China House; Beach Street@ Penang - Awesome Place for Cake Feast, Cocktails,Wine, Art and Music

China House is similar like Black Kettle nestling in the heritage-rich address of George Town World Heritage site. As seen in the website, China House consists of 3 beautiful refurbished heritage buildings modeled into 14 spaces including a bakery, cafe, restaurant, souvenir shop, gallery, reading room, live entertainment area and an open-air courtyard. 

Image via Instagram @tenyenyen

China House was recommended by a hawker whom we bought muachi from him and he mentioned that there's live band performance and great cakes selection at China House. We went to China House after enjoying the famous Penang's Legendary Duck Kway Chap at Kimberley Street. As its shop name sounded, I had the fallacy to think that the interior design would be surrounding China arts/ designs. However, I saw English royal guard and some unknown English arts / paintings hanging at the wall at the entrance. 

The menu showed that China House served all-day breakfasts and foods from 3 restaurants with price points for everyone, large range of cakes, muffins, cupcakes and pastries, coffee and alcoholic beverages. At the centre of China House, we were greeted by a large table with assorted cakes and pastries placed on top of it. That's where the section named as Kopi C and Beach Street Bakery. It was almost 8pm and the crowds started to perk in where we had to wait for 10 minutes before seated. 

Nutella Doughnut

 Some of the cakes selection with Halloween theme

Chocolate Tissimo

The signature tiramisu cake

A blur image captured, I merely remembered there's a corner which offered homemade ice-cream.

The long, narrow corridor of the building had decorated with comprehensive mix of trinkets, striking a balance between traditional and trendy. Artistic paper cups had been hang on the wall of the corridors along with some of the Chinese paintings as decoration.  

A closer look on the art pieces from food patrons.

Vine and Single bar
Wide selections of martini were available for your to choose.

The Library section
Books and magazines specializing in art, design, architecture and cooking were available for diners to read too.

Further along the corridor, the reading room was spotted with a space divided into magazines, books and CDs for browsing and buying. The tables here were covered with plain white mahjong paper, beckoning diners to show their artistic side with the provided container of crayons for drawing or create art-pieces. We sat around here to enjoy our beverages and cake. Soft music is being played and we wondered where's the live performance yet only found out China House had several sections which we did not discover yet. Anyway, the first dining experience here was great and we looked forward to come back again.

Signature Tiramisu cake from China House; Penang

This cake was placed separately from the wide array of cakes at Kopi C and we coincidentally chose the signature cake of China House till we found out from the bill later. Generous amount of nuts and almonds covered the top and edge of the cake. Crunchy at first bite due to the generous helping of almonds, following by soft texture in the middle with coffee after-taste. It's quite creamy compared to the tiramisu cake I had earlier, nevertheless it's worth the price for its large portion and a nice departure for the conventional tiramisu cake with shredded almonds as toppings.

Choices of beverages and tiramisu cake

Pineapple Ginger Lime- A sour drink which gave a warming kick, thanks to the ginger! A refreshing drink that's perfect to sip and kill some guiltiness of eating cake at late night :)

Blueberries Mango Coconut Smoothie - An interesting match of mango, blueberries and coconut which suited sweet tooth.

Wine of the House was ordered by my friend in which I did not have a sip hence will skip to comment. 

Chocolate Tissimo [ photo from Pinterest ] had been taken away for satisfying chocolate cravings.

Till we meet again!

The service was acceptable as waiters were still being attentive to our request although it's full house during our visit. Overall, it's a nice dining experience for its home-baked cakes in the hipster cafe residing in the Pearl of Orient. We had a cozy chat at China House for almost 3 hours and what's really matter was good people and nice ambiance. China House - definitely worth for the next visit to try their cakes / fine dining and discover other sections especially the Canteen and the courtyard area as well as live band performance.

CHINA HOUSE

Address: 155, LEBUH PANTAI, GEORGE TOWN, PENANG

Boxing Day Gathering @ Take Eat Easy Modern Bakery and Café

There’re several cafes opened nearby my living area such as Take Eat Easy Modern Bakery and Café which is popular for the fruit juices squeezed in light bulbs. Some neighbors have told that the breads are freshly baked and tasty, yet I haven't tried their breads before. Take Eat Easy Modern Bakery and Café is located at the ground floor of Wisma Fiamma. Upon arrival, I noticed there’s purple alien mascot at the right side of the café with short description of pastry chef consultant, Frederic Oger being displayed. 

Take Eat Easy Modern Bakery and Café

However, upon arrival on the Boxing Day, there weren’t many cakes available. At the entrance, there were rows of bakery with various types of pastry, donuts and loaves of breads. One of the cinnamon twists with sugar sparkles like snow on top of them caught my attention. As shown in the photo below, there weren't much selection of pastry left.

Christmas Gingerbread house

Pastry and breads

Cozy environment which is suitable for group chat and gathering.

The navy jeans covered menu with some meaningful words: Take Your Time, be happy , live mighty

The service was friendly, albeit the delay in food and drinks. As most of my friends had their foods served after almost half hour of waiting time, I thought my ordered pasta would be served late as well. Unexpectedly, my pasta (spaghetti with tuna, crab meats and fried prawns) had served shortly after I placed order. A sumptuous meal for me! The foods I took costed me around RM40, which considered quite pricey yet the quality of food was up to my expectation. 

The fresh fruit juice squeezed into a light-bulb looked container with an interesting name i.e. fat killer.

A great 4 hours spent with the bunch of old friends and look forward to meet again!

Address:
Ground Floor-2, Wisma Fiamma, 
No.20, Jalan 7A/62A, Bandar Manjalara, 
52200 Kuala Lumpur.

Black Kettle- Bistro, Cafe and Patisserie under One Roof; Beach Street @ Penang

Black Kettle is located at the corner of Beach Street (Lebuh Pantai) and Chulia Street Ghaut (Gat Lebuh Chulia). It's located in a restored heritage shop-house with landmark next to it would be the historical fire station at the same crossroad. The food establishment of Black Kettle combines being a bistro, cafe and Patisserie under one roof in the heart of Penang’s UNESCO Zone on historic Beach Street.While Penang is famous for various types of hawker foods like hokkien mee, loh mee, curry noodle, jawa mee, and etc., one might be looking for trying Western brunch/ breakfast to kick-start the morning. 

Upon recommendation from my friend W.L., we had brunch and gathering at Black Kettle during last visit to Penang Island. Black Kettle was unexpectedly spacious with classy setting. Black Kettle separated into a few sections: the bakery, coffee and bistro area and dinning area at the back. We were warmly welcomed by the large range of breads, cakes, pastries and other masterpieces from the pastry kitchen.

Bakery section with various pastries, cakes and breads to tame your taste buds.

The array of breads and flaky pastries were very attractive and it would be great to be bought for breakfast.

The beauties with the nicely presented pastries

In conjunction of Halloween, they had some scary pastries to be served too.

Was that a bloody eyeball? 

So, what's your choice of drink today?

Black Kettle had set a relaxing and yet sophisticated ambiance. The interior decoration of this restored shop-house was very modern with European style cafe/bistro.It somehow made me reminisced of the cafes in Paris. In the middle area of Black Kettle, there's a courtyard section with a light well to help illuminate the interior section by the direct sunlight. Several rows of pots with green plants were found adorning the wall, providing a green garden feel. It's one of the great spot which I had seen many food patrons chose to sit there to enjoy the comfort of coffee or tea and their favorite books. However, the tables were quite low, might not be suitable for dining purpose.

Comfortable place for enjoy the drinks and reading.

Of course, it's also an ideal place to take photo too.

The young girls :)

Time were well spent when you're with your favorite buddies.

Group Photos

Black Kettle remained the Halloween-themed decorations such as black bats and spider webs were seen at most of the corners and ceilings.

Black Kettle's menu emphasized on modernist Western cuisines such as eggs benedict, french toast,Aussie styled big breakfast sets,sandwiches, tartine, pasta, burgers, salads and etcetera. The logo of Black Kettle had combined croissant as kettle's handle, making me thought that they specialize of croissant. Interestingly, the given menu was printed materials which allowed us to highlight the food we would like to place order. The waiter introduced that coffee beans here were sourced from Dimattina Coffee, a reputable Australian roaster with wide range of coffee blends, hence we had ordered cappuccino,Flat white and Long Black to try. 

Enjoy the coffee with a Jazz soundtrack played as background music.

The breakfast sets, coffee, French toast, salad for group of ladies to share.

Food Verdict: The Long Black was freshly brewed, aromatic and bittersweet for sipping through. My choice of breakfast set was comprised of toast, scrambled eggs, chicken breasts, salmon slices and mashed potatoes. Breakfast portion may look small yet it really fill up the emptiness of your stomach. 

Tiramisu cake and fruit cake for the birthday stars

Food wise were with good quality yet pricey. The ambiance of Black Kettle was great for cozy chat and gathering. The main meals such as their signature soft shell crabs burger and pastas hadn't been tried out yet and I looked forward to re-visit again.  Being a loaf-lover, Black Kettle happened to be a great place to explore their bakery section for pastries.

Address: 

105, Beach Street, 10300, Georgetown, Penang. 

*Right next to the junction of Chulia Street and Beach Street

Delectable Pizza, Pastries and Macaroons @ Bread Lounge; GTower Kuala Lumpur

If you're looking for some peaceful and quiet with good quality of desserts for brunch or afternoon tea, Bread Lounge at G Tower fits the bill. The freshly baked breads, gourmet sandwiches, pastries, macaroons and cakes here are delectable have proven Bread Lounge to be another noteworthy hidden gem in Kuala Lumpur. Bread Lounge is a bakery slash cafe on the ground floor of the GTower in Jalan Tun Razak, famous for the pastries, croissants and artisan breads from Chef Eugene (Tanzini/Upper Deck) creations. 

It was my friend's birthday today and we thought of having brunch and afternoon tea at somewhere with good food and exclusively dining ambiance for cozy chat. She was attracted by Bread Lounge which had the high ranking of best cakes in KL featured in TimesOut.com and the photos of artisan breads and cakes in Bread Lounge website were appealing. It's like a hotel lounge for me and Bread Lounge was easy to be spotted with the giant chilies sculptures seen in the center of GTower lounge. 

Bread Lounge; GTower Kuala Lumpur

Stepping in Bread Lounge felt like stepping into a hotel or airport lounge as the overall design looked very high class. We passed through the display counter filled with assorted slices of cakes and flicked through the menu before we seated. It was almost 4pm and there weren't crowded due to it was a busy working day. I felt very delighted to indulge on afternoon tea to relax while others were still on the midday of work.

Each of us chose a cake and each priced at RM 14.90.

Raspberry Yogurt mousse; marble cheese; green tea and bunga kantan opera were our choices of pastries. The raspberry yogurt mousse baked with a handful of fresh raspberries and coated generously with raspberry icing with velvety texture and dark chocolate pieces as design. The design of raspberry yogurt mousse had attracted us to order this and particularly suitable for non-sweet tooth as it has some hint of raspberry sourness.  The marble cheese was well blended with mild chocolate tasted very buttery, soft, melted in our mouth. The taste was pretty straightforward in the sense that the flavor is reminiscent of cheese! This smooth, white appearance or powder-liked marble cheese pastry had the highest vote among us although it looked simple. Green tea and bunga kantan opera; renowned as the signature cake in Bread Lounge which was recommended by the staffs there. The typical combination was chocolate and coffee or vanilla and chocolate, but instead of coffee, green tea was used here.  I never know bunga kantan could be used as one of the ingredients of desserts as it was popularly used to cook tomyam. It's a  fluffy layer cake rich in the bitter-sweet essence of green tea with a subtly fragrant with the scent of green tea powder and flowery note. It is really an interesting flavor combination. Chocolate had a deep and strong sweetness but green tea helped making the cake became having mild bitterness. Green tea and bunga kantan opera - the ideal cake for green tea lovers and also for not-too-sweet cakes lovers.

I expected each cake served in a smaller plate, nevertheless this was much presentable.

Pizzas with cakes of our choices

Margarita Pizza (RM15) was the only pizza that wasn't often seen in other restaurants' menu. The description of the menu stated the ingredients included Mozzarella cheese, olive oil, tomato concasse, cherry tomato & basil pesto. We decided to give it a try although satay pizza sounded nice as well. The Margarita Pizza was served hot and it's not circular in shape nor square shape. A thick layer of dough baked to a crispy yet chewy perfection with the toppings were fresh cherry tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese and basil pesto. The ingredients were simple yet each bite of the pizza was really flavorful.

 Delectable pastries, the beauty and chilies sculptures

Birthday girl :)

Ambassadors 

Group photo with a big smile :)

Macaroons with RM6 each 

 

The macaroons here reminded me of Laduree's famous French macaroons which were not over sweet and chewy at each bite. The coconut flavored macaroon was very delectable and had firmed texture with hint of pandan. Lemon macaroons were very fresh and tangy, The sugar content of the macaroons here were less and nice to be paired with the hot coffee.

The oat loaf I bought home - photo taken from Google Image.
It was said to be without preservatives.

Bread Lounge; GTower is a highly recommended place to check out.
It's a well spent day lifting up the spirits and cheerful mood with a warm cup of coffee, good company, and some scrumptious cakes on a peaceful afternoon.

 

Address:

Bread Lounge

GTower Hotel

199 Jalan Tun Razak

50450 Kuala Lumpur; Malaysia

[Opening hours: 7am-8pm]