By EDKL Writer A.A.
Unlock the magic and merriment of the festive season at Main Place Mall, with a 'Treats of Christmas' theme heralded by a concourse centrepiece of a life-sized gingerbread village decked out with gigantic nutcracker figurines and confectioneries - perfect for Yuletide photo opportunities!
Throughout this month, Main Place Mall will be hosting a slew of Christmas activities, including a Christmas Par-Tea for Main Place Juniors and their friends, Christmas colouring contest, live performances (including orchestra, busking, juggling and puppetry), special character walkabouts, craft and ornament workshops, and much more, such as gift-with-purchase rewards featuring exclusive Santa and Santarina pillows. Main Place Mall will also offer free gift wrapping services with a minimum purchase of RM50 and above in a single receipt (terms and conditions apply), daily 12pm-10pm until 25 December.
Keep up with the Christmas fun on Main Place Mall's Facebook and Instagram pages at https://www.facebook.com/mainplacemallusj and https://www.instagram.com/mainplacemallusj/
Throughout this month, Main Place Mall will be hosting a slew of Christmas activities, including a Christmas Par-Tea for Main Place Juniors and their friends, Christmas colouring contest, live performances (including orchestra, busking, juggling and puppetry), special character walkabouts, craft and ornament workshops, and much more, such as gift-with-purchase rewards featuring exclusive Santa and Santarina pillows. Main Place Mall will also offer free gift wrapping services with a minimum purchase of RM50 and above in a single receipt (terms and conditions apply), daily 12pm-10pm until 25 December.
Keep up with the Christmas fun on Main Place Mall's Facebook and Instagram pages at https://www.facebook.com/mainplacemallusj and https://www.instagram.com/mainplacemallusj/
Promising everything from feasts of seafood to Thai vegetarian fare and European meat specialities, Main Place Mall has also become one of Subang's most popular destinations for a delectable gathering with family and friends. Catering for every budget, here are four restaurants in this neighbourhood mall for celebrating Christmas amid all the exciting activities or simply for a casual outing of food and fun, this month and beyond.
Shell Out
1st Floor, 1F-16
Shell Out has become a household name, pioneering the Cajun-inspired, crustacean-centric spread that has spilled forth to immense popularity in the Klang Valley since 2013. Its outpost in Main Place Mall is the ideal venue to sample Malaysia's best rendition of this cornucopia of seafood served with multiple sauces - we love the spacious setting that's rich in character, showcasing 'graffiti' on every corner to reflect cheerful testimonials scrawled by thousands of contented customers.
First, select your seafood to feed the entire gang - from Alaskan king crabs to Canadian lobsters, as well as prawns, crawfish and clams to green mussels, giant scallops and octopus - with sides such as broccoli, corn, potatoes and sausages.
Everyone should don the bib and gloves provided by Shell Out's friendly crew before the seafood surfaces, splashed out over the white sheet of paper placed on each table. Each bag of seafood is brought out steaming-hot from the kitchen, unloaded in front of you with its bounty of fresh catch in your choice of sauce.
There's a signature sauce for every preference in your group of friends. The mildest might be the Butter Garlic, which beautifully complemented our mix of prawns and giant scallops, enabling their natural oceanic sweetness to shine.
The Shell Bang is another buoyantly balanced sauce, blending Lemon Pepper and Butter Garlic to enhance premium temptations like the Alaskan King Crab Legs and the Crab XXXL - crabs at their fleshiest, firmest and finest, more substantial than regular crabs, spectacular if you want to sink your teeth into prime seafood succulence.
If some among you want to feel the heat, try the Curry Curry sauce - it supplies a pleasant burn that nevertheless won't overpower the main courses like the large Canadian lobster with its significant treasure of roe concealed beneath its exterior.
Speaking of shells, it's nice to note that the Shell Out service team will do all the hard work for you in slicing through the crabs and everything else - so all you and your friends have to do, really, is eat.
Crowd-pleasing sides include Fried Chicken Wings in a secret house marinade (RM18.50) and the Sweet Potato Fries (RM14.90), as well as Soft Shell Crab, Baby Octopus and Golden Shrimp.
Many of Shell Out's basic set combos run from RM175 to RM512, totalling about RM80-RM120 per person for memorably fulfilling seafood.
If you're celebrating a birthday here, the lucky person receives a birthday card from Shell Out, as well a complimentary slice of cake, with some birthday decoration added to the table in dedication to their special day. But we think Shell Out will work out well for any occasion, whether you've just finished an exam, landed a job or secured a promotion - come in and dig in.
Absolute Thai
1st Floor, 1F-17
Absolute Thai has cultivated a reputation for consistency, with at least two Thai chefs stationed in each of its outposts, including at Main Place Mall. This has been one of the mall's longest-enduring restaurants over the past five years, but there's always something new to discover here - recently, Absolute Thai unveiled an all-new vegetarian menu, featuring meat-free spin-offs on 16 of its classic staples.
Loyal fans of Absolute Thai know and love the restaurant's clear tom yam soup, a nod to the original, most time-honoured Thai preparation, with a beautifully balanced, sweet-tangy-spicy broth that shines through even in the vegetarian rendition, robust with the fragrance of culantro, or pak chi farang, brimming with noodles for a nutritionally filling lunch or dinner, with hearty chunks of tofu for a protein punch.
Similarly, the Vegetarian Green Curry is as satisfyingly thick and creamy as ever, bursting with a fresh harvest of various herbs and fibre-rich components, including cauliflower and broccoli with a firm bite - perfect for patrons who love Thai fare but prefer to skip chicken, beef or fish for their meal.
Other vegetarian specialities include the Deep-Fried Spring Rolls, the ideal starter for sharing, crisp to the bite and juicy to the chew, followed by single-plate main meals like the Vegetarian Phad Thai, comfortingly blanketed in a warm omelette, eschewing pork or prawns for a medley of carrots, cauliflower, corn and broccoli, and the Vegetarian Fried Kuey Teow, perhaps the most wholesome fried kuey teow preparation possible at a Thai restaurant, but every bit as slick and flavoursome as we'd want it to be.
Ultimately, Absolute Thai's vegetarian menu is expertly conceived and elegantly constructed, with each recipe supplying a tasty mix of flavours and textures. The regular, meat-loaded menu remains available too of course, with more than 60 dishes and 40-plus drinks, including the thoroughly rejuvenating Thai Iced Tea.
For groups, Absolute Thai features two well-lit private rooms that can seat around 10 guests each; both can be combined for larger groups of 20 persons or so. The entire restaurant can be booked for events and functions, comfortably hosting around 120 guests - now that's cause for celebration, certainly.
Fish & Co.
Fish & Co.'s offshoot at Main Place Mall is bright and vibrant, bringing in bustling crowds throughout lunch and dinner. With its colourful murals decked out in a comfortable, nautical-themed setting, it's a wholesome restaurant for all generations, ensuring that everyone from the grandparents to the toddlers will leave with satisfied stomachs.
Small and big groups can feel equally comfortable here; for the latter, half of the restaurant can be booked in advance to accommodate about 40 persons; the whole restaurant can be reserved for 80 persons, whether you're planning a casual party or a corporate function.
Package menus are available for large bookings, but discounts can be allocated for a la carte dishes too. If you'd like to sample a smorgasbord of seafood in one serving, bookmark the Seafood Platter, bursting with freshly prepared fish and chips with a bevy of mussels, prawns, squid and fragrant rice (RM69.95; for two to three persons).
The latest incarnation of Fish & Co.'s repertoire also puts a seafood twist on several of its pizzas and pastas. Both young and old will enthusiastically gobble up the Seafood Pizza, lusciously layered with prawns, squid and mussels as cheese-laden toppings (RM32.95), and the Seafood Spaghetti, with its well-rounded medley of prawns, calamari and mussels in a savoury, tangy tomato sauce (RM25.95). Other similarly hearty single-plate meals include the Shrimp and Clams Aglio Olio, Seafood Baked Rice, and Prawn Fettucine with Chilli Cream.
Fish & Co.'s longevity is a testament to its consistent commitment to quality, illustrated throughout a wide range of fine-tuned recipes. For example, there are no fewer than eight different varieties of fish and chips here; we had the house recommendation of the New York Fish & Chips, stuffed with Parmesan cheese and topped with lemon butter sauce (RM24.95), but customers can also choose versions like a salted egg yolk fish and chips, an 'Afrika' smoky peri-peri sauce version, a Malaysian sambal sauce rendition and more.
Other offerings to round out the Fish & Co. experience include the Soup of the Day - on our visit, we had the creamy Fish Chowder (RM7.95 on its own, or RM10.95 with a drink if you order this with fish and chips) - and the blue mussels, ideal for sharing in a lip-smacking garlic lemon butter sauce (RM19.95).
BLACK Market
Ground Floor, GF 21-22
For celebratory dining and drinks, BLACK Market offers a spacious setting with both indoor and alfresco areas, accommodating up to 100 persons. Smaller engagements of about 20 persons can partition off a section of the restaurant for themselves, overlooked by an antlered wall mount.
The extensive selection includes recommended pairings for food with beer or wine. To start, the Roast Pork Belly makes for a meaty platter to share, complete with crispy crackling and tender flesh (RM28), its Oriental nuances partnering perfecting with the Japanese notes of the Asahi Draught (RM27).
The Pull-Apart Cheesy Garlic Bread (RM24) is another suitable centre piece for the communal table - the warm, fresh sourdough is embedded unmistakably with garlic, its deep flavours buoyed by the clean, crisp Montes Classic Series Sauvignon Blanc, with the cheesiness of the bread playing off the wine's floral accents, the garlicky fragrance of the former harmonising with the grassy aroma of the latter.
BBQ pork ribs and red wine prove a natural match, of course - the signature BLACK Market Big 'S' Pork Ribs, oven-baked with a potently savoury marinade (RM58), stand up respectably to the the Warburn Estate Rumours Merlot, a smoothly delicate vintage with hints of plum and berries.
Burgers and beer? Also absolutely logical - complement the Triple Cheese Chicken Burger, notable for its hearty centre of deep-fried boneless chicken thigh marinated with lemongrass, kaffir lime and spices (RM33), with the Kronenbourg Blanc Draught Beer (RM27).
The rest of the restaurant's repertoire comprises rice dishes, pizzas and pastas, like the BLACK Market 3P Fried Rice (RM32; decadently laced with pork bacon, crispy lard, and luncheon meat, rounded out with a soup, salad, onsen egg and seafood), Hong Kong Duck Liver Sausage Fried Rice, the BLACK Jamon Pizza, the Real Paddington Linguine with Jamon, and much more.
Many thanks to Main Place Mall for having us here.
Many thanks to Main Place Mall for having us here.
Main Place Mall
Jalan USJ 21/10, Usj 21, 47630 Subang Jaya, Selangor.
