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

NBrew, Mid Valley Megamall

The deal: RM10 for RM20 cash voucher for gelatos, yoghurts and specialty pasta at NBrew.

What we got:

Gula melaka avocado gelato (small: RM9) and cempedak gelato (regular: RM10.90)

Liquid nitrogen ice-cream was a newly-introduced concept in Malaysia, with several stores popping up last year selling this alone. While not an entirely new product, merely gelato made in a different way, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the interesting method of preparation, and was left wondering what a liquid nitrogen ice-cream/gelato tastes like (although I keep telling myself it really wouldn't taste much different).

I've read (invited?) reviews raving about the gula melaka avocado, which is why I opted for this flavour, but in all honesty, I thought it was kinda meh. Avocados are great in salads, sure, but not so much in gelato. The cempedak gelato fared better in terms of taste; it smelt and tasted good, and I'm glad we took two scoops of this instead of the avocado one.

Would I say liquid nitrogen ice-cream/gelato in general is a must-try? Not really. It's not crazily different from your usual ice-cream or gelato, but if like me you've some sort of curiousity that won't be satiated until you try it, go ahead. After all, it doesn't hurt to try something (sort of) new.

Tax: None.

How much we paid: RM10