I first visited the Red Bean Bag shortly after they were opened. That was quite some time ago, and being a huge fan of burgers, the first thing I tried from their menu was their beef burger.
It was rather salty and certainly didn’t leave a memorably impression. But the Guinness Chocolate Cake and the smoothies were fabulous! You can view the pictures and review here.
I wasn’t really in a hurry for a re-visit since food fell short of pleasant. I finally did after being prompted by many friends who waxed lyrical about their French toast and breakfast sets.
Ah, good French toast you say? Now that’s a good reason to head out to go to Publika early in the morning on a weekend!
I could never resist a good French toast.
There’s 2 separate visits in this post and both times the food was quite decent though inconsistent.
The key to a good breakfast for some is of course, the coffee. Both Kevin Tans (yes both named Kevin Tan!) who joined me that morning was satisfied with their morning elixir. While both sipped their black gold, my hot chocolate fell short.
It was rather disappointing because I was expecting something exceptional.
RBB hot chocolate tasted suspiciously like the Cadbury 3 in 1 mix that we can easily make at home. For RM9 a cup, I definitely expected something more exquisite than this mediocre cup of chocolate!
Feeling rather famished and since there were 3 of us, I ordered RBB’s Big Breakfast Fry-Up. For RM 22 per plate, I thought it was worth it, considering that we spied premium items for this plate. The set was assembled with baked beans, hashbrown, sautéed mushrooms, toast, eggs and a choice of beef bacon/turkey ham and beef or chicken sausage.
RBB offers Lescure butter for their breakfast set. For those who are not familiar with Lescure butter, here’s a little headstart. Lescure have a well-earned reputation that extends well beyond their home region.
Lescure butter belongs to to the Charentes-Poitou family of butters, for which the AOC label (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) has been superseded by European Protected Designation of Origin (Appellation d’Origine Protégée – AOP) status. The milk, sourced exclusively from the Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres, Vienne and Vendée departments, is infused with the area’s character, natural richness and traditions.
The subtle blend of soil and climate gives this butter its identity, personality, authentic delicate flavour and fine creamy texture and paired perfectly with the provided toast.
Scrambled eggs was exceptionally tasty, so much so that we suspected perhaps there’s cheese added as it was much tastier than the usual scrambled eggs. We were pleased to discover that it was not overdone, distinctively creamy and the flavour wasn’t from the butter alone. Most outlets serve scrambled eggs too overwhelming with richness of butter. They seem to have the notion that the key to good scrambled eggs is to melt as much butter into the eggs as possible.
The accompanying sides; both mushrooms and grilled zucchinis were nicely done. Offering zucchini was a nice touch and works to justify the price of the platter. For tuber it was hash-brown; adeptly fried and complemented the entire plate perfectly.
After hearing so much about the French toasts, we decided to jump into the bandwagon and ordered one too. But instead of the regular French toast, we chose RBB Eggs Atlantic (RM18) instead of just plain French toast (RM15). The Eggs Atlantic was served with poached eggs in hollandaise sauce, asparagus, mushrooms, smoked salmon on a bed of two pieces of French toast.
The French toast is superb. Not too buttery (some places like to use very buttery brioche which can be too rich for me personally) but the bread here is fragrant enough without being too heavy and oh so fluffy! It was definitely not weighed down by the egg mixture.
The poached eggs were nicely done. The hollandaise sauce was alright for me. I didn’t quite like it somehow, as it was a tad too rich and thick for me.
The eggs hid generous amount of mushrooms, spinach and salmon. All the ingredients I love on a plate. I was positively a happier woman after attacking this plate.
Up next at our table was RBB Specialty Baked Eggs. For RM18, what you’ll get is eggs cracked into a baking dish of lamb, beef and chicken chorizo along with sundried tomatoes, aubergine, generous layer of cheese and served with crusty bread.
The cheesy topping was not only gooey, but seriously fresh too. This sauce is thick and bleeding with flavor. The chunks of crusty bread did fine job of soaking up the fragrant sauce.
The runniness to which the eggs were poached was perfect, nestled in their ruddy bed. I’m glad to report that they were generous with the chorizo too.
It’s safe to say that apart from the disappointing hot chocolate, I was quite happy with the food and can actually understand why there was already a queue forming before the outlet was open. The moment they had the shutters up, people rushed for the tables and started ordering!
After posting about how good the meal was, another friend of mine joined me for breakfast the week after. After the decent experience earlier, I definitely did not mind a revisit in such a short period of time.
We sat inside this time and admired the cafe’s interior. It has a striking combination of contemporary and rustic charm.
Adding to the cafe’s rustic flair, a number of bean bags imprinted with words like “play”, “passion” and “creative” adorn the walls. But what caught my attention more was the kitchen. Couldn’t help but take a sneak peek at the kitchen at work. 🙂
My friend ordered coffee of course. It was great, as usual.
After my previous disappointment with my hot chocolate, I steered clear of the traumatic hot chocolate and ordered the Smooshies instead. Basically Smooshies is the careful amalgamation of specific fruits, in specific quantities that produce a truly unique and awesome flavour that is irresistibly refreshing. My favourite Smooshies is the Red Apple and Dragon Fruit as well as the one with watermint, and cucumber. Guava Lychee is also good, but unfortunately, I have misplaced the pictures, so there’s no pictures of the Smooshies here, apologies folks. 🙁
Anyway, since the baked egg was superb during my previous visit, we decided to order it again this time around.
Taste-wise, the baked eggs is consistent but not the texture. This time around, we ended up with way undercooked eggs!
The baked eggs was too raw and the whites are not even slightly set. I felt let down by the baked eggs this time as I was expecting it to be similar to my previous visit. My only consolation was that the cheese toppings was still generously thick and gooey.
We tried a new item on the menu that day – Croque-Monsieur (RM15.90).
A croque-monsieur is actually a fancy name for a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.The name is based on the verb croque “to crunch” and the word monsieur “mister”. The sandwich’s first recorded appearance on a Parisian café menu was in 1910. Typically, Emmental or Gruyère cheese is used for croque-monsieur, but here in Red Bean Bag, mozzarella cheese is used to assemble the sandwich instead.
The croque-monsieur was blanketed with mozzarella cheese and the bread was done like French toast. Taste awesome and perfectly balanced out with greens at the side.
How could I resist my Eggs Atlantic?
And it still was generous with all the ingredients that I love. Taste-wise, the Eggs Atlantic was consistent. The eggs was traditionally free form shape and the yolks were slightly cooked at the edges from the whites. No complains here. 😀
Overall, the dining experience in Red Bean Bag had been positive. I loved the ambiance and the vibe but the food could be inconsistent. Generally, the food is decent and quite a value for your money for the portion and quality ingredients used.
Have you been here? What do you think?
1st visit: Beef Burger, Caesar Salad, Guinness Chocolate Cake, Tiramisu and of course, COFFEE.
2nd visit: Eggs Atlantic, Big Breakfast, Croque Monsieur and more COFFEE.
Lot A4-1-8, Solaris Dutamas (just look for The Square).
Jalan Dutamas 1,
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-6211 5116
Tue – Fri: 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Sat – Sun: 9:30 am – 6:00 pm
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/theredbeanbag
Used to go there every week. You’re right, it can be inconsistent but it does deliver the taste most of the time
A good place to stop by for a cup of black gold, reiterating yourself as well as a quick bite. Next time if you’re thinking of dropping in again, let me know, my office is in Publika. Lunch menu is good as well.
Would love to try the baked eggs and the croque monsier. 😀
Yup definitely inconsistency with the baked eggs cause they were overcooked when we tried them.. but everything else is yums!
Red Bean Bag french toast is good for sure.
Never failed to order their coffee whenever I’m there. Black gold indeed!
I would try the French Toast now that you recommended it. The baked eggs looks good too!