Ya..the famous Penang Cendol.Youre never been to Penang unless you're been to Penang famous cendol.. It's cost cheap.. Well,it look like an ordinary cendol.i feel that it's quality is inconsistent but that could be due to factor such as weather and my first time I eat it.. It's have the usually cendol jelly,kidney bean,brown sugar and santan and a bit crushed ice. There's a Asam Laksa beside the shop too. (Noted: if you want to have cendol inside the Asam Laksa restaurant, need to pay RM0.50 per bowl ). It's so crowded whenever there's no public holiday , school holiday especially on a burning sun hot afternoon!
Price: cendol,RM1.50
Ais kacang, RM1.70

This place is honestly quite a value for money. Not that it is selling cheap or anything but the portions and sizes can be quite big when comparing to the usual. This steam pork rib here was in huge pieces but the sauce were not to my liking. This is the sweet and sour pork rib and the texture didn't feel too clean and sharp, instead just mushy.

Nutmeg has recently become one of my more regular breakfast places, and for good reason. Drilling beyond the charming "woody" decor and trying-to-be-personal-and-friendly service (props to them for trying, but I'm just not feeling it!), the food is the real draw of this place. With plenty (and I mean PLENTY) of options for breakfast places in Bangsar, competition is stiff and food just has to be up to mark, especially when you're a restaurant that does not serve pork. (Brief note: I've tried at least 3 places in Bangsar, priding themselves on pork offerings, which serve mediocre to terrible food, at bad prices.)

If you've been pining for good smoked salmon, you'd not be disappointed at Nutmeg - I rate this one highly, just behind Bistro a Table and Prime, for a much more attractive price tag. Grilled cherry tomatoes are softened and sweetened to perfection, and sauteed mushrooms are appropriately plump, juicy, and flavourful. This time, I opted for poached eggs, which in retrospect seemed to be a bad idea, due to the difficulty I had lapping up the egg in its gloriously messy form (which was good, otherwise). I opted for fried mac and cheese as one of my sides (in lieu of hash brown, I think), and it was a great choice. Crispy on the outside, and oozy-warm-soft on the inside - accentuated by a dollop of thick tomato breakfast salsa. The sausage was a delight, as I would expect from any breakfast of this form - meaty, chunky, and earthy. I don't know what was inside it, but I opted to steer away from satisfying my curiosity; as the mystery of sausages can be quite "exotic".

There's no losing when you eat here - even if you don't enjoy your meal, at least you automatically qualify as being part of the "in" crowd.

nutmeg
"one of the two distinct spices from a fruit produced by the evergreen tree, native to banda islands of indonesia, often called the spice islands. best used grated fresh."

breakfast
"the first meal of the day, usually eaten in the morning. some might even say it is the most important meal of the day"nutmeg, bangsar
"a cafe, located in bangsar village 2 - adheres to their motto of 'good food from our kitchen' by serving breakfast food all day long from am to the pm (lunch & dinner options available too) and boasts of their 3 must haves - classic reuben, their namesake big breakfast and their gravlax sampler"

perhaps that's the reason behinds the cafe's name: being secretly special. my other theory is the warmth it intends to bring with their offerings in similar fashion the nutmeg imparts warm flavors.the same secretly special warmth was reflected in the nutmeg cafe's decor - an eccentric mix of vibrant artistry with hints of vintage industrial chic and modern baba-nyonya. i love the use of the mason jars as lamps at the counter where you could watch the chefs hard at work, preparing the dishes as the aroma wafted from the open kitchen into the dining area.with brunch, lunch and dinner options aplenty, surprisingly it took me no time to pick my plate of choice when my eyes zeroed in on something that i've been craving for since returning from the states and haven't really been able to find anywhere else so far.

but first...

drinks - iced teas :: nutmeg mixed fruit tea | black tea, mint, orange juice, pineapple juice (rm 9)the iced tea tasted tropical, where the pineapple dominated with the occasional orange flavor sneaking in. the main star, the black tea was as subtle as the mint - so much so that more mint infusion could take the drink to another level of refreshing goodness. {mw} wasn't too thrilled with it. my take - it was pretty nice albeit slightly too sweet for my liking.


lunch & dinner - sandwiches :: bagel & lox | toasted bagel , cream cheese, choice of house-cured gravlax, capers (rm 21)

the toasted bagel had a crispy exterior contrasting the slightly chewy insides but was almost borderline dry. what i assumed was half a block of cream cheese (would have been a whole lot better if the consistency was of a schmear) was spread on the bagel that i scraped off enough for another serving. the side salad was a delightful crisp field of greens tossed in a vinaigrette that combined light berry sweetness and tartness.HUGE kudos to nutmeg for getting the gravlax aboard on the flavor train. fresh raw salmon, which was mildly salted paired perfectly with periodic briny burst from capers and the tartness of the cream cheese granted desirable yummy mouthfuls. the one small thing (and i'm nitpicking in this case) was i wished the lox was slightly more salty, which i eventually was fulfilled when i finally reached on the last slice which i suspect was from the end of the cured salmon block. on the flip side i have to admit that the mild saltiness allowed the salmon's natural flavors to shine.

all day breakfast :: nutmeg gravlax "croissant-wich" | smoked paprika gravlax topped with scrambled eggs, toasted croissant (rm 26)not very dissimilar from my dish, {mw} offered me a bite off her croissant-wich. the eggs were fluffy and seasoned perfectly with the buttery, chewy pastry and finally made whole by the same fantastic gravlax with a hint of smokiness from being mildly paprika-ed. {mw} gave her nodding approval for the dish and from the small bite i had, i'd give a preliminary concurrence

breakfast comforts :: hotcake stack | three pancake stack . vanilla ice cream & chocolate hazelnut praline ganache (rm 16)instead of breakfast for dinner, this is more dessert for dinner! {kbg} wanted something "lighter" and was determined to get a breakfast dish when i first told him that they served breakfast options for dinner, which to him, was quite an interesting concept. unfortunately, the pancakes were probably the least successful where it ended up dense and almost chewy instead of the fluffy pillow-like airiness that it should be. the chocolate hazelnut praline ganache was delectable though - mimicking the flavors of nutella.


nutmeg cafe, which was initiated by two brothers-in-law, has turned heads for its novelty idea (probably one of the firsts in malaysia) of serving breakfast food all day - be it for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. while there were a couple of misses in execution, nutmeg's gravlax had me at first bite.

"good food from our kitchen?"
yes, yummy but not out of this world....
....with maybe the exception of the gravlax.