Cafe Chef Wan @ KL East Mall

Hey! I skipped blog for the past 2-3 weeks as my sinus infection blaring up. Unfortunately, it happened on the kids too. We actually suspect the current renovation works on our apartment building caused the sinusitis/allergy as it can be pretty dusty at times. Luckily, no fever.

Recently, I’ve been listening to this.

I heard ‘Jálale’ from Disney Pixar’s ‘Coco’ and I always thought it’s an instrumental music.

Anyway! My husband has been watching Uncle Roger Shows and when he watched uncle Roger visited Chef Wan’s restaurant ‘Cafe Chef Wan’, he commented that we have to try it too.

We actually tried one of Chef Wan’s restaurants: ‘De.Wan 1958’ in The Linc, Kuala Lumpur. At that time, the restaurant was under refurbishment and it was… If I’m not mistaken, juuuust after the first lockdown. Things were still pretty chaotic and people tried to get back on their feet.

Nevertheless, this is a restaurant by chef Wan, and he’s one of the best chefs in Asia. His tireless exploration of food and his deep respect and understanding on food and traditional dishes are second to none.

So! We decided to try ‘Cafe Chef Wan’ restaurant; we also noticed ‘Cafe Chef Wan’ restaurant has variations on western and asian dishes. This is super helpful in case the kids preferred western food.

When we went there, the restaurant was crowded. Expected, because uncle Roger (Nigel) involvement would catapult the promotion to the public. When we got seated, we decided to have mee rebus (noodle soup) for Wira, spaghetti bolognese for Rey, Sri Lankan fish croquettes for appetizer, and kerutup lamb shank for Ari and I.

So! When I saw the price, especially mee rebus, I was slightly surprised because it’s quite above average. Might be due to the place itself, I thought.

Oh how I was wrong.

This would be the third time we got fooled by the portion. First time was when we just arrived in Malaysia and we wanted to have dinner at Madam Kwan KLCC. We ordered a fish head curry and we thought, “eeeh, it will be a small fish head that Wira can finish on his own.” It arrived in a pot that enough to feed four people.

The second time was when Ari and I ordered our lunch from banana leaf restaurant. Banana leaf is a term for restaurants, usually Indian restaurant/serving Indian foods, that serving the food on banana leaf. You can eat the rice along with rich, spicy, yummy curry and gravy using cutleries, yes, but who would do that if you can just dig in using your hands? So! We ordered two portions from this restaurant: Devi’s Bangsar, through GrabFood. When the meal arrived, we had to keep one portion for the next day’s breakfast. Mind you, this is two hungry adults — and one with tendency to comment, “I’m hungry” every five minutes (not Ari.)

Wira enjoyed the mee rebus immensely. He mentioned that it’s spicy but not too chili-spicy. “It makes my tummy warm.”

Rey just dug in directly on her pasta.

I rarely a fan of bolognese sauce because I keep getting sour-taste/acid from the ragu (the sauce) so I have hard time enjoying red sauce in respect to pasta. But this one, this one, for some reason able to give the richness and the sweetness of the ragu without the acidity. They did something really right with the tomatoes.

For the fish fingers, we all love it.

You can dip the fish fingers to lime yogurt or to tzatziki sauce. The sauce gives the clean taste, yet you can feel the hint of spice (turmeric, I guess?) on the fish (maybe from the coating?)

As for the main character…

The kerutup lamb shank is served with nasi bukhari, pineapple chutney, dhal, raita, fattoush, and papadum.

The lamb is so soft; fall-off-the-bone soft. The richness of the broth balanced with the freshness from raita and pineapple chutney.

This is a dish for dinner. A meal to give warmth and comfort as you slip into the evening.

Cafe Chef Wan @ KL East Mall
010-207 0383