Restaurant Week in Kuala Lumpur

As a food lover, I am thrilled to find out there’s a Restaurant Week to be launch in Kuala Lumpur! Initiated about 20 years back in NYC, the restaurant weeks are currently being in different cities around the world such as, US, China, Japan, and Hong Kong! Soon to be held from 4^th to 11^th October and put together by KL Restaurant Week Sdn Bhd, the event is supported by more than 40 of Malaysia’s top restaurants.

Okay what’s so special about restaurant week? Well, each participating restaurant will be offering special menus as low as RM20 for a two-course lunch! Wow, isn’t that amazing? But the catch is, there are limited seats for these menus and only available for first-come-first-served basis.

So, I took an initiative to visit these two restaurants to discover what they serve. Grown up as a Malaysian, I’m exposed to different culture, customs and rituals, and of course, I’m exposed to their food too!! Lately, I came across two different restaurants which are Bijan (not the French name but sesame seeds in Malay) is an authentic Malay cuisine and the other is Gobo Lounge and Grill restaurant specialise in fusion and contemporary cuisine.  

Courtesy of Wowwoo

So here begins my food journey, I perused the menu and started to make order. Few minutes later, the items I ordered had arrived and placed on my table (believe me I can’t took of my eyes from the dishes!!!).  

I tried Kerabu Mangga, a tangy-spicy salad of unripe mangoes that went well with the rich dishes. OMG, this dish is so good but it did not blow my socks off. So I proceed with the next dish called Terung Goreng Bercili, fried brinjals with a chili sauce, ok the dish was fine (well I’m not really into it).

Pucuk Paku Goreng Tahi Minyak, is another dish that I ordered (yeah, this was my favourite dish above chicken and fish at the restaurant). The dish is made up of wild fern stir-fried in chilli and caramelised coconut and topped off with shrimp, the fern was soft, sweet and buttery thanks to the caramelised coconut. It was probably the first time I ever went for seconds and thirds on a vegetable dish.

Later on I tried on the desserts; I tried Sharmaine's Beach Holiday Cake, and Chocolate Durian Cake (I’m started to droll when it thought about it). I took a small bite of Sharmaine's Beach Holiday Cake, a soft pandan sponge covered with buttercream, mango compote and toasted coconut, each bite of it was so good and here comes the Chocolate Durian Cake, trust me a small bite makes me blew me off my feet as the cake was lush and decadent as expected from the king of fruits.

The pricing at Bijan starting from RM10 onwards, but trust me it might be slighty expensive than other malay restaurants, but definitely worth every single RM!!

Courtesy of Wowwoo

However, my food hunt did not stop at Bijan, my hunt for delicious food goes further to fusion and contemporary type food, Gobo Lounge and Grill restaurant. The restaurant situated in trader Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

Gobo is big on meat, predominantly beef, with the usual suspects – Australian black angus, master kobe, wagyu and even organic beef – listing alongside lamb, cod, salmon, chicken and king prawn, as for vegetarian pastas and risotto were served here.

I start off with the Flamed Balsamic Marinated Portobello mushroom with mesclun mix parmigiano cheese which was so good as the sweetness of the balsamic played off the saltiness of the cheese while the mushrooms were cooked but still firm and juicy.

Then I tried Pan Fried Cod, it was cooked just right that the flesh fell off in succulent flakes; the sweetness of the fish went so well with the light salt and pepper coating that we totally ignored the caramelised balsamic shallot sauce that was supposed to go with it

I finished off with an Apple Strudel with cinnamon ice cream. It was like a crispy apple popiah and Cinnamon Ice Cream, gosh I got no words to describe. If you are wine lover, then you should visit the restaurant as they offer nine choices each for red and white wines served by the glass.

As for the price, I would say they’re reasonable as the price starting from RM25 onwards. The food served here is definitely worth every single cent!!