Getting here:

For those unfamiliar with Damansara Uptown, it is best to be armed with your GPS as getting here can be a tad bit tricky. This is as there are many roads and roundabouts along the way and a step into the wrong road can lead to a long U- Turn.

Aside from the roads, a huge plus about the Restaurant is the many parking lots available. Finding parking is a breeze despite the many unique restaurants around such as Wondermilk and the recently opened "Royal Satay Celup". The parking lots are directly opposite the restaurants as well thus walking distance is minimized haha. This is brownie points for the crouch potatoes out there who detest long walks to their favourite restaurant

Exterior and Interior: Cute Welcome Sign on the front of the Restaurant greeted us as we approach inside. The exterior and interior of Fat Spoon both tug my heartstrings and I instantly fell in love with the design of the restaurant. It is a unique combination of vintage yet remain chic and funky at the same time. It is evident as well that much thought has been put into the overall decoration of the restaurant judging by the intricate details of the layout. For example the old woven baskets with variety of design and type hanging on the walls. The old woven chairs is reminiscience of the rattan chairs back in grandparents home. It truly gives a nostalgia feeling. Menu: The menu grabs the most attention. It was the first time I've seen a Peter and Jane Ladybirds book turn into a menu haha. The pages were torn a bit on the edges and the books is a bit old as well and this give rise to suspicioun that its the restaurant owner actual books. The idea is also very cost efficient as well as compared to more expensive menu printed on expensive paper with thick binders. I absolutely loved it as these books really bring old childhood memories and kindergarden days and guess what, the books themselves are much older than me! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED how creative they make these into a menu!!! HEHEHE Pardon the constant ravings haha

Food: Hot Chocolate - The hot chocalate is rich and taste a bit like the one I had back in Melbourne in a popular drinks hangout called "Max Brenner". Aroma was thick as well and I am just simply glad it does not taste like "Milo" as usual restaurants "hot chocalate" drinks was Milo. The leaf design was cute as well but I would prefer them to come out with cuter designs such as the a flower, smiley etc. These designs has been all the rage in various drinks outlets and Fat Spoon should keep it up too Claypot "Loh Shu Fan" - This was supposed to be their signature dish and it was okay. The lou shu fan was tender and a bit burned on the sides. The dish was saucy with various ingredients. However the sauce was a bit too salty and makes me very thirsty after the meal. The egg was a fabulous add to the dish as it balances out the salty taste of it. Parsley and spring onions add a refreshing taste to it as well. Prawn Fritters- This is absolutely delicious. The fritters was fried just perfectly and it was both cripsy on the outside but prawn meat was juicy and tender on the inside. The prawans used were the small type not the big prawns type. The flour used was also the right portion as it is not too thick nor too thin. One complain was perhaps the portion could be BIGGER! haha. Greedy me. As it leaves me craving for more. Ulam Fried Rice - One of the signature dishes and the one which most people called! The fried rice itself has a little elements of lemongrass bits which makes the whole dish smell and taste unique. It comes with fried chicken, acar and papadam! It was totally worth it and a must- try. Banana Fritters with Vanilla Ice Cream - After the delicious prawn fritters leave us craving for more, we ordered another plate of Banana Fritters haha. It was again, absolutely delicious and mouth watering. The Banana fritters is crispy yet moist and juicy on the inside. It instantly melts in your mouth with a lingering taste. The Ice cream complements the meals as it is cold while the Banana fritters is serve hot. The vanilla ice cream serve was okay and taste like those out of the ice cream box however. I absolutely love the sweet chocalatey sauce dripping over the banana fritters as well. Overall a very delicious meal and a big thumbs up to the chef.

Service:

Service was good overall. Waiters were attentive and quick to meet our needs. The waiters were also very polite and speaks reasonable amount of English. That is not bad for a foreigner haha. And we are sometimes being served by the owner herself! Who turns out to be a very young looking trendy girl haha.

All n all, this is the worthy dining experience. All dishes we had called were abolutely top notch and the ambience itself really brough us back to the good old days - childhood day. HIGHLY RECOMMEND everyone to check this place out if they are on their way to 1U, The curve, Ikano or just the Kota Damansara area.

Believe it or not, we were put off by KLCC Bens for almost a month (Ramadan month) due to them not accepting any phone reservations (unless ramadan meal) !!!

This pose quite a problem for us as we are anxious to try Bens due to plenty fair reviews going around. Fed up with Bens KLCC, we headed down to Pavillion Bens instead. It was situated at the upper floor of the Mall near the Tokyo Street and there was less crowd there. We were able to find a seat immediately and was very happy.

Bens decor was cosy and chic. There are quite a number of expatriates dining there. In addition, another cute thing about Bens is their "conversation cards" on the dining table. This serves as conversation triggers which could be useful on awkward first date moments, how thoughtful Chargrilled Chicken Breast. It comes with mash potatoes and French beans.

In my opinion, this dish was a tad bit overpriced at RM30++. The chicken was small and not soft/juicy enough. However the filling inside was stuffed which caught us by surprise. The mash potato and beans was almost covering the plate. Mash potatoes was good and it was creamy milky and handmade. Bean sprouts was just standard fare, a bit on the oily side. Next, Golden Soft Shell Crab Spaghetti

The softshell crab was quite OK. I expect the chef to stinge on the crabs (since they r expensive anyhow) but the crabs was generous on the plate. It was fried just okay, crisp at the right edges but a tad bit too oily.

The pasta was truthfully, bland. It just lacks much taste since there were no additional ingredients. No veggies, spices at all to add texture and flavour to the dish. Thus what we have is a weird concoction of bland pasta and fried softshell crab. This RM20++ dish was not justify to recommend.

All in all, Bens has been a letdown. Perhaps we have ordered the wrong type of dish or its just overhyped? It was mediocre compared to Bens General Food Store in Bangsar where the food was better.

Anyhow what was certain was that we would not be visiting Bens anytime soon. And based on its high price, the money is better spend on better quality food eg Alexis or even Delicious.

It's hard to find one authentic Japanese Restaurant in Malaysia... until now! We managed to find this at a small alley of the ground floor at Wisma Central - Tenka Daiichi Ramen. The idea came about after we are getting a lil bit disconcerted with KLCC expensive food and were lookin for much cheaper alternatives.

This restaurant only opens at evening, which is suitable time for us after work. The entrance resembles japanese restaurants a lot what with the small red lanterns and wooden doors.

As we enter the restaurant, we suddenly feel the environment and ambience as if we were in native Japan lol. This place is filled with Japanese reference such as ancient cupboard filled with Japanese dolls, the sitting area where there are no chairless and ppl has to sit down, the posters, japanese manga with japenses words etc.

As we open the menu, we found out that it was written in japanese! Thus we requested for an english version, which the owner willingly oblige. Most of the food here they served really shows the authenticity of Japanese cuisine.

All around us, we can hear japanese men chattering in japanese language and we found out that we were the only malaysian in the entire restaurant haha. I've noticed as well that the japanese love to eat this fried garlic that was on the menu. Also, a japanese businessmen seated next to us was drinking in a milk carton like thing. I at first thought it was milk, but upon looking the menu, was shock to find that it is sake price at RM200+++ per carton O.O A) Pork Ramen - Specialty dish served with garnishes like spicy perserved vegetables that goes great together wit the noodle. The broth is somewhat taste a strong pork flavour, giving the sense of aroma to the dish. The noodles itself is springy n its not hard at all. Char siew, on the other hand is the best one I've ever tasted. It's juicy, meaty n yummy! RM12, extra RM5 for more noodles B) Taufu Rice Set was overpriced at RM10++ and taste like just any normal hawker "mapo taufu". It was dissapointing and I would expect a more different or unique dish. Oh well. C) Gyoza - Pan fried dumplings, served with dipping vinegar with fish oil. The content is downright tasty and it does not taste smelly at all! It's not too oily as well! RM6

As we left, we got the Owner namecard and found out that he was a malaysian! haha. He had stayed in Japan for many many years and thus decide to set up a restaurant here. We also found out that there is one cook cooking the dish and it was cooked by a Indonesian Lady haha. What a surprise it was as the dishes are so authenticly japanese.

After we craved this, we are hardly get back to other Japanese Restaurant just because the ambience so like a real Japanese place and of course, the food is very affordable. Highly recommended to those who are in for real Japanese food taste!

The night right after work on a Friday, we headed to one place that every1 are buzzing about - MyBurger Lab!

We were full of anticipation and found out that we were there during its first week of operation. Lucky us. Parking was a bit of a difficulty though as the restaurant only has a small roadpath in front that is usually full of cars. Also, the hills were sloppy that made parking a bit of hassle. We had to park a distance away and walk to the restaurant.

But despite parking hassles, the place is flocked with young hungry eager university/ college students and even the waiter themselves look like uni students! (needed extra pocket money, much?).

Anyhow, the ambience really resembles the one back at Australia (recall Jus Burger @ Perth). It was relaxed and chilling and the decor was young, hip and funky.

Also, I've noticed that there are only a few long communal tables here. Unlike most other restaurants with multiple individual sets of tables and chairs. I guess the owner wanted to create a "bonding" atmosphere among the guest The periodic food table haha, it was a neat and cool design. Makes me think back of high school chemistry class, but in a good way. . Another chic wallart. Waiters busying themselves. Notice the funky words on the chalkboard. The burgers here are almost larger than most of the conventional burgers and cost ranging from RM12 - RM15 depending on which ingredients you called (Beef, Chicken or surprise, surprise - Vegetarian).

Those patties are mostly hand-made and self marinated, not the processed ones like Ramlys... The bun itself is charcoal-ish black, but nvr taste so like charcoal... They serve with fresh lettuce, tomatoes and cheese that really melts in your mouth! Sadly, at that time they run out of chicken, so we decided to feast ourselves with their signature Beef A+ Burger as shown.

"Never judge a burger by its cover" Haha. Although the photo might not show it, the Beef patties was actually very delicious, soft and tender that makes chewing easy. But the mustard was a bit heavy and I would have preferred a lighter mustard sauce. The next burger is rather unique but also very yummy! It's called "Shroom Shroom Shroom", it consists of three types of mushroom topping with awesome mushroom sauce. Mushroom pieces was one of the best I've taste so far. It was succulent and chewy at the right places. The Chef has really taken much initiative to ensure it cooked just right. Highly recommended for the vegans!

With the addition of RM5, we get bottomless drink and as a celebration for the first week, Potato Puffs! ( They now serve French Fries instead of potato puffs) The potato puffs are surprisingly good but a bit peppery (cuz of the herbs they added) and the dipping sauce, which is made of thousand island sauce, is spot on!!!

In the end, we were very satisfied of the burgers they have and also their superb hospitality. Heck, even the owner ( a young friendly chap) come around the tables, chit chatting with us to garner our opinions. It really make us feel welcomed at the place.

For those who are can't get enough with good burgers ard Klang Valley, look no further at this place. But b WARNED, u might have to wait at least an hour of getting the burger due to overwhelming demands and long queues. Otherwise, this could b one of the best casual burger shop that you can find around!

As far as my memory goes, Blackball Restaurant was one of a laundry list of taiwanese desserts shop to be open during the "Snowflakes" craze a year or 2 back then. It was however, a totally different scenario now as taiwanese desserts shop located near housing or commercial areas (not parked under major shopping centres) are eerily empty.

Having said that, cravings for taiwanese desserts has just come up on me recently and to satisfy it, I went down hunting for desserts and visit one of my favourite places - Blackball Desserts!

I personally prefer Blackball over Snowflakes due to it having bigger portion of ingredient serving and less ice. I once had a bowl of coconut icebowl in Snowflakes and it left me heavily dissapointed. The bowl consist of 95% ice (I am not exaggerating) that was not shaved properly and was hard to eat on. The ingredients (beans, barley, yam ball/taroball ) was a small depressing portion and was not fresh at all. I swear off that particular Snowflakes store since then.

But however do note that its personal opinion and the opinion varies from person to person.
Anyhow back to Blackball Desserts!

Environment

Blackball store was empty with only 1 small table of customers. No complains on my part though as these means I have the full attention of fellow waiters haha. Decor was inviting and a lot of bright colours (hint: green). The premise was clean and although not many customers, it was brightly lit. Many drinks and desserts are display on the board and poster adorned the wall. Also noted that the waiters are local people (mostly students looking for part time job) and thus able to converse in local languages.

Food

Mini UFOS here will beep signalling the desserts are ready. Mini UFOS refer to small dish like eletronic device that blinks neon colours when desserts are served. That day, I ordered The BlackBall's Signature Dish. It was grass jelly at the bottom with yamball/taroball, mocha balls, pearls, red beans on the top. The ingredients was fresh and chewy and they are not selfish with their ingredients since there is a generous portion of it. The grass jelly was smooth and was standard fare. The bowl was big as well and totally fills up the stomach.

In addition, it was also similiar to the SnowFlakes Best Seller. Only in my opinion, better haha. Rather than just taro balls, they also added the raw yam slices into the mix, giving a distinct look of the overall presentation and taste! Utterly yummy. Same as its rivals, it comes with milk to make the dessert sweeter. Totally make myself (and my stomach) happy for the day

Pricing

Pricing was the same as other Taiwanese desserts shop at RM 5.90 per bowl. I personally think the price is so much better value for money than other desserts. For example Chatime milk teas with almost the same price tag but its only a bottle of drink. It doesnt fill the stomach that much anyhow and theres only a single ingredient eg pearls, nata de coco.

It is also better value than "Tong Pak Fu" where shaved ice is RM 8.90 (albeit its a bigger portion). The shaved ice does not have that much ingredients and is just plain flavoured. It usually come only in 1 flavour type (green tea, sesame etc) and just lacks much flavour. Personally, I prefer Blackball over it.

All in all, in my personal opinion, Blackball win hands down in taiwanese desserts shop category. So come on, do go over Blackball for a try!