Eat Drink KL: Menara Hap Seng

Showing posts with label Menara Hap Seng. Show all posts

Monday, August 22, 2016

Jom Makan Place @ Menara Hap Seng

This family-run restaurant is a firm favourite among office crowds seeking a satisfactory breakfast or lunch, with conveniently located branches in Menara Hap Seng & on Jalan Pinang, Bangsar & Damansara Heights. Jom Makan Place first established itself nearly 10 years ago in KL, but the architect of its menu, Madam Ang, has been cooking for decades, originally running tiffin catering services in her hometown of Taiping. Together with her husband & her daughter, they now strive to bring comfortingly familiar Malaysian flavours to their customers, with a selection of wallet-friendly rice & noodle platters, relying on sauces & pastes made from scratch in the kitchen without preservatives. Customers can choose to dine in throughout the day or place delivery orders through Foodpanda; the outlets also accept bento lunchbox delivery orders for corporate functions.

For a complete halal-certified meal, Jom Makan Place's sets offer solid value - the Chinatown Cuisine repertoire comprises cherished staples like salted egg chicken, Kam Heong chicken, Marmite fish, sweet-&-sour fish or crispy cereal fish for RM16.90 nett, inclusive of rice, a fried egg, side of vegetable, fruit packet, & barley or herbal tea beverage. There's also a range of other rice sets (mostly RM14.90) with traditional classics like ayam masak merah, herbal chicken & ayam rendang.

The food comes very hot & fresh-tasting in claypots & sizzling plates, with fleshy chunks of meat in recipes that showcase competently robust flavours. Our personal favourite might be the ayam rendang, with gravy that goes terrifically with rice.

Single-plate noodles & rice meals are also an attraction: The restaurant's recommendations include hearty noodles with dry chicken curry, potatoes & bean sprouts (RM13.90), fragrant curry mee (RM12.90) & kampung fried rice (RM12.90), all of which come with a complimentary drink & fruits. The variety pretty much offers something for everyone; other options include fish ball noodles, wonton mee, seafood tofu soup noodles, hot plate yee mee, Penang-inspired fried kuey teow, braised rice & mee goreng mamak - it's no wonder some regulars eat here multiple times a week. Thanks to Jom Makan Place for having us here.

Jom Makan Place Hap Seng

Lot1-20B, 1st Floor, Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur.

Mon-Fri, 7am-430pm. Sat, 7am-3pm. Tel: 012-306-5578

Jom Makan Place Jalan Pinang
LG2, Lower Ground Floor, Wisma UOA II. 21 Jalan Pinang, Kuala Lumpur

Mon-Fri, 7am-430pm.

Jom Makan Place Damansara
LG1-3/5/6, Lower Ground Floor, Wisma UOA Damansara, 50, Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur

Mon-Fri, 7am-430pm.

Jom Makan Place Bangsar
Unit 2-6, Level 2, Menara UOA Bangsar, 5, Jalan Bangsar Utama, Kuala Lumpur.

Mon-Fri, 7am-8pm. Sat, 9am-5pm.

Delivery orders possible through Foodpanda.

Friday, May 13, 2016

SugarBun @ Menara Hap Seng

SugarBun, Sarawak's enduringly successful fast food franchise, with scores of offshoots across Borneo, has resurfaced in peninsular Malaysia, now launching in Menara Hap Seng. Expect many of SugarBun's best-known 'Borneo Asian' staples, plus new recipes for KL, where the theme tilts toward a food court-style premises, with each stall promising specific signatures.

Begin with the broasted chicken, prepared through a combination of pressure cooking & deep-frying - it looks & tastes like fried chicken, notably less greasy than the fast-food norm, but still totally tender & tasty. RM4 per piece, RM11.50 for three pieces, RM19.50 for five pieces, or RM12 for a platter of two pieces with SugarBun's savoury rice (laced with raisins & morsels of chicken sausage) & house-made pickles. You can also have the chicken in a 'kano' sauce - flavoured with lemongrass, garlic, onions & spices - that partners pretty much perfectly with the meat (RM15 for a two-piece kano chicken platter with rice).

Fish plays a starring role too, with tilapia & mackerel brought from Sarawak & giant grouper from Sabah. Tilapia is served as an 'Eco Fish Meal' (RM20), with the flesh tasting less 'muddy' than expected, reputedly as a result of having been bred in clear running water - the fish has a terrific texture, crisp-skinned & moist-fleshed. The Borneo mackerel (RM18 for four pieces) is also good, its guts removed before it was blast-frozen, to keep it fresh-tasting. Our favourite: Giant grouper mee hoon soup (RM33 for a bowl that two can share), with lots of smooth chunks of grouper (king of the Borneo seas) in a lovely, sweet broth.

Cattle call: Sabah premium beef ball mee hoon soup with Lahad Datu chilli sauce (RM23; the fairly gamy meatballs are hand-kneaded using female buffalo meat, while the thin noodles boast a nice bite) & nasi lemak with oxtail (RM19; respectable, but not the star of SugarBun's show.) Plenty of other possible orders, from Sarawak laksa to claypot assam fish to a satisfying ais kacang (RM6) made with gula apong (nipah palm sugar) & crunchy Sabah seaweed. Many thanks to SugarBun for having us.

SugarBun Restaurant KL

Level 1, Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur. Mon-Fri, 730am-8pm (lunch menu starts 11am), Sat, 10am-2pm

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Sunday, April 3, 2016

Enfin By James Won @ Menara Hap Seng

This modern French restaurant ranks among the city centre's most beautiful new venues, occupying the sort of space that bolsters expectations of a exceptional experience.

Visiting for lunch, we couldn't resist ordering a bread platter (RM22); the menu emphasises that Enfin bakes its own, relying on natural yeast & French-milled flour. The offering evokes crostini-like toasted slices, thin & crunchy, which might not placate patrons seeking fresh bread they can sink their teeth into. This comes with three dips - pesto, eggplant, & possibly mushroom & olives (service here is well-intentioned, but not everyone on the floor is capable of explaining what's being served) - each enjoyable, but the entire ensemble is only marginally more intriguing than the complimentary bread that welcomes customers elsewhere. If you need a starter, a more distinctive choice might be the orange-coloured Mimolette cheese salad (RM24), a dish that echoes back to Malaysian chef-founder James Won's original restaurant, Brasserie Enfin in Oasis Ara Damansara.

Being devotees of duck, we had to also check out the duo of duck & chicken wings (RM28); the former is massive, comprising French free-range fowl, quinoa-crusted for a memorably crisp-textured exterior, while the latter is a lot more ordinary, prepared with a soy butter glaze that tastes mainly Oriental. Both prove punchy in flavour, though they might benefit from some sauces on the side to broaden their dynamics. We'd probably skip the duck burger - the patty is thick but tastes only faintly like duck & feels over-processed; we may have preferred pulled duck for a real-meat chew, especially for a burger that chimes in at RM45.

For our mains: Enfin's rendition of boeuf bourguignon features faultlessly tender meat with roasted roots - it's well worth having for RM48, even though we'd wish for greater depth & boldness in the flavour of the sauce. The roast chicken & salted duck egg risotto (RM45) is competent, but fundamentally indistinguishable from what you'd find at a decent Italian restaurant in KL.

Columbia Crest Winery Two Vines Merlot (Columbia Valley, Washington State, USA; 2011) at RM106 per bottle.

Enfin by James Won

Lot 2-05, Level 2, Menara Hap Seng 1, Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur.

Tues-Sun, 1130am-230pm, 530pm-12am. Tel: 010-288-7920
Click here for online reservations.

This restaurant is available for bookings under TABLEAPP, which enables customers to make instant reservations at Malaysia's top restaurants, while saving time and money in the process. Reserve your table at this restaurant by clicking here.