Lunch @ Wizards at Tribeca, Jalan Imbi, Imbi, Kuala Lumpur

 

Wizards has always been a hot spot for many brunch sessions and meet ups. Being the winner for various barista awards, I was always curious on what the establishment has to offer. Fortunately for me, I had a gorgeous companion by my side today to go through some of the treats they have in store. 

Bright.

Brunch places to me are a bit of a hit or miss. Some are really good, some are just meh and other are famous just for their good looking food items while lacking substance. So I was a bit skeptical going in, but this place won me over slowly but surely. 

Steamy. 

Being a coffee spot, a good cuppa joe was the first thing that came to mind. It is still the "brunch" time though so why not start with some caffeine? The long black tasted like what any decent long black should. Strong, smooth and slightly nutty, I like this a lot. 

A great alternative

But if you are not into coffee, their famous for their green tea drinks as well. Using premium matcha from Niko Neko, this is some premium grade green tea. And the matcha latte is a common fixture in any table. The joe was for RM9 while the matcha latte was for RM12. 

Double trouble? 

Being a famous brunch place, it is armed with the usual suspects like poached eggs, pizzas and an all day breakfast menu. But they have unique fusion dishes too which piqued our interests. As such, for our savouries, we had a mix of interesting dishes. We ordered 2 types of mantous, which they called baos here, to which one with kam hiong chicken and another one with unagi. I was particularly keen as to how unagi will work well in a Chinese style bun. But firstly, something more familiar. 

Zinger's more handsome brother. 

The chicken was a flavour slobberknocker. It was deep fried to perfection and the kam hiong glaze gave it a savoury and sweet impact. There are lingering bits of chillies as well which added more personality to this thing. Cucumber strands and chopped spring onions gave it a fresh touch. 

Not sure how to think about this. 

The unagi one had a similar profile, but being a delicate protein it did not work very well. The outer parts were deep fried too, but it did not complement the soft texture of eel. Also there is a funky chilli sauce that came with it. I would have loved that chilli sauce with some chicken or red meat. But with eel, which is as mentioned, delicate, it overpowered the experience. Still good though. I may not order it under my own volition though. The mantou however, was spectacular. Soft and fluffy, it was neutral in flavour and yet has a wheaty after taste and held onto everything very well. The kam hiong bao was RM 18 for a set of 2, while the eel version was RM26. 

This was quite tasty, 

If pasta is more of your thing, then you are in luck as there are alot of pasta dishes to choose from. We shared a plate of spicy vongole which was very nice. It is not the classuc vongole that you might get in an Italian brasserie as it was cream based. Still, it was quite satisfying. Not to mention that there was a huge serving of clams. This stood for RM26. 

Sweet finisher combo?

And if you have space for more, trying out some of their delectable confections are a must try. It was interesting to see that they actually bake their cookies to order. As such, they come in warm. The core was still soft and lava like.  In case you are wondering, I had the classic chocolate chip which stood for RM6. Their tarts are some of their star makers too and we had the matcha and strawberry. The filling was sweet and creamy, yet had the hint of woody bitterness that green tea is famous for. At the bottom sits a dollop of strawberry coulis which gave it a vibrant kickback. A welcoming contrast. And this badboy was for RM4. Its a bit small but, it was indeed good. 

Man at work...

Overall, I do say this place does live up to the hype. There are some hits and misses, especially with the eel bun I feel and I feel the cookie was a bit overpriced. Yet overall, we really enjoyed ourselves here. One more into the brunch shortlist now. So if you are keen to drop by and try out what we had or other stuff in their menu like their pizzas and all dray breakfasts, the address is as follows:

215, Jalan Imbi, Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur

Front of the house.