It's the end of an era: A Li Yaa has moved, forced by noise complaints to leave its beautiful white bungalow at Lorong Dungun & relocate to relatively cramped quarters at Plaza Damansara.
The silver lining: we still have a place to savor A Li Yaa's vast range of delicious Sri Lankan dishes. For a hearty supper, order the "lamprais" _ a Dutch-influenced baked recipe that feels like a cross between banana leaf rice & nasi lemak. Magnificently moreish.
Desserts are always a treat here. The top choice: Tom's Special _ essentially "vatilaapam," a soft, sweet pudding made of coconut milk, brown palm sugar, eggs & cinnamon, splashed with a shot of Kahlua. And separately in the background, a simple but elegant mix of curd & honey.
House cocktails: Kumari Cooler (Mendis Sri Lankan whiskey, sweet & sour, cherry brandy, soda, grenadine) & Aliyaatini (vodka, midori melon, chocolate puree).
Elephant Walk (southern comfort, ginger ale, bitters, lemon wedge) & Frangelico Zesti (frangelico, brown sugar, fresh lime).
This new outlet occupies two floors; the top level was still a work in progress when we checked it out earlier this month, but it should be all ready by now.
Entry on Aliyaa @ Lorong Dungun, Damansara Heights: February 17, 2009.
A Li Yaa,
48 G&M, Plaza Damansara, Medan Setia 2, Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
Ooo the lamprais really looks like BLR... and the dessert looks like sticky toffee pudding!
ReplyDeleteBaby sumo: yaa, I guess sri lankan food is like a cousin (if not sibling) of Indian food. And maybe some of it has signs of British colonial influences too :D
ReplyDeleteOoh kahlua on pudding. I can sort of imagine the taste..
ReplyDeleteMichelle: the booze made it twice as tasty, I think! =)
ReplyDeleteI love their Lamprais and Appams! Must pay them a visit again soon.
ReplyDeleteQwazymonkey: ya, luckily the food still seems as good as ever, even though they've changed location. I wonder if they'll still be as popular here at plaza damansara though, since this row feels quite quiet...
ReplyDeletethe new place looks nice. But what I really like is the cute elephant logo on the front of the shop.
ReplyDeleteEiling: heheh, yeah, I guess that's their mascot! I think most of the furniture and chairs were brought over from their old place =)
ReplyDeleteI havent even tried Aliyaa yet! Hahah!
ReplyDeleteWell, its' on my never ending list of "to eat". :P
Rebecca: actually I honestly think you'll like it! The food is quite interesting, consistently tasty and well-prepared, and the variety is large, and prices are very fair. A good place for small groups of 3-6 people :D
ReplyDeleteAnother one!! I need my lumprais!! hehe
ReplyDeleteLove the food here. A pity they had to relocate, but what to do...I was at the old location once, and the bands from both this restaurant and the neighbouring one were competing in volume - can imagine how the neighbours are affected. hehe. Anyhow, will continue to visit Aliyaa coz everything's sooo goooood.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I think I spot a couple of friends in your last pic, you paparazzi you! :P
ReplyDeleteCiki: heheh, everybody lovvvvvves lamprais! (i actually like it better than our regular banana leaf rice) :D
ReplyDeleteLemongrass: i wonder why they couldn't just scrap the live bands though. i think it'd be worth the sacrifice in order to keep the bungalow. but yeah, hopefully aliyaa's fans will remain loyal, heheh =)
Kenny: aiya, your friends refused to budge from that table, so i had to snap them in the photo, heheh. i don't recognize ANY of them, you social butterfly you! :D