ronnycakes reviews: Crumbs x Luxbite Christmas Macarons, 1U Petaling Jaya

‘Tis the season to be jolly and grow fat from all the food and sweets and because the year-end holiday season mentality is eat first think later next year (or maybe that’s just me hehe). One thing I looooove about the Christmas season is all the imported indulgent sweets and chocolates that come pouring into supermarkets – the other day I spotted mint chocolate M&Ms! But since Wils and I will be jetting off to LA next week, better save our stomachs (and our pockets) by spending over there instead. :D

I recall saying that macarons were probably not my most preferable sweet but recently by some mysterious power I’ve found myself slightly addicted to them... maybe because I just haven’t managed to find good ones in the past. After spotting these Crumbs x Luxbite macarons on Facebook, I immediately had to have Wils get me a box because they were just too damn adorable.

The super adorable Teddy and Santa macarons are 100% handpiped (!!!) and designed by Aleena from Crumbs, whilst the two conventional looking ones are imported from Luxbite Melbourne and are anything but conventional in taste. One box of four costs RM30 and comes in two combinations:

• Teddy Bear and Santa Chocolate Hazelnut Praline
• Watermelon and Guava
• Peanut Butter and Jelly

• Teddy Bear and Snowman Chocolate Hazelnut Praline
• Mandarin Jaffa
• Ribena Lemonade

The one that Wils picked up for me was on recommendation from Luxbite, the Teddy Bear and Santa set.

The macarons are so adorable that I really couldn’t make myself bite into one of them.

 

 
The Watermelon & Guava one was a thick layer of watermelon flavoured buttercream with guava bits (which felt a little bit like coconut bits) whilst the Peanut Butter & Jelly one was a peanut butter ganache with proper jelly. Both tasted heavenly and were crisp and fresh, but I personally preferred the Peanut Butter & Jelly one because of how the sweet and savoury paired together.
The Hazelnut Praline one was as yummy as the Luxbite ones, and I especially loved the chocolate ganache. Adorable and yummy!

These macarons will be available in the booths outside Isetan 1st floor at One Utama until 25th December, so hurry before they all sell out! I’m sure these would make charming and wonderful gifts for all your loved ones. I’m sure I would like another box. :P

Address:
Crumbs x Luxbite booth
Outside Isetan 1st Floor
One Utama Shopping Mall
Petaling Jaya

Map *here*

ronnycakes reviews: Cielo Dolci, Paradigm Mall PJ

The very first time that I visited Paradigm Mall, my attention was immediately grabbed by the quaint little whimsical gelato shop on the lower ground floor. I didn’t have enough space in my stomach or the time to try the gelato on that day but I vowed (to Wils) that we would come back another time if only just to try the gelato.

Cielo (pronounced ceh-lo) means heaven/sky in Italian and Dolci comes from “dolce freddo artigianale” which means artisinal frozen desserts. The owners were inspired by gelato in Italian and according to their website (beautifully whimsical as well!), their gelato makers were professionally trained in Italy so you’re getting 100% authentic Italian gelato. Cielo Dolci also educates us on it’s website that gelato is worlds apart from ice-cream, mainly that gelato has a cloud-like smooth quality and more intense flavours as compared to ice-cream.

Beautifully illustrated gelato cups.

Gelato galore! The servers are incredibly helpful and friendly as well; I tried almost all the flavours that they had before making my decision and I can vouch that 80% of them were super yummy.

I always find that gelato places have the most reasonable pricing, just look at that: 2 flavours for only RM8.80! One scoop from Haagen-Dazs or Baskin Robbins would easily set you back RM7-RM12, and here you are getting 2 scoops of authentic handmade gelato.

Here is a better look at some of the standard flavours that they have. Cielo Dolci also comes up with seasonal flavours once in a while so do drop by to take a look at what’s available from time to time.

The interior of the shop is like the sky, with blue walls and clouds.

 

For RM8.80, I got two scoops of super smooth and intensely flavoured scoops of Vanilla Bean and Hazelnut gelato. What sets Cielo Dolci apart from some of the other gelato places is that you can taste the ingredients in your gelato. In other words, the hazelnut gelato and hazelnut bits whilst the vanilla one had speckles of vanilla beans. Super yum and value for money.

 
There’s a story behind the drawings on the cups! 
Now isn’t that beautiful. :)

Address:
Paradigm Mall, Level LG-Lot 50,
1, Jalan SS7/26A, Kelana Jaya,
47301 Petaling Jaya

Map *here*

ronnycakes reviews: Crumbs Café, Lucky Garden Bangsar

Ah desserts, the best course that was ever invented. Thanks to my huge sweet tooth, I’m always on the prowl for the newest and best desserts to sample. Crumbs Café is located in Lucky Garden – same row as the famous pork noodles that I’m sure everyone is familiar with – and is so small that you’ll almost miss it if you go by too fast. However, if you’re looking closely, you won’t fail to notice a mug with a mustache on it as Crumbs’ logo, which I think is super cute.

Crumbs is all about mustaches.

Crumbs is a homely café and a cosy nook of a restaurant that is adorned by plenty of whimsical and humorous illustrations pegged to the wall.

 

Crumbs doesn’t only serve desserts and cakes but they also have healthy sandwiches and wraps, and a wide variety of drinks. This makes it a great place to chill or catch up with your friends!

Babycakes! How adorable.

 
Left: Mushroom Soup
Right: Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup
We originally ordered the pumpkin soup, but because the kitchen was almost running out, they offered us a half portion of mushroom soup to make up for it. The mushroom soup they gave us was more than a half portion so plus points for good service and generosity! :D
Both soups tasted very authentic and rich, with the mushroom having a subtle taste of nutmeg and the pumpkin soup having all the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.

 
A Blondie (RM5 without ice-cream, RM8 with ice-cream) with vanilla ice-cream. Blondies are similar to brownies in taste and texture with the small exception that it is flavoured with brown sugar instead of chocolate. Crumb’s offering was a tad too dry but still tasted yummy with an abundance of chocolate chips.

Something not to be missed at all at Crumbs is their Salted Caramel Brownie (RM5 without ice-cream, RM8 with ice-cream) which is absolutely heavenly. A fat glop of vanilla ice-cream on top of a salty and sweet brownie and drizzled with salty and sweet caramel sauce. Moistness is controlled well and flavours blend perfectly together. With the added attraction of the price tag what’s not to love?

 

Haven’t had a chance to try their other stuff yet like the baby lime cake or peach and ginger cheesecake (the allure of the salted caramel brownie is too strong T_T) but good things have already been heard about them from other bloggers.
Look nowhere else for your brownie fix, gluttonssquare guarantees it!

Update: Just found out from Crumbs’ Facebook page that their Lucky Garden shop has closed indefinitely. :( oh my salted caramel brownie T_T

Address:
10, Lorong Ara Kiri Dua
Lucky Gardens, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur

Map *here*

ronnycakes and Wils reviews: UFO, Bandar Manjalara

There are so many Taiwanese dessert places cropping up nowadays that you can’t really tell which one is good and which one is bad anymore. Snowflakes used to be the place that everyone headed to to satisfy their Taiwanese-style dessert cravings but I hear that nowadays due to overwhelming demand and business, they have begun to machine make their taro balls instead of hand making it like they used to. Thankfully, we still have UFO who serves us authentic hand-made Taiwanese desserts.

We haven’t had a chance to properly try out UFO yet, so the food review invite from ChopChop came at just the right time, and we were incredibly fortunate to sample almost everything they had on the menu.

 

UFO is a homegrown brand specializing in Taiwanese desserts that all of us know and love, but offers a little more than that in the form of savoury snacks for hungry patrons.

Various toppings for our iced-fancies.

The bosses, Aaron and Fadzrul at the counter.

Fadzrul in the foreground and Gan Leong (the third owner of UFO) in the background.

 
First up we were treated to UFO’s drinks. The Winter Melon Tea (RM3) tasted fragrant but was a tad sweet (we chose 100% sugar level), whilst the Aiyu Lemon Green Tea (RM4.50) was refreshingly tangy with soft aiyu jelly offering something to chew on with every sip.

 
Left: UFO’s Pearl Milk Tea (RM4.50); Right: Honey Peach Yoghurt (RM4).
What’s worth trying here is the Pearl Milk Tea, which also came highly recommended by UFO. The pearls truly make the drink stand out as they are not too hard nor too chewy at all, just the right amount of springy. Much better than the commercialized versions from Chatime and much cheaper too.

Here come the main attractions!

 
Soya Ice Series with Red Bean, Taro, and QQ Balls Toppings (RM6.00). Comparable and perhaps even better than the one they have at Snowflake. The QQ balls were really nice and chewy and had strong taste of taro and sweet potato.
On the right is UFO Lemon Aiyu with Aiyu Jelly and yoghurt popping balls (RM4.50). I absolutely loved the yoghurt popping balls! And it’s an incredibly refreshing concept because I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else with this yet. The only thing that comes closest to is the coffee pearl thing that they have at Ochado, which is too sweet for me. UFO’s yoghurt popping balls pop in your mouth and release a burst of sweet and sour flavour in your mouth.

For those who prefer something hot to warm their tummies up, you can opt for Hot Grass Jelly with Mini QQ Balls.

 
On the right is Grass Jelly Series with Sweet Potato, pearl and QQ balls topping (RM6.00). Pretty much the same as what you can get from similar chains outside but the difference is in the QQ balls (handmade of course) and the ice which packs a punch in grass jelly flavour, unlike the increasingly watered down versions of some other places. The left is Grass Jelly Series with pearl, red bean, QQ balls and Ocha balls. I love how generous UFO is with the pearls.

Finally, my favourite of the day: Matcha Ice Series with Red Bean, Taro, Ocha Balls and Yoghurt Popping Balls (RM6.00). Unlike any ocha balls that I’ve tasted before, the ones at UFO actually taste like ocha and have none of that weird bitter after taste that I find are present at some other places. It’s a perfect complement with the refreshing Matcha Ice (another unique one!) and the tangy yoghurt popping balls. Hands down the best one.

Don’t worry if you’re craving more than something sweet! UFO also serves light snacks to satisfy the glutton in us all.

 

UFO offers five flavours of savoury non-greasy fries: Cheese, Chilli, BBQ, Wasabi and Seaweed. What’s nice about the fries are that they aren’t too oily at all and come in 5 different interesting flavours. We loved the cheese fries and the wasabi fries especially (the wasabi ones gave our tastebuds a kick!). Chicken fillet, calamari rings and cheese hot dogs are also available at UFO but we didn’t get the chance to sample them that day as the franchisor hadn’t delivered it to the outlet yet.

UFO is definitely a place to watch out for, with such good offerings for such reasonable prices, there is no reason why you shouldn’t head down there right now to curb your sweet tooth craving!

UFO is affiliated with ChopChop; which means that you can scan the code directly from the cashier and collect your loyalty stamps via smartphone instead of traditional loyalty cards. No more forgetting your loyalty card and losing out on rewards.

How it works:

1. Download the ChopChop app for your smartphone (a version is available for iOS, Android and Blackberry OS!)
2. Ask the cashier for your QR code and scan it using the QR code scanner in the app.
3. You will have received your chop! Collect enough chops to redeem your reward soon!

Blackberry download link: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/103285/?lang=en
Android download link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.chopchop
iOS download link: http://itunes.apple.com/app/chopchop-loyalty/id472666873?mt=8

Right now, ChopChop is affiliated with more than 40 restaurants including 42East, Frontera, and Artisan Roast.

Click here to visit ChopChop’s site for more information!

Address:
No. 53, Jalan 3/62a,
Bandar Manjalara,
52200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : +60 3 62626478
Mon – Sun: 1:00 pm - 1:00 am

Map *here*