Slicing our way into some sandwich shops that serve fun fare, starting with Croissant Delicatessen, a newbie at Plaza Damas.
True to its name, this outlet's all about croissants that can be eaten on their own or transformed into sandwiches. There's an extra twist: The croissants come in four flavours - classic, garlic, pumpkin & wasabi. One pointer: To experience the flavours at their fullest, eat them plain & buy them fresh, so come in the morning or early in the evening when new batches may be baked.
We experimented with mix-&-match sandwiches, selecting savoury options of a garlic croissant stuffed with garlic-&-basil chicken (RM15.80) & wasabi croissant with turkey ham, pumpkin & mushrooms (RM13.80). Not bad for an outlet that's roughly a week old; it might be interesting to observe what other ingredients & recipes Croissant Delicatessen will offer in the future.
Prefer something sweet? There's the possibility of a pumpkin-laced croissant with mixed berries & whipped cream (RM12.80). Croissants on their own cost RM5 each; the ones we tried were not as fluffy, flaky or buttery as we might have liked, but that's probably understandable, since we were here past nightfall & the croissants were a bit past their prime by then.
Have a latte (RM10), surprisingly smooth & buttery - it turns out that the beans are supplied by respected Japanese roaster Kato-san of Pavilion's WA Cafe. The banana soy-milk juice (RM11) is enjoyable too, creamy & flavoursome.
Moving on to another mall: KLCC, where London Sandwich Co serves grab-&-go gourmet sandwiches; the outlet is founded by former Londoner Nick Tiernan & his wife Soraya Ismail, who also spearhead the popular Boost Juice brand's operations in Malaysia & Singapore. London Sandwich Co has the potential to turn into a similarly successful chain, & KLCC feels like the best birthplace for this business - the city's first Boost Juice was also set up here nearly six years ago.
It's a blast simply to browse & read the cool labels for these creations, which range from a classic ploughman's packaged into a sandwich (RM5.50 for a half-portion, with wholemeal bread, Branston pickle, mature cheddar, tomato & lettuce) to a Caesar salad (sorta) transformed into a baguette filled with roast chicken breast, lean beef bacon, lettuce & mustard mayo (RM11.90).
LSC (the perfect acronym for Anglophiles) pledges to provide honestly handmade & honourably healthy sandwiches, inspired by the likes of London's Pret A Manger & EAT. The two simple sandwiches we purchased proved satisfactory in those regards.
There's nevertheless more to LSC than sandwiches - salads (Greek, Nicoise, etc) can be taken back to our frostily air-conditioned office cubicles too, plus everything from guilt-free servings of fruit to live-a-little indulgences of potato puff pastries, cakes & brownies.
And of course, coffee - Artisan Roast provides the beans & trains the baristas, who labour on Kees van der Westen machines.
We're wrapping up this entry on a sober note though: While we say hello to Croissant Delicatessen & London Sandwich Co, we bid farewell to a now-closed sandwich shop that we never got around to writing about: Stacks at Tropicana Shopping Mall.
Stacks was a good one - it whipped up ambitiously & adventurously complex concoctions like flatbread filled with beef pastrami, kimchi & Monterey Jack cheese, or focaccia with smoked turkey breast, Swiss Emmental cheese & cranberry jam, all assembled to order, but it never quite took off in Tropicana. We hear that Stacks' founder is working to relaunch in another location though, & we're looking forward to it & we wish him well.
Croissant Delicatessen
Plaza Damas Boulevard, Outside Hartamas Shopping Centre, Kuala Lumpur. Between Subway & Pastryville. 10am-10pm.
Plaza Damas Boulevard, Outside Hartamas Shopping Centre, Kuala Lumpur. Between Subway & Pastryville. 10am-10pm.
London Sandwich Co KLCC
C68, Concourse Level, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur. Weekdays, 730am-10pm; weekends, 10am-10pm.
C68, Concourse Level, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur. Weekdays, 730am-10pm; weekends, 10am-10pm.
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