Ben's Kitchen, Publika

Being a member of the Big Group which owns not only quite a number of F&B outlets in Klang Valley , but also a grocery, my expectation of  Ben’s Kitchen was definitely very FRESH food.

Clean, airy and spacious were the first words that came to my mind as I walked into Ben’s Kitchen on a busy Sunday noon.

These were the drinks we ordered:-

Watermelon juice – fresh, juicy and delicious – RM10.90. Apple elderflower frostie was my choice. With a hefty price tag of RM11.90, it was truly worth every sen as it was totally heavenly, but be sure to drink it all up fast as the colour changes with time due to oxidation of the apples.

Watermelon lychee (RM9.90) –a little too sweet and iced peach tea (RM8.90)

For starters we had Ben’s House Salad (RM15.90). The portion was huge and filled with yummy-licious avocado, carrots, cherry tomatoes, edamame, mesclun and arugula. The dressing was something I never found out as it was simply called Ben’s House dressing.

Chunky mushroom soup (RM14.90) was a huge surprise as the bowl was really huge! Haha…. And what better way to eat this than to have an additional serving of garlic baguette (RM5.90).  This was because the soup came with only a slice of bread and that was no way sufficient for such a BIG bowl of soup!

Note the way the baguette is served - in a tin!

Fish & chips (RM29.90) – a crispy crust and fresh fish inside – the perfect combination for fish & chips. Love it a lot!

Spaghetti carbonara (RM23.90)

My choice of nasi ulam (RM25.90)  – don’t be put off by the blue-coloured rice. A lot of painstaking effort has been put in to make it so. And this was evident from the taste. The ulam (raw veggies) on the side tasted great when dipped into the rendang sauce, or simply eaten with the blue rice. One complaint I have, though, was that the chicken wasn’t really cooked on the inside.

Note from the writer : They serve water with some lemon juice in it. So there is actually no need to order drinks J

Well, I would say Ben’s Kitchen exceeded my expectation in terms of freshness and cleanliness !  I will definitely try out the other outlets within the Big Group.

Address : Lot 37A & 37B Level G2

Publika

1 Jalan Dutamas 1

Solaris Dutamas

50480 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +603 6205 2768

Mastercard, Visa and Amex accepted

Mamak Andersen, Publika

Had a meeting at Publika until almost lunch time – decided to had a quick lunch there and I found this place called Mamak Andersen which offers set lunch. I ordered the pasta set priced at RM13.90 , which works out to be RM15.30 after a 10% service charge.

 

To get the attention of the waiter all you need to do is to press one of 3 buttons –just like the ones you see at Tai Thong. Anyway, they come very quickly and I must say I was impressed.

My pasta set comes with ice lemon tea – truly the most sour ice lemon tea I’ve ever had. I ask the friendly waiter to add lots of water for me, and when it came back, I still could not take the level of sourness in it.

 

 

Then came the mushroom soup – alright, but a little too creamy for me.

 

For my main course I had spaghetti with fish – Served with napoleon sauce …hmmm…if you are wondering what that is , well, I would say you get tomato sauce, some onions, some herbs, olive oil  and  garlic in it, the sauce was actually very delicious. The pasta portion was huge and the same can be said of the deep fried fish fillet. Love it!

 

 

Note :  See the photos below to see how much the 3 items would have cost had they been ordered separately. The spaghetti alone costs more than RM15.30!!!

 

 

 

Address : A2-G2-05 Solaris Dutamas / Publika

No 1 Jalan Dutamas

50480 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +603 6211 5192

Opens until 4am daily

Mastercard & Visa accepted

 

Kohinoor, Publika

Kohinoor is a cosy restaurant serving Indian cuisine. The decoration here is simple yet pleasing to the senses.  A  glance at its menu showed close to 200 items. Wow! I was certainly spoilt for choices. And what I did –yes, to short cut the process, was to ask the waiter to make the selection for me.

This is tandoori chicken – very well marinated. I was told that the longer you marinate the chicken, the better the taste. (It’s normally marinated for hours with the  main ingredients being yoghurt and spices - onion, ginger, garlic and pepper). From the aroma and taste I could immediately tell that they have marinated the chicken long enough. Superb!

Here’s my plate of rice. You will notice s slice of naan with mint. I absolutely loved the naan. The aromatic nan was so appealing. I ate it with mutton vindaloo.  I am a huge fan of vindaloo and have tried many vindaloos before. I would say this is the best I’ve had in Malaysia thus far!  A warning for people who cannot take spicy or rather SUPER spicy food – avoid vindaloos at all cost!

You will also see some Bhindi Do Pyaza on my plate – that’s ladies fingers sauteed with diced spring onions and tomatoes.

What makes dining a pleasant experience here is the friendly service of the ever smiling waiters.

Address :D3-G3-5, Solaris Dutamas, 1 Jalan Dutamas 1, 50480

Kuala Lumpur.

Telephone : + 603 6205 3646

Visa & Mastercard accepted

Rakuzen Japanese Restaurant, Publika

Rakuzen has 6 outlets located throughout the Klang Valley – 2 in Subang, 1 in Hartamas Shopping Centre, 1 in Publika, 1 in G Tower and another in Desa Parkcity.

For many Japanese cuisine lovers, Rakuzen need no further introduction as it serves one of the best Japanese food in town. It’s been said that a picture paints a thousand words and I won't say much about my meal there except that it was excellent!

Address: No.6, Level G2, Publika,
1 Jalan Dutamas 1,
50480 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : 03 6411 0822
Opening hours:

12-3pm & 6-11pm

Credit cards accepted

Chinese Cottage Restaurant, Publika

Umbrellas hanging upside down from the ceiling greeted me as I stepped into Chinese Cottage for a quick dinner. Other than that the deco in this shop is actually quite simple. It’s Chinese name ‘Kar Hiong’ means hometown….and with such a name I couldn’t help but expect some home cooked food.

I ordered a passion fruit drink (RM5). It was sourish and certainly had that caffeine effect on me…my sleepy eyes opened immediately.

I tried a few dishes but I would only like to highlight this (as I ate up the rest before taking any photos – they were so appetising) – claypot kangkung. Frankly I have never seen this dish before. It’s slightly spicy and the kangkung was certainly very tasty. Mind you, it’s not the normal kangkung that we get from the hypermarkets or markets. I was told that this was supplied by the owner’s friend who planted them in water.  And the best part of it was that it only costs RM8.

 And for the record,yes....it all really gave me that homey feeling. Love it!

Note: Publika was formerly known as Solaris Dutamas

Address : D1-G3-9, Publika

Jalan Dutamas 1

50480 Kuala Lumpur

 
Cash terms only