Wood & Steel, Kota Damansara

The deal: RM10 for RM20 cash voucher for food and drinks at Wood & Steel

What we got:

French onion soup (RM7)

Thick and rich, the French onion soup (the only soup choice available on the menu) was a decent pick. If we had to nitpick, I would say we would've preferred garlic butter over melted cheese on the baguette slice, and the soup could do with being hotter instead of just lukewarm.

Champion's breakfast (RM15)

Chef's recommendation - Stuffed chicken (RM20)

For the main courses, we had the champion's breakfast and the stuffed chicken. The baked beans in the breakfast set was interesting--it didn't taste like the normal baked beans you get straight out of the can, and somewhat reminded me of chili con carne minus the meat. I really enjoyed it. The cocktail sausages were lightly spiced and also tasted good, while the scrambled eggs and accompanying button mushrooms and cherry tomatoes were decent. The toast, on the other hand, was rather plain, with parts of it slightly burnt.

The stuffed chicken would've made a good option for the health-conscious, if it weren't for the fact that it was a bit too oily to be termed healthy. The chicken wasn't 'stuffed', per se--it was basically veggie sandwiched between two slices of chicken breast, topped with cheese and sprinkled with herbs. The chicken was accompanied by slices of garlic bread, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and brussel sprouts. A small bowl of sauce was also provided, but I thought it rather unnecessary as the heavy taste would drown out the milder taste of the chicken. As pointed out earlier, it was oilier than I expected, but proved to be a decent dish nonetheless.

Cappuccino (RM10)

Piccolo (RM8)

We are no coffee connoisseurs, but we found the cappuccino and piccolo to be good enough.

Tax: None

How much we paid: RM30

Fravashi Restaurant, 3rd Mile Square

The deal: RM15 for RM30 cash voucher for food and drinks at Fravashi Restaurant

What we got:

Kuzu corbasi (RM9.90)

We ordered Fravashi's kuzu corbasi, or lamb stew with Turkish spices, expecting the consistency to be thick and gravy-like. What we got instead was a hazy broth with several chunks of minced lamb. A little oily, but the flavours were rich and we appreciated the boneless lamb that came with it. The menu's use of the word 'stew' to describe the soup, though, was misleading.

Lamb pide (RM18.90)

Chicken wings & lamb shish kebab (RM18.90)

For mains, we ordered the lamb pide (the other options were vegetarian, chicken or beef bacon) and the combo shish kebab. Topped with lamb chunks, olives, mushrooms,tomatoes and cheese, the pide was indeed reminiscent of a pizza, with the pastry nice and crispy without being too hard. They also provided us with a small bottle of hot sauce to sprinkle on the pide but sadly it was barely spicy.

The combo (chicken wings and lamb) shish kebab came with rice, a chilli, half a tomato and a side salad of julienned carrots and cucumbers. The chicken and lamb were a little dry, but the rice was both fluffy and fragrant.

Peach juice (RM7.90)

No regrets ordering Fravashi's imported Turkish peace juice; the fibrous drink provided a good change from the typical iced peach tea offered everywhere else.

Tax: Service charge of 10%

How much we paid: RM31.15

La Crêperie de Caroline, Telawi Bangsar

The deal: 

RM9 for authentic French savoury crepe, salad and drink at La Crêperie de Caroline

RM8 for authentic French sweet crepe and drink at La Crêperie de Caroline

What we got:

The savoury: La Fermiere - egg, Emmental cheese, chicken (RM26)

The sweet: caramelised apples and homemade salted butter caramel

La Crêperie de Caroline. We've passed by the crêperie several times when we've had to run some errands around Telawi, but have never ventured in until now. After being seated, we were presented a special menu (a printed piece of paper in a sheet of plastic, really) which showed us the selection of crêpes we could pick from for the deal. As you can see above, we decided on the La Fermiere (savoury) and caramelised apples and homemade salted butter caramel (sweet).

After reading rave reviews about the food, I'd have to say I thought the La Fermiere was a bit of a letdown. It was rather one-dimensional in taste, and the cheese got a little cloying after awhile. I felt the chicken pieces would have been better off ground and folded in as part of the crêpe rather than sitting atop the crêpe looking a little bit like an afterthought, but that's just a personal preference. 

I've always been a savoury over sweet sort of person, but surprisingly I found myself preferring the sweet crêpe. A little bit sweeter than I'd like (disclaimer: I don't have much of a sweet tooth),sure, but the delicious caramelised apples and homemade salted butter caramel proved to be a winning combination, likely to delight the tastebuds of any dessert lover.

The savoury crêpe came with a simple side salad, and both sets came with a choice of iced lemon tea or iced peach tea.

Salad

Iced peach teas

It was certainly a refreshing change to our lunch menu; truth be told, we might not have tried Caroline's if not for the voucher. Paying above RM20 for a crepe is just a little out of our price range for lunch on a typical day.

Tax: Service charge  of 10% and government tax of 6% (or so it was stated in the deal)

How much we paid: RM17

Cupcake Chic, The Curve

The deal: RM10 for RM20 cash voucher for cupcakes and macarons

What we got:

Green tea macaron (RM4)

Red Velvet, Marble and Rich & Cool cupcakes (RM5.50 each)

This trip to Cupcake Chic can be summed up in one word: disappointing.

Macaron: the shell lacked the green tea taste I'd expect from a green tea macaron, and what happened to the macaron feet? I found the red bean paste to be too paste-y (they would benefit from a creamy texture instead) and thought the proportion of filling to shell was too much.

Cupcakes: I only tasted the peppermint one (that's Rich & Cool, if it isn't already obvious) and was immediately put off by how incredibly sweet the frosting was--it felt like biting into hardened icing sugar. The texture of the cupcake wasn't great either; it was rather dry. While I didn't sample the other flavours, the consensus feedback I got was that they were all way too sweet.

Tax: None

How much we paid: RM10.50