After walking around at Sungei Wang with nothing bought, the family decided to take a small tea time break at Esquire Kitchen. Although we were still full from the earlier lunch we had, we only went their for their desserts.

We all got Tau Foo Fa which is highly raved about from Esquire, Red Bean soup and also Bubur Cha Cha which is my absolute favourite. Firstly the Tau Foo Fa which was not overly sweet though it was rather bland as I suspect they gave minimal amounts of syrup. But it was smooth as the soybean curds should be - although it is not the best that I've ever had. 

The Red Bean paste was only so-so to me. It was rather watery and the beans were not soft enough to my liking. Though I like that this was not overly sweet like some places would make it. 

The Bubur Cha Cha however was again so-so only. Nothing to shout about, but it wasn't terrible that it wasn't eatable. Just that I wouldn't go back there for a second bowl if I had the choice.

Personally I think I'd rather just eat their siew paos then the desserts after this time.

I recently found out that Yut Kee's food had always been grandpa's favourite. Since I'm older now and working, I thought that it'll be nice to bring the grandparents there for breakfast. Though I think it is a bad idea to go there during the weekends because of the crowd.

Unless you like being in the midst of a sea of people and enjoy hasty/bad service, then by all means please go on a weekend. Especially for brunch.The first thing we got was the French Toast that comes with a side of their in-house made Kaya. Honestly, I remember this being very good but somehow the bread was more on the soggy side that day. However the kaya was absolutely addictive and would have happily mopped it up with just plain bread if I wasn't thinking about all the fats & calories I would be ingesting. We also ordered the Hokkien noodles, particularly just plain meehoon rather than a mixture with mee. It is actually not that bad and if only the noodles came a little darker, then I would really like this cause there was a pretty good 'wok hei' to the dish.Then there's the Chicken chops that came with a side of what I assumed to be roasted potato wedges and mix of corn & peas. It's my grandpa's favourite so this dish was super good to him even though I feel like it is only so-so in my head.

Though it may be because I am not a fan of chicken chop at all. But I have to admit that the gravy that came with it was pretty alright.

Will I go back there again? Probably, on any day except the weekends where people flock to the restaurant as if they were giving out gold. And only will be back for their butter cake & swiss roll cause those are really good.

The Tranquerah had been a new discovery for my friends and I. It was unfortunate that we only found the place very much after lunch as there were many things on the menu which caught our eye. But we were too full from lunch and was only looking for a nibble - also wanted some nice desserts.

Since this was a traditional nyonya style cuisine, the only choice we had were local kind of desserts which I was not that against honestly.Since the weather was blazing hot, we decided to try the Cendol and priced at Rm6.90 is a little steep for something where we can usually get for about Rm2 or Rm3. But I guess when you take the interior decor into account and their air conditioning then it's alright - plus it was a good portion size too although a little less on the actual cendol slithers. Another thing that caught my attention was their Gula Melaka Sago and it was the first thing that I wanted to try. It's oddly not too sweet but a little heavy on the santan and the sago were nicely chewy which is to my liking.

Though after a few mouthful of this, I could no longer try anymore as the coconut cream was a little too cloying. Even if the combination did taste pretty good.Me being someone that needs something savoury to nibble on, ordered the Mango Kerabu salad priced at Rm18.00. This was disappointing especially considering the price - the portion was small and lacked any sort of sour or spicy kick that is usually associated with this salad. Something else that was a must try on the menu was their Pai Tee. It's a very cute snack that resembles a popiah, only it's shell is shaped like an overturned top hat. Tranquerah makes this very well as the filling is nicely seasoned ad has a good crunch to it on top of many different kinds of flavours. And priced at Rm1.50 each, it was pretty good of an offer.

There's many other dishes on the menu that sounds very tradition peranakan which is something I have yet to have a chance to try. So we will definitely be back here to try all of those. 

Soul'ed Out has been a favourite of my family for a long while. We have dined there since we first discovered about the restaurant way back when they only had one branch in Hartamas.

Now that they have opened another in Ampang which is significantly nearer to my parents' home, it was easier to bring them there for dinner without worrying about traffic. Although there have been some mixed reviews regarding this branch, we still went there to try as mom was in the mood for their food.

As a treat for mom, I decided to order two of her favourite things to share. The first being Soul'ed Out's Grilled Sirloin Steak cooked to medium rare doneness because that is what we prefer. The temperature was more towards medium so I wasn't too pleased about that, though thankfully the meat was still tender and juicy. 

For the price of Rm48, I guess it was alright. But the black pepper sauce was quite bland and watery plus the sides of wedges and steamed vegetables was nothing to shout about. As much as I enjoy dining at this restaurant, I'd suggest that you forego their steak and try other things from their menu which I believe to be more promising. We also ordered their Char-Grilled Chicken Leg. This is another favourite of my mom because I sometimes make it for her at home, but since we're out she wanted to order it too. Honestly I was expecting it to be really good going off of the description that was on the menu.

But I was disappointed in the taste because the entire thing was bland. Although the chicken skin was nicely crisp from roasting, I couldn't get over the fact that I was reaching for the salt almost the entire dining time. Even the black pepper sauce that came with could not save it since it's the same one provided with the steak.

All in all, I still like dining at Soul'ed out, just not going to order these dishes from the menu again. That is for sure.

As a mini weekend getaway, my mom decided to bring her friends and myself to this restaurant which was a rather relaxing place to have brunch at. Though be warned, if you are there any later than 11pm then you would find it a struggle to get into as there's only one way in & out which is via the bridge; plus there's a scarce number of parking spaces. Also you would want to pick your table which the best place to be seated is down by the river. Which I assume is the coolest spot, in terms of weather conditions. A must order at this place is their steamed kampung chicken. Apparently the meat is fresh as the animal is killed to order or at least that's what they say. Even if the chicken is not immediately slaughtered then it is done so early in the morning to present optimum freshness.

This half of the bird was pretty good, though the meat was lacking in the springyness that comes from a good kampung chicken. The other half of the chicken is cooked braised in ginger sauce. This was one of my favourite dishes as the flavour was good. Another order that was my favourite is the herbal soup with pork meat. Apparently this soup had been brewing since the crack of dawn to provide maximum flavour and I believe them. The herbal scent & taste was thick and the soup had an immense amount of depth in flavour. I had two helpings of this. Something that comes highly recommended by the restaurant is their wild boar dishes. A famous way of cooking the exotic meat is to be braised in curry but we opted for it to be stir-fried with ginger and scallions. This isn't a very common and easily found dish in KL so this was interesting.

The meat is more chewy and less fatty than regular pork, so there's more bite to this. Plus there's a very distinct meaty taste that not even plenty of ginger or scallion can cover. Worth a try if wild boar meat is something you have yet to taste. 

The place isn't very easily found, but waze will guide you there easily. However if you are up for the drive out of KL then this is an interesting restaurant to have a meal at, especially for a family day out.