The Loaf - Love It or Loathe It?

Hi everyone,

How was the long CNY weekend? If you felt that yours flew by just like that, mine was exactly the same! Wish we could have another long weekend to recover from this one.*sighs*

To chase our Monday blues away, Liv and I decided to meet up for lunch at The Loaf in Avenue K. 

A lifestyle bakery and bistro

Well known for their range of premium bread and pastries, The Loaf also offer Western and Asian cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is a co-owner, so some of his favorite dishes are featured on the menu, including his much-loved breakfast staple, white bread with chicken or beef curry.

The interior

I’d been to the outlet in Avenue K twice before and on both occasions, I had the Lasagne which was absolutely the best in town. So guess what I wanted to have again? Lasagne! But I was in for a big disappointment when the waiter said they didn’t have any that day. So I thought maybe that’s a sign for me to try something different. 

When I asked the waiter for his recommendations, he looked a bit lost. So after scanning the menu, I decided on the Spicy Seafood Aglio Olio. But that one’s not available either! By now I was thinking that maybe we had chosen the wrong place for lunch. However, Liv didn’t face the same problem with her Fabulous Prawn Mee order so I gave up on the Western dishes and decided to go for something from Tun M’s Selection of Asian Cuisine.



Asian favorites

I’ve always enjoyed eating Ayam Percik, so I wanted to try The Loaf’s Signature Ayam Percik served with rice, acar rampai and papadam. But I was quite taken aback when my order arrived.







 I had expected the Ayam Percik to look like this

But this was what I got instead (RM14.90++)

The Loaf’s Ayam Percik looked a lot more like Ayam Rendang. Had there been a mistake in my order, I wondered. But that thought was quickly dismissed when I saw that the only Rendang item on the menu is Rendang Jawa and this is meat (beef?) served with sesame bun.

I took a bite of the chicken and bingo, it was definitely NOT Ayam Percik! It could have passed off as Ayam Rendang but only a mediocre one due to the lack of spices and “oomph” that one would expect from a Rendang dish. I was hungry, so I ate it anyway.

I wasn't too happy with the overall presentation of my dish either. The plate was smudgy, possibly from the papadam which looked like they had been drenched in oil.

As for Liv, her Fabulous Prawn Mee dish didn't turn out to be as fabulous as its name suggested. The presentation was not appealing at all - plain yellow mee and prawns in a simple gravy, served in a bowl that seemed too big for such a small portion. There wasn't much else in the dish either - there were no vegetables or fishcakes to give it that extra bite. The gravy resembled Maggi Curry Noodles gravy in taste and unlike other prawn mee dishes that Liv had tried before, this one lacked sweetness from the prawns.



The Fabulous Prawn Mee that wasn't (RM16.90++)

After our sub-standard mains, we were looking forward to end our meal with a nice dessert. Liv was super-excited to try the Hokkaido Honey Toast which looked really good in the menu.

Liv's dream dessert

To her utter dismay, it was unavailable as well, and all because they didn’t have any fruit to serve it with! How ironic is that since the MBG fruit shop is just right opposite The Loaf – "go and get the fruits from there!", we wanted to say. But we left it at that and Liv settled for the Brownie with Ice Cream.

The one that saved the day (RM13.00++)

Unfortunately the waiter had forgotten to serve the Brownie with a spoon. When Liv requested for one, he simply pointed to the untouched long spoon that came with my Latte earlier. Liv had to contain her annoyance and insist that he bring her a proper dessert spoon but he went away and came back with another long spoon! Despite this, we both agreed that the Brownie was absolutely delicious, the only thing we enjoyed so far.

For a meal that left us feeling unsatisfied and begging for more, we paid RM73.45, inclusive of a Regular Latte for me (RM13.50++) and Liv’s 500ml Bottled Mineral Water (RM5.00++).

The question is, would we be back to The Loaf for another meal? I think I might, if I could be certain the Lasagne is available on that day. I just hope that what we experienced today was a one-off incident. I'm sure they must be doing a lot of other things right 'cos each time I was there, the place was always packed with the lunch crowd. Perhaps their suppliers were on holiday due to CNY; that’s why the quality of the food we had was not up to par. 

The service level also required a lot of improvements and unless these issues are addressed promptly, The Loaf will stand to lose their loyal customers. Which would be such a shame really if that happens.

My overall verdict:

Taste: 5/10

Service: 6/10

Ambience: 7/10

Presentation: 5/10

Value for Money: 5/10

Address and contact details:

C-3, Avenue K
156, Jalan Ampang
50560 Kuala Lumpur
Tel :+603 2181 8991 

For more information, visit their official website.

Lotsa Luv