DISAPPOINTED.
Yup, disappointed.
Disclaimer: I’m particular with my desserts so do take my reviews with a pinch of salt & more often than not; you might want to deduct perhaps 30% off the overall rating. Hahaha.
Anyhow, this place has been in my radar for while now. Cakes are always my TOP priority from my “new places or food-to-try list“. The list gets longer each day, and some places eventually forgotten; but never for cakes!
So even though the location was inconvenient (all the way in KL) & the venue less than ideal (in a club!) I planned, plotted, scheduled my time with some friends & finally after 2 weeks, stood happily in front of the cakes chiller one hot evening at La Bibliotheque, Avenue K.
There were only 3 cakes available that night; much to my chagrin, but at least we didn’t make a trip all the way there to find out that there’s only one type of cake available!
Yugamisu. RM14++.
Tiramisu sponge cake brushed with coffee syrup & layered with mascarpone cheese & grated chocolate. Top coated with almond praline.
We barely tasted any alcohol, and the staff here is totally “blank” when we tried to ask about the alcohol content. So we made our own deductions, and I thought I detected some faint coffee liquer. One thing’s certain, everyone liked this one cos of the nuts!
Overall? It was a good cake but it’s not a good tiramisu.
3 Layer Chocolate Mousse (white, milk & dark). RM14++.
This is basically layers of cream with chocolate sponge. One positive note about the cakes here is that they were all very well balanced in terms of richness & sugar levels.
None were cloyingly sweet, even for this creamy one, since each layer was light & smooth but with ample chocolate flavour.
In any case, I enjoyed the taste of having 3 different chocolate cream all at once in each forkful of cake but that interest waned after the 3rd helping.
And I have to say the cut of each slice doesn’t quite justify the price. Each cake we ordered came in irregular triangular sizes and all were very “slim“!
Black Forest. RM12++.
Though all the cakes were mediocre, this one fared slightly better for me. I could taste a faint flavour of red wine amidst the sponges & cream.
Conclusion: Fresh & nice cakes but not exceptional. Sightly overpriced for the size. If the cakes were meant to have alcohol, then it’s certainly a let-down. The baker needs to up the alcohol level by at least another 100%!
All pictures are:
I find that there are too much of cream in the cake, judging from the pictures. My sister and I would have cringed in horror!
Cakes in a club??? I wonder if anyone does order beer with their cakes?? Hhaha
Yups, cakes & cocktails – me likey! Haha..
oooh, actually my least favorite here was probably the tiramisu! the one i liked the best was one with rum-soaked raisins! 😀
Their Yugamisu looks like a knock-off version of Alexis’s Tiramisu. :whistle:
Nevertheless, alcohol is a must-have for Tiramisu! :yahoo:
oh, k avenue, from what I read here I’ll like to comment on the “thin”ness of the cake. How come it doesn’t come in regular sizes? They simply cut the cake only? :O
Yup! The cakes were like simply cut out! Urghh.. so expensive! 🙁
Wau! How do u get invited to some many food tasting sessions?
How to be part of it? *ask on behalf of my cousie*
Will I get drunk by eating these cakes!? LOL
Nope, I’m afraid not! ;p
Hi hi!
This is not an invited review, I went & paid for my own orders.
However, i do get a lot of invites yes, due to my blog exposure. I guess a lot of people know my blog ..as most companies/PR/restaurants/hotels invites bloggers with a certain traffic range.
However, no fret, do ask your cousin to leave me a comment with her bloglink & email so I can inform her if we have movie screenings, etc – big events that we invite a lot of bloggers.
yes. u do have a good blog which i always follow. by the way, my cousiee is from penang, quite far for her to get down to kl for the events. too bad!
i love cakes too! especially the black forest. 🙂
I love that you are particular about your desserts!!! I think more food reviewers need to be particular about the food. There is too much mutual back slapping in KL food reviews. Where have you found great desserts? I’m really disappointed by the overall standard of desserts in KL. Please share any great ones you’ve found!
Hi Fred!
It seems that we are on the same page on this 🙂
Yes, we need to be ore critical about the level of food quality we get but with the price taken into consideration of course.
Desserts : Many places! Problem is, not ALL desserts in ONE outlet is good. So yea, depending on outlets, each have their specialty.
The Haute Food, Tearoom by Bel Jee, The Hummingbird’s , even Ben’s Plan B or Ben’s General Food Store. Some good some ok, some totally no-no!
Haha yes it seems we are on the same page. Agree that price is a consideration. My expectations when paying RM48++ for a dish compared to 8.70 are different. The RM48 had better be perfect… along with the service, table setting and decor. However, even a cheap one still needs to be competent… not always the case though.
Yes agree not all desserts (or dishes for that matter) from the same place will be equally as good.
I live within walking distance of 2 Ben’s, but have been disappointed by the ones i’ve tried so far. Just last week tried the berry crumble – was not great. Proportion was wrong – too much crumble, so it wasn’t really sweet enough, not enough berry, so overall flavour was bland.
Also wasn’t consistently heated up. Some parts warm, some parts not.
Haute Food a friend has also told me was quite good, but have not been there yet… no car makes transport difficult.
I do think Senses (at Hilton), Frangipani and Nathalie’s at Menara Taipan have good desserts (but yes they are more pricey). Senses’s souffle, the tarte tartin, and the lemon tart in particular are fantastic i think. I’ve tried every dessert on the menu there (and when they changed the menu, i tried it all again hahaha), and there is a good consistency in the quality. I’ve had the souffle several times, and the chef has hit it every time.
No transport? Well wackybecky is to the rescue! 🙂
Hope you’re not living too far, but I’m guessing you’re in Bangsar.
Try Tearoom by Bel Jee and The Hummingbirds’ by Beatrice Looi.
Oh Senses? I dont quite like the food, but seems that Michael Elfwing’s desserts hits the spot for you each time! 🙂
I heard that Haute food might be deterioting in quality as well.. well I havent gone back in a while..
Haha nice guess, but i don’t live in Bangsar, I live very near KLCC…
For Senses, in terms of taste, I can’t say every dish I’ve tried has grabbed me. But the quality and the level of creativity is something that you don’t see often in KL. In general i think the service in KL is atrocious (and they charge 10% for it!!) but the service there is reasonable. Waitstaff know their dishes and are reasonably attentive.
Oh i know where Tearoom is, its right behind my client :). I’ll try it next time i’m there. Hummingbirds is good? I see they have macarons. Been disappointed by the macarons I’ve tried so far in Kl, but also appreciate its hard to bake in humid climates. Sense macarons are not too bad too 🙂
KLCC. ok.. Let’s hit Breadties sometime soon. They are quite agressively promoting their macarons on Twitter. Hummingbird = I only tried the wasabi one. I’m not a fan of macarons but my friend does alcoholic ones if you want to try 🙂
Breadties? thats a way from KLCC? Yeah its not so much the filling – thats pretty straightforward to make. It the shells. Getting the texture right, rising enough (without being hollow inside), the pied etc is all pretty tricky. Mixing it needs a sensitive hand with exactly the right proportions. In France they actually have humidity gauges in the kitchen, thats how sensitive they are…
Wow Fred… you do know how to bake as well?? Yes yes, agree to all above you said!
U must meet my friend who bake macarons! Hhahaa he could improve with your tips!
Breadties is in Tmn Melawati.. near the Damai Hospital. I have never been, and the location is what I get from google map.
Yes i’ve had a go at baking – cakes and stuff are pretty straightforward, buy my macarons were a failure every time hahaha
Your firend bakes? Thats great. I’ve found most apartments in KL don’t have an oven even.
There are plenty of books and tips around on Macarons – but first you need to get to know your oven!!!!
True that..apartments in KL doesnt have much space!
Haha..macarons are very tempermental huh..it’s all about heat/temperature control!
space is one thing – its also supply and demand – Asian cooking doesn’t use ovens, hence few people in Asia actually miss having an oven..
macarons are temperamental, but i think its more around mixing carefully the macronage, keeping the right amount of air inside and then being able to let it set – that’s where the humidity impacts it. Too humid and you can’t get the top to harden properly as it sets. For temps I’ve seen different temps in different recipes, but all around the same range. Just adjust the time. Issue is that each oven has warmer and cooler spots, so getting to know these.
ok ok… 🙂
Les Deux Garçons Pâtisserie – Bangsar – wanna go?