♥ Winter Warmers Coffee and Tea House at Georgetown, Penang

Winter Warmers Coffee and Tea House is well-known for their Afternoon Tea. Other than that, they also serve a wide range of tea (iced fruit tea, hot milk tea and herbal tea), Italian coffee and flavoured coffee (rose coffee, green tea coffee, chocolate mint coffee, lavender coffee, etc), western delight, pasta, Belgian waffles, sandwiches and desserts. 

They have now a total of seven branches: six in Penang and one in Selangor (The Curve). So far we only been to their outlet in Gurney Plaza and Queensbay Mall. Both outlet with relaxing and tranquil atmosphere, making it a favourite place for breakfast, lunch, high tea or dinner. Their table setting is another thing that worth a mention, classisc and unique. Flora table cloth is used and they have many distinctive design of tea cups. 

Winter Warmers at Gurney Plaza....

Our first visit to Winter Warmers in year 2012 (for dinner). It was exactly two years ago and now their menu has changed into a new one haha. 

Iced mixed fruit tea (RM11.90). 

Served chilled in a small jug and it is one of the house specialty. Slices of fruit such as orange, apple and lemon are added into the tea. Fruit can definitely jazz up any iced tea and this is doubtedlessly one great cold, refreshing drink. Not too sweet. However, the amount of ice cubes is a bit too much and the tea get diluted over time.

Jasmine freeze tea (RM 7.90).
As for this drink we don't remember how it exactly tastes like.

Fettuccine carbonara (RM 14.90).

Fettuccine is not over-cooked and we like this al dente pasta texture. The carbonara sauce is creamy but not cheesy. Overall, it tastes average to us. 

Grilled dory fish (RM 16.90).

Better than the fettuccine carbonara. The dory fish is grilled to light brown, then topped with creamy sauce. Fine texture and light flavour. Cold twisty curvy pasta salad and potato cubes are served as side. Overall, it tastes good. 

Winter Warmers at Queensbay Mall. 
Our most recent visit to Winter Warmers in July 2014. Now they have a brand new design of menu. 

And we just realized they also offer set lunch. Hence, we decided to give a try. Each set comes with a salad, a main course and  a beverage. You may also add on RM 4.50 for any of their cake of the day or cheese cake. 

For the beverage of first set lunch, we opted for their original Green tea. They have a total of five different green tea for you to choose from: moonlight roses, gunpowder, sweet osmanthus, orchid garden and jasmine paradise. We decided to go for the first one.

Moonlight roses greentea (RM 6.90).
An excellent home blends tea creates its sweet and aromatic flavour. A pot of tea with hint of floral flavor and great source of anti-oxidants. The rose fragrance is subtle and the taste is mild. An edible flower floats on top makes a darling decorative touch. 

For second set of lunch, we added RM 1 to change the black tea or green tea to other hot beverage.

Kenya tea latte (RM 7.00).
An elegant and lifely taste of tea with fresh milk makes it a perfect tea. I never heard of Kenya tea or coffee until I read a book by 九把刀 Giddens Ko, 等一个人咖啡 (cafe..waiting..love). This then peaked my curiousity and interest to give a try on Kenya tea latte. And for your information, most tea produced in Kenya is black tea. This Kenya tea latte can be considered as one of the best tea latte I ever had. Smooth and aromatic. Thumbs up. Kenya tea makes good latte.

The appetizer - Salads. 
Fresh vegetables served with in house dressing. Very good.

One of the main course, seafood spaghetti with white sauce (RM 22.90).

Normal spaghetti with generous amout of seafood such as mussels, prawn, squid and scallops. The white sauce is prepared with mushroom slices, topped with herbs sprinkles. Thick and creamy. Be sure to eat this as soon as possible after served when it is still hot.  

Another main course, baked seafood marina waffle (RM 22.90).

It is Belgian waffle, soft inside and crisp at the outside. It is topped with seafood (such as mussels, prawn, crabstick and scallop) and cheese, then, baked. This waffle is quite special because it has seafood topping instead of ice-cream, banana, cookies, honey or jam. Although the baked cheese is a bit too dry, but with seafood it makes an interesting texture teasing your taste buds with every bite. Not bad. 

We added on RM 4.50 for a piece of cheese cake, Lavender cheesecake. 

One of the unique cheesecake we have ever tasted although we were quite freak out about it in the beginning. This cheesecake is quite dense, with Lavender fragrant but not overpowering. It leaves a lingering taste on our tongue that we won't soon forget. We love the scent of Lavender. It looks attractive too, with Lavender flowerettes on top and in between the cheese cake. 

A very satisfying lunch followed by good movie, Dawn of The Planet of The Apes. ♥

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♥ Lunch date at Coffee Chemistry Signature, Subang Jaya, Selangor

A lunch date at Coffee Chemistry Signature. Also my first date with the newly bought Nikon DSLR :) 

Coffee Chemistry Signature is not just a coffee cafe, they do serve Asian-Western fusion cuisines. We kind of like the simple settings of this cafe, it gives a very comfortable atmosphere. 

Each table is adorned with a potted flower centerpiece.

Rose caramel macchiato 3D (RM 12.90). 

According to the tips left on Foursquare, this is one of the popular drink in Coffee Chemistry Signature. Probably due to the adorable 3D art. And so..... I placed an order for this drink and it took awhile for the drink to be served. Doubtlessly the 3D bear foam is pretty darn cute, but this is not my favourite macchiato. This coffee is mouthfeel smooth though, not too sweet, not bitter. But the combination of flavour with notes of rose and caramel just simply do not tickle the taste buds of mine.

Passion fruits smoothies (RM 12.90). 

Smooth and thick. Dan's all-time-favourite. Healthy, filling and refreshing. A tangy treat right for any time of the day.

Carbonara beef bacon mushroom pasta (RM 16).
A fabulous carbonara pasta. Creamy and cheesy, with lots of bacon and mushrooms. Thumbs up.

Escalope of chicken with mango chutney (RM20).

Quite a thin piece of chicken escalope and crunchy. People like me who do not fond of the texture of bland chicken breast find this chicken escalope pleasing, especially with the mango chutney (good balance of sweet and sour). An appetizing dish.

 

An escalope is a piece of boneless meat that has been thinned out (source from Wikepedia).

Apart from this satisfying lunch, we are amused by some of the built in scene mode in the newly bought DSLR, especially the food scene mode and monochrome picture control. It is nice to be able to shoot in black and white from DSLR directly.

Life is wonderful, accompanied by good foods and companion, families and friends. I'm blessed. And glad that we can have at least some of the beautiful life moment captured on camera. Moment that lasts forever.

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♥ Gala House Restaurant & Cafe at Jalan Muntri, Georgetown, Penang

I love my December 2013 which was an interesting month. I spent almost the whole month of December travelling, to Langkawi, then to Lake Toba and Medan Indonesia, followed by Penang, before the year 2013 approaching its end. I will first share the trip to Penang and here a short summary of the place/ cafe/ restaurant we went:

Day 1: Goku Raku Ramen

Day 2: Ah Lai Coffee Shop; Ali Nasi Lemak Daun Pisang (blogged); Soohongry (blogged); Toys Cafe; some street arts; Gala House Restaurant & Cafe (blogged); Armenian Street Got Talent event

Day 3: Pit Stop Cafe; Balik Pulau (Genting Hill, also called little Genting; 客家山寨 Balik Pulau Lodge; Saneen Goat Farm ); Teluk Bahang Dam; Ben's by BIG 

Day 4: Heaven Gate Dine and wine lounge 

Day 5: Nation's Barbecue (blogged); count down to year 2014

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Gala means happiness. Gala House Restaurant and Cafe serves western and Penang heritage fusion cuisine which based on spices and herbs (This was told by a friendly staff). 

The same concept goes to the interior design of this restaurant. The front of the restaurant building gives us heritage feeling whereas the interior design more on a mix of Western and heritage concept, with quite lovely, romantic and vintage ambiance. Flower and plant pot are one of the decorative items on the table.

The menu and the wifi password.

Wala-wala asparagus, green curry pasta with prawn and kimchi salmon spaghetti are their signature pasta dishes. Other than pasta, lemon grass chicken skewers, lamb osso bucco and the gala steak are the others signature main dishes. In addition to pasta and main dish, they also serves salad, soup, sandwiches and burgers, as well as asian delights such as rendang chicken, curry chicken and Thai curry. 

Wala-wala asparagus (RM 18.00)
This is a spaghetti stir fried with clams and asparagus. The amount of clams are quite generous. The clams are fresh, slight salty with hint of spices, therefore matches quite well with the spaghetti which is quite plain and milder in taste (with only garlic and olive oil). The asparagus is fresh and crunchy. This spaghetti in overall, not too oily and more mild flavoured but we enjoyed it.

Herb-roasted chicken (RM 28.90)
Roasted half chicken served with baby potatoes and mushroom sauce. This roasted chicken is golden brown in colour and not over-roasted. The meat is surprisingly quite moist and not tough in texture with mild herb flavour. The mushroom gravy is special and delicious, with mild sweetness and it goes very well with the roasted chicken. A succulent meal.

For beverages, they serves quite a few special coffee drinks and some with hint of liquor. For example, orang kaya coffee (chocolate brandy affogato), gala's coffee (ice-blended coffee liquor with coconut flavour), a-lo-ha (kahlua coconut latte), bailey's caramel (mixture of bailey's and rich coffee), etc. However, coffee is too heavy for us and so we ordered only a cup of hot Chamomile tea.

Chamomile tea (RM 5.90)
This is a herbal tea and contains no caffeine. It is quite smooth and not too bitter. A good tea to calm an upset stomach.

We had a pleasant dining experience at Gala House. The foods presentation is good. 

Another thing which worth to mention is their superb service and the staff is really friendly. They came to us and asked our comment on the spaghetti. They even suggested and offered a new plate of wala-wala asparagus which is more strong in taste or slight salty, when we commented the spaghetti is mild in flavour. Thumbs up for their excellent service.

Gala House Restaurant and Cafe

Location: 102, Lebuh Muntri, 10200 Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.

Business Hours: 12pm to 12am daily

Website: http://galahouse.com.my/ and https://www.facebook.com/galahouse.com.my

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