Avenue K's sprawling new food court is well worth visiting, with a dizzying diversity of dishes that represent street fare from Singapore & the Klang Valley.
Comfy, clean & contemporary-looking, Taste Enclave is a tempting lunch & dinnertime alternative for city-center workers fed up with the too-safe, sterile choices at Suria KLCC; this might be the best thing that's happened to Avenue K.
It'd take more than one or two visits to sample Taste Enclave's full selection, spanning Singapore's well-known Jalan Kayu Prata to KL's respected Heun Kee claypot rice from Pudu.
For starters, check out Singapore's Mandarin Chicken Rice ...
... boasting moist, fresh & flavorsome grains, warmly paired with silky-juicy poultry.
Mr Porky deep-fried streaky pork (RM18.90), crisply coated with oatmeal & achingly addictive in its sumptuous succulence. Love, love, love.
Can't have a non-halal food court without roast pork & duck, right?
Tong's Roast serves a satisfactory plate of meaty herbal duck with noodles (RM10.90).
Shunning meat? Try Hong Kee Vegetarian, where "char siew" proves a caramelized pleasure.
Direct from Singapore's Orchard Road: the Vietnamese-owned Y Thu Wendy, where specialties include "bun thit nuong," BBQ meat with cold vermicelli & herbs. And yes, all these recipes hail from their original outlets.
So many more stalls, whipping up everything from Hokkien mee to beef tripe noodles ...
... Kepong yong tau foo to mainland-Chinese hot-pot servings of cuttlefish & crab sticks.
Iced coffee & tea; Taste Enclave also serves beer but no wine for now. There's expected to be another Taste Enclave at Damansara Jaya by next year.
The food court also contains four restaurants: Xi Qing Seafood Restaurant (think chili crabs, fried prawns & steamed fish head) & Grandeur Teppanyaki ...
... plus the soon-to-open Swedish bakery-cafe Svea (meatballs!) & Japanese outlet Omoya, reputedly featuring an Osaka-native chef.
Not inside Taste Enclave or affiliated with the food court, but notable for being on the same floor: Tad's Rockin' Hot Dogs (also found at Mid Valley), a 1901 spin-off that includes fun recipes like Negaraku Weenie, with a serunding-topped sausage.
Taste Enclave,
Food Atrium, Level Two, Avenue K, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
The Oct.-Dec. edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favorites is now available in an eBook for free, convenient reading on computers, tablets & smartphones. It comprises reviews of 100 eateries that span various locations, cuisines & budgets: http://eatdrinkkl.publ.com/Eat-Drink-KL-100-Favorites-Oct-Dec-2013 (link expires Dec. 31, 2013; see blog entries after that date for new link).
