Once upon a time there was a MILK SHAKE.

Once Upon A Milkshake @ Suria KLCC


This chapter of a foodie's fairy-tale unfolds in the Kingdom of KLCC, where Singaporean brand Once Upon A Milkshake opened its first Malaysian outpost this month.



Milkshakes here seem nearly enchanted, concocted with house-made ice cream & low-fat milk for a lush, spellbinding creaminess.



The list of flavors might be longer than Rapunzel's locks; standouts include peanut butter, Milo, Nutella, salted caramel, butterscotch, caffe mocha, nougat & red velvet.



Durian milkshake, available in 'light,' 'normal' & 'strong' pungencies. We braved the most perilous & fearsome of them all; why not, right?



None of these costs a king's ransom; a small serving starts at merely RM6.90.



Once Upon A Milkshake in Malaysia,
Signatures Food Court, Level 2, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur.

Modern Sushi.

Bruce Lee Sushi & Bean Buff @ SS15 Subang


Kicking its way into Malaysia, this offshoot of a New Zealand sushi chain that operates outlets in Auckland started serving funky fusion sushi in Subang this month.



Conservatives might thumb their noses at Bruce Lee's eye-popping selection, but the rest of us recognize that both classic & creative sushi have their respective merits.



Peanut Butter Alert! Bruce Lee loves its nutty spread, evident in combos like this "Heaven A" maki stuffed with tempura prawns & topped with teriyaki chicken, peanut butter, breadcrumbs & secret-recipe sauces. RM19.50.



Also addictive: "Boston Roll" (RM18.50), bountiful with eel, salmon, prawns, beef bacon, avocado, more peanut butter, masago capelin roe & bonito flakes. Sizable servings; two can share a roll for a light lunch that's made fresh to order.



Another new entry on this street: Bean Buff, serving stunning chilled "tonyu" soy milk puddings.



Sensuously lush, beautifully balanced in flavor, remarkably restorative for muggy afternoons, this could be one of our favorite desserts this year. So soft, so smooth.



Finely tuned flavors range from cool cappuccino to milk tea to black sesame. Only RM3.50.



Bruce Lee Sushi & Bean Buff,
59 & 77, Jalan SS15/8A, Subang Jaya, Selangor.
Bruce Lee opens 11am-10pm, except Sundays. Bean Buff opens daytime weekdays.

Cronuts ? Croissant + Donuts !

BIG KLonuts, Delectable Cronuts & Puchong Donutes


Strictly & legally speaking, we're not supposed to call 'em cronuts, but that's what these are fashioned after, after all. Here's what the cross-border, cross-between-croissant-&-doughnut craze has wrought in KL beginning this week.



Folks can now stake out the new Dessert Storm pop-up bar at Ben's Independent Grocer in Publika starting 4pm, Tuesdays through Sundays, to purchase puffy-flaky, deep-fried pastries in flavors like lemon meringue, peanut butter with caramel & chocolate cheesecake.



These "KLonuts" are made to order; customers receive them fresh & hot after a 10-minute wait. Petite, slyly simple-seeming & completely calorie-clogged, with a texture evocative not merely of buttery French bread rolls but also crisp Chinese 'yu char kway' crullers.



Delicious? Definitely. Greasier than expected, but clearly crafted with care. RM7 each.



These KLonuts will likely remain available for at least several more weeks on a rotational basis, with peanut butter caramel as the signature & two new flavors every fortnight. Terrific for a teatime treat or for nibbling while window-shopping at Publika. Plated desserts are also now available at the Dessert Storm kiosk.



Also well worth checking out: Delectable By Su's version of cronuts, available this month at RM10 apiece in The Gardens Mall (sales start at noon).



Delectable's highlight might be the Malaysian-inspired coconut-kaya rendition, but the one with lemon cream & strawberry coulis, as well as another with vanilla cream, caramel & assorted-nut praline, also make for the most glorious of guilty pleasures.



Elaborately exquisite, Delectable's cronuts probably hew more closely to the New York originals, though this sticky-sweet coconut kaya flaunts triumphantly Asian flavors.



Fresh-tasting even after a few hours on the counter, offering a hefty, sink-your-teeth-into-this satisfaction. You should sensibly share this, but would you want to?



And yep, in terms of texture, it really merges the best characteristics of both the croissant & the doughnut, then throws in creamy stuffings & well-considered toppings to make the sum of every cronut even more sensational than its parts.



We'll surely see & savor more cronuts in the months ahead, but both BIG & Delectable have taken this waistline-wrecking trend to a strong start, serving distinctively different but nearly equally enjoyable interpretations.



One more for the road: No cronuts are available at Puchong's Donutes (so far), but this Malaysian offshoot of a Taiwanese chain makes up for that with its hyper-convenient, 24-hours-everyday business hours. It's like the 7-Eleven of pastry cafes.



Even at midnight, the Taiwanese 'rosong' bread (RM5.80), a smoothly dense & mildly sweet loaf, retains something akin to a morning's freshness.



Taiwanese pineapple cakes (RM3.20) come recommended. Not bad, not too shabby at all.



Dessert Storm, Ben's Independent Grocer, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur.
Delectable Treats, LG, The Gardens Mall, Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur.
Donutes Bakery Malaysia, 7, Jalan Kenari 6, Bandar Puchong Jaya, Selangor.

Western Heaven food.

Coliseum Cafe @ The Plaza, Jaya 33 Petaling Jaya

It's the history that counts for Coliseum. For this restaurant that enthralled W. Somerset Maugham in the 1920s & ensnared hundreds of thousands of customers in the ensuing decades, 2013 marks a milestone, as a new management strives to broaden the Coliseum brand.


Coliseum's first spin-off opens this week in PJ's Plaza 33, keen to recreate the colonial-era magnetism that makes the Tuanku Abdul Rahman original so enduring & endearing. That might expose this venue to mockery that true charm can't be cloned, but cynical critics matter not.


Whether you're eating in KL or PJ, Coliseum's menu remains unwavering in its worship of recipes that were old long before the latest generation of executive chefs was young. The signature Chateaubriand steaks will always sizzle here, smothered in either black pepper or brown sauce.


Hearty but chewy. At RM70.90++, it's also a full RM10 higher than than what Coliseum Cafe in downtown KL charged for this in January 2012.


A bite of this Hainanese chicken chop (RM24++) brings buried memories into sharp focus; it's food that's familiar in a manner that breeds no contempt, not when the people who introduced us to this three decades ago are now faded figures whom we miss dearly.


Everything else is still here too: Shrimp salads, oxtail soups, garlic toasts & caramel puddings. Unstinting servings of nostalgia on shiny-fresh plates.


What's missing: Booze. Coliseum PJ is having trouble securing a liquor license, so wine & margaritas remain woefully unavailable.


It's arguable whether Coliseum's expansion _ we may see more outposts in Mid Valley & elsewhere this year _ is prompted purely by commercial avarice. But as far as legacies go, Coliseum's isn't tarnished, not by this fledgling branch.


PJ Coliseum Cafe 1921,
Ground Floor, The Plaza, Jaya 33, Section 13, Petaling Jaya.
Same building as Noble Mansion, Kampachi & D'Cuisine.
Tel: 03-7932-3228
Open 10am-10pm

Is so Meaty ... Wait. IS VEGETARIAN. OMG

Peace Bliss @ Telawi, Bangsar


Vegetarian fare might be commonplace, but Peace Bliss makes a happy impression with a sweeping menu that spans everything from thosai to tom yam to tortillas.



Nasi lemak (RM10), not bad; the mock beef rendang & faux anchovies taste respectively as succulent & crispy-savory (well, almost) as the real McCoys.



"Chicken" satay (RM8), full of fleshy smokiness. Even better: the sweet peanut sauce.



The thick (but dry) patty for Peace Bliss' veggie burger (RM10) comprises a mix of mushrooms, oats & more. A little less pleasure, but a lot less guilt.



Eggless ice cream cake (RM8.90). Could be creamier; might satisfy some, but won't be beloved by others. Places like Peace Bliss can be polarizing.



No booze here, but masala tea & lassi will likely complement everything eaten.



Must have liquor? Take a two-minute walk to D'Haven, one of Telawi's not-too-busy outlets.



D'Haven has cocktails aplenty, cheap at RM20 but not awesomely potent.



Peace Bliss,
6, Jalan Telawi 2, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Formerly Planter Jim's.
D'Haven,
Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar ,Kuala Lumpur.

Donuts ... Try this !

Krispy Kreme @ Berjaya Times Square

We braved the stampede to Krispy Kreme and queued for about 20 minutes to take part in the latest food fad to hit KL.


The kitchen crew seemed to have heaps of fun churning out these much-hyped babies (supposedly they can produce nearly 18,000 everyday).
Bonus points to the staff members who handed free original glazed doughnuts to all the waiting customers.

Finally! Clockwise from top right: the Green Tea Lover, Hershey's Cookies & Cream (our favourite of the bunch!), Chocolate Ice Kreme Filled, Cappuccino Kreme, Hershey's Dark Chocolate and New York Cheese Cake.

The verdict: Krispy Kreme's offerings trump Big Apple and J Co's slightly in terms of taste (especially if you prefer your doughnuts sweeeeeet). We probably won't be returning anytime soon (too sinful!), but we certainly relished each of the doughnuts.

There's a comfortable lounge upstairs where we ended up in sugar shock after scarfing down the six doughnuts in 10 minutes.


Krispy Kreme,

Berjaya Times Square.