Enak KL, Starhill Gallery

Another off day, another food adventure. This time, I take on fine dining Malay food. Enak KL is located at Feast (LG floor) Starhill Gallery. It was my first time there so my trusty Waze got me exactly where I wanted to go. (Thank God for that) This place has won quite a number of awards so I had my expectations high. The interior is nice and romantic, they have private sections separated by curtains.

The interior of Enak KL

Let's begin with the food I ate! I ordered 2 appetizers; Soto Madura and Gado Gado.

Soto Madura

A clearer view of what was inside the soto, begedil (potato balls), Nasi impit, shredded chicken, and some bee hoon

The soto, was yummy, minus the fact that it was abit salty, nevertheless, the potato balls which were ( I assume) freshly fried before being dumped into the soup, gave a delicious texture to this dish as the skin was still crispy, while the nasi impit had a pandan taste to it therefore the combination was good and lovely! 

Gado Gado

The presentation for the Gado Gado was nice, however the taste was not up to my expectations, they had too much of cucumber in the dish, the peanut sauce was too sweet for my liking. I could think of other places which serve nicer Gado Gado than this one.

Nyior Enak

I ordered Nyior Enak, one of their signature drinks, it was coconut water, with shavings of coconut together with tamarind. An interesting drink, but I don't think I will order it again if I make a second visit here.

Nasi Enak (Briyani)

 For the rice selection, I decided to try Nasi Enak, and I was told I had 2 options of rice, either briyani or "rice with coconut" as explained by the waiter, so I assumed the latter was Nasi Lemak, and I decided to go for the Briyani. The Briyani was delicious! It's not like your average Briyani, and I could just be eating that and that only and be satisfied.

Sambal Tumis Udang

 The prawns were fresh, the sambal was more sweet than spicy. It was so-so.

Ayam Kalio

I asked the waiter, what was their most popular chicken dish and he recommended this, Ayam Kalio. Basically its another version of chicken kurma and it costs RM48! Its not spicy, but it had a rich taste to it, probably they added coconut milk in it. I won't recommend this dish.

Terung Belado

I had high expectations for this dish. I've tasted terung belado elsewhere and they usually keep me satisfied, but I have to say that this dish broke my heart and disappointed me greatly. :( It was very bland and not spicy (once again)

One more thing which I wasn't very pleased with is how long they keep you waiting for your food. I understand they want to serve all the mains at once, but they could serve the appetizers first! After all, they are called appetizers. I had to wait a good 15 - 20 minutes for my food to arrive. While waiting, they gave us some sort of chips which has a bitter aftertaste.

Chips with bitter aftertaste

For dessert, I ordered the Enak Dessert Tasting Menu. I got durian gulung, fried banana and kuih lapis.

Enak Dessert Tasting Menu (From left): Kuih Lapis, Fried Banana, Durian Gulung

The kuih lapis was my least favourite among the three, fried banana had an extremely sweet sauce to go with it, but durian gulung was so yummy that I forgave the shortcomings of the other 2 desserts on the plate. So if you can stomach durian, then do try their durian gulung!

On the whole, ambiance wise, I would rate this place 4/5, but food wise, maybe be 2.5/5. I had high expectations given the number of awards this place has won and I was disappointed. Maybe that's why the last award won was back in 2011. 

Till next time, cheers!