Taste Enclave Classic@Pavilion - Tasting Best KL Hawker Street Food in Pavilion Review

Eating hawker street food have never been more comfortable to me than this. For once, I get to enjoyed some of the few best hawker street food of Kuala Lumpur in a posh and comfortable dining place.

Now you can enjoy all this tasty KL hawker street food without the sweat at Taste Enclave Classic@Pavilion located at located a Lot 2.65.00, 2.67.00 & 2.74.00, Level 2, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, No. 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.

The dining concept here is a simple modern design, which is brightly lit unlike those hawker place where it is dim and most of the time you don't get to see what you eat. Also at Taste Enclave Classic, it is super clean compared to the dingy places where these local favourites are served.

Taste Enclave Classic @Pavilion brings some of KL favourites and nostalgic hawker fare like Nasi Ayam Singapura, Heun Kee Claypot Rice, Jalan Kayu Prata, Ah Hui Bak Kut Teh, Tong's Roast, Sentul Ah Yap Hokkien Mee, Xi Min Mini Wok and Big Tap & Fruit Juice Bar with an OPEN KITCHEN concept - which you can see the cooking process taken, to cook your favourite hawker fare right before your eyes.

I ordered a very special drink called the Avocado with Gula Melaka. It is a very interesting mix of blended Avocado with the distinctive sweet taste of the Gula Melaka. It is not too sweet and was quite refreshing start for the night.

For dinner, we had the Nasi Ayam Singapura set, which consists of a plate of Steamed Chicken. The steamed chicken was very fleshy and have a firm texture which too me is the most basic requirement for a nice Chicken rice meal.

This is because at Taste Enclave Classic@Pavilion, they use the Choi Yuen (Village) Chicken which, its meat are of a much better quality compared with the normal chicken (farmed and cage chicken) which usually are quite plain taste and soft texture.

Teochew Braised Eggs - this is the Singapore style braised eggs which has its root link back to the teochew style that Singapore is popular for. This is part of the Nasi Ayam Singapura set.

and lastly the Oyster sauce vegetable to complete the Nasi Ayam Singapura.

Then we tried the Roast Duck From Tong's Roast, the skin was crisp and meat was tender yet succulent to every bite. This set is served with White Rice.

This was then followed by Claypot Rice from Heun Kee - The Claypot was filled with Waxed Chinese Sausages, Chicken meat and the Salted fish which is a must for this dish. My suggestion is to mix and eat this rice as quickly as possible, as any delay might cause some dryness to the entire dish.

Next, we had the special Bak Kut Teh from Ah Hui Bak Kut Teh. This is a KL style Bak Kut Teh, meaning it is of a clear soup type, which unlike the Klang cousin, which is of the thick gravy type. For KL version of Bak Kut Teh, it has to be having, a strong herbalish aroma. For my kick of Bak Kut Teh, I usually frequent  a place in Pudu for my fix of this dish and always used that as my benchmark for any other Bak Kut Teh. The version here, although still quite aromatic and flavourful, still lack the total fire power of my favourite BKT.

Lastly, we had the Murtabak from Jalan Kayu Prata. It was a Chicken Murtabak that was nicely done and tasted delicious, when eaten with the curry and dhall that came with it. It was as expected from the outlet although the filling is much more at Taste Enclave Classic @Pavilion compared to the original shop which I had.

Taste wise most of the offering of hawker street food from Taste Enclave Classic @Pavilion are as close as what you get from visiting the individual outlet, but as mention, you dine in a comfortable and classy ambience, that will delight your senses and taste buds at a small premium price.

Read our other review of

Taste Enclave @ Sunway Pyramid Hotel - Bringing Popular Famous Street Food In A Comfortable Ambience

COEN Cafe@Pavilion - New Cafe That Serves Scandinavian Food and Gourmet Coffee Review

There are not many restaurant that serve Scandinavian food in Kuala Lumpur, I had the honoured to review the newly opened COEN Cafe @Pavilion which is located a Lot 2.65.00, 2.67.00 & 2.74.00, Level 2, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, No. 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.

COEN CAFE@Pavilion offers a modern contemporary interior featuring clean aesthetics design combined with natural and raw materials such as wood and steel.

One will notice while dining at COEN CAFE@Pavilion, are their custom-made chairs which are functional in design yet comfortable.

After our sumptuous dinner at the Taste Enclave Classic@Pavilion, we had the Swedish Seafood Cake, which is a very unique dish in that it is made out of six layers of alternating bread and a seafood mix of salmon, shrimp, eggs and mayonnaise.

It is then top with a generous amount of Deshell Prawns and Smoked Salmon. The sides are lined with slices of cucumber and lemon to add to a refreshing taste. Gently squeeze out the lemon juice as you cut out the section, and the blended zesty lemon juice will enhance the overall flavours of the mixed mayonnaise sauce.

This Swedish Seafood Cake is served chilled.

Next, we had the Affogato, the blend of double shot Espresso (Brazilian, Ethiopian  and Sumatran beans) was an in-house developed blend.

It was of a bitter taste on your first sip, while the flavours lingers around your mouth and stay smooth in your throat with the fresh coffee aroma, was indeed delicious. Coupled with the silky smooth vanilla ice cream, every spoonful was a mixture of the all the natural sweetness and flavours of the coffee.

For those who loves to listen to some light numbers after a nice meal, COEN CAFE@Pavilion has a resident artist that performs 'Live' and belts out some of the favourite tune to wind you down after a long day.

KODAWARI MENYA – BEST UDON IN KAGAWA, JAPAN – Grand Opening in Malaysia @1MK Mont Kiara Kuala Lumpur

 

One of the best Udon from the Kagawa Region –Kodawari Menya is here in Malaysia. Located at Mont Kiara opens its door to serve one of the most authentic UDON from Japan.

The grand opening was attended by a number of local celebrities which includes Datin Sofia Jane, Daphne Iking, Raja Atilia, Julie Woon, Vanidah Imran and Choo Mei Sze and others.

Kodawari Menya is the one of the leading UDON restaurant in Japan that offers full self service much like the one we frequent to the American Fast Food, where customers made their purchases over the counter.

There is a process which is clearly depicted at the entrance.

The most important factor is of course in the process and ingredient in making of the UDON itself and secondly it is the ingredients used to bring out the most flavourful broth that compliments perfectly to the UDON.

So, what makes a good UDON we asked during the launching of this first outlet in Malaysia. Kodawari Menya UDON. The key ingredients for making UDON, is simple it consists of superior wheat flour, water and salt. The skills lies in with how it is left to cure, cut and kneaded to a round fisted round chunks that has a soft and flexible texture. 

The next challenge would be the broth. For Kodawari Menya, the head chef took 383 techniques to create their signature broth using rare sugar which is both healthy and delicious.

The thinly cut scallions, tempura fritters and blended radish were a perfect add-on garnishing to the hot delicious Kake flavoured broth UDON.

 The firm quality of the UDON and delicious broth was superb, i.e. you can just eat the UDON by itself without any other add-on, it was that good.

As with any UDON meals, fresh from the frying pot Tempura pieces which you can order from the counter, is best to be complimented with.

We had the pumpkin, sweet potato and chicken (very meaty) tempura. You have the option to dip the tempura into the hot dipping tempura sauce.

There are 9 types of udon which are served at Kodawari Menya, for that, we will be coming back for a FULL review later. Watch this column.

Feng Fan Bak Kut Teh@ Kepong – An afternoon feast of Klang Style Bak Kut Teh in KL Review

Mention of Bak Kut Teh will invokes one mind to the birth place of this porky delicious soup, which is Klang. For someone who is born and breed in the centre of KL, it is mind boggling to want to sample some nice BKT in KL especially the dry version.

We had the opportunity to review a new establishment of BKT, right in the heart of Kepong which is Fen Fang Bak Kut Teh located at 130, Jalan Rimbunan Raya, Laman Rimbunan Kepong 51200 Kuala Lumpur.

We were told that there are no less than 100 of these Bak Kut Teh shops in Kepong itself, probably making Kepong as another capital for this soupy delicious delights. And the row of shops around Fen Fang, there are at least 10 of such establishment serving this exquisite dish.

So, how does Fen Fang measures up in terms of quality and taste of the Bak Kut Teh. To start off, we had the dry Bak Kut Teh version. Not many shop in KL actually serve this version, and even if it did, taste wise, there have not been able to match or better up over its Klang rivals.

The version here is full flavoured by the generous amount of slice dry squid that was used. It leaves a strong after taste that lingers around your mouth and the gravy was an excellent party to the white rice. I had just one bowl of rice just eating this dish alone.

Next, the soup version of the Bak Kut Teh, for me this was a little mild for my liking as the ones that I usually favoured, must have a strong herbal aroma and taste. That is how I like my BKT, but the owner claims that when he started here in Kepong, it used to be serving a much stronger and heavier broth, but was not well accepted by the customer in Kepong, so he switch to a milder version to cater to the local. 

Fen Fang Bak Kut Teh has another outlet which they started in Kuala Selangor which serves the more authentic and strong version of the Bak Kut Teh, which should be ok for me, as claimed by the proprietor.

As usual, there are many Bak Kut Teh side dishes, which includes the must have Tau Foo Pok, Chinese Dough Stick (Yau Char Kwai), Foo Chok (Fried Bean Curd), Button and Enoki Mushroom.

Unlike in Klang, where most Bak Kut Teh shops only serves Bak Kut Teh, it is totally opposite as most will serves other dishes as well to cater for a more balance and complete meal to satiate the different taste and flavours. 

Here at Fen Fang, they serve the Claypot Mushroom Sesame Chicken. This chicken has a gingerly and strong sesame taste and cooked with plenty of gravy.

Another porky dishes, we had was the Stewed Pork With Pickled Vegetables. The pickled vegetable was that of the sweet and the salty type Mui Choy mixed at the right proportion. It was cooked with a tinge of assam and dry chillies making it a little different (much akin to the taste of Choy Kiok) and different from the traditional Mui Choy Pork. 

The meat was cooked until it was soft and easy to bite on and with every bite, you are able to taste the combination of porky with Mui Choy taste.

This is then followed by a Thai Style Bean Curd. The bean curd are fried and cut into little triangle and top with a special sauce that was made in-house, which has a combination of the thai chilli with a few dashes of lime juice to give that tangy taste.

Serve with some garnishing of slice onions and cut scallions, this is a nice appetizer to start off any meals with. 

Next, we had the Kerabu Chicken feet, I love the silky, smooth and soft crunch of the deboned chicken feet, which is also topped up with the similar home made sauce used for the Fried Bean Curd.

Eggs dishes are very good compliment to rice, as such, here at Fen Fang Kepong Bak Kut Teh, they serve 2 versions of it, which is the Vegetable (Choy Poh) Omelette which we had, and the Onion Omelette.

Our finale dish was the Oyster Sauce Kai Lan.

Overall, it has been a balance and complete meal that literally have meats, vegetables, tau foo and eggs without the hassle of making a long trip, all the way to KLANG to sample some of these Bak Kut Teh dishes.

Our other Bak Kut Teh meal

Yu Yi Bak Kut Teh Jalan Imbi Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur