Bumbu Bali, Bandar Puteri Puchong, Selangor

Out in the jungles of dodgy Puchong is Bumbu Bali, a Balinese themed restaurant that serves Balinese food plus a mixture of some western dishes too. i.e. Fish and Chips. Anyway, it first opened here years ago and business has been good, looks like the "bengs" here do enjoy something else other than economy rice and pan mee. (Bumbu Bali has since also opened up in Solaris Dutamas)
I've always liked this place. Decor is typically Balinese with teak furniture and nice seats. Comfy! Ambience is cosy and warm which makes it stand out in this "Chinese" suburb.  FYI, they sell merchandise too. Bali stuff - wood carvings, statues and eery looking stuff.
Let's get back to food here. Today, I just had to try their Siap Bumbu. Fried Balinese style chicken, rice and salad. RM30. The price seems steep but the serving makes up for it. It is pretty huge.

Nice presentation, food served on a banana leaf and in this wooden tray. (I wonder if the Balinese actually eat like this.) 

Check out the big piece of fried chicken. Perfectly done, juicy and pretty crispy on the outside. Served with the chilli belacan, YUMMY!

Crackers served together but this one..sigh! not much taste. No prawn taste or any other taste except for flour!

Now this little serving of "salad" is good. Very refreshing, crunchy and the taste. It is the simple dishes like this that makes a difference in everyday food. Appetizing and yes the vegetables are fresh.

Bumbu Bali is a pretty nice place to have dinner or lunch if you have the budget to spend RM30 for lunch. Although the servings pretty big but I reckon the price is still pretty steep for normal Balinese fare that does not include very expensive ingredients. 

Will I come come back? Yeah, maybe once every 6 months, LOL! Oh before I forget, the barley lime here is a must try. Extremely good especially on a hot day. Not too sweet and no overkill by too much of the slimy barley. Thumbs up!

Points - 2.5 - Nice place, pretty good food but the price...expensive.

Decanter, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur

Decanter in Damansara Heights used to be a cool hangout for me as it was hidden between houses in this so called "rich" area of Kuala Lumpur. It was always a good place to have a good lunch, coffee maybe a couple of beers and not likely to be disturbed or bump into anyone you know. I like that.
Decanter is not a wine place, mind you. It is styled more like an old English pub. Don't know where the name decanter came from. It is a cosy old fashioned kinda pub/restaurant which serves pretty ok food, which mainly has a mixture of local and western fare.
On this particular day, I was in the mood for some ox tail. Ordered the Oxtail soup and also the Oxtail stew. (Yeah yeah I know. Over dose of ox??) Also got the Chicken Chop.

One thing about Ox tail soup is that you can't really get good ones anymore. Not many places have this anymore. (Don't know why?) Or just that the chef's do not know how to do this? Well, the oxtail soup here is not too bad. Not as thick as I want it to be but taste wise, it's passable. Not enough ox tail in it though making it a little too watery for my liking but nevertheless the taste was there.

Next came the Oxtail stew. Damn! This thing was hot....took a long time to cool down in order to consume it without burning my tongue. This stew just had too much pepper in it. The pepper totally overkilled the stew, over powering any other taste available. (I am sure this will be good in a cold winter night) It was not disappointing though, before the pepper numbed my tongue. It was not very salty, just nice and the stew being a stew was thick. Dip the bread into it and it was awesome, before the pepper started working. After a few scoops, it all went downhill as I was struggling with the pepper.

The chicken chop came and it looked good. Very "Ketchuppy" and good serving with vegetables. Taste wise, normal chicken chop with ketchup and HP sauce. I reckon I can do better with my own recipe on this. The thing with chicken chop, the recipe works with both chicken and pork. Good thing was the serving was pretty big and you won't go home hungry.


Decanter is still the old place hidden in the hills of Damansara Heights. (I refuse to call it Bukit Damansara. Why change those damn names when it already sounded pretty cool, beats me!!) The decor in this place is old, maybe it's time to do some minor renovations and change those ugly table cloth.
Service is still pretty acceptable. One thing is that it is good place to have lunch or happy hour away from the noise and traffic of Mont Kiara and Hartamas.


Points - 2