The Vanilla Place, Empire Shopping Gallery

Overall comment: Not too bad for a simple meal/gathering of friends. Prices of food is reasonable, although most food just requires heating up. Nothing's cooked there & then.
Halal: Yes

I've just too many posts queuing up to be published! Work has been quite a killer & I basically do not have time for leisure during workdays anymore...*sigh* I'm beginning to wonder if such trade-off is good. I enjoy having my hours after dinner just-for-myself! Having meetings sandwiched in between my dinner & sleep time is just tiring & sometimes "unappetizing". But this is life, many would say. "Welcome to the REAL world!" *bah*

I had a mini gathering with some friends 2 months ago (yes, it's THAT long ago) at The Vanilla Place, Empire Shopping Gallery, Subang Jaya. I rarely come over to this shopping mall - I don't see any point at the moment, unless there's some really nice restaurant or some cloths shops that suit my preference. This little cafe is located at a corner, right out at the open space near the elevator. If you want some privacy or just a cosy place with nice ambiance to dine, this may not be the place for you. Anyone who passes by can just see you twirling your pasta or digging through your dessert :P

The menu

Something that caught my eyes - calling all sweet-tooths!

The Vanilla Place has High Tea for 2 at RM18.80/pax :) Looking at the list of food served, I already feel diabetic...hahaha...

Hot Lemon Tea (I forgot the price as well)

Nothing much to shout about...it's not some "wow"/"very special" tea to begin with...

Dessert at The Vanilla Place

I reckon this is a good place to gather with family/friends for dessert instead of a meal. The desserts actually look quite appetizing, but as desserts are usually very sweet, I'm not a big fan of such food...

I would like to try this the next time

"Liza, when's our next date?" :D

Oh, my tooth...

Looks so, so, sweet! But looks yummy!

Macaroons

It's the "hype of the town" at the beginning of the year, so I thought to myself that I had to try it - at least once! I'm not sure which cafe offers the "best" macaroons, but I just had to know what this piece of pastry is all about!

It's NOT cheap, ok?

Macaroons the size of a RM0.50 coin costs RM1.50 *gulp* 

Mango Smoothie
Thick & good...but nothing beats the thick & creamy mango lassi at Gems (my personal opinion)

Beef Pie (RM15.80/serving)
Looks good! I didn't want something as heavy as the pasta, so I opted for the pie. The mash actually "saved the dish"! It wasn't the best mashed potatoes, for sure, but it tasted better than the pie itself :( The mash was actually slightly heavy on the "milk" - well, it tasted as such, but it's still better than the pie.

Dry & crusty

I was quite disappointed with this pie. Did I order the "wrong" pie? Perhaps I should go for the Fisherman's or the usual Chicken? The meat was DRY! It was quite difficult to swallow. The pie's crust wasn't to my liking as well. I enjoy pie pastries that are softer & more "fluffy"/"layerish" instead of this type, which is hard like biscuits. *sigh* No more pies from The Vanilla Place for me.

Spaghetti Smoked Duck (around RM16.00/serving - I forgot the price)
Seems like there's nothing much to complain when it comes to the pastas. This one wasn't great, but it was a better option than the pie that I ordered. The only disappointment with this pasta is the "seasoning", which made the pasta taste like "mee goreng mamak"! SO weird, right?? I've no idea if our tastebuds just went hay-wire that day or it was one-of-those-days where the cafe didn't serve something up to the average standard *shrugs*

Spaghetti Carbonara (RM14.80/serving)

This pasta dish was the best among the 3 dishes that we ordered. I still feel that there are WAY better pastas "out there"...and no, this is NOT carbonara...it's cream sauce!

Macaroon, Macaroon, Macaroon (RM4.50/medium-sized macaroon)

Ordering the RM1.50/piece wasn't worth-it. So we ended up ordering ONE piece of macaroon for shares - just to try out what this new hype of the town is all about (yes, this PerutBesi is slow in trying out the latest in town...for a food blogger, this is not something to boast). Macaroons are quite expensive, so this one was considered "cheap" *cough* I'm quite stingy when it comes to such food items :S

Looks good on the outside, but the inside *eeeek!!*

I felt cheated =.=" How can they do this??? I was very shocked, ok? Even Julie biscuits have a whole layer of cream!! *disappointed* All my friends were quite surprised. One of them said, "Who would actually open it up to check? Hahaha...no one would have noticed except you lah..."

Bigger than my eyes/face....but "kosong" punya

I looked happy, but I wasn't...oh, I wasn't at all...not for my 1st time having macaroons!

"Breaking of bread" - communion time

The little cream for the overly sweet macaroon

It's like eating some "kill the diabetic immediately" pastry. Some people loved it, but perhaps I'm not a sweet tooth, thus this is certainly not something that I will fancy. It's just my personal opinion...you have to try it out for yourself to see if you like the macaroons here.

And the coloring...

Will I dine here again? Hmm...yes, but I'll be very careful with my order. I definitely won't order the beef pie, nor the macaroons! Hahaha...to me, macaroons are over-rated. The amount of sugar content is very bad for health. But oh, I guess some people will say that "once in a while, it's okay to have some sweet pastries". I won't totally strike this place out from my list as the prices of pastas/food in general at The Vanilla Place is reasonable for a cafe. This place may be one of the better options at The Empire Shopping Gallery after all...

The Vanilla Place

FK01, 1st Floor, Empire Shopping Gallery
(facing Toys-R-Us)
Jalan SS16/1
47500 Subang Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Malaysia.
Tel: (+603) 50222198

Ratings:
Presentation: * * * 
Price: * * *
Environment: * * 1/2
Taste: * * *
Service: * * *


Overall:

I miss my free-times,