bite was a chocolate lover’s heaven.

Even Mickey couldn’t resist a bite. :P

On another visit, we got a little adventurous and tried the Mango Lychee Trifle (RM11.90) with jelly & custard cream. Seemed a bit unconventional at first but Wils absolutely loved it. The base was sponge cake with tangy jelly and generous portions of diced mangos and whole lychees. Yum!

Ben’s is a place I’d definitely visit more than a few times especially for the desserts. Already thinking of getting my slice of birthday cake from here… :D or maybe Le Deux Garcons hmmm?

P.S. You may have noticed a new addition to the side of our blog, we’ve got a Facebook page now! If you’ve been looking at our reviews and like what you see, or you’re a recurring loyal reader then please like our page on Facebook here for immediate updates! :)

Address:
Lot 37A & 37B, Level G2
Publika, Solaris Dutamas,
Jalan Dutamas 1,
50480 Kuala Lumpur

Map *here*

ronnycakes reviews: Spasso Milano, Pavilion KL

We hear that Spasso Milano has moved from Jalan Ampang to the top floor at Pavilion, taking over what used to be the Angus Steakhouse. We’re suckers for non-halal Italian food so how could we miss this one out?

The executive chef at Spasso Milano is Italian, so rest assured that everything served here is authentic Italian food that some say is country-style.

For starters, we had a Pizza Aromatica (RM12.80): pizza bread topped with olive oil, oregano, salt and baked in a wood-fire oven.

This was absolutely delicious, you could taste the wood-fire aroma in every slice of the crispy pizza bread. Perfectly seasoned with salt and spices as well!

 
I had the Aglio Olio with Italian Sausage (RM28), one of my favourite styles of pastas of all time.
After such a promising starter, Wils and I had such high hopes for the main courses but I was quite disappointed with my pasta. It was bland and was slightly too oily for my palate, with the only savoury thing being the pork sausage.

 
Wils had the All’amatriciana (RM28.80); tomato, bacon, onion, chili flakes and pecorino. This went the same way as my olio: bland and flavourless. We couldn’t even taste the bacon bits and there was no tang in the tomato sauce.

After doing quick google searches after our experience at Spasso Milano, I was surprised that other food bloggers rated the food so highly after our disappointing trip. This leads me to think maybe we were just unlucky on our trip when the standard of food was slightly down?

 

We did also see the lunch antipasti buffet at a very reasonable price (RM18++ per person) so that’s something to return for!

Address:
Lot 6.44 & 6.45,
Level 6, Pavilion KL, 
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur

Map *here*

ronnycakes reviews: Ristorante Porto Romano, The Intermark KL

The first time I was at Porto Romano, I was absolutely blown away by the quality of the food. After months of telling Wils about how great the food was, we decided to pick Porto Romano as our restaurant of choice for Valentine’s and headed to their newest branch at the Intermark.

Deco is exactly the same as the Mon’t Kiara branch with a bit more polish and modernity. The walls are lined with beautiful vintage posters and the interior is incredibly spacious with lots of seating.

Zuppa alla Porto Romano – Porto Romano Seafood Soup (RM24) was absolutely amazing. One of the best tangy tomato-based soups I have had with extremely fresh seafood and chockfull of spices. It was so good that we almost ordered another one even though we were nursing very full tummies!

Calamari rings, shrimp, clams and mussels were added to the mix.

Porto Romano serves tapas as well (not sure whether it’s a new addition to all the menus or it’s a branch exclusive thing) and we sampled the Chili Prawns with Red Chili, Garlic & Paprika (RM19). Prawns were fresh and properly deveined (plus points for that!) and the combination of chili, garlic and paprika was fragrant beyond belief. The Chinese upbringing in me badly wanted to pair it with some rice. :p

I normally don’t review food that I’ve already tried before but this is a special case as Rissotto Frutti di Mare – Seafood Risotto coated in creamy white wine sauce (RM32) was quite different than the one I tried the first time. Intermark’s version tasted a little bit like nasi kunyit; I think they slightly overdosed with the yellow ginger giving the whole dish a yellow-tone. Personally I preferred the one at Mon’t Kiara due to the absence of overpowering yellow ginger aroma, and the fact that they used diced prawns instead of whole prawns.

 
Wils had the Spaghetti with Slipper Lobster (RM38) which was another winner! The waiter assured us it was tomato-base sauce but we couldn’t really taste any hint of tomato. Nevertheless, the spaghetti was al dente and freshness of the slipper lobster was top notch.

Meaty lobster… yummy!

I’m glad to say that our visit did not disappoint at all with the exception of the risotto. Service was wonderful (the waiter even “directed” us when we asked him to take a photo for us, haha) and ambience was great as well. It’s a nice place to bring dates if you’re looking for somewhere quiet to talk. We even got 20% discount off our food! Not sure why, and whether it applies at any time of the day, or every day of the week.
I can’t wait to go back for seconds of the soup *slurps*.

Happy belated Valentine’s from us! ♥

Note: Porto Romano serves alcohol.

Address:
The Intermark
Lot 6 Lower Concourse
182 Jalan Tun Razak
50400 Kuala Lumpur
T: +603 2162 6799

Map *here*