Food Review: Garden Cafe, One Utama

Trying to find new places to eat is never easy. After a while, every place starts to look the same, the food starts to taste the same, and the service never seems to improve. So I'm kinda glad that I finally had the chance to put all those mamaks and 5-star restaurants aside and go for something in the middle. Let's take a stroll through the Garden Cafe in 1 Utama.

[caption id="attachment_1668" align="alignleft" width="190" caption="Garden Cafe Main Entrance"][/caption]

I still remember when the Garden Cafe was just an unused space, just a whole lot of empty space hidden by the escalators. It's hard to imagine, as I walked down the hallway to the eating area, that they had done so much changes to it.

If you take the real entrance of Garden, which is where the small booth is beside Reebok, you forget that you're actually in a noisy shopping complex and you start to feel more relaxed with each step you take, filling your eyes with white picket fences, white tables and chairs, and white overheads decorated with endless greenery, flowers and mini pots of plants. I half expected to see Princess Giselle from Enchanted flitting around with birds and squirrels. :-))

[caption id="attachment_1674" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Second entrance after the small booth"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1696" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Interior of Garden Cafe"][/caption]

The service is the first thing you will notice about Garden. Each staff seems to be on high alert whenever a customer needs anything. And they're always doing their rounds around the entire place and trust me, Garden has many corners that some waiters can easily forget about.

[caption id="attachment_1705" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Soda Lavender, Soda Rose & Red Apple"][/caption]

The menu was quite extensive, covering Western and local main dishes, snacks and appetizers, and plenty of desserts and drinks to choose from.

For drinks, my cousin and I chose some of the soda selection; Soda Rose and Soda Lavender (RM11.90 each),  which are carbonated soda drinks with flavoured syrup. My Soda Rose is very yummy but my cousin described her Soda Lavender as 'our uncle's cologne'. For those who order this drink, please stir the syrup fully before drinking it, or you might just think you had swallowed a mouthful of soap. :laugh:

Since one of my cousins didn't feel like eating, she just ordered the Red Apple dessert, which has sorbet ice-cream squeezed into a red apple. It tastes heavenly, especially when you scrape off a piece of the fruit with the ice-cream and add a touch of the chocolate syrup.

[caption id="attachment_1708" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Garden Sandwich (RM13.90)"][/caption]

The rest of us were feeling a tad hungry so we ordered the Garden Sandwich (RM13.90), the Garden Black Pepper Chicken Chop (RM17.90) and the Garden Beef Burger (RM15.90).

The Garden Sandwich is a triple-decker sandwich with egg, lettuce and slices of chicken/turkey ham accompanied with a side of salad and fries. There's nothing special about this dish but for the price of RM13.90, the sandwich is slightly cheaper than other posh restaurants that I've been to.

[caption id="attachment_1713" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Garden Black Pepper Chicken Chop (RM17.90)"][/caption]

The Garden Black Pepper Chicken Chop has just the right amount of seasoning and black pepper sauce. The meat is soft and juicy, easy to cut and chew. If I'm not mistaken, this dish is served with small bits of potatoes hidden under the chicken and topped with some asparagus.

[caption id="attachment_1715" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Garden Beef Burger (RM15.90)"][/caption]

The Garden Beef Burger is my favourite among the three dishes. Its meat is really soft and the taste reminds me of my other favourite burger at Damansara Perdana's Pannaz. The side dishes for the burger comprise of salad and fries.

Truth be told, there's nothing really specially about the dishes we ordered but the environment and fast service play a big part in the enjoyment of our dinner. I was amazed at the fast time the food was served to us. Even with a full house, we got our dishes before we realized it.

Located at the New Wing of 1 Utama, at LG308CC to be exact, the Garden Cafe may not have anything special as far as food goes but it's really a nice place to chill out with friends, family and even your loved one. The price is reasonable and the service is quite fast, and though the portion may look small, it's actually more than enough. Enjoy!!