We were welcomed by a beautiful, chic and modern interior.
We decided to have two starters, the first being Grilled ‘Bacon’ Wrapped Snails, which was escargot served with coco beans and parsley garlic sauce (RM19).
*The 'bacon' used is made from turkey meat.
Gaj: AMAZE-BALLS, wouldn’t have minded having seconds.
Shiv: Best dish of the night, and set the bar really high for the rest of the meal. Thanks ABC for making my first escargot experience quite delightful. Highly recommend this one.
Mien: Hands down the best dish of the night.
Kav: My first time eating escargot. Loved it!!! The meat was bouncy and the garlic-y flavour complemented the snails beautifully.
The next starter was Chorizo Fried Mushrooms, with man tau pau croutons (RM17).
The next starter was Chorizo Fried Mushrooms, with man tau pau croutons (RM17).
Gaj: This dish was not memorable. The mushrooms were tasty, but the croutons were a tad tasteless.
Shiv: Expected the chorizo bits to flavour the dish, but could barely taste it. However, I thought that the man tau pau was a unique substitute to ordinary bread.
Mien: The man tau pau croutons were bland, and the flavour from the mushroom did not go well with it.
Kav: It was unique. However don’t expect a burst of flavour as the dish was only mildly flavoured. I liked the man tau pau.
We had Green Chili Pesto Fettuccine for our first main course. The pasta is usually prepared with prawns, mussels, clams and squid. As we are not big on mussels, we requested for the dish to be omitted of this and replaced with more prawns and squid instead (RM35).
Gaj: I did not enjoy this pasta, I felt like the prawns and squid were not done well.
Shiv: This lacked the flavour that you would normally expect in a seafood pasta. Also, the pesto coated the pasta very poorly.
Mien: The pasta tasted very average, and the pesto sauce was BAD!
Kav: The squid was tough and the pesto sauce was below average. Poor!!!
This was followed by Moroccan Lamb Stew. The lamb was served with carrots, papadum and cilantro rice (RM35).
Gaj: The sauce that accompanied the lamb was sweet. Dislike!
Shiv: The rice did not have hints of cilantro, as the name suggested, and the sickeningly sweet sauce may have even dampened my hankering for dessert. =) The only consolation for this dish was the tenderness of the stewed lamb.
Mien: I expected the dish to be prepared in a tagine, but it wasn’t. =( The lamb was too gamey, hence I didn’t like it. The gravy was wwwaaayyy beyond my threshold for sweetness.
Kav: The only thing edible in this dish was the rice and papadum!!! The lamb tasted like they had poured a butter scotch sauce over it!!! Let’s just say I have tasted better desserts before.
As we were unsatisfied with the lamb, we decided to try another main, Roasted Lemon Sole served with Artichokes, fried lettuce, capers, confit lemons and butter (RM37).
Gaj: The fish was overcooked and though the artichokes were done well, this dish was definitely not up to par.
Shiv: We should have just stopped at the lamb. Fish was dried out, and stale tasting and the lemon-butter dressing didn’t do much to help with the overall flavour.
Mien: Fish was overcooked. Will not order this again, ever ever ever!
Kav: The lemon sole was far from soulful!!! It was dry and rubbery. What a waste of delicious artichokes and capers!!!
Moving on to desserts, we first had the Cempedak or Jackfruit cake, with pistachio nut coating (RM15) and we ordered cappuccino (RM13) to go with our desserts.
Gaj: This cake tasted like pandan-laced medicine.
Shiv: Another major letdown. The cake was laced with WAY TOO MUCH sugar, and it tasted chemical-y. I stopped after one bite.
Mien: There was a nice natural jackfruit flavour, however, it was too creamy. Kav and I finished the cake.
Kav: I think ABC spends most of their budget on sugar!!! Too sweet. However I thought that it had an authentic jackfruit flavour. I dipped the cake in my sugarless cappuccino to balance out the taste. Loved their coffee.
The second cake we ordered was Raspberry Chocolate Cake moist layers of raspberry and chocolate ganache (RM15).
Gaj: This cake was definitely better than the first cake, but definitely not the best chocolate cake in town.
Shiv: Mediocre. Again, too sweet, and could have been more moist. I may have said it was bad if I hadn’t tried the first cake.
Mien: Not a fan, it was like eating sugar!!!!!!
Kav: After eating this cake I was convinced that they were getting free sugar supplies. Tooooooooo sweet!!!!! I preferred the first cake.
Verdict: WOK OFF!
ABC definitely did not live up to its hype and whilst it boasts a great ambience to chill and hang out, the food here leaves much to be desired. Our humble suggestion: Skip the mains altogether and have coffee (and maybe starters) to enjoy the lovely atmosphere.
ACME BAR AND COFFEE (ABC),
THE TROIKA, JALAN BINJAI,
Mon - Thur: 11am to 12am
Fri: 11am to 1am
Sat: 9.30am to 1am
Sun: 9.30am to 12am
i wld actually eat escargot after this post
ReplyDeleteThank you. Yea, when you do get the chance, you should actually pay a visit to ABC to try out the snails. It was really good! =)
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