[EDIT]

Sneexe (thanks!) has kindly written up a review of The Boat House - here it is in full:

Anyway I promised Pat a review for the Boat House in TTDI. *grumble grumble* I can't believe I'm having to do this, I have 7 (read that; SEVEN) things simultaneously due currently, and 3 of them urgent for today.

So pardon this lousily-written review for not doing justice to the restaraunt. It just doesn't.

Here's how we stumbled upon this little treasure of a restaraunt.

...

It was a dark and stormy night.

It was a dark, stormy, Saturday night, and a howling torrential monsoon rain had just severely disincentivsed us from joining family dinner in the city centre. It was now too late to join the Sat night dinner in Bangsar too.

We ventured out into the late and still-damp night, hoping to find something conveniently close to home, edible, and not too pricey.

As it turned out we struck lucky beyond our expectations.

...

The Boat House in TTDI is nice. Pleasant and unpretentious. I would use Nice with a capital N, but that's too pretentious to describe the boat house. Come to think of it, they don't capitalise Boat House either. it's very bauhausly typefaced as boat house.

It's a gem of a place where provide papers and crayons at the table.

Now, lots of faddish restaraunts are PRETENDING to do this now, mostly to save on tablecloth washing, the cheapskates. But boathouse is one of the VERY few places that actually provides a proper, usable bunch of crayons (in more than one hue, which aren't too cheap and colourlessly waxy to leave an impression on the paper.)

I should have taken a photo of the picture I managed to draw with them. In between mouthfuls of food- I should mention- the reasonably short wait time hardly justified providing crayons in the first place.

The MENU is not only deliciously well-written, but offers an interesting and well-balanced variety of dishes to suit your moods and preferences for a great many visits to come... Neither a perfunctory, limited selection (as at Opus); nor a bewilderingly heavy tome (as at Trattoria... but we can forgive Trattoria, the food is that good. That review for another Saturday, yah?)

...

Now to the food.

Good food, with a touch of class. Healthy servings, tasty, authentic, unpretentious, satisfying to the last crumb.

It rates high on artistic presentation too. Serving sizes are Perfect- not too wastefully hulking (as at TGIF), nor too tiny (as at NINE)- leaving you satisfied, yet able to share the pleasure one of their yummy desserts, should you be so inclined.

And all prices which put other restaraunts in this food group, to Shame. Yes, with a capital S.

The food is good.

Good.

Authentic.

Z had a genuine UK style fish-n-chips; fresh, flaky white meat cocooned in a crisp puff of golden batter. Unlike UK FushNChups only in that it was not too greasy. And fat fries! I quite liked that they served a mix of crinkle-cut fries and the traditional fat UK chips. Perhaps that's an eccentricity, but I loved it.

And the accompanying bottles of sauces... ooh. All Heinz, no less. Heinz (traditionally distilled?) Black Malt Vinegar. Dark, fragrant, and intoxicating. No cheap-ass white acid here.

...

I had a grilled fish, in very light wasabi cream sauce. With nicely herbed and spiced pan-fried potato quarters, if I'm not mistaken.

A touch of extra effort was evident- my (properly-tossed) side salad serve even came on a separate plate- a good thing, as the aromatic herb dressing was an entirely different, delicious flavour which would have been drowned by the creamy wasabi sauce.

...

Do dessert.

I generally find Tiramisu disapointing in the restaraunts of KL; but this one was excellent. Served in a wine-glass, it was surprisingly satisfying- heavy cream cheese with perfect mouth-feel melt (NOT the over-aerated fluffy-cheap-trick lots of places prefer to serve up. The stewed peach plate-decoration didn't go, but that's my own fault for eating it together.) in perfect proportion to the chocolate sponge layers. Which, incidentally, were generously drenched with alcohol, especially that perfect last-mouthful, nestled in the hollow of the glass.

Z picked the Apple SomethingOrOther (I forget) but it was lovely too, again prettily arrayed, doused with real caramel sauce, and capped off with a ball of Butterscotch ice cream. Scored another effort point- most places would just slapdash some vanilla ice cream up. Again, a nice blend of flavour.

...

Did I also mention the service was excellent? The waiter brought our attention to the 30% Saturday special on Grills (available certain days; probably also available this Sat)

...

Consistency is hard to judge from one visit- but Z has been there 3 times all in, and he's still happy. And knowing how he can whinge about restaraunts, I'd guess it's a good sign.

...

Comparisons:
Very very favourable.
It may not reach quite the heavenly as CafeCafe (to my tastebuds) -- but then the prices are very down to earth for what they whip up. I'd say, you get more than what you pay for at the boatHouse.

CafeCafe registers on the astronomical scale after all.

boatHouse left me MUCH happier than the other pricey french joint (I forget) near KLCC.

Definately.

I look forward to many more visits, and a more thorough acquaintance with the menu.

Definately.

...

OH yeah. You'll need this:

Boathouse
16 Lorong Rahim Kajai 14,
TTDI 60000 KL

No map, but if you know how to get to TTDI Penang Village (pretentiousgrumblepretenders expensivegrumblegrouse notvalueformoneygruffgruff) or the Maybank you'll have no problems.

[/EDIT]


Don't mind the surreal title of this post people - they're just the names of the places that we'll be visiting this Saturday!

Boat House

Thanks to Sneexe's recommendation we'll be going to The Boathouse in TTDI (Taman Tun Dr. Ismail) for dinner. For details and a review please see the above section! Details are sketchy at the moment and... erm... i'm not too sure where it is, exactly, in TTDI or even what it serves (no online presence at all) but for those of you who missed it, here's what she told us about it:

I is founded good place in TTDI. Is yummy and satisfying and tasty fare with touch of class, yet price of midrange. Very nice. Is name Boat House; locale in TTDI.

Ah yes, informative. :p

Regardless she will be passing me additional details later on today so once i get it i'll post it up here ASAP. Still, she HAS made good recommendations in the past so i think a little faith is in order here... ;)

Laundry Bar

This place just opened this Monday and, judging from the reviews by the blogging community, it seems that they had a helluva time! I won't - or rather, can't - personally say much more about the place except that it looks damned nice inside, and if Shaolin Tiger's stories of the night are anything to go by we most definitely cannot miss out on scoping out this place at least once!

Anyhow, detailed reviews (with shitloads of pics - the ones below are courtesy of Shaolin Tiger) can be found here:

Shaolin Tiger
Midnite Lily
Kakicucuklangit
Kimberlycun



In terms of location, you can find it at The Curve in Mutiara Damansara, right next to Fitness First and Italianies.

Dinner is on Saturday, 8:30pm as usual and, as per procedure, if you're interested in coming kindly either leave a comment here, email me, or phone me for additional details and/or bookings with details on which event(s) you are coming for and how many friends/mistresses/animals/Hell's Angels/family/etc you will be bringing. During the night itself the tables will be booked under my name.

As always, anyone who reads this is welcome to come! :)