Review: WIP on the Park
April 28th, 2025
It’s always a real treat to return to WIP on the Park, city centre traffic woes notwithstanding. We [...]
18 New Restaurants & Cafes to Visit in KL & Selangor - December 2015
You can view a list of our most recent new restaurant features here. This is part of a monthly series.
1.M-Ti-Cup Studio
A Taiwanese-inspired cross between a private kitchen & a coffee bar? Malaysian couple Damien Chong & River Ho have created a singular space in a SoHo suite, open four afternoons a week – it’s a calm, intimate hideout where the welcoming husband-&-wife team can genuinely interact with guests, serving a compact selection of home-cooked fare & freshly brewed beverages made with Taiwanese-roasted blends. Chill out indoors while Blossom Dearie’s jazzy voice wafts out of the speakers, or grab one of M-Ti-Cup’s books on Van Gogh to browse outside on the sunny sixth-floor balcony.
Address: A-6-3A, Block A, Centrio Pantai Hillpark
Find: Contact details and map for M-Ti-Cup
Read Review: M-Ti-Cup Studio at Centrio Pantai Hillpark, Bangsar South: Restaurant Review
2.B2B Burns 2 Bottles
B2B Burns 2 Bottles could become a new hotspot for modern Thai fare, firing up the imagination with a crowd-pleasing collection of sharing plates at sensible prices; it’s the kind of place you might bring an entire family or an ensemble of friends who want to go beyond green curries.
Address: 11, Jalan Solaris 2, Solaris Mont Kiara
Find: Contact details and map for B2B
Read Review: B2B Burns 2 Bottles at Solaris Mont Kiara: Restaurant Review
3. Mr Wolf
Helmed with ferocious flair by young chef Bryan Tan & his Wolfpack, this is a haven for ambitious & adventurous cooking, tackling Asian-accented tapas & other contemporary creations that convey forceful flavours. Think braised ox tongue curry with sweet potatoes; deep-fried pig ears with streaky bacon; surimi ika with salted egg yolk; salmon carpaccio with bunga kantan prawn tartare; & pork skin ‘nachos’ with sriracha bolognese.
Address: 5 Jalan SS23/11, Taman SEA
Find: Contact details and map for Mr. Wolf
Read Review: Mr. Wolf at Taman SEA, Petaling Jaya: Restaurant Review
4. Crab Hut
Crustaceans mark their latest conquest in Cyberjaya: Crab Hut, a spin-off of Petaling Jaya’s Crab Factory, is now springing saucy surprises & offering a real reason for food lovers to take the trip to Malaysia’s tech town. There’s something extra, exclusive purely to Crab Hut: Promotional sauces that change every two months, from Asam Pedas to Assam Laksa.
Address: P2-25, Shaftsbury Square, Persiaran Multimedia
Find: Contact details and map for Crab Hut
Read Review: Crab Hut at Shaftsbury Square, Cyberjaya: Restaurant Review
5. Pang’s Kitchen
From Happy Valley to Taman Desa: Hong Kong’s one-Michelin-starred Pang’s Kitchen opens its first foreign offshoot this month – a team of Malaysians has coaxed the HK restaurant’s founders into letting KL have a taste of their original recipes, including boiled pigeon soup with sea cucumber, stewed pork knuckle with sour plums in claypot, & preserved duck with taro.
Address: Ground Floor, Wisma Miramas
Find: Contact details and map for Pang’s Kitchen
Read Review: Pang’s Kitchen at Taman Desa: Restaurant Review
6. KGB Soul Food At Live House
One of TREC’s most vibrant venues opens this week: Live House is a two-level destination where bands take centre stage nightly on the ground floor while stand-up performers steal the spotlight upstairs at a comedy club called LOL. Plenty of interesting sections inside, including a balcony with a view of golf course greens, as well as a corner of portraits honouring comic titans like Lucille Ball, Richard Pryor, Joan Rivers, Charlie Chaplin, Robin Williams & P. Ramlee.
Address: Electric Boulevard, TREC KL
Find: Contact details and map for Live House
Read Review: KGB Soul Food at Live House, TREC KL: Review
7. Raisin’ The Roof
Raisin’ The Roof hopes to raise the bar for KL’s eat-clean scene, pitching a tasteful range of wholesome salads, sandwiches, wraps & desserts that match its motto ‘Making Nutritious Delicious.’ This cheery vegetarian cafe – with founders from Germany, Thailand & Singapore – could become a crowd favourite, featuring hearty meals with healthy ingredients at honourable prices.
Address: 61, Jalan Medan Setia 1, Plaza Damansara
Find: Contact details and map for Raisin The Roof
Read Review: Raisin’ The Roof @ Plaza Damansara: Restaurant Review
8. Babe: Japas Fun Dining
Babe’s chief asset is its chef, American-Japanese Jeff Ramsey, an affably approachable figure who helmed the kitchen of Tapas Molecular Bar in Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo, when it earned its first Michelin star. But his resume extends far beyond that – Ramsey’s career has now taken him from Chicago to KL, where Babe harnesses the sum of his expertise in everything from classic sushi to deconstructed food, with all the requisite froths & foams, to unleash an impressively imaginative experience.
Address: 11th Floor, Work @ Clearwater, Changkat Semantan
Find: Contact details and map for Babe KL
Read Review: Babe: Japas Fun Dining at Clearwater, Damansara Heights: Restaurant Review
9. The Forum
The Forum is a breath of fresh air – a beautiful hidden space for taking a break.
Address: Ground Floor, The Signature
Find: Contact details and map for The Forum
Read Review: The Forum at The Signature, Desa Sri Hartamas: Snapshot
10. Baan Kun Ya
Baan Kun Ya offers a beautiful setting for a Thai meal of both classic & contemporary fare – with a team that includes a Thai head chef, the restaurant’s philosophy of soulful cooking is embodied by its name, which translates into “Grandma’s House.”
Address: F107-F110, First Floor, Centrepoint, Lebuh Bandar Utama
Find: Contact details and map for Baan Kun Ya
Read Review: Baan Kun Ya at Centrepoint, Bandar Utama: Restaurant Review
11. HEXA Lounge
HEXA Lounge takes cocktails to a different level – mixologist Kelvin Lee experiments boldly with East Asian elements in his one-of-a-kind potions, employing curious components that range from Chinese bakkwa-like bacon to Japanese flying fish roe.
Address: Suite 101, First Floor, The Pinnacle Annexe Persiaran Lagoon Bandar Sunway
Find: Contact details and map for HEXA Lounge
Read Review: Cocktail Trail KL at HEXA Lounge, Bandar Sunway: Lounge Review
12. Jemi Café
Jemi Cafe is a discreet hideout, tucked on the first floor, but waffle devotees might want to try its savoury waffle, comprising a striking tower of crunchy battered squid, followed by a well-made dessert called ‘Golden Cubes’ – chunks of crispy toast complemented by sweet potatoes, macarons & ice cream.
Address: 17-1, Jalan 2/109f, Taman Danau Desa
Find: Contact details and map for Jemi Cafe
Read Review: Jemi Cafe at Taman Desa: Snapshot
13. Go-Getter Café
Go-Getter Cafe goes all out to get its customers in a feel-good mood, with a menu that’s designed to be energetically distinctive & a setting that’s bright & buoyant, with colourful murals inspired partly by Pixar masterpieces ‘Brave’ & ‘Up.’ The food is distinctive too, from Peranakan pasta to onde-onde waffles.
Address: 12A-1, First Floor, Block 5, Jalan Jalil Jaya 6
Find: Contact details and map for Go-Getter Cafe
Read Review: Go-Getter Cafe at Bukit Jalil: Restaurant Review
14. Café Kathmandu
Cafe Kathmandu tries to offer the authentic flavours of Nepal in every possible way – the restaurant employs nearly a dozen Nepalese workers, both in & out of the kitchen. & is adorned with artwork that gracefully evokes Nepal’s culture & landscape. When Kamala, a server who’s been in KL for a year, gazes at one image of a picturesque hamlet perched in the shadow of a mountainside, she says it reminds her of her own home village, which she quietly adds is “gone” after this year’s earthquake.
Address: 41, Tengkat Tong Shin
Find: Contact details and map for Cafe Kathmandu
Read Review: Cafe Kathmandu at Tengkat Tong Shin: Restaurant Review
15. Fluffed
Fluffed tries to take customers on an exploration of crowd-pleasing desserts, from a signature strawberry ‘cloud cake’ to crisp waffles with fanciful monikers like Pooh Bear’s Favourite, The Monkey King, or Jack & The Beanstalk.
Address: 55, Jalan 20/7, Taman Paramount
Find: Contact details and map for Fluffed
Read Review: Fluffed Dessert Bar at Taman Paramount: Snapshot
16. The Prep Room
The Prep Room is ready for its close-up – this new cafe lives up to its name, showcasing the hard work of a kitchen crew that prepares everything from patties & yoghurt to soups & sauces from scratch.
Address: Jalan Sri Hartamas 7
Find: Contact details and map for The Prep Room
Read Review: The Prep Room at Sri Hartamas: Restaurant Review
17. Square Q Café
It looks like a waffle, it might even smell like a waffle, but it’s not exactly your everyday waffle: This cheerful, family-run cafe promises a unique proposition – Taiwanese-inspired waffle-shaped desserts made with milk & glutinous rice flour, instead of baking powder & wheat flour, resulting in a treat meant to evoke the pleasantly chewy texture of mochi rice cakes. Moffles?
Address: 11, Jalan Solaris 3
Find: Contact details and map for Square Q Cafe
Read Review: Square Q Cafe at Solaris Mont Kiara: Restaurant Review
18. Hail’s Soft Serve
Soft serves are the speciality here – the signature pick is pink peppercorn, which tastes moderately of berries with a mild peppery finish, while the current seasonal alternative is black sesame, buoyed by natural nuances.
Address: 28, Jalan SS21/58, Damansara Uptown
Find: Contact details and map for Hail’s Soft Serve
Read Review: Hail’s Soft Serve @ Damansara Uptown: Snapshot
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