So while everyone enjoyed their reunion dinners at home and ate Chinese, I steered clear of any Asian food for my reunion session. I had way too many yee sang and 8 course meals for the 2 weeks prior to CNY and was actually dying for something European and fancy.
Hence with my little family, I suggested Acme Bar and Coffee at Troika since I have read and heard raving reviews about the food.
I can tell you upfront that my meal was less than impressive. Or perhaps that’s the problem when you walked in with high expectations.
We paid RM39+ for this Crab & Watermelon Salad, which was basically some lettuce tossed in vinaigrette , chunks of poached crabmeat (yes, thankfully there was crab meat), sprinkle of almonds, cheese shavings and mirin soy mayo dressing over grilled watermelon cubes.
There was absolutely nothing memorable about the salad and I didn’t even think the flavours from the salad jived at all.
A bit dumbfounded, since everyone who has dined here has recommended this particular salad, I left the rest of the ordering to my close friends. One chose the Snails wrapped in Bacon (RM19++) and another the Salmon Mousse (RM19+).
They said nothing can’t be fixed with bacon; and I’m inclined to agree. Without the bacon, this dish might have been another disaster.
Thankfully the snails was not too salty from the bacon. The problem with this dish; as Leon succinctly put it; was that it lacked any aroma or depth of flavour. In other words, it bordered on tastelessness. The lacklustre garlic parsley sauce didn’t help at all.
Homemade salmon mousse with bread. Creamy salty salmon mousse. We dugged out some chunks of salmon which was even saltier. :'(
I think at this point we might have walked out if it wasn’t for the fact that it was CNY eve. Besides plain laziness, the flow of conversation & our close comradeship kept us to our seats. I for one, silently prayed that the main courses were going to be better than our appetizers, since I’m the smart alec who so confidently steered them to this place.
Sambal hebi aglio olio spaghetti, with prawn sambal & olive oil.
The pasta wasn’t al dente, but we were forgiving; given that this was the best dish of the night. The savoury, aromatic dried spicy prawns was fantastic with the pasta. Or wait, could it be that we were plain relieved that our meal are starting to show some promise? LOL.
Leon and I are heavy meat eaters. A steak or some form of meat are the norm when we dined together. We zoomed in on the Grass-fed Tenderloin (RM79+), specifically requested for medium rare, and crossed our fingers that we do not have to send it back to the kitchen if it was served overcooked.
It came perfectly medium rare, and we sarcastically raised our glasses to the Chef. What a feat it must have been; to get the steak right, considering the uninspiring dishes we just had.
Perhaps we raised our glasses a bit too soon, for the steak was overly seasoned and the fries had a bit too many shakes of salt. We left the fries untouched and had to eat the steak by first “removing” the outer layer of the meat where the seasoning was. Thankfully, the lovely pink interior-flesh was juicy and we enjoyed the natural flavour of the meat so at least it wasn’t a complete waste of RM79++.
The cakes on display was perhaps the favourite section of Acme. Throughout the night, patrons; especially ladies, would walk over and admire the cakes and pastries.
It was understandable; as the cakes were pretty interesting and looked delish.
Cempedak Pistachio Cake. RM15.
Pina Colada Cake. RM15. We checked for this one for alcohol, but unfortunately there isn’t any.
Banana cake with caramel layer frosting. RM13.
Apple & Olive Oil Cake with maple syrup cream cheese frosting. RM15.
Raspberry & Chocolate Cake with Chantilly Cream. RM13
Rhubarb Pie.
Bounty Cake – shaved coconut and chocolate layers. RM15.
Chocolate Cake – chocolate chip, ganache, and feuillantine layer. RM15.
Macadamia Cake.
We were wary at first, since our meal has been quite a hit and miss affair. Should we risk it & order desserts? Even Jo’s iced mocha was insipid and Leon’s coffee was flat.
Eventually we did settle for the Cempedak Cake, though more out of curiosity and fulfilling a need to wrap up dinner with something sweet. The cempedak fruit flavour was very pronounced but that was only in the cream layers. The alternating layers were plain pandan sponge which did a good job of taking away the overwhelming richness of the cake. Still, we couldn’t finish it as it was too creamy.
Will I be back?
I’m not sure. 😐
Perhaps the original chef was off for CNY thus the lackluster food that night? There were raving reviews from many satisfied diners that I’m just flabbergasted that my experience were so contradictory.
Anyone here care to share?
Acme Bar & Coffee
Ground Floor at The Troika,
50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mon – Thu: 11:00 am – 12:00 am
Fri – Sat: 11:00 am – 1:00 am
Sun: 11:00 am – 12:00 am
Website: http://www.acmebarcoffee.com
[email protected]
+603 2162 2288
food looks good! but I wouldn’t order Sambal hebi aglio olio spaghetti because I prefer Pasta to be more creamy 🙂
and yes the cake looks interesting for me!
Yups, the cakes really looks good. Too bad we were so “scarred” from the other dishes that we didn’t order the desserts as much.
awww…….No tiramisu cake?
d pasta already gone fusion……
Oh, no tiramisu. The pasta is fusion yes. But good tho…
I have yet to check out the place, eventhough its only a stone’s throw from where I live. Hubby has been there a couple of times, he liked the place. I heard some other friends rave about their desserts, so I suppose they had to be good. I pegged this place along the lines of Dish @ Dua, I assume.
Your take on the place is underwhelming, which possibly mean that I should reduce my personal expectations as well. Will try it soon and report back. 🙂
Yes please!!
I might still go back for the buffet brunch.. or errr.. maybe not
Well, I don’t think the chef being away for CNY should be an excuse if he’s trained his sous chef/other cooks properly. Like those celebrity chefs who fly around swearing at random people on the food network and spend hardly any time at their restaurants and yet still manage to maintain 3 michelin stars (just as an example).
Then again if the chef is just an employee and not personally invested in the restaurant … different story 😉
Heheh..yea. I wonder what’s the case for this one!
My experience was not really nice too. You can check out my review. Quite recent. 2nd post.
OK! Yay! At least I know I’m not the only one!
Too bad for such price it didnt make into your expectation. Maybe all chef is on leave..MAYBE!
Yea man.. iwa s gonna ask you to come here to have lunch with me!
There is always next time =)
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Thank you thank you! Returned the favour! 😀
you could be right! the chef may have gone for his CNY break, leaving his assistant or some other second rated guy to take over.. try it again after CNY, probably those rave reviews weren’t raving for no reason 🙂
Maybe…ahahh.. still not happy we paid so much for such a meal
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reckon the chef went of leave since my past 3 makan sessions here has been generally good:P
Did we order the same thing?
Perhaps I shjould try other dishes. But how is it that the mocha and the coffee was watery and barely any taste as well? THa’ts unforgivable.
Hmmm.. really that bad huh? I would like to check out this place during lunch hour. I think you will get better deal in the afternoon.
Actualy yes. I heard lunch is better. More value for money. The Sun brunch seems promising.
However, it might take a while for me to go back. If I ever.
omg! looks so sinful-licious! 😮 dnt mind to give it a try! 😉
The cakes is worth a try! 😀
Now that I have read so many bad reviews about this place, I doubt the chef was away. I was there celebrating a friend’s birthday and our experience was similar to yours. We had ordered the sole and it was just too salty. Also ordered french fries. Now how can you go wrong with fries, well we had to send it back as it was mushy. How unfortunate as the ambience was nice.
“The alternating layers were plain pandan sponge which did a good job of taking away the overwhelming richness of the cake. Still, we couldn’t finish it as it was too creamy.”
What kind of food review is this?
What kind? My kind. Not suitable for your reading? Then don’t.