We could go back…

Seeing how my girl liked the place and she enjoyed what she had, I told her that we could always go back there anytime we felt like it and we did!

That was why over the long weekend last week, we went there…

…for dinner on Monday evening before we drove her back to her school in the jungle the following day. Luckily, we went there early, before 6.00 p.m. so we did manage to get a table, one of the two or three still available at the time. It was crowded…AND noisy, mainly because there was a rather boisterous group and a very large one at that, right beside our table but once they were done and had left, it was perfectly all right after that.

I did go for a bit of fresh air a while later and I saw a crowd outside – yes, the place was full already by then and they were all waiting for a table. I heard some of those in a group (with a box, a birthday cake, obviously) mentioning another place and off they went! I guess if anybody intends to drop by for dinner, it would be best to call them at 010-912-1688 to make a reservation. However, I don’t know how true this is but somebody told me that they would not let you book a table ahead of time.

I was quite put off by their PLEASE WAIT TO BE SEATED sign the instant I walked in through the door. They had some makeshift one written on a piece of cardboard from some discarded carton box and placed on one of their high/bar stools right in the middle of the walkway. They have been open for quite a while now – surely, it would not take THAT long to get a nice, decent-looking one made.

I also do not know if this is their usual practice now or they only have this for dinner but no, the menu was no longer on display on the wall above the counter/bar and we were given this little (somewhat flimsy and stained) booklet…

…once we were seated to browse through and eyewww…the NCAA (no class at all) fake flowers were back…and no, there was no fine linen tablecloth nor napkin either so if it is fine dining you are looking for, despite the name and the shop sign, this isn’t the place.

The panna cotta was sold out…

…but it did not matter one bit as I did not intend to have that. I saw somewhere a photograph of their tiramisu served in a  glass…

…and I wanted to give it a try. It was nice…

…like any other tiramisu anywhere else, minus the glass. Personally I would prefer the panna cotta or the crème brûlée.

We brought our own pasta and the boy taking our orders, a different one from the guy during our first visit, was hesitating, quite unsure how they would charge us but I told him to go ahead according to the menu except that we did not want their regular pasta and would like them to use our own gluten-free penne instead. As long as it makes my girl happy, that is all that matters!

It seemed to me that though they were quite conversant in English, they were more comfortable with Mandarin – that guy appeared to have some difficulty trying to express himself clearly…but I was fine with the eventual code-switching, no problem at all.

She chose the Alfredo (RM24.00)…

…and she liked it! I did try a bit and thought it was just a milder version of the carbonara, not something I would fancy when it comes to pasta.

I also ordered this cheesy bacon bit fries (RM12.00)…

…to share but we did not think very much of it – perhaps it would be nicer if they had used melted mozarella not grated cheddar, the bacon was over-fried, hard – not sure whether it came out of a bottle and the crinkle-cut fries were probably those frozen ones, not anything to get excited about, unlike the ones that I had here that I thought were very nice.

The ones that I had in my order, the BBQ pork chop (RM28.00)…

…were pretty much the same. Should I ever ask for that again, I would definitely get them to leave out the fries and give me more of the potato salad instead – that was nice but they certainly were not very generous with it.

I must say that the meat…

…was very nicely done, tender and juicy and tasted really great except that the serving was kind of huge for one person to handle on his own in one sitting or at least, that was so in my case. I could imagine that as the main dish in a Chinese dinner to be enjoyed with rice by a family of three.

My missus had the Yakitori chicken chop (RM24.00)…

…and it was very good plus instead of the fries, she got the potato salad and the salad with the sesame dressing that I did enjoy very much on our previous visits.

It looked like they had a some kind of free-for-all system here. The waiting staff would show you your table, give you the menu, take your orders, serve the food, clear the tables, disinfect and wipe them clean and even man the till! This handsome young boy…

…did not seem too familiar with it when it came to credit cards so the girl was showing him the ropes.

I was taken by surprise when given the slips without having to key in my PIN number and when I enquired about it, I was told that they would use PAYWAVE for amounts less than RM200.00. Good grief! I thought customers would have the right to choose and I did not see any sign informing everyone about this arrangement of theirs. I wonder if there is a charge for the use of credit cards if the total is less than RM100.00 as well – if I am not mistaken and my memory serves me right, that was the case in their Italian restaurant – the first one.

With such an arrangement, I certainly would not ask for the bill to be brought to my table and pass them my credit card for them to do the transaction and everything – old folks like me can be quite paranoid about these things.

CAFFEINE CAFE is located on the ground floor of Wisma Liberty, Block 3, Lorong Pedada 7, off Jalan Pedada – on your left, past the Jalan Ulu Oya Road traffic lights if you are coming from town, just a few doors away from Nica Gelateria (2.302620, 111.842988), to the left at the end of that same block.