Kaffa Expresso Bar @ Green Hall, Penang

 

Penang is a brimming with new and classy café houses. Here, there and everywhere you can see nice and sometimes quirky cafés offering good food and aromatic coffees. One such place is Kaffa Espresso Bar. It is the second outlet in Malaysia and the Penang one is situated at 22 Jalan Green Hall. 

 

Take a look as some of the cool décors...

And not to forget.. their awesome wall art pieces... like the one with four sleepy girls/boys needing coffee...

 

And this massive wall art of the Beatles...

Ringo...

John/Paul and George...

 Like I mentioned earlier, they offer drinks AND food... although the selection for food is limited. I went on a weekend... and there were already many tables taken...Had to wait for my food...

Caramel Macchiato

 I ordered a highly recommended drink (i think I read it on foursq) called the Caramel Macchiato which cost a bomb! It came in a enamel coated metal mug to give it that vintage look. Well, almost all their coffees are served in it. I personally didn't think much of the metal mugs... except that my mug had the enamel chipped off over the rim of the mug and that had me drinking rusty bits of the mug rim.. not a big fan of the mug...  :(

 

Like the name of the drink, this caramel macchiato was light in coffee taste (just the way I like) and sweet salty from the caramel... though on the pricey side..

As for food, I ordered the Spaghetti Aglio Olio with turkey ham. The portion was big (Thumbs up for that) and tasty :) However, I found mine too spicy... could taste a lot of the chilli & black pepper in it...

Loved the interior décor of the place. Environment was relaxing, except when the place gets crowded and noisy...

Check-out their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/keb.greenhall

Another worthy place to visit if you're not on a budget :)
 

HardRock Café Penang

 

Penang has its very own Hard ROCK café! Like many of their outlets, this one is as awesome! To be honest, I have been wanting to dine at hardrock cafes since undergrad. Or rather, since getting envious of my brother who has been to various Hardrock cafés throughout the world! like the one in Bali, Phuket, Singapore... etc. 

 So I thought to myself, let's just start in Malaysia first... and lo and behold, Hardrock opens one in Penang. Right at my door step! hehe. Somethings are just meant to be...

 On the of the many Fridays in October, on the 11th of October to be exact, a bunch of  peeps from work got together to have a good time...at Hardrock café.
I was there mainly for the food... the rest were there for the drinks and the live band. The gang reserved tables just right infont of the stage just to gawk at the live band whom they thought were playing that night.

I ordered their avocado club sandwich... which cost RM30++ and was pretty disappointing when it arrived. THe description in the menu was a whole lot of something else... but the food was another thing to be desired. Anyway, the sandwich was so-so la... with dry chicken breast, hard bacon amd avocado, and lettuce.. sandwiched between toasts... I could have been this at home :(
OK, nvm.. told myself I was here to enjoy the HArdRock experience...!

 The gang ordered drinks... which I couldn't take because I don't drink.. and don't like the taste of alcohol... pathetically, I just drank the fruit juice (which I only just found out was called 'mixer' to be mixed with the alcohol).. which was ok..

 At 10.30pm, the live band started! *excited*

A group of peeps with 3 main singers taking turns singing main solos and being back-ups, 2 guitarist (one bass, one melody), 1 keyboard, 1 drummer...

The girls were disappointed it wasn't the actual band that they had front row tables for. Our initial impressions were that they were gonna be not up to par. But when they started singing, boy they ROCKED the crowd!! They were super AWESOME! The ang-mos were holding up their handphone and lighters swaying to the music they were playin'. Most started singing along to the rock songs they were playing.... Amongst the songs played was Adele's - Someone like you, Set fire to the rain, Bon Jovi's - Living on a prayer, Oasis'- Stop crying your heart out, Tina turner's - The best... and many more!!!

This band CAN SING! I loved their vocals!! SUper PRO!! I was quite impressed! Only problem was that, because we had front row seats, I was fast going deaf.... the music was too loud...just too LOUD for my liking. I know you peeps reading this would be rolling your eyes saying "you're in a nightclub, and a rock club to be precise; music's suppose to be played LOUD"... I know, I know... believe me.. I KNOW... but to me, my hearing is more important than looking cool at a night club. So I let about 11pm... (pathethic, I know).

On the upside, I managed to get the Hardrock experience I've always wanted... and I did feel cool in a nightclub.. and I can safely say I was 'rocking' it out at HardRock café, no doubt :)

Brownie RM30 ++

Loved this dessert... YUMMEH

The ambiance of the night... HardRock Café Penang

 

Gusto Café @ Tanjung Bunga

 

I only recently got to know about the existence of Gusto café from a friend via facebook. These days, publicity through social media is that effective!

 

So there I was trying to figure out where in the midst of tanjung bunga this little café was... Needless to say, I went about a round-a-bout route with my trusty GPS only to find  out that there was a much shorter way to get to Gusto's.

 

For all the new peeps who are not from Tanjung Bungah and are thinking of looking for 4 Jalan Sungai Kelian, well, I've got it easy for you. If you know where Flamingo Hotel is, well, it's opposite it! Take the turning on the left into a row of shoplots where famous eateries are also located eg. Vintage Bulgaria / Ingolf Kneipe German Restaurant, and keep going straight till you come to a Petron petrol station. Gusto's is right next to it. See, easy!

 Gusto café is actually in a residential area/house converted into a café.

 

The menu is right above the counter. They serve both breakfast & lunches....

Menu black board

 The café also has a downstairs area which I think used to be the house's sitting room... and garden. the stairs you see in the picture above takes you there...

Right next to this gorgeous wooden cupboard is the kitchen :)

So here's what we ordered...
a Latte (RM7) & Earl grey tea (RM5/cup)

 I was a bit disappointed that the earl grey tea, having cost RM5 (which is a lot) came in a teabag by the side of the cup and not already brewed :(
Also, we had to ask for milk. They didn't readily provide milk for your tea.

I suppose not many of their usual customers like to take their tea with milk? Which let me to google if Earl Grey tea was meant to be taken on it's own without milk... and my google search came up as ..."you can take it with or without milk, basically however you want to"... hahaha

 My coffee latte was simply the best! There was no sour aftertaste, just the way I like coffee to taste... Plus, it came with a 'heart' :) Although I still think it's a bit pricy for a place like this...

Now to the food....
I had bagels with smoked salmon... I specially changed the toast to a bagel with an extra charge of RM4 for it. (since it was recommended by another blogger)... Unfortunately, the bagel was not to my liking... it was hard and under toasted? But the eggs were perfectly cooked! I enjoyed the eggs & salmon... just not the bagel

 



 The English breakfast was so-so. It was served with a sunny-side-up, with baked beans, bacon and toast. The beans were a bit hard for our liking.

All in all the total damaged cost for breakfast for 2 was RM43...

I liked the ambiance of the place... and their delicious latte... Apparently, this place is quite popular with expatriates living in the area. There were many of them there, some already dining, some waiting for a table... I suppose that's the reason for the pricing...

But on the upside, no GST or service charge :)

Check-out their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/JasonsGustoCafe
 

Gold Choice lifestyle cafe @ Bayan Baru

 

 Bayan baru area is now packed with new eateries and restaurants. One such new area is at One Precinct.

 It's something like Oldtown Kopitiam... being named after their own brand of coffee mix. Gold Choice also has its own brand of coffee.

The food they offer is a mixture of local cuisine and western.

Here's what we ordered.

Noodles with beef and a sunny side up.

 Rice with beef... with a sunny side up too...

And here's the best of it all... French toast served with kaya! Delicious!!!

My usual 'yin yang' drink :)