Levain Boulangerie & Patisserie

I rarely make a review of places to eat. Main reason is I am usually too lazy to note the key points such as location, menu, prices and service and take pictures. I am also not an avid foodie (aka go-out-and-eat) as I am a VERY indecisive person when it comes to ordering my meal. It is just easier to eat home as my Mama decides the menu or I cook food that I want to eat myself.

View of the outside terrace from my seat inside. The view is just lovely and the curtains are just beautiful. I need to mention the curtain somehow.

That said, Levain has to be one of my most favourite eatery ever. I love the ambiance and I love the food. I love the fact that it serves free cold/hot plain water and I love that it is fairly fuss-free with affordable food. 

The second floor looks so pretty! But I've never been able to get up there.

First of all, the introduction. Well, you can read the whole story of the place from the website. The sort of introduction I will give is my history with Levain and the landmark. I first found out about this place from Rini, a friend of mine. She brought me here about 5 years ago and it was an instant love. My first impression was that it is an expensive place as it looks fairly exclusive with valet parking, but to my surprise, the food is quite affordable. At least affordable for an ex-student like me.

The view of the restaurant from my front seat.

Anyhow, this is a few background information of Levain:

• Valet parking: RM3.00 flat rate. If you come at non-peak hours like weekdays on non-lunch/dinner hour, you can park outside the restaurant without paying a cent (note this: outside as in the front of other buildings nearby). Careful of getting a ticket though or your car can potentially be towed.
• Landmark: It is located on the first street on your left if you are coming from the direction of Prince Court Medical Centre (from Jalan Tun Razak). It is a bungalow house nestled between 2 buildings. It is on Jalan Delima.
• Opening hours: It is opened daily from 7.30AM to 9.00PM.
• Family-friendly: Yes
• Take-away/pre-order/booking: Yes
• Service: Top-notched. The staff is friendly and my order usually arrive relatively fast.
• Particular points to note:

1. The shop is divided into 4 sections. There is the bakery where the baked goods are, the counter where you order and pay for your food and the side-cake display as you can see from the picture above. I missed the side-cake display the first time I came here so I just bought the baked goods and order my dish from the counter. If you are coming at peak hours, going to order again at the counter for the cakes and pies from the side-cake-display at the counter is a bit of a hassle. So, remember to go to the side-cake display area first before you make your order at the counter. You may want that one a slice of cake or a macaroon to complete your delicious meal. The fourth section is obviously the seating areas (the inside seating area, the second floor seating area and the outside terrace seating area).
2. The shop stops baking after 11AM so be sure to come early if you want to taste the baked goods. I usually come quite late so I have limited choices when it comes to baked goodies.
3. You can order a cake earlier before pick-up time. The cake and pies are usually quite small but they are HEAVENLY. They have more options than most bakeries. 
4. I usually order the chicken karaage curry rice and ask for extra-extra-extra spicy and it is DELICIOUS! The portion is relatively large so come with an empty stomach. The price of this is RM14.80 (including GST).
5. Free hot/cold plain water is provided at the outside terrace. Small paper cups are provided. Last time, they used to provide beautiful glasses, but I guess those are difficult to deal with (aka clean) so now we have disposable cups. Not so pretty but they will do.
6. Since it is a bungalow, it has a second floor but most of the time, the second floor is cordoned off. I guess they only open it when the restaurant is full downstairs. The interior is air-conditioned but they also have tables on the terrace. This area is not air-conditioned. However, ceiling fans are provided. 
7. The place is family-friendly as I've seen a lot of families with small children coming.
8. The staff are mostly foreigners so I usually speak English. I'm not sure if they understand local Malay or any other languages (like Chinese or Tamil).
9. They have the partial self-serving concept whereby you choose your table (the tables are numbered) and go to the counter to order food and drinks (or you can choose your baked goods, pay and sit) and provide your table number. They will send your order to your table once it is ready.

The tables are numbered.

Bonus:

Did you see the huge chunks of crispy batter-fried chicken swimming in thick delicious Japanese curry sauce? The pink stuff is pickled ginger/radish (not sure which one). THIS IS MY MOST FAVOURITE DISH (when I come here).