Friday, October 12, 2012

Chatterbox @ 1Utama Shopping Centre

 

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My first comment about this eating place is the chinese words of this eating outlet loosely translates into Gossiping instead of Chatterbox. Chatterbox is located near the Rainforest section of 1 Utama’s new wing. It’s a very relaxing corner, facing the man-made rainforest and a walking distance to the Aviary. When I got there at 12 noon, the place is fully occupied but I managed to get my family of 6 person to sit outside the restaurant.

Once we’re seated, we got into business by ordering our dishes as fast as we can. Deciding what to eat is normally not an easy task for me but having your family around makes thing easier as each of us can choose a dish that we like. With the help of a courteous waitress, we managed to put our order of dishes in no time.

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Slice Fish Fillet with Garlic & Ginger

First up was the slice fish fillet with garlic & ginger. The dish came in about 20 minutes after our order was placed in. Considering that it was nearly full house during lunch peak period, the waiting time is somewhat reasonable. The fish slices were warm when it reached out table. The garlic and ginger were crispy and no hint of overnight oil smell on both items. Since I am a big fan of garlic, I picked up most of the slices. However, I do find the gravy a bit salty for my liking. In the time where people are more health conscious, I think the chef should take this into consideration.

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 Stir Fried Hong Kong Kailan with Oyster Sauce

Next came the stir fried Hong Kong kailan with oyster sauce. Kailan is one of my favourite veggie and I like them stir fried too :-)

This leafy green when blanched for the right amount of time, can have a really nice texture when you bite into it. Chatterbox hit the right note with the texture of the kailan. However, the length of the veggie poses a challenge to the person eating it. The chef should have cut the veggie shorter for easy eating.

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Deep Fried Chicken with Onion Ring in Special Sauce

After the kailan, the deep fried chicken with onion ring in special sauce was presented to our table. I looked at it with much enthusiasm as the chicken doesn’t look too soggy. You know, sometimes, in some restaurants, they can get too carried away with the sauce that the chicken pieces looked like some wet bathing suits, dripping in water. Both the chicken and the onion rings were crispy and up to our liking. Even my daughter liked the onion rings. For a picky eater, that’s something encouraging. The sauce was a blend of sweet and salty but not too salty like the previous 2 dishes.

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 Deep Fried Squid in Curry Leaves

The deep fried squids in curry leaves made its entrance after the chicken. This is one of my wife’s preferred dish. I like this dish too. Chatterbox has also cooked it well with enough of curry leaves to give out the aromatic smell of the curry leaves. The flour batter is also mixed with butter to give it some salty flavour.20121007_123805

Braised Broccoli and Tofu in Pumpkin Sauce

The last dish that we ordered; braised broccoli and tofu in pumpkin sauce, looked vibrant in the seas of “orange”. I love broccoli a lot. And tofu too. Mum wanted to try out this combination as well as having pumpkin puree as the sauce. We feel adventurous for the day in trying out new flavour. That’s what our gastronomic sense is asking us to do. The broccoli again was blanched right. The tofu is an egg tofu. I like that. However, the pumpkin sauce isn’t working its magic in this dish. Someone, something just didn’t work right with the combination. Even Mum agreed that the combination doesn’t taste up to her expectation. The mixture of green, white and orange

Working our stomachs to 5 dishes were good enough for the 6 of us who are small eaters. We enjoyed the atmosphere, the location of the restaurant, the good customer service and most of the dishes we ordered. You guessed it. The only letdown we had was the braised broccoli and tofu in pumpkin sauce. I do like this place though for lunch or dinner. The dishes are reasonably priced for a family shopping mall like 1 Utama.

Here’s the location of the outlet and my rating for the place.

Address: LG338 Lower Ground Floor, 1Utama Shopping Centre

Location: 4/5 ( easy to find with 1 Utama having the self-help interactive directory situated by the side of the escalator at every floor )

Ambient: 5/5 ( next to the artificial rainforest, what more can you ask for )

Food Quality: 4/5

Food Price: 4/5

Service: 4/5