Does coffee bean really make a difference?

A continuation from my previous post, I started thinking about the different brands of coffee beans. I had this long conversation with a couple of my coffee addict friends and father and tey bascially said the same thing
1. Coffee bean is important but not the only thing
- illy and Lavazza are the 2 most popular
I was told that illy spends alot more on marketing thus people pay a premium for it. My friend swears by lavazza and the only reason he says that they are about the same price, expensive..hehe
I remember lavazza being very popular in Australia when I was there studying and recently when I was holidaying, so it cant be that bad. Apparently illy has a smoother texture while lavazza is stronger or more robust.
2. something that is more important than just the beans is the coffee machine and the grinder. The machine must be an excellant machine....la cimballi is apparently the best there is. I remember coffee bean and Oriels using that brand here. This must be so coz my friends tell me that although places like la bodega and alexis use illy, the coffee is not very good.
3. The branded coffee uses arabica beans, even starbucks and coffee bean use the same beans. I guess most manufacturers' coffee taste the same if done properly.
Verdict: I guess coffee beans are important but if the people don't know how to adjust the coffee machine and create the prefect grind, it wouldnt matter what bean they use.
Recommendation: Lavazza 2, illy 1 (had talked to 3 pple) and 1 said that Marks and spencer has a very good coffee...RM50 for 200gm, better than illy but not as strong as lavazza

Raising food prics...but i found a good place

Eating out nowadays can be expensive but i was recently at 1 utama and found this new place called oriels. The menu is decently sized, not too big not too small. My family and I tried a few things that were really good. just look at the pics my brother took...ahhhhh
first up, the snack plate selection that they have...it is a bit pricy at RM18 per plate but they have a tea time special that includes 1 coffee/tea and they have this loyalty programme thingy that gives a 1-for-1 snack plate (later part of this)

Next up, my dad had a Roast Chicken breast with escargots. Surprisingly, the chicken breast was very moist. usually you expect it to be dry and tasteless but accompanied with the sauce, it was very good.

My brother had the Slow roasted beef ribs. I wasnt too sure if for RM45 whether he should have ordered beef ribs from tony romas but when the ribs arrived, we could immediately smell the dish. it was mind-blogging, no kidding. You don't smell anything when the other steak places send their ribs unless its niceless BBQed. Anyway, the slow roast beef ribs were so tender and tasty and everyone was snacking off his plate. He was trying to fend off the many forks poking into his dish. @Rm45, its a bargin, if ever there was one.

I had the homemade pasta with cream suace, mushrooms and spinach. I never had this combi before. usually, there is the standard carbonara, or mushroom and cream sauce, but these guys actually made spinach work with this dish. I ordered the entree size but it was more than enough for me. The pasta was light, even when it was covered with cream sauce and tastes so different from the instant pasta we buy. I thought it would taste like ban-mee but the texture is a bit lighter and really absorbs the cream sauce. What I really like is that it is not too salty and I was free to add more if i wanted. I feel most places just add alot in the beginning and it gets to salty.

Lastly, we had a variety of desserts. I guessed since we didnt have starters,we might as well have dessert and coffee. My brother only bothered to take his own dessert, which is a chocolate crunch...i think they wanted to use coco crunch but the name was already taken..:)coffee was good as well. I think they use lavazza. My dad is a coffee addict and he insists that making coffee is an art. He had this long conversation with manager about making coffee. apparently the shop owner comes in regularly to adjust the coffee machine and grinder so that the machine makes a prefect coffee. Then there was this long conversation about illy and lavazza which I didnt really get. I am more of a floral tea person and the rose tea did the trick for me.

All in all, I will be back for more. Especially since I applied for the loyalty card, which is free at the moment. gives me 20% off ala carte and a 1-for-1 meal on mondays and tuesdays. cant beat that. oh ya, we bought cakes as cakes after 7pm had a 40% discount. damn good value and the best tasting cake ever!!!