Majang Meat Market, Subang Jaya

Inspired by Seoul's biggest butchers' market of the same name, Subang's new Majang Meat Market lets patrons pick their choice and weight of meat, seafood and vegetables for a Korean BBQ binge in SS15 Courtyard.

Options span baby octopus to a bevy of pork, such as galmaegi marinated skirt, neck, collar and more. Prices are reasonable, starting at RM2 for 10 grams of crispy-cut pork belly.

Pizza Day, Taman Desa

Pizza degustations at Pizza Day: Taman Desa's unique new Italian-run restaurant serves a seven-course menu comprising three types of pizzas, three focaccia sandwiches, plus three desserts at RM78+ per person.

Pizza Day harnesses an Italian-built modular oven that engineers uniform cooking for uber-crunchy Roman-style rectangular-crust pizzas. 

Italian ingredients are integral - 24-month Parma ham, organic whole wheat flour, fior di latte, sun-ripened tomato sauce and more, resting on 72-hour fermented dough.

No a la carte selection is currently available, so surrender at least an hour to savour the degustation, with courses served at a comfortable pace. The chef's parade of pizzas will evolve, evoking an Italian omakase.

Possibilities include Margherita, Diavola and five-cheese pizzas with Pecorino, Taleggio, Gorgonzola, ricotta and mozzarella, punctuated by panfocaccia layered with provolone and cooked ham, prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella, or burrata with anchovies. Desserts might span tiramisu, hazelnut ice cream and citrus sorbet. 

Portions pictured here are for two persons. Italian beers and wines complete the enjoyably distinctive experience. 

Fun fact: Pizza Day's founders include the Milan-born owner of Heritage Pizza in KL's city centre.

The Riff District, Bangsar

A herb-struck cocktail, nodding to nasi kerabu, laced with ikan bilis-infused liquor? Or one with Parmesan-permeated bourbon, topped with torched banana, paying playful homage to pisang cheese?

The Riff District is Bangsar's distinctive new den, tended by thinkers and tasters in Telawi, including founding force John, who traded his profession in litigation for libations, crafting this space from scratch.

Both the bar and kitchen impressively blend imagination with intention: The Riff District takes familiar flavours on a spin, striking creative chords by remixing everything from Chinese sweet-sour guluyuk in the glass to Malay masak lemak and Peranakan pie tee on the plate.

The Nasi Kerabu cocktail harmonises the vegetal grassiness of rhum agricole with kaduk, kaffir lime and turmeric leaves, butterfly pea flower, lemongrass and ginger. The ideal dish distilled into a drink, minus rice but memorably nice with a zesty zen.

Pisang Cheese imbues the sweetness and smokiness of bourbon and Scotch whiskies with subtly savoury Parmesan, decadently deepened with banana liqueur and chocolate bitters, soothingly suffusing street-snack swagger with speakeasy sophistication.

The bar reinterprets classics too, like the Tom Collins, Manhattan and daiquiri. 

Try the tropical take on a Martini of mischief: The Papatini winks with a whiff of papaya in its gin and kaffir lime in vermouth, bittersweet with Aperol, bright in allure.

Meals blaze a culture-conscious path beyond basic bar nibbles. 

The Vegetable Medley is a vibrant crop of Brussels sprouts, four-angled beans, zucchini and pickled white fungus, recalling but redefining Four Heavenly Kings stir-fries.

There's much to explore: Handmade pitas and pasta; rarities like French-inflected aligot; and ambitious affairs of broccoli-jalapeno espuma with akaebi ceviche and coconut jelly.

Effort is poured into fun, funky, flirty enticements: Cheese is smoked with bunga kantan; butter buttressed by laksa spices; duck dry-aged for 10 days, juiced up with whiskey-washed jus.

For the coda, find cold comfort in kaya mousse with a goji berry core, coupled with Earl Grey ice cream.

GoodNosh, Petaling Jaya

Feel-good fare at GoodNosh: Section 17's new creative cafe for kombucha beverages and kombucha-infused food specialises in tropical vegetarian temptations, by a friendly team that focuses on fermented fun spanning tempeh to tauchu.

GoodNosh crafts its own kombucha mindfully and meticulously: The Summer Green Origin springs up with green tea, while the Winter Black Origin is powered by pu-er black tea. Fruit kombuchas shine with seasonal stars, from strawberries to passionfruit to lovely lemon honey.

A thoughtful touch: Kombucha is poured over kombucha ice, so the drink remains deliciously undiluted even as the ice melts.

For a wholesome meal, Nasi Ulam unveils butterfly pea rice circled with herbaceous leaves, red cabbage, tempeh and tofu, plus sambal and pickles infused with GoodNosh's kombucha starter, replacing vinegar for vibrant uplift.

Complete the order with Peranakan pongteh, gently garlicky and gingery with mushrooms, lotus roots and radish, and curry blended with GoodNosh's own lightly aromatic paste, brimming with brinjals, tomatoes and pineapples in coconut milk. Salsa makes a smooth snack - once you scoop, you might not stop.

GoodNosh is now in its soft-launch transition, welcoming walk-ins on a limited basis before officially opening next week.