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Was in town a few nights ago and decided to drop by Planet Hollywood for dinner with WL. Its been a while since I’ve been to the place. The last time was about half a year back when they had the Citibank 50% discount on selected menu items. That promotion expired at the end of December 2005. The good news is that the promotion is back with a different set of menu items.

50% Citibank Credit Card Discount Menu
The notice was in the Citibank Bulletin. I actually missed it when I browsed through the circular. Good thing that WL didn’t, else I wouldn’t be writing this. The promotion is valid till 31 August 2006. As mentioned earlier, the 50% discount is applicable for selected menu items (listed below). It is valid for a party of 10 per Citibank credit card, all day, everyday.

Food! Glorious Food!

We shared a meal consisting of Chicken and Corn Quesadillas, Roast Chicken, and the White Chocolate Bread Pudding for desert. Since we were hungry when we arrived at 9.30pm, we requested that they reverse the order by serving the desert first. It turned out to be a good decision as the other main courses were quite large and we would have been too full to enjoy the desert had it come last.

As the name suggests, it is freshly baked white chocolate bread pudding served with a scoop of vanilla flavoured Haagen Dazs ice cream topped with whip cream and white chocolate shavings. It arrived on a large triangular shaped plate with streaks of caramel and icing sugar sprinkled along its sides. The combination of oven hot bread and freezing cold ice cream has always been a good one in my books. I personally found the bread pudding to be excellent. It was just the right texture, rich and chunky with a thin crunchy crust. I was dreading that it might be overtly sweet with all the white chocolate, but it turned out to be just right. My only complaint is that there was too much of it. We actually had a hard time finishing the desert and was quite full by the time the main courses arrived.

Main Course #1: Chicken & Corn Quesadillas
Basically, its two pieces of corn tortillas folded in half, crammed full of spicy chicken filling, and toasted over a slow grill. The quesadillas is served with a bowl of salsa which was also slightly spicy, and fortunately not too sour. This main course is best eaten hot. Once it cools, the corn tortillas become soggy with moisture from the filling and it just doesn’t taste as good as it should. Each quesadilla is the size of a small sandwich which makes for an excellent tea time snack or light lunch.

Main Course #2: Roast Chicken
We’re fearless! Inspite of all that ruckus about avian flu, we went ahead with the 1/2 roast chicken served with Planet’s famous gravy, mashed potatoes, and fresh garden greens. I was tempted by the mashed potatoes. It was either that or the french fries. It turned out to be HUGE! Such a large serving that we had great difficulty finishing it, made worse because there wasn’t enough gravy to go around for half a bird. There also wasn’t enough butter in the mashed potatoes which dried out in a hurry as it cooled and harden into a lumpy mess. The garden greens are served as is without dressing, so you’ll be munching on dry leaves. From the description above, you should be able to guess that the Roast Chicken is a very dry dish. Real disappointing, especially how the potatoes turned out. I think the Fish and Chips would have made a better choice.

Two hits and a miss. With the 50% discount, we paid RM33.07 for a meal that would have otherwise cost RM66.14 (inclusive of 5% govt tax and 10% service charge). Although the main courses, especially the Roast Chicken, left much to be desired, I think it was a pretty good deal. I suggest avoiding the chicken unless you’re a very big eater and do request for extra gravy.

Our host for the night was warm and helpful, although he did forget to bring us our water until we requested for it much later into the meal. In general, the staff at Planet Hollywood are all real friendly and would oblidge most requests with a smile, within reason.

Of Birthdays and Weekend Performances
The last time I was at Planet Hollywood, it happened to be a colleague’s birthday. When the staff found out, they got her up on a chair and serenaded her with a birthday song. After that, she got a free slice of chocolate cake with ice cream. The cake was absolutely delicious and well worth the embarassing serenading… so long as it isn’t me up on the chair. I get dizzy from the height.

Another thing of note is that they have a bar and dance floor on the lower level which plays host to live bands and performances. Special shows by popular artists are usually held on weekends. I attended one by Ferhad some years back and it was cool. The sad part is that the cover charge is kinda pricey, even though it comes with the first drink free.

What Else Is There?
While the food could be better, I still recommend the place for lunch or dinner if you’re in the area. It beats having McDonalds across the street. The menu items with the 50% Citibank discount are definitely worth it. If you decide to have a meal there, skip the sets and go straight to the ala carte items.

Planet Hollywood
Unit G003, KL Plaza,
179 Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Phone: +603-2144 6562
Website (International): www.planethollywood.com