Café Madeleine Bistro, Oasis Square

Café Madeleine Bistro

My better half told me about a café cum bakery that’s supposed to be quite good and we drove down to Oasis Square to check it out. It says Restaurant Madeline on the signboard but this is actually Café Madeleine Bistro – they have several other outlets in Sunway and Monash (even one in Sunway Medical Centre I remember from my doctor shopping days).

Café Madeleine

There’s an vague Australian vibe in the interior décor with the large central table/bar and magazines lining the shelves on the sides and it seemed like a great place for weekend brunches. The service was a little on the Chinese side (it’s unusual to see so many local Chinese waiters in the era of foreign help) but functional, if unremarkable.

Affogato (RM 8.50)

Affogato

This is a bit of a disaster – the ice cream in this affogato is instantly recognizable as the cheap locally produced Nestle “ice cream” (not sure if it meets the criteria for ice cream since it’s quite low in real butterfat and undoubtedly has palm oil as a substitute). I tasted it and my dear tasted it and we looked at each other and said “Nestle“. That’s how bad it was. To be fair, the whole thing tasted better after the shot of espresso was poured in, but if I wanted Nestle crap I would have made it at home, even my home has higher quality ice cream.

Hot Chocolate (RM 11)

Hot Chocolate

This was my better half’s order and it seemed to go down alright.

Cappuccino (RM 10)

Cappuccino

The waiter actually forgot my order – he thought I just wanted the affogato. I had to remind him to get my drink. Like I said, the service was dreary but I got the feeling that they did try their best…their best is just not good enough. smirk

Teacher’s Pet (RM 15)

Teachers Pet

This is a croissant sandwich with a filling of tuna or chicken ham. Yeah, I didn’t know it was pork free either. My dear’s order, she tried valiantly to finish it. Notice the pepper? I’ll go into that soon.

Madeleine’s Signature Chicken Bravo (RM 25)

Madeleine Signature Chicken Bravo

This is supposed to be “Cajun marinated whole leg served with 2 side dishes”. There’s nothing Cajun about it, and it was way too salty. It also looked like they spilled the pepper shaker on our dishes – everything was covered with pepper! This wasn’t an optional “Hey, I’ll grind a bit on your plate if you want some” deal, it came out like this! Pepper on everything, including the side salad. I was aghast and had to force myself to eat it, although I didn’t finish it. The sauce was disgustingly salty and it was pre-poured on everything, even the (pepper filled) mash potatoes.

Macarons (RM 4.50/piece)

Café Madeleine Macarons

This was the only redeeming feature of our lunch. My dear told me they’re better known for their baked goods (it’s called Madeleine Patisserie after all) and we had one each of Lemon, Summer Love (mixture of berries), Salted Caramel. They’re nowhere close to the likes of Pierre Hermé, Ladurée or even Adriano Zumbo of course, I only made the comparison due to their faux French name. The macarons tasted good, but until today I’m not sure if it’s coz the meal was so bad that they tasted good in comparison.

Café Madeleine Oasis Square

I’ll say avoid at all costs unless you plan on just having the baked goods. The kitchen didn’t impress at all, the food was horrible and overseasoned. I also didn’t like the use of cheap commercial ice cream in their affogato. The bill came up to RM 83 for the two of us, and we would have had a much better meal pretty much anywhere. We won’t be coming back when there are so many good cafes out there. Don’t be fooled by my dear’s great food photography, this place is at best a 1/10.

the bing

the bing

bing! is billed as a coffee company, similar to the
likes of Starbucks and Coffee Bean, except it’s not a franchise (unlike
what I mentioned in the video tour, my mistake). The front of the
establishment is designed with lots of see through windows to provide
natural ambient lighting and probably to allow the patrons to be seen,
I presume.

bing entrance

This is the real entrance…the door is not on the front of the
bing, but to the alley at the side of the coffee place. It’s a newly
opened venue, located along Jalan Padungan, Kuching, near the SOHO and
Grappa area.

bing counter

This is the counter of the bing, they offer a variety of coffees as well as fruit juices and tea.

bing crew

There’s a good crew to customer ratio and the service was good.

bing food

the bing also offers a variety of pastries, cakes and bottled drinks from the counter.

bing interior

Here’s a shot of the interior, the view facing outwards (towards the
front). The seating arrangements varies from comfortable soft couches
to intricate rattan chairs, like this one below.

bing chairs

This is a photo from another angle:

bing minimal

The shot is facing inwards, showing the minimalist decor on the
walls, and the second compartment towards the back where al fresco
seating arrangements are available.

bing caramel blended

This is the drink I ordered – a caramel doused ice blended mocha (hey, it was a hot day :p).

bing cappuccino

Here’s a shot of their cappuccino – it comes with a slice of almond biscuit on the side, a very nice touch.

bing banana decor

There’s some interesting decors on the tables, a recurrent motif is green bananas. These are not edible, if you’re wondering…

Here’s a video tour of the bing:

bing tour

Download: bing tour [sixthseal.com]

bing buddha

It’s a great place to relax and have a couple of drinks with
friends…though I can’t shake the association of the venue’s name with
a certain club in The Sopranos.

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