Coffee Garden is the anchor restaurant of Garden Hotel and is a successful F&B establishment in it’s own right. Although Coffee Garden doesn’t draw the local crowd to the extent of the wildly successful Peppers Cafe (Tanahmas Hotel), it does have its regulars and it’s a nice and (relatively) private place for lunch and dinner.
The interior of Coffee Garden has been given a major overhaul, with glass facades and mood lighting, creating a very pleasing ambiance. The post-modern architecture (actually, I don’t even know what post-modern architecture means, I just wrote it to make myself look more intelligent ;)) with reflective wall length mirrors looks amazing.
There are LCD screens placed strategically around the restaurant and an al fresco seating area outside for the nicotine brigade. Coffee Garden serves surprisingly good food, perhaps even better than Peppers Cafe. The measure of a successful hotel F&B outlet is the amount of locals patronizing the restaurant, and Coffee Garden has a loyal following.
The dinner menu at Garden Cafe is very comprehensive and covers Chinese and Western cuisine. There is complimentary garlic bread with every meal and the prices for most dishes are very reasonable.
This is the Seafood Gala (RM 16 ++) which is similar to the Manhattan Seafood Platter at Manhattan Fish Market. It consists of baked mussels, pan fried fish fillet, deep fried calamari rings and grilled shrimp served with garlic butter rice (Mmm…) and lemon butter sauce. The only thing missing is an MFM waitress going all Firebat on the platter (StarCraft reference here). 😉
The Garden Mixed Grill (RM 17 ++) has grilled lamb chop, grilled beef (otherwise known as steak), grilled chicken, sausages and beef bacon. There is a great portfolio of edible mammals represented in this dish and it’s perfect as a sample of everything they offer.
Coffee Garden also serves a wide variety of beer and alcopops at hotel prices. Their Guinness Stout goes for RM 10 ++ per mug and RM 40 ++ for a jug but regular beers goes for RM 30 ++ per jug, which is pretty much the price you’ll expect to pay at other watering holes.
I have been going there regularly for lunch with Autumn to eat through their entire set lunch menu. The lunch menu is limited and priced at RM 8++ inclusive of a drink and soup.
Fried Chicken With Peanut Soup
Autumn had this during our first lunch date there. I’ve had it as well, it’s pretty good but a little on the bland side. It should be noted that some of the waiters and waitresses are not very good photographers so you may have to get them to take several shots. 😉
Fried Fish Fillet with BBQ Sauce
This was also on our first attempt to eat through the set lunch menu. This is the best dish in the set lunch menu in our opinion. It’s the BBQ sauce…it tastes great. Notice the similar office wear but please do not comment on the lovebite. 😉
Fried Squid in Celery
I shared this dish with Autumn coz we were not both not really hungry that day. I think this was a couple of days after the first visit since I was wearing a tie to cover up the still visible hickey. The squid is probably the other dish I would eat, the others are pretty bland.
Fried Beef with Garlic
I had this during the third trip to Coffee Garden. It’s nothing to write home about. Astute readers will notice a new hickey on my neck. I swear, it’s not due to Autumn. I don’t know how it got there. 😉
Fried Duck with Black Pepper
Autumn had the duck during the third trip. It’s alright, but again, Coffee Garden’s lunch menu isn’t really as good as the dinner menu.
It took us about two weeks to get through the five (5) set lunch menu coz you don’t want to eat the same food everyday. It’s still one of our regular hangouts though due to the privacy of the place.
Coffee Garden is a great place for lunch and dinner. The set lunch menu is cheap considering the air-conditioned comfort and privacy of the establishment and it manages to attract quite a few of the lucrative 9-5 crowd during lunchtime. Their dinner menu is excellent – it’s much better than their set lunch menu, which is mass produced. I give Coffee Garden two thumbs up.
