D'Cuisine @ The Plaza, Jaya 33

D'lightful d'scoveries might draw d'votees to Plaza 33's D'Cuisine, a new retooled-Asian-cuisine offshoot of the D'Italiane Kitchen restaurant chain.

The menu feels both familiar & fresh with tempting twists throughout: this Oriental tapas platter (RM29+) illustrates inventiveness via a wet trifecta of Mongolian chicken cubes, chili prawns & buttered salted-egg fish slices with toasted handmade mantou bun.

Chinese-influenced Pu-Erh tea-infused chicken (RM18+), smoked for 45 minutes, served with Malay-style blue-tinted butterfly-pea rice. Pleasant one-plate fare.

Strictly for sharing: 'Sang har mee,' RM48+ for this serving with 300 grams of freshwater prawns, piled upon thick Hong Kong yee mee that retains its crispness very well while still soaking up the robustly savory, roe-rich sauce.

Don't D'spair: There's plenty more to try here, from Nyonya curry noodles with Norwegian salmon to Australian beef ball soup to fish & chips in a kaffir-lime batter.

But save space for some fun desserts, including this mild-but-unique salted egg pudding with house-made vanilla ice cream (RM19+).

Lemongrass ice cream with lemongrass jelly. Lovely, more so for these hazy-hot days. RM11+.

Avocado ice cream, a hearty double scoop served with a side of Arabica espresso (RM21+).

Respectable wine at a more-than-respectable rate of RM20+ per glass.

D'Cuisine runs an alfresco cafe cutely called Ketch-Up in this building (an extension of Jaya 33), where folks can sip a marvelously milky Creme Brulee Latte.

It's still early days, but Plaza 33 is certain to become a should-visit for Petaling Jaya's foodies; this complex now also houses Noble Mansion & Kampachi, with Coliseum, a new branch of the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Road institution, expected to open here next month.

D'Cuisine @ PJ Plaza 33

D'Cuisine @ PJ Plaza 33,
Ground Floor, The Plaza @ Jaya 33, Jalan Semangat, Section 13, Petaling Jaya.
Open for lunch & dinner, Mon-Thurs, & 11am-11pm Fri-Sun.