KL's Pavillion - T.G.I Friday's Restaurant

Warning: The following entry contained photos which might cause instant hunger and uncontrolled production of excess saliva. Dieters, please avoid, others proceed with caution.

You have been warned… Well, I am post-blogging the remaining photos from my KL trip last November. Yes, I know it was so long ago… but they are worth sharing. So, people here go the first of the series - T.G.I Friday's!

Nope, I am not cheering that it is Friday, but rather the U.S. restaurant chain T.G.I Friday's! We went to the Pavilion outlet during the last night in Kuala Lumpur – one of my favourite cities. Actually, we had wanted to go Tony Roma, but later decided to go TGIF instead as it is not available in Singapore. I heard that S’pore’s branch closed down years ago… What a pity. I would rate it as a must-try if you are travelling to KL !

The décor of the restaurant was rather open concept, much like New York New York in Singapore. The wall plastered with pictorials of American icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Las Vegas, baseball etc, informal but lively which gave people that “always a lot of things to see” kind of feeling. The lighting was subtle which gave people a sense of privacy – good for couple I must say.

So what is special about the restaurant ? It’s the food. Do you know the difference between American food and French food? Le PORTION! America’s food portion is HUGE! T.G.I Friday's food stays true to its American roots! Because we are in Malaysia, the conversion rate is in our favour, it makes the food very much worthwhile! That is worth every reason to visit it already!

Basically, they have set meals and ala carte dishes. Set meals cost RM$39.90 which converts to about $17 sing dollars, consisted of an appetiser, main course and dessert. Well, you would have thought that is only ah? What so special? Scroll and continue to read…

For appetiser, one get to chose either Shrimp Martini or Fried Macaroni Cheese. When they were served, we were dumb-stuck… I would have mistaken them for main courses and really if anyone finished them, there is hardly any room for main course, let alone dessert…

Just take a look at this - Shrimp Martini. It is one of our favourite dishes.

Quite special, it was served cold in a HUGE Martini glass.

It is a bit like Seliche (don't know how to spell) in which raw bits of seafood is marinated in lime juice and rum. This shrimp martini consisted of shrimps, chopped up olive, onions, tomato and tomato juice. Additional lemon juice is optional which is what we did. This resulted in a slightly acidic tangy appetiser which whetted our appetite immediately. The restaurant was generous with the ingredients as well with plenty of shrimps to share among three of us.

Those on diet turned your head now. This is their Fried Macaroni Cheese appetizer for one and there are six pieces! I mean one is sinful enough, but to serve six pieces to one person is just evil. Anyway, I am not complaining because they are really good.

Served piping hot, the fried Macaroni cheese had a very crispy crust, the cheese melted and "stringed" when we divided it into half. Took a bite, the first taste which hit you was the rich cheesy flavour, but it was not salty. In fact, it was slightly blend. I would think that it needed more cheese or liquid as it was a tad dry. We actually dunked these "comforting package" into the shrimp martini sauce. It should be eaten immediately while it was hot.

Besides the food, we also ordered cocktail drinks. They were cheaper compared to Singapore's, but I never expected that it was also slightly larger than Singapore's...

My friend ordered this chocolate bailey drink which I have forgotten the name. We were laughing our heads off when it was served. This alone can filled her up already. How can they serve drink in a mini-goldfish bowl?

Tasted a bit like alcoholic milkshake with a ball of ice cream. Sweet, creamy and sinfully decadent...

Another friend and I ordered the healthier Mojito! It was the tastiest Mojito I ever drank. Don't think that it is cheaper, they would hold the alcohol back. They did not and were quite generous in fact, that I start to worry how to get back to hotel after the first sip!

Then comes the main course. Strangely, they were not as huge as I thought they would be. Perhaps, I had enough shock with the appetisers and drinks that when it comes to the main course, I was not really surprise. Perhaps, the alcohol had taken some effects as well - Sedatively.


The taste was so-so too. Normal chicken breast meat over rice with tangy sweet mandarin orange sauce. As usual with Amercian restaurant, Chicken breast meat was dry. The sauce managed to hydrate it slightly. The only thing worth mentioning was that I think they served me a head of broccoli. That serving alone was probably 0ne full day worth of vegetable intake for an adult. LOL.


My friend's order - Grilled Chicken Breast Meat with Pasta. Chicken meat tasted dry, pasta not al dente and yes, the broccoli. They gave her a smaller head. LOL.


This had to be the best main course. Fish and Chips! Crust crispy and fish fillets tender and moist inside. Not really greasy, so it was quite good.

By now, we are actually quite done with eating. However, there is still dessert to come and the portion was backed to normal size - HUGE!!! Seriously, no wonder America has the highest obesity rate. How can one stay silm there?


This was supposed to be some rich and dense chocolate cake, but it was dry too. We were not very impressed with it.

This was better one! It is vanila ice cream sandwiched between some huge chocolate chips cookie. As if it was not sweet enough, they drenched the plate with chocolate and cameral sauce. Definately not good for body, but it tasted rather good.


Verdict:


I like their appetiser and mojito and the supersized chocolate chip ice-cream dessert. Luckily, we were shopping away the whole day. Otherwise, this meal really busted our daily calories intake. I recommended should try because the price was quite worthwhile. The main course which we had are not their speciality which is grilled steak and chicken with whiskey sauce! Perhaps, they will taste better.


Staff is cheerful and friendly. While we were there, someone celebrated their birthday. All the staff actually gathered around to entertain that table with songs and cheers. The celebration lasted quite a while. They seem genuinely entertaining the birthday girl and gang. It was really fun and exciting. I would want to celebrate my birthday there - this year maybe. Hee Hee.

For more information, visit their website - http://www.fridays.com.my/