Espressamente comes to Bangsar Village

Today I ventured to try out Illy Espressamente in Bangsar Village I. It's just opened and we had an opportunity to chat to the owners on opening night. They were friendly, attentive (no service with a snarl here) and did a great job selling us on trying out the food and most importantly, the cakes!

If the name sounds familiar, it's because they have an outlet in Pavillion (right next to Kedai Roti Tun M, The Loaf). The coffee is excellent at the Pavillion outlet (can't fault the Illy pedigree) and it would have long been on my favourite list if it weren't for the fact that Pavillion is simply too far away, and the parking too expensive, to be a regular shopping visit choice. There's nothing like a nice piece of bread from The Loaf, accompanied by the perfect cappuchino.

Because I rarely visit Pavillion, I've only ever had coffee at the Espressamente outlet in Pavillion. Today, I road tested their breakfast sandwich, the Ciabatta Benedict (fried eggs, beef bacon - aiya - and cheese). It came with a little side salad tossed in balsemico and olive oil. The total damage for my bill, which included a Firefly Detox, and a Machiatto was RM38. Not too bad for a decent lunch. The sandwich was also excellent - not too ginormous so that you feel like you can't finish it, not too small either that you feel you're eating overpriced food. My grouse is of course the beef bacon (bah) and they seemed a little overwhelmed today so when I got there, I had to ask for the table to be cleaned, and the menu to be brought to me. And my Machiatto was lukewarm when it got to me (and I sat at a table pretty close to the coffee machine), leading to my belief that the coffee was hot but the milk was lukewarm, resulting in a lukewarm Machiatto.

I will however be back - their lunchtime panini sandwiches look worthwhile trying and the antipesto are tempting (the cocktails!). I'm also looking forward to sinking my teeth into their cakes - I was given a little background to their tiramisu which warrants a visit just to verify if it's as amazing and authentic as they say it is. (clue: it apparently was handed down to one of the owners by his Kadazan grannie!)

There's also something decidedly clever about their menu that shows how with some smarts, you can create the illusion of an expansive menu, with lots of choice, but in reality without resulting in overtaxed kitchen and general all around so-so food. (read: the food at Delicious).