Day Trip : Pineyard at Janda Baik, Pahang - A pleasant change of scenary

About 50 minutes away from KL is Janda Baik. In conjunction with my mum’s birthday, the rest of the family decided to surprise her with this short trip out of town, to have lunch at Pineyard.

Janda Baik is a family favorite for a drive out of town. The area is cooling, greens everywhere, serene and most definitely a much needed change of scenary.

We spent 4 hours in Janda Baik, to us this suffices as a day trip. However, if you guys prefer something longer or overnight, you could always head over to Genting Highlands after as it’s just 40 minutes away from Janda Baik. You can even make this into a trip that last a few days. Start with Janda Baik and then drive into Bukit Tinggi which is 27 minutes away, Bentong town, 35 minutes away and the rest of Pahang. The possibilities are endless.

All of us thought that with Puasa going on, the crowd would not be much but we were wrong, very wrong, lol. There was a long waiting line with many people ahead of us. Waiting time was an hour. Good thing mum brought a large mat along with some cut fruits. So, we sat on the ground surrounded by greens, near the pond. A short picnic while we waited. Time passed surprisingly quick and soon enough, an hour passed and we were seated.

Pineyard was picturesque. A rustic structure surrounded by greens. It was serene and peaceful. Add in the pond in the middle of it all with loud ripples of water that had a rather calming effect on chaos city minds like ours. I liked it.

Despite being fullhouse, customer service was good. We were attended to quickly and food arrived 20 minutes later.

Marble Cake with Ice Cream, RM 15 + Yuzu Croissant, RM 8 + Salted Egg Croissant, RM 8

The Marble Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream was good. I was especially in love with the ice cream. I am pretty sure it was not grocery store bought, yay! Having it with the marble cake was delicious. The Yuzu Croissant was apparently a crowd favorite. It consisted of soft, buttery, flaky coissany with Yuzu sauce as filling. The sauce had a tangy, lemon zest taste to it with some sweetness. The Salted Egg Croissant was another popular choice. My family liked it, I did not. A matter of preference, I suppose.

Fish & Chips, RM 39

The Fish & Chips consisted of Halibut fish with mashed peas and fries, greens and mayonnaise. It was pretty good. The halibut was nicely cooked, crispy on the outside. This particular white fish has a light, mild, sweet-ish taste to it and eating it with mayonnaise was tasty. The mashed peas were yummy, we all liked it and so were the fries.

Nasi Ayam Percik, RM 29

This dish was pretty good too. The dish came with spiced grilled boneless chicken with rice, ulam, egg, papadum and percik sauce. The sauce was somewhat of a letdown because it was rather bland. Not spicy, not flavorful, not sweet .. nothing really. It was bland. However, as this was the only gravy available to an otherwise dry dish, we ate it anyways. The grilled chicken was nice. It was tender, juicy and flavorful. Yea, if the sauce had more flavor to it, this dish would have been awesome.

Fries Combo, RM 16

This bowl of fries we ordered for no particular reason. As we all were fries lovers, we figured why not. It was a combination of normal and sweet potato fries with truffle dip. The dip was oddly sweet, lol but worked well with the fries.

Overall, we have a good time at Pineyard. I can see what the hype is all about. Just the food alone would not do it. The food + the ambiance and greens made this an awesome experience. I can see myself returning here but it would be a once in a blue moon thing, better appreciation.