Duck bacon strips accompanied by Harry Potter-inspired butterbeer? For an all-day-brunch menu that takes out-of-the-blue detours into red-hot new territory, it may be worth travelling to TBF, The Beer Factory's revamped outpost in Kota Damansara.
TBF's hits include fluffy-fruity potato hot cakes, tinged with berries & topped with ricotta cheese (RM26 before taxes), an alluring alternative for pancake fans who want to experiment with a change of texture. Served morning through night for now; by February, TBF plans to have a separate selection for its Melbourne-inspired brunches & a tapas-focused menu for dinner.
Here's what everyone will come for: Golden duck bacon strips (RM26), salty-sweet, with a firm bite & fulfilling chew, evocative of bakkwa. Fun snack; note it's served at room temperature (or in our case, slightly below), not warmed, to preserve its crunch.
Eggs, the essential brunch component, are well-represented, from a reinterpretation of Eggs Atlantic - poached eggs over a 'sandwich' of smoked salmon in crispy potato waffles (reminiscent of rosti) doused in hollandaise sauce, altogether addictive ...
... to comfort-food baked eggs (RM22), runnier than the norm, thickened with red pepper coulis, spinach & minced chicken.
TBF's playful streak extends to Asian recipes: Check out the nangka-topped tom yam fried rice with lots of accompaniments, including chicken wing, prawns, squid, crackers, pickles & a sunny-side-up (RM18). TBF's menu maestros are also plotting a lychee fried bee hoon soon; dare we hope our favourite local fruits - mangosteen & ciku - might also appear here someday?
Tender fried chicken wings, luxuriously coated in salted egg yolk, served steaming-hot, certain to be crowd-pleasing. RM21.
Soft-shell-crab devotees will worship the buttermilk pasta (RM33), crowned with one whole crab PLUS another crab chopped up & hidden amid the pasta strands. This princely portion should be shared; it might end up being too cloying to finish alone, especially since there's nothing in the bowl to cut through its richness.
TBF's desserts display cheeky imagination too: The 'Revenge of the Ballerina' (RM28) is meant to be smashed up in a violence-fuelled frenzy & spooned up for stress-relieving pleasure.
Crispy-creamy Oreo Garden (RM18), a more soothing finish to this meal. Plus point: TBF's service team members are enthusiastic & eager to oblige, though they can sometimes suffer memory lapses if you make off-menu requests for, say, wine or water.
TBF's coffee concoctions might be more gimmicky than genuinely delicious though - it's cool to see milk ice cubes poured over with coffee for the Reverse French Vanilla Piccolo Latte (RM16), but a more satisfying balance of flavours might tip in favour of a proper barista-prepared rendition. The thrill here is in putting the piccolo together, not in sipping it.
Deconstructed mocha macchiato (RM18); a better type of chocolate might have made a difference for this one ...
... while harsh rum overpowered the Deconstructed Rum & Raisin Affogato (RM26), the Klang Valley's most alcoholic affogato.
No fear; there's plenty of liquor to accompany TBF's tasty temptations, from Harry Potter-inspired butterbeer (RM35; beer with a butterscotch sweetness, made here at TBF, served in a Huggaz bottle cooler) to asam boi Mojitos (RM28) to regular ol' wine.
TBF @ Kota Damansara
Ground Floor, Sunway Giza, Kota Damansara. Open daily, 11am-2am
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