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Review: The Blue Cow Cafe & Deli, Plaza Damas

>> Wednesday, March 23, 2016

It was a fantastic moo-ve that Cathy Appleby & Scot Braithwaite, 2 of the partners of Blue Cow Cafe, took when they started the cafe back in the year 2006. Located at the Plaza Damas area, this hidden gem, tucked in the busy area of the Plaza Damas serves prime cuts, hand-made sausages & fresh meats that you can purchase from the deli & have your selected piece of meat cooked just the way you like it!


Scot was in the cattle business before venturing into this deli cum cafe business. His rich knowledge in handling cows & its meat has ensured that only the best are served to all customers at Blue Cow Cafe. All their beef cuts are imported chilled, not frozen, from Stanbroke Beef, Australia & Ralph Meats in Australia.

Their lamb on the other hand are imported chilled from Ramnco International & Southern Meat in Australia most of the time unless there aren't sufficient stock, which the deli will then import their lamb from New Zealand.

Pork cuts are locally bred & processed, only from the choice farm(s) in Malaysia, specially hand-picked by Cathy, Scot & their team.




Here at Blue Cow Cafe, all their burger patties are made of 80% brisket & served in 150g serving, while steaks usually come in 240g cuts. The team never marinates their meat products as just salt & pepper are more than sufficient to ensure that customers taste the freshness of the beef as it is.

Beef Rump Steak (RM6.99/100g)

Pork Loin Steak (RM41.90/kg) *best seller*

Straight from the deli to the grill

All their sausages are made fresh in-house (at least 4 types of sausages), 2kg per batch, & are kept maximum 3 days. As the sausages are made upon demand, you can be sure that you're only getting the freshest products from their deli to their kitchen (or to your own kitchen/bbq grill!).

Spicy Chorizo Sausages (RM5.82/100g)

Pork Sausages (RM5.49/100g) *best seller*

One of their latest products is the Guinness Ribs. The ribs are imported from Spain (more meaty), marinated (these pre-packed ribs are the only marinated meats in the deli/cafe) & cooked. Approximately 500g of the ribs are marinated for 3-4 hours before cooking. Once done, it will then be vacuum-packed & chilled. Customers who order these ribs will not need to wait for several hours for their ribs to be served as they're all pre-cooked & just needs to be reheated & served.


Let me share with you what we have tasted on that day:

Fresh Mixed Fruit Juice (RM10.00/glass)
All their fruit juices are not added with water, purely fruits.

Hearty Pea & Ham Soup (RM7.00/mini serving; RM12.00/bowl)
The peas used for the soup base are like dhal beans. It's mixed cream & ham to make it a hearty & delicious meal. Oh, the breadsticks are yummy too, so don't leave 'em aside!

Spicy Tomato & Bacon Soup (RM7.00/mini serving; RM12.00/bowl)
Made using fresh tomatoes, bacon, chili padi, & has no cream added to the soup, this was one appetizing soup that's not only delicious but nutritious as well. The soup was actually very thick & slightly chunky, fit to be a meal by itself! The added fried bacon strip gives the soup an added crunch & texture.

Bacon BOMB (RM12.00/serving of 2 meatballs)
I love meatballs! These meat-bombs were delicious :) Minced beef, onions, & green peppers made into huge meatballs, then wrapped in streaky bacon & smothered in Blue Cow's home-made BBQ sauce. Yums!


Pork Kebabs with Chili Lime Dressing (RM30.00/serving)
Each set of 2 pork kebabs come with a choice of 2 sides (photo below shows just 1 side) for a really satisfying meal. The pieces of pork belly are marinated with chili lime during grilling time to give the kebabs some 'zing'. The pieces of pork were juicy, tender & meaty.


Guinness Ribs (RM49.00/serving of 600gm)
The taste of Guinness was evident enough in the marinated ribs. You can choose 2 side dishes to accompany the ribs as well i.e. a type of mashed potato (traditional, bacon, spring onion, wasabi, grain mustard, mint or cheese flavor) + another side (coleslaw, steamed veggies, salad, potato salad, chips or rice). Our tasting serving came with bacon mashed potatoes & steamed veggies. It was truly a dish to slowly savor with good company.
*curry ribs are the only dry ribs without gravy*

We actually tasted the Spaghetti Carbonara as well, but strangely, I forgot to snap some photos of it! :( Their version of carbonara isn't as creamy, slightly more garlic-ish, but I liked the "herby" taste.

Two Eggs Benedict with French Ham, Florentine or Mushrooms (RM30.00/serving)
Even the English multi-grain muffins are made in house! If you prefer your eggs benedict with smoked salmon, it's RM19.00 for 1 egg benedict & RM38.00 for 2 egg benedicts, all sets served with a side of julienne salad drizzled with their in-house French dressing.

I love eggs benedict/poached eggs/anything eggs, so I don't really have any complaints for this dish since the eggs were poached perfectly :P


Pork Sausage served with Tomato Chutney (RM19.00 - RM30.00/serving) 
The pork sausages are made from pork shoulder & is best eaten with tomato chutney. It's made the Australian way where I find it slightly saltier than the usual, but much meatier & has more 'chew'. You can order 2 sausages with eggs & toast for RM19.00/serving or 2 sausages with mashed potatoes of your choice for RM30.00/serving. Those who prefer beef sausages (uses beef brisket) can opt for that as well.


We concluded our lunch tasting session with 2 delectable desserts/drink.

Sticky Dates Pudding with Caramel Sauce & Vanilla Ice-Cream (RM10.00/serving)
I kinda liked it although I'm not a fan of dates nor caramel nor sweet dishes...hahaha. This wasn't overly sweet nor cloying & I think it's a nice, petite dessert for sharing.

Australian Ice Coffee (RM15.00/glass)
Australian ice coffee isn't like our Malaysian version of ice + coffee a.k.a. coffee ice/"kopi peng". In a glass of Australian ice coffee, you'll get 1 shot of Illy coffee espresso, milk, 2 scoops of vanilla ice-cream, topped with whipped cream & grated chocolate. Crazy stuff? It's a REALLY delightful drink/dessert that you've to try while you're here at the Blue Cow Cafe!

You would probably have noticed that a bulk of the items that I've featured above are meatier, heavier meals. For customers who prefer something less meaty, Blue Cow Cafe serves sandwiches, pasta, & soups as well. You can also get the all-time-favorites like fish & chips, beef shepherds pie, meatloaves & more at this highly capable cafe!

Do pop by to check it out :) Prices, in my personal opinion, are above average, but if you're all for fresh, prime cuts of meats, then this is a place to try out. All items on the menu are available throughout the day, so you can actually have your steak as breakfast if you're really keen to do so!


The Blue Cow Cafe & Deli
N-1-4, Plaza Damas
60, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1
Sri Hartamas
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia,
Tel: (+603) 6201 3206
Business hours: 8:00a.m. - 10:00p.m. daily except Wednesdays
URL: Blue Cow KL
FB: The Blue Cow Cafe & Deli


Ratings (PerutBesi's view:
Presentation (does it look mouth-watering): * * * *
Price (is it affordable - more stars = YES): * *
Environment (is the place comfortable, cosy, clean, pleasant): * * *
Taste (is the food delicious, worth coming back for more): * * * 1/2
Service (are the service providers friendly, efficient, polite): * * * 1/2


Overall:


Give me more meatballs & ribs!

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Review: Sip & Spin Laundry Cafe

>> Tuesday, March 8, 2016

To all readers who wash your clothes outside at a laundry shop, here's a new laundry place that you would want to consider & perhaps add as your favorite! Sip & Spin Laundry Cafe at Pacific Place, Ara Damansara (beside the new Evolve Concept Mall), provides the best of both worlds to all its patrons who would want to get their clothes washed & enjoy a nice cup of coffee or a warm meal while waiting for the laundry to be done.





This simple & cozy lifestyle cafe offers great convenience for all diners/residents of Ara Damansara, coupled with some friendly service & a place where you can just sit back, relax, & unwind over their selection of food & beverages.




The cafe has a very simple layout with some wall murals done up by a friend. I thought that the murals were nicely drawn to depict the soul of the laundry cafe. The front of the laundry cafe is the cafe itself, serving a simple selection of warm and quick meals plus beverages, while the back of the cafe houses a row of modern, high-tech washing machines & dryers, where you can also sit & wait for your laundry to complete its wash/dry cycle.



I had the privilege to try out some of the cafe's dishes & drinks, so read on for my 2 cents on what I think about the cafe & what it has to offer:

I have to say that this humble cafe has quite a large selection of drinks to offer, from coffee, tea, chocolate drinks to fruit juices. I thought they were rather ambitious, but with stiff competition in Klang Valley, perhaps having a good variety of aromatic coffee could make this cafe THE cafe to go to for a cuppa & to have your clothes washed at the same time!


Mint Choco Bomb (RM13.50/glass)
I ordered this as I love chocolate & mint, but I felt that this mint choco bomb isn't "potent" enough to be a bomb. Thankfully it wasn't overly sweet & cloying, but a stronger taste of mint/menthol-feel would do the trick, especially after the blended ice melts :)

Voltage (RM13.00/glass)
Having seen the name, we were quite intrigued to give it a try. It's actually an ice-blended latte with crushed bits of coffee beans sprinkled on top to give a bitterish coffee taste. We felt that the coffee beans were too finely crushed, so it didn't really make an impact to live up to its name. Perhaps a mixture of coarse + fine crushed coffee beans would do the trick?

Mocha Caramel Latte (RM9.00/regular cup or +RM4.00 to up-size)
If you love really sweet, milky drinks, this is certainly for you. If you're like me who's more sensitive with sweet, milky drinks, you may want to stay away from this sinful cup of mocha caramel latte. To be fair, the taste of mocha was really power-packed, so you'll definitely not be short-changed. But chocolate + caramel = VERY sweet. Drink at your own risk! Hahaha...or just tell the barista to make your cuppa less sweet... 

Very Vanilla Latte (RM9.00/regular cup or +RM4.00 to up-size)
From the color & smell, you'll know that this is a very mild cup of coffee as it has more milk & vanilla. It's certainly a treat for all vanilla lovers as you may not get very vanilla latte at just any other cafe in town :)

At present, the cafe doesn't have a wide selection of food yet, but I think what they have is actually good enough as a lifestyle laundry cafe. In my opinion, having a few delicious & quality-guaranteed dishes is far more important than being a "jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none".

Sunny-Side Up (RM10.90/serving)
This is actually called the "Ultraman Breakfast", but somehow the chef didn't present this dish up to his standards on our day of review. The sunny-side up eggs + sausages were supposed to resemble Ultraman or more commonly known as "ham dan chiu yan" in Cantonese :P This breakfast set is very straight to the point with nothing fanciful. We just thought that the half slice of cheese was somewhat out of place. We were informed that the chef placed it there for that particular day only as the original dish didn't have the cheese slice. Haha. Seems like the chef was trying to be overly creative that day.


Chicken Cumin Rice (RM9.90/serving)
We thought that this was the best dish served that day...like seriously good! The portion was really generous & the cumin rice was very fragrant & evident with the cumin taste, yet not over-powering to taste. The spiced chicken alike a rendang chicken without the spiciness was really tender, moist, flavorful & because the dish was served warm, it was even more delicious. We shared with the cafe that they didn't need the lettuce nor the cherry tomatoes on the plate as the pairing doesn't really work. Add in some crispy papadam/crackers & that'll do the trick since it's such an Asian/local cuisine! Highly recommended! If you're there for lunch, they actually serve this with a free glass of ice lemon tea for the same price!

Spaghetti Aglio Olio (RM8.90/serving)
Taste was alright although I felt the texture of the spaghetti was slightly under-cooked. I understand that it was supposed to be al dante, but it's not even al dante yet...haha. This dish needed some improvements; the pasta needs to be well-coated with some broth or the olive oil that coats the pasta needs to be more seasoned. If you're just eating the pasta without the mushrooms, you'll find the pasta quite bland. Well, that was at least what we thought on the day of review. There may be a small level of inconsistency as there's only 1 chef at present, serving the many tables.

The cafe serves a small variety of desserts as well, like waffles & the healthy yogurt fruit mix. Frankly speaking, the picky me didn't fancy the waffle. The batter certainly needs more tweaking of recipe as the texture is more chewy/spongey than crispy & fluffy. If you prefer a more filling waffle, this could be something that you would prefer, but I personally prefer the lighter version.

Choco Ice-Cream Waffle (RM8.90/serving)
If you order normal waffles without the ice-cream, it's RM5.90/serving

Healthy Yogurt Fruit Mix (RM6.90/serving)
This is seriously for those who want a healthy dessert or even have it as a meal! The natural yogurt is unsweetened & your only sweet items in this glass are the fruits. It takes a little while to get used to the sourish taste, but after a while, this yogurt fruit mix actually tastes quite good. You'll find grapes, pineapples, & apples in this healthy glass of goodness. We didn't even add the honey to it - less calories is much appreciated :P 

Sip & Spin Laundry Cafe's Current Menu 



If you're living or working around this area, drop by Sip & Spin Laundry Cafe for a chillax time over a cup of coffee or to try out their chicken cumin rice!


Sip & Spin Laundry Cafe
D-1-3, Block D, Pacific Place
Jalan PJU 1A/4A
Ara Damansara
47301 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Malaysia.
Tel: (+6016) 660 5978
Business hours: 9:00a.m. - 11:30p.m. daily
FB: Sip & Spin Laundry Cafe
Insta: sip_and_spin


Missing the chicken cumin rice,

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