Hoshino Coffee @ Mid Valley, KL

We always have a never ending fascination and love for anything Japanese be it of food, fashion, games or music! 

Recently, there was an opening of the new Hoshino Coffee at the Midvalley mall which previously housed the 1 Michelin Star dim sum restaurant known as Tim Ho Wan.. It was a shocking news to find out that the famous Dim Sum restaurant closes really soon after being successful in other parts of the world.. 

We bunch of foodie Malaysian was abit bump about the closure but with every closure there is a bright promise and hope for a new establishement.. And came the Hoshino Coffee to the rescue which is a sight of relief as we love Japanese food and not to mention that they have the famous fluffy pancakes or fuwa fuwa! 

You can spot the never ending lines just right outside the restaurant and we can tell you that it will never go away for quite some time! Well it takes some patience in waiting in line for your table to be vacant but no fret as with great patience comes amazing rewards with the waiter bringing you into their exclusive and Japanese vibe of a cafe with a huge coffee roaster placed at the entrance nearby the kitchen.. 

In terms of the outlook of the restaurant/cafe, this place is really relaxing with the influence of both Japanese and a touch of french from the decor and the uniform of the fellow servers.. 

We were immediately ushered into the restaurant and the seating area for our dining adventures!

It was a lively sight as the entire restaurant/cafe was really packed to the brim and was really noisy just like how the Japanese yakitori would be like.. 

Pescatora Seafood with Tomato Sauce (RM26.90)

The 1st savoury dish that we had is the Pescatora Seafood with Tomato Sauce.. 

This dish can be found under their Pasta section of the menu and that section itself is really distracting as there were other pasta dishes that seems to be too mouthwatering for us to choose from.. 

After much deliberation, we decided to just go with the Pescatora Seafood just to have a sample of their cooking and taste profile of their savoury dishes before moving on to their sweets..
It doesn't need to wait long for us to find out as moments after the order was place, the first dish decided to make it's debut is the Pescatora Seafood pasta and it just looks magnificent and too tempting to pass off.. 

In terms of presentation, the food looks really vibrant and colorful with the seafood being fresh and open up like how it looks waking to the breeze of the ocean daily! 

After much documentation of the Capri Island inspired dish of the sea, we went for it to try out the Kitchen capabilities in delivering amazing cafe food..

To our surprise, this plate of Pescatora Seafood pasta was truly amazeballs! We never imagined that a cafe like this would create a truly well balanced yet deliciously good pasta because we mainly encounter a not so pleasant experience towards the cafe in the aspect of their savoury food category.. But this Hoshino has managed to prove us wrong on that assumption and the plate was wiped clean without any traces of the tomato sauce and pasta left on the plate other than the seafood shells! 

Everything was delicious about this plate of food as the seafood was cooked to perfection with being able to retain it's springy texture, sweet and succulent taste of the ocean yet it can meld together with the pasta like a second skin!

Strawberry French Toast (RM19.90)

After the seafood singing of the thin spaghetti, we were immediately greeted by the attractive and sexy demure of a dessert called Strawberry French Toast.. This is actually from their Seasonal Special Promotion that features this beautiful french toast with the option to add on either Homemade Whipped Butter (RM1) or Homemade Whipped Cream (RM2) and not to forget Ice Cream (RM3).. 

In terms of appearance, this dessert looks really eye catching and perfect for food photography but if eating wise, it appears to be on the smaller portion.. So be sure to other more desserts if you're just having sweets only! After much documentation, we had our first try of it and it wasn't as wow as their appearances as it was abit hard and not too songy.. 

There weren't much aroma that can evoke your memories of warm french toast.. 

We had the french toast with the Whipped Butter and it was an interesting combination with the slightly sweet and strawberry infused french toast.. 

Hoshino Pot Baked Curry Rice with Chicken (RM23.90)

A delightful sweet intermission, we now resume back to the 2nd main course that has finally grace it's presents to our table..We had was the Hoshino Pot Baked Curry Rice with chicken..
 This dish can be found in the rice section of the menu and the top corner.. 

The entire world are having this fluffy and eggtastic Omu rice craze from a Japanese chef which made the most seductive yet drool worthy of a fluffy ommelette that when it cuts open it will reveal a river of fluffy clouds of ommelette flowing down the plate on top of a mountain of rice! 

Well in Hoshino interpretation, they didn't went for that famous yet tricky to make presentation as that would take the chef hours and also skills to prepare such an elaborate presentation to wow it's diners.

 So they went in for something that still represents the Omu rice element with a homey twist which is to be presented in a thick and heavy cast iron bowl that have an attractive aroma of Saffron wafting through our noses!

Taste wise of this rather golden and yellow like rice dish, the rice was perfectly cooked which has still retains it's moist and supple yet fluffy texture of the rice with that beautifully balance between turmeric and saffron together with the boldness of the curry powder that brought slight heat and bitterness from the spices! It was an interesting combination yet it managed to brought the harmony within the fluffy onsen egg with the runny yolk with the austere spice mix happening to the rice!

From a hearty and egg-tastic omu curry rice, we had an interesting yet fluffy friend to welcome us towards the end of our afternoon teatime foodie adventure! 

This fluffy friend that can be found in the Desserts section of the menu and it is called the Pancake Souffle

For this Pancake Souffle, the Hoshino offers two different sizes to choose from which are Single and Double.. 

The single portion of the Pancake souffle is a suitable portion for 1 person to enjoy but if you are having a munching partner with you; I would suggest you to go for a double portion of this Pancake Souffle to share with their other desserts or savoury dishes as well.. 

Single Pancake Souffle (RM14.90)

For us, we went for the single one as we previously had the Strawberry French toast which was a lovely seasonal dessert specialty but if you would like to have it, you can opt for their plain french toast which is the same dish minus the strawberries! 

Ok let's get back to the Pancake Souffle.. They mentioned that ordering dishes like Pancake Souffle and One Pot Souffle do require a waiting of 25 minutes and this do help us to be patient and to plan out what to try first will waiting for its fluffiness to arrive! This pancake do remind us of the famous Japanese Fuwa-fuwa pancake that also have a cloud like texture and it can jiggle like how a jello would..

You can also add in some side kicks to accompany the fluffiness either the scoop of ice cream, whipped butter or whipped cream!

 For us, we went for a scoop of that vanilla ice cream to have the hot and cold taste and texture pairing!

But for our visit, we were really lucky as the fluffiness arrives to our table within the 25 minute mark and we were really in awe with it's cloudy yet homey appearance!

 The plating is really simple which their aim is to truly feature and highlight the pancake souffle and it was topped off with a tiny dollop of whipped chantilly cream and finally the perfect accompaniment and that is the cold and creamy vanilla ice cream.. 

Well it does lack alot in the looks department but it do make up alot of it's convincing through the creamy and slight sweet taste together with a fluffy texture reminiscent to a fluffy cotton candy or a cloud!

 It does jiggle quite well as the structure of this pancake is really high yet sturdy on the outside but it's really soft and pillowy texture on the inside! The first bite of it was really crusty especially on the top layer of it and it was nicely paired with a drizzle of woody and golden liquid of maple syrup! 

Hoshino Blend Tea pot (RM13.90)

For non-coffee drinkers or you just don't feel like having a strong hit of caffeine during the day, you can opt for the Hoshino Blend Tea Pot..
 This is tea pot portion is perfect for one person and you can choose to have it just the tea alone or you can opt for either milk or lemon on the side..
We had the tea with lemon on the side and the waiter were really speedy in delivering the tea.. For this tea, it is actually very pleasant and easy to drink especially when you are eating a potentially sweet dessert to go with it.. 

Japanese Milk Coffee with Raspberry Chocolate (RM14.90)

Hoshino is famous for their hand roasted coffee which is the first thing that greets you when you enter in their restaurant. So it was no brainer to order their coffee to see what is really interesting about it! We had their famous Japanese Milk Coffee with the addition of Raspberry Chocolate and their accompaniment of the condensed milk.. 

The presentation of it is really unique as the flavouring syrups looks like a test tube version of the shot glass with the 2 condiments with the giant cup of coffee.. The coffee is really delicious on its own but it doesn't add any sugar as you would be needed to incorporate the raspberry chocolate syrup into the coffee!
After adding the syrup into the coffee, the coffee tasted much better with a hint of sweetness and the fruity raspberry taste of it was really subtle and not too overpowering..  

Cafe Latte (RM13.90)

Hoshino has always pride itself with hand roasting and brewing their own coffee beans, we decided to try out their Cafe latte.. 

The wait staff nearly have forgotten the drink order as after all the other drinks came and the food as well including the last minute addition of the Pancake Souffle yet there was no sight of the Cafe Latte.. 

So we finally approached them to ask whether the coffee is coming..

Thankfully after the gentle reminder, the latte swiftly made it's debut and we get to have the taste of the coffee to see whether their coffee claim is really that amazing!

Well the looks is really promising but sadly the foam to coffee ratio is really off in our humble opinion as the foam was too much for our taste and after several large sips of the foam, we finally hit the Jackpot and that's the coffee which had the similar taste and roasting profiles as the ones with the Japanese milk coffee rendition.

Verdict: 

A very Japanese feel in terms of the atmosphere and service. 

The food is quite average and not very interesting

The service is still lacking and you have to be very patient

Ambience: 4/5

Food:3/5

Price:3/5

Service:3/5

Must Try:

Strawberry French Toast 

Pescatora Seafood with tomato sauce 

Pancake Souffle 

Hoshino Coffee

No.27-G,Ground floor

The Boulevard

Midvalley City 

58000

Kuala Lumpur 

Opening Hours: 

Daily

10am-10pm

Contact: 

+603-2391 9020