BLD with Bob and Julie: Quan Ice Cream & Coffee House @ Pandan Indah

Price Range : Budget

Cuisine : Asian, Western, Desserts

Recommended For : A wholesomely satisfying meal

Catphobia-Friendly? : Yes, thankfully!

There are some places that are just too darn awesome that you don’t even know where to even begin gushing about them... Quan Ice Cream & Coffee House’s range of foods far exceeds its humble name, ranging from rice dishes, to rainy-day-friendly soup noodles, to surprisingly commendable Western favourites. As if the mains are not attractive enough, they also serve an extensive line of desserts, plus super interesting beverages!

Somehow the ambience of a restaurant plays a great deal in influencing our fondness for the place. Our love for kitschiness is satisfyingly tended to with the vintage-themed wall displays of old movie posters, classic album covers and quirky advertisements from the years gone by.

And the cherry to top it all off: its extremely reasonable pricing, which probably explains why we seem to be frequenting this place a bare minimum of once in two weeks, despite it not being even remotely near where we stay/work. Without further ado, we present to you our top favourites:

1. Assam Fish Rice (RM6.90)

9 out of 10 times that we come here, we can’t help but go back to our favourites, and this dish is somehow always involved! The generous portion of fish (for their rice dishes, you can also opt for chicken, beef or squid) is cooked in a slightly spicy yet amazingly flavourful assam gravy. Things are easily customizable here, so if you want extra fish, or extra gravy, you can have it for a minimal additional fee.

2. Butter Chicken Rice (RM6.90)

Admittedly this is quite an indulgence of a dish, but if you’re on your off-diet day, then this is the way to go (after all, if you’re going to contribute to the additional fat content in your body, then it might as well be worth the fat gain right?). Again, the meat of choice is up to you, but somehow chicken seems to go best for this dish. The creamy gravy is accented with curry leaves, which helps to avoid feeling jelak after one too many spoonfuls and gives a nice peppery dimension to the butter chicken.

3. Pan Mee Soup

The pan mee used here is the handmade kind torn into jagged, uneven squares. Somehow the nonuniform shapes of the noodles bring about such rustic wholesomeness, but that could just be us. The heart-warming soul-calming soup, stocked with anchovies and mushrooms, is perfect for days when you’re down with a cold. Also perfect for days when you are not.

4. Garlic Steak

Well, it does not sound spectacular in any way. You may not even notice it on the menu. But take one bite, and it is enough to convince you to keep this is a staple on the table the next time you’re here with family and friends. The meat is quite simply marinated, and is incredibly tender. The hint of garlic transforms the otherwise mundane steak into quite the meal!

Other dishes you may want to try: Cantonese Yee Mee, Spring Onion Ginger Beef Kuay Teow, Kung Po Beef Rice and their Wanton Soup.

This is also one of the few places that compels us to actually order a proper drink to go with our meals. Just take a look at a snippet of their beverages list and you'll see why:

And that's just the tea section...

Our all-time favourite: Iced Lychee & Rose Tea

If you still have space for desserts, good luck trying to decide from the many, many flavours that they offer. If a single scoop ice-cream is not your kind of thing, pick from one of their many banana splits and sundaes variation!