Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Apartment Restaurant & Bar @ The Curve

 

When you have a group of great colleagues as your dining companion, it already add “flavour” to your meal. This has certainly happened to me on Wednesday when I invited my colleagues and team-mates for a department’s dinner at The Apartment Restaurant & Bar, The Curve Mutiara Damansara.

   This is my first complete meal at The Apartment per se  as my previous visit was for dessert and to unwind after dinner at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. When I wanted to invite my mates for a dinner this time around, The Apartment came to mind as it’s a Theme Restaurant and I personally love the deco of this place. The “homely” feel of this restaurant sets the mood for a cozy and relaxing dinner. The place exudes a warm and welcoming atmosphere just as if you’re inviting your best buddies to your own apartment for a home-cooked meal.

   Located along “The Street” section of The Curve shopping centre, The Apartment has TGIF, Marche, Starbucks amongst its neighbours. It’s not hard to find The Apartment as it’s situated right in the middle of The Street.

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The Apartment

   The decorations and settings of this restaurant are mainly adapting the concept of …… you guessed it, an apartment! It gives you the feel as if you’re walking straight into an apartment with all the deco and furniture pieces which you are expected to find in a decorated and furnished home. The Apartment is segmentised into the living area, the study area, the bathroom area and not to forget the dining area and patio. Here, you can opt for the indoor dining area or the alfresco area. Of course, when you’re at an apartment, it just feel right to be seated in the apartment itself. Right? Right! Of course, if the alfresco or balcony presents you with a majestic sunset view and you’re enjoying a romantic dinner, then naturally the balcony would be the ideal setting. Else, sitting inside The Apartment would be a natural choice, duh!

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Welcomed by the little sofa, work desk and soothing lights – great ambience!

   A stone throw away from the entrance, you will be greeted by the Study area which comes complete with tables and chairs best suited for couples ( perhaps couples who enjoy reading more than eating, haha! ) Along the wall, there are book shelves come complete with magazines and books for those who don’t naturally take out their smartphones and start social networking the moment they sit down. Ooh, I forgot to mention that The Apartment comes with free wifi too! So, you can really start “viber, whatsapp, foursquare, check in” before you warm the seats!

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I guess with the dimmed light, you’re not supposed to read here. Start looking into each other’s eyes and build up the coziness

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The Bathroom – an interesting section of The Apartment. Shower before you eat ?  

   My reservation was made a week ago in order not to be disappointed by not getting a table at my favourite section of the restaurant. From my previous visit, I think that the dining area setting would be the best area for the 8 of us since it’s situated right at the end of the restaurant and flanked by 2 smaller tables. The dining table sits 8-10 and decorated with portraits and picture frames.

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Pencil sketch or charcoal drawing ? Can you tell ?

    As much as what Murphy’s Law epigram: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong", it did happened to my reservation. On my first reservation made a week ago before the actual date of the dinner, I did asked to be seated at the Dining Area of The Apartment. Was being told that the section is available and I’m being reserved for that. 2 days before the day, I called again to re-confirm my reservation and again reiterated that I wanted the Dining Area. Again, was being told that it’s available. On the actual day of the dinner itself, I received a call from the restaurant’s supervisor to confirm my reservation. To my horror, when I reached the restaurant, I was ushered to another section of the restaurant. I was puzzled and annoyed when being informed that the Dining Area has been reserved by another guests! I called for the Supervisor; who unfortunately was not available, but another person-in-charge (sorry I forgot your name Bro!) came to look into my complain. Upon checking the reservation book, I saw that I was indeed being allotted the Dining Area but it was erased and changed to the Window section. I don’t want to look like some goldfishes in aquarium and be seated along the corridor with people passing by us! I want a private corner where we can eat & laugh & be loud if we want to! In the end, the P.I.C got things sorted out and moved us back to our reserved corner – Dining Area. Phew!!

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My favourite corner – the Dining Area

   The “Hungry Eight” did not take long to decide what to eat (by my standard, this time it’s not long). Some of us ordered the same dish despite the variety ranges from Asian to Western dishes….2 minds, 1 heart perhaps? Haha, get over it! I was surprised that no one ordered any Mocktail or drinks. I wanted to try the range of mocktails available. I guess the 2 bottles of plain water that came earlier put off the idea.

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Clockwise from top left : Irish Lamb Stew, Seafood pasta, Baked Fish, Surf N Turf, Piquant Chicken and Salmon Fettucine

When everyone’s busy chatting and laughing away, time passes by without you realising it. I guess our orders came in around 15-20 minutes?? Here’s my personal opinion of some of the main courses we ordered. I didn’t pinched all the food from some of my colleagues but managed to taste some of the them.

Irish Lamb Stew : The lamb is cooked to tender and the gravy is not too watery but just nice. The bread slices made great companion to dipping the gravy.

Seafood Pasta : I didn’t taste this but the muscles look tempting! I didn’t get too much complain from the person who ordered this though she prefers Chinese food :-)

Baked Fish : This is what I ordered. I find the fish is too dry for my liking. The melted cheese is rubbery and does not complement well with the fish. I would much prefer it to be more watery like the carbonara sauce. The potatoes are lightly salted and come with some herbs. It tasted better than the fish. I don’t know what you call the vege but it has some bitter taste. Ah ah, I don’t like this vege. Perhaps blanched baby carrots & baby sweet corns would be safer bet.

Surf N Turf : I am confused by the name of this dish as it’s a combination of grilled beef topped with prawns. I didn’t get to eat the beef but the prawns are big and juicy. Perfecto!

Piquant Chicken : The name sounds complicated! I don’t know about the taste…

Salmon Fettucine : An Italian version of Chinese pan mee :-) You need to “hunt” for your salmon on the plate. They’re rather small slices but the taste of the fettucine is alright. For me, carbonara is still my ideal sauce for fettucine.

   No dinner at The Apartment is complete without ordering some of its signature desserts. Since I have eaten the Baked Chocolate Pudding before this, it’s a must try for first timer here. Since there were 8 of us, the main course already filled up most of the tummies. We only shared 4 desserts. Since I highly recommend the Baked Chocolate Pudding, we ordered 2 of this. Be assureded that it’s worth the wait even though you have to wait 15-20 minutes for the pudding to be baked. Just continue chatting please and wait for your dessert.

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Left to Right : Apple & Pear Crumble, Strawberry Pavlova, Baked Chocolate Pudding

Apple & Pear Crumble : I’m not a big fan of apple. Given a choice, I would not order this dessert but those who loves apples, this is quite nice with the crusty top layer hiding the gems below : the apple & pear cubes. I did tasted a spoonful of it but I find it sweet though. Also, I’m not a fan of vanilla ice-cream. I leave it for the rest to cherish the dessert.

Strawberry Pavlova : The name exudes class and stirred our interest. Of course, the menu with its picture in it, made it more tempting to order. We had not much idea what it’s  going to taste like. It tasted like some frozen marshmallow. I can still bear with its sweetness but 3 portions of pavlova on 1 plate is a bit overwhelming even for the 8 of us.

Baked Chocolate Pudding : I deduced that this must be the “star” of The Apartment’s dessert as it is described as heavenly. I didn’t realise the same adjective was used in the menu when I described the taste to my fellow colleagues. I did tell the rest of them that this is a “must-try” in The Apartment ( very hard-sell ). At the end of the day, from the look of everyone’s face, I believe that I didn’t make a poor recommendation to them. I did saw satisfied faces after trying out the pudding. The freshly baked aroma of chocolate evoke the “I wanna try” spirit before the chocolate pudding reached our table. After you savour the top crust, the rich chocolate pudding is complemented by generous offer of chocolate sauce inside the hot pudding. This is best eaten while it’s still warm and complementing it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream brings out the best of hot and cold in 1 serving. I wonder besides vanilla ice-cream, do they have other flavour? I should have enquire this earlier.

   The total bill came close to RM350.00 (including service charge and govt. taxes) for 8 main courses and 4 desserts. A reasonable price considering that it’s a dinner at a Themed Restaurant in a popular shopping mall. I guess in the end, I got my desired table and managed to gather my team-mates for a get-together dinner. All well, ends well. I always believe that having the right ambience and the right companion(s)  do compliment a GREAT meal !! The price of the meal is secondary in this aspect.

Thank you guys and gals for being able to share the moments. Love you all !!

Address:

The Apartment

Lot 72, 73 & 74, 152 Ground Floor,

Western Courtyard, The Curve

Mutiara Damansara

Tel: 03-77278330

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