Kanteen, Mont Kiara & Tropicana Avenue: New Dinner Menu

Family-style sharing plates of Malaysian classics like ikan asam pedas and egg fu yong, solo bowls of curry mee, char kuey teow and chicken chop: Kanteen has launched a new dinner menu that rounds up familiar favourites for a fun feast in a stylish setting. If you live or work near Kanteen's branches in Mont Kiara and Tropicana Avenue, this is a cool choice for a rewarding meal after a long day at work or to celebrate the weekend with your favourite people.

Visiting Kanteen in Mont Kiara on a rain-drenched evening, we were welcomed with plenty of warmth. The restaurant is impressively sleek - it's even shortlisted this year as a Malaysian entry in the UK-based Restaurant and Bar Design Awards - but it's a casual and cosy neighbourhood hangout at heart. Customers can feel free to head here in T-shirts, shorts and slippers; take a table in one of the distinctive booths indoors or enjoy an alfresco evening amid a garden corner of monsteras and other evergreens.

The family that runs Kanteen has helmed professional kitchens in the Klang Valley for more than two decades, specialising in Southeast Asian fare but tackling other cuisines with equal ease. Whether you love chicken wings that channel the belacan-fried Peranakan pleasures of Penang (RM25 for four pieces) or lust after chilli garlic prawns that evoke the Spanish tapas of Seville (RM25; complete with garlic toasts), these two orders make for a lip-smacking start to the night. Other appetiser options span chicken lobak to satay, mozzarella sticks to chilli cheese fries, fried oyster mushrooms to butter button mushrooms.

The Chilli Soft Shell Crabs (RM52) is one of the restaurant's top recommendations, for excellent reason. If you like chilli crabs but loathe the effort of pulling and peeling through the crustaceans, these are an alluring alternative - soft-shell crabs, fleshy and fresh-tasting, chunky and crisp, but with more meat than batter, soaked in a chilli-and-tomato-based sauce that's sweet-savoury and not cloying or too spicy. Perfect with golden mantou to soak up the thick, textured sauce, this is one we'd order again in future visits.

The Assam Pedas Fish (RM60) is another should-try for fans of tender, flaky seabass. Kanteen does juicy justice to the fish, moist and market-fresh, making it sultry without drowning out its natural flavours in spices or flavourings. This is the ideal hot dish during a cold thunderstorm, with a mellow tamarind tang to enliven the evening. Pair with a serving of steamed rice for each person (RM2.50). Lemongrass fish and ginger soy fish are also available for folks who prefer their fish without chillies.

There's something for every lover of local specialities, from the chicken to the egg, from the aromatically robust Basil Chicken Claypot (RM20) to the Fu Yong Omelette, laced with lots of prawns and Chinese chives to make it well worthwhile (RM18).

There's no lack of fibre either, with everything from kangkung belacan to long beans sambal on the menu. For a change though, you can also have your vegetables on a stick, including skewered broccoli with sesame dressing (RM4) and okra (RM4) for a guilt-free snack while lingering here.

Speaking of lingering, Kanteen also serves cocktails that sound pleasurably playful, from the 2020-appropriate Quarantini (vodka with passionfruit, vanilla and lime) to Yuzu The Best (gin with yuzu, lemon juice and tonic water). But the restaurant's Happy Hour beer promotions are irresistible too, with Tiger Draught at RM15 a mug or RM110 for 10 mugs all day, everyday.

The dinner menu complements the daytime menu, which is an extensive selection of superfood bowls, salads, soups, burgers, pastas and more. You'll also note a custom cake corner at Kanteen - for designs, enquiries and quotes, contact Kanteen at 010-766-2227 for details.

Many thanks to Kanteen for having us here.

Kanteen
Lot GF2, Mont Kiara Banyan, Jalan Kiara, Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur.

Tropicana Avenue, Persiaran Tropicana, Tropicana, 47410 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Open Sunday-Thursday, 8am-9pm; Friday-Saturday, 8am-11pm. Dinner menu starts 6pm.
Facebook: facebook.com/kanteenmy

Instagram: instagram.com/kanteen_

This post first appeared on eatdrinkkl.com