Not Just Another Pretty Face: Hmmm, what do they serve?

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Hmmm, what do they serve?

On Sunday, after my Yoga class, I ventured into the winding alleys of Pudu, downtown KL on a quest for good food with my housemate and her friend. She had been rhapsodizing over a certain restaurant serving what she claims to be the best tiramisu she has ever eaten, period.

Hmm..what do they sell? Coconuts?

Coconut House, isn't that a strange name for a place serving Italian food? A well-known blogger in Malaysian blogsphere immediately came to mind when I saw the restaurant's sign. Yup, Kenny Sia ...Hee hee.

I later found out that there was a reason behind the funny name. The Coconut House chain of restaurants was opened by a local chinese writer/editor by the name of Zang Ruo. According to my colleague, he used to be the editor of a magazine, now no longer in publication, called Ye Zi Wu (Coconut House). The magazine used to publish contributions from readers in forms of poems or articles. From what I could gather, it was rather an elitist magazine with content in flowery Mandarin language that not every averge Joe can fathom. Hence, probably the reason why it's no longer in publication. =P

From top left, clockwise, 1.Outdoor seating, 2. More dining and lotus pond at back of shop
3. Main dining area with rack of CDs on wall, 4.Upstairs photo gallery and more dining

I liked the deco of Coconut House, simple, with no frills. The place had a light, airy feeling to it. It probably helped that the weather was cool that evening after a rain shower but the place would probably be very warm on hot days as they don't have air conditioning or it wasn't switched on. I did get bitten by mosquitoes but I am unfortunately rather attractive to mosquitoes so maybe it's just my irresistable scent- to mosquitoes that is...=D

The restaurant is actually a refurbished shop house. There were seats outdoors, in the main dining area which was decorated with a whole wall of CDs ( the reason for the unplugged on their business card perhaps?) and at the back room as well, just beside a lotus pond. Later, I discovered there were more seating upstairs where the art gallery was which was showcasing an exhibition by local photographer, April Ng Wei Ping. Have not heard of her before, though I have a uni mate with the same chinese name...hmmm...nah, it can't be...right?

Mushroom pizza with 3 kinds of funghi,and a slice
of vegetarian pizza on my plate with capsicum and eggplant...

We sat at the back by the lotus pond and ordered two kinds of pizza- mushroom and vegetarian, mushroom soup and tiramisu for dessert. The pizza was baked traditionally in a clay firewood oven and was very good with a thin, slightly burnt crust. I personally felt it was a bit too cheesy as we asked for extra cheese. The mushroom soup was yummy!! I'm a big mushroom fan, you see. I liked the soup because it's the fresh kind, made up of 3 kinds of blended mushrooms, hence the dark brown colour with bits of mushrooms in it, not the typical Campbell cream coloured kind.

The place also had quite an extensive pasta, salad and drinks menu. A salad entry that caught my attention was cherry tomatoes and pesto sauce. It had a fancy name I can't remember and a rather exorbitant price, and as my housemate was buying, I refrained from satisfying my curiosity. (In retrospect, there probably wasn't anything special about it, just a simple salad of cherry tomatoes and pesto sauce, I can even make it myself...heh)

Next, the star of the show, tiramisu! I'm not a tiramisu expert really (my expertise being chocolate cake ;D) but according to my dinner partners, the standard had gone down and there was lack of Kahlua® -coffee liquer- in the confectionary. I still found it good though. The chocolate sponge cake bits were soaked in coffee that gave it a bitter tinge and sweet liquer. The cheesey like mixture was smooth and not overly sweet. I could only manage half as I was stuffed from the pizza and soup.

Overall, it was a good dinner at a restaurant with a unique name and setting at an affordable price. And apparently, they have this value added service as well...