Rakshee @ Kota Damansara

This winningly cheerful restaurant lives up to its promise of a 'new way to eat bakso,' bringing lovers of Indonesian beef balls on a cross-continental culinary incline into Italy, a spin through Sweden & a trek of Thailand - luckily, each detour is delicious.

Rakshee's founders (the restaurant's name is reputedly an Arabic allusion to happiness) belong to a team that has run a bakso-making factory in Penang since 1996. They've crafted this fresh-faced cafe to shine a contemporary light on bakso; the meatballs easily fit into pasta preparations like carbonara & marinara, costing a budget-conscious RM9.90 per plate.

Taking a cue from Stockholm (by way of IKEA), Rakshee's compact selection offers bakso in a creamy-as-gravy broth that's dunk-worthy with crunchy-buttery toast (RM9.90). The meatballs are robust-tasting, though with a smooth, clearly processed texture that'll probably prove familiar to regular consumers of bakso - more of a dense, firm paste than coarse, fleshy meat.

Bakso sliders (RM9.90 for three, with fries) make complete sense in this context; the menu's meant to be crowd-pleasing, teeming with tasty tidbits that'll cheer up the taste buds. Since this is only the start, it'll be fun to watch the kitchen potentially evolve, mature & offer more challenging recipes.

Bakso crossed with boat noodles? Rakshee's rendition is distinctive, with richly savoury, thickly beefy broth, enlivened further with chilli & other sauces. Like most boat noodles, these cost RM1.90 per bowl (& yep, they can be stacked up for photos too).

 Beverages here provide a pure Jakarta bent, with Sosro-produced teh botol & fruit tea. Desserts stray from Rakshee's theme, but that's fine, since what's available is the lush BCGT Belgian Chocolate Ganache Tart by independent baker 126 Kitchen.

Rakshee
13G, The Strand, Jalan PJU 5/20A, Kota Damansara. Tues-Sun, 11am-10pm (Fri from 3pm)

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