Food

LeVain Boulangerie Patisserie... yup. Even Google translator stumbled. Google says "Levain Bakery & Patisserie" while Babelfish gives me "Leaven Bakery & Pastry making" and Paralink gives me "Sourdough Bakery and Patisserie". Whatever it is in English, they sure know their pastry and baking! I'm rather fond of breads and am not really a "rice" kind of person although rice has been in my diet since, well, as far back as I can remember.



Interestingly, I stumbled upon this place while doing a recce for a wedding shoot. The dinner location was nearby and I decided to drive around to check for ideal outdoor locations a minute or two away. This old part of KL has a lot of charming old bungalows that have been converted to commercial premises and the old rain trees form a lovely backdrop. Some time later, my wife told me about an unpronounceable bakery and immediately I know where and what she was trying to tell me.

The place gets really packed right till about 2pm when the crowd seems to taper down. For such a classy looking place, you'd expect two things: it'll be filled with expats, especially the Europeans who probably can't get used to our local breads (I sympathize cos our local bread, well, enough said) and secondly, pricing that only the rather well heeled can afford. Surprisingly, this assumption is proved false which is good. There are some expats buying bread but up to 90% of the people eating and dining were local Chinese! Whoever said that the Chinese need to eat their rice need to be brought here. I mean people were having breakfast, brunch, lunch, whatever with nary a bowl of rice or noodles (unless pasta counts) in sight. The prices were very reasonable, in fact, some items were priced almost the same as some local chain bakeries. This is amazing value considering these items are made with quality ingredients and hence, taste better and are invariably fresher which I'll explain later. For brunch, we had a couple of pastry items, soup and pizzas which totaled up to only RM29 without drinks. Drinks range from about RM6 onwards but looking at the way they hand-crafted my latte and the use of quality Australian (farm house) milk, I'd say the price is still good.

The breakfast items are nice, especially the pancake stack. I think we've tasted most of the pastry items and considering that we kept reloading our table with items meant that they were good. The only thing about being in such a full place is that the top pastry items such as their mashed potato bun, chocolate coronet, pizzas, etc get depleted quickly. Not to worry though as the kitchen is in full production and they get replenished quickly. This high turnover rate means that what you get is as close as you can to baking them yourselves!

There's free wi-fi available, making it a good place to meet but parking can be difficult if you have a 5-meter long truck and your other vehicle is a CR-V. That said, we'll be back again as I love their sweet desserts and lovely breads -- especially their maple log loaf! So time to stop talking and let the photos do you in!



















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Levain Boulangerie & Patisserie
No 7, Jalan Delima,
Off Jalan Imbi,
55100 Kuala Lumpur.

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Cross-posted link over here.

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Early on a Saturday morning, we woke up early to get in some exercise. We were supposed to go on a trail run but nature had other ideas. It was pouring outside and while it slowed to a drizzle after an hour, it was still going to be a wet, wet morning. Well, if life handed you lemons, you make lemonade. Okay, I had no lemons but lots of rain. That made the ground pretty much soft. Good time to dig out the peanuts we planted over three months back. Out came the shovel and we started digging. Pretty much several seconds and a few holes later, we had peanuts... Now to decide whether to have them broiled, baked, boiled... decisions while my dog goes after a couple of garden frogs that had come out to play.

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Celebrated my mom's birthday at a cozy little seafood restaurant in Subang called South Sea. In some ways, it's set up close to what some termed the "death row" considering that you pick your fish happily swimming away in their little glass aquariums. They then end up on your dinner plate and your stomach! Of course the selection available is smaller than a similar restaurant we went to in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah called Ocean seafood but then, again, it's close to home and had good food, reasonable prices and most of all, super fresh. Here are some of the "inmates" on the "death row"...

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Many of my friends know me as a porky person. I love pork. Ribs, roasted, steamed, minced, burgers, whatever, including pork tongues... with minor exceptions such as trotters and intestines. Pork liver is fine by me. Anyways, ever since I've been smitten by a delicious plate of hakka noodles, it's been a hunt for a well done plate of those noodles. Many are average. Probably it comes down to how much lard is used but also the noodles can't be too soggy. I like them crisp but tender. The minced pork also must be finely made without too much salt or worse, monosodium glutamate (MSG).



So here I find a lovely plate of hakka noodles, hidden away in a secluded corner of SS2, PJ. It's fricken awesome! One big bonus. I love char-siu or roasted pork equally as much and this place has hakka noodles with char-siu. Fricken awesome number two, the char-siu is crispy on the outside and crunchy but once you bite in, it's melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Lean meat but with bits of fat to ensure it's juicy sweet. Simply awesome! So what's the name of this place? Well, it's called Toast and Roast!

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