Lebanese Delicacies - Tarbush Restaurant, Empire Shopping Gallery

Restaurant franchises/branches should be the same wherever you go. For instance, McDonalds probably has like a few hundred franchises all over Malaysia, and they all taste (mostly) the same whichever outlet you go to.

Not Tarbush, though. The darling and I love the Sunway Pyramid branch. It's immaculately decorated, and food is great (although service is lacking somewhat). Their branch at the Empire Shopping Gallery though is ... different. The decoration is simple and minimalist to the point that if you missed the signboard outside you would be 99.99% sure you were in a different restaurant chain.

Ah well, differences in ambience can be forgiven as long as the food's the same. We open up with the Hommus with Lamb (MYR13.00). Hommus is a spread made from chick peas (and other ingredients) and is typically eaten with some sort of flatbread (typically pita bread). It's decent, although yet also different tasting from the Sunway Pyramid branch. Oh, and the lamb pieces were cold, which was a bit of a bummer.


The Shish Kebab (MYR22.00) is pretty good! Nice and juicy without too much of a "lamb-ey" taste.


Can't say the same about the Lamb Briyani (MYR20.00) though. While the lamb itself was nice and not tough, the briyani was rather mushy and plain tasting.


Overall, a disappointment. Based on my memory the menu (and also the prices) is the same as the Sunway Pyramid branch. But the ambience/decoration and food quality was a few notches lower. Why pay the same price if you're gonna get an inferior product? Give this outlet a miss and head over to Sunway Pyramid instead to satisfy your hankering for Middle Eastern food.

High Society High Tea - T Forty Two cafe (by Ms Read Boutique), Empire Shopping Gallery

High Society. The group that the socialites and the upper class belong to, and the lifestyles of which the rest of us can only imagine. Well, perhaps the closest experience us plebs can get is to head on down to the Empire Shopping Gallery in Subang, where boutique Ms Read has opened a cafe of sorts named T Forty Two.


As you can see, everything is immaculately decorated. There's crystal everywhere, designer chairs, and the tables have a mirror surface!


Although there's a selection of pasta's and sandwiches on the menu, it's clear that they cater more for snacks, cakes and tea (or coffee, if that floats your boat). There's a delectable selection of different cakes and pastries on display on the serving tables:




Enough about the decoration, though. The darling and I decide to share the High Tea for Two, which costs MYR49.90++ and is only available from 3pm-6pm (if memory serves correctly). While waiting for the food to be prepared we're served with some honey'ed almonds, which were pretty delicious!


The High Tea set comes with two choices of coffee or tea. There are quite a number of exotic blends, but me being in a not-so-adventurous mood, decide on cappucino. It comes in a designer cup-and-saucer, and even the sugar is served in a delectable little pewter container. Although the coffee was delicious, one huge complaint is that because the cup is very thin, it doesn't hold much heat and so my cappucino was cold less than halfway through the high-tea.


The darling's Orange Tangerine Tea doesn't have that problem, though, because the tea is kept warm by a proper teapot.


As for the food for the High-Tea, we're served with a 'sampler' of finger sandwiches (salmon and egg salad), hot scones with cream and jam, two sweet mini cakes to which I've forgotten the name, mango macarons, chocolate balls and a choice of cake - for us, we chose the chocolate cake.


So if you're ever in a pretentious mood and hankering for sipping some tea from some fine china with your pinky upturned, head on over to T Forty Two in the Empire Shopping Gallery and sample their High-Tea. And please, no more taxes :(