Review: Cleaver Shed

Sometimes, you just want a nice steak in a comfortable place – no frills, no pretense, but still a solid dining experience. Well, there’s just such a place in TTDI, and ordinarily we’d say it was a real find, a neighbourhood eatery that’s kind of hiding away from the teeming masses, but when we visited Cleaver Shed on a recent Wednesday night, the compact little restaurant was filled pretty much to capacity, and the service staff were in full sprinting mode trying to keep pace. From what we saw (and experienced ourselves), they did an admirable job.

Cleaver Shed’s clean and unassuming entrance at TTDI Plaza

We were introduced to Patron Chef Amelia Ng last month courtesy of a ’10 hands’ collaborative dinner commemorating Le Cordon Bleu’s 130th anniversary. Each of the five chefs was a graduate of the renowned culinary school, and Chef Amelia runs Cleaver Shed, where the dinner was held. We were so taken by the accessible ambiance and excellent cuisine, we made a booking just weeks later to go back on our own. The restaurant is closed on Tuesdays, so we made a reservation for the next night, thinking it would be fairly quiet, allowing us a leisurely, calm period of time to properly enjoy and review the restaurant.

Wrong! We appeared at Cleaver Shed, which is tucked away behind the Hero Market in TTDI Plaza, at around 6:30pm and it was already hopping. By an hour or so later, it was packed.

All these seats were filled within 15 minutes of snapping this photo

We arrived with two of our own bottles of wine, as Cleaver Shed does not have a wine list. However, they do allow outside bottles and charge a modest corkage (RM30), providing guests with stemware and ice buckets. That said, two glasses were set on the table, our bucket was placed on a chair by the table, and we were left completely to our own devices for looking after the wine, pouring it, etc. So it’s not really high-end wine service by any stretch, and given this, we think even the paltry RM30 corkage might be a tiny bit too ambitious, especially since there is no wine offered here otherwise. Perhaps Chef Amelia and her team could consider having one night a week on which corkage is waived for patrons bringing their chosen bottle in – as is done by a couple of other TTDI-area restaurants. We think this is a savvy business move, especially if it’s done on a night that’s generally slow, as it just might incentivize a few more diners to seize a bottle from their collection and head over to the restaurant. Of course, a range of non-alcoholic beverages is offered, from sodas and juices to various teas and coffees. We admit a passing temptation to order the root beer float (RM11) and how we resisted that is still a mystery.

The menu is just about as compact as the restaurant, so if sprawling, novel-length menus leave you in a dither and unable to make a choice, Cleaver Shed has the cure for what ails you: a single-page, one-side menu. It’s divided roughly into four sections: Appetizers, Pastas, Mains/Steaks, and Desserts. There are also smaller sections for side dishes and beverages.

As for Cleaver Shed’s prices, we couldn’t find a clear pattern. Some dishes – most notably the steaks and mains – are very competitively priced, and we think most seasoned diners will be quite pleased at the price points listed for a good steak. The pastas are fairly priced, too. Other dishes, however, like some found in the appetizer and dessert sections, are a bit on the high side. That said, no matter your budget, it’s pretty easy to find a happy medium with this menu. For our uncomplicated meal, we opted for a couple of starters, followed by two steaks, and two desserts.

The appetizer menu includes a pair of salads (Caesar, RM23; Summer Mixed Salad, RM25), a Creamy Mushroom Soup (RM16), Baked Camembert (RM39), which is served with toasted sourdough bread. That bread is also available separately (6 pieces, RM5), but if you want butter or olive oil, you’ll have to order those separately (RM3 and RM2, respectively). We thought the inclusion of Nachos (RM18) on this menu was curious, and further noted that they’re not really nachos, but rather just tortilla chips and salsa. We ordered some sourdough bread and one of the side dishes as an appetizer (Fried Onion Rings, RM17).

The pasta dishes are quite appealing, and though we didn’t order any pasta dishes ourselves, the table next to us had two of them. Since the tables at Cleaver Shed are really quite close to each other, we were easily able to lean over and ask if we might snap a couple of photos, and the group dining next to us cheerfully obliged. The dishes range from a basic Aglio Olio (RM19) to a Spicy Lamb Arriabata (RM36).

Pasta Pomodoro… or possibly the Tomato Beef Ragout

Our two chosen steaks were the Argentinean Striploin (220g, RM69) and the Cleaver Shed Secret Steak (270g, RM95). Spoiler alert: It’s not a secret steak at all; it’s noted right there on the menu what the steak is, a grain-fed Angus ribeye. There’s also a Surf & Turf plate with a grain-fed Angus striploin and grilled prawns for RM83, and a Steak & Foie Gras for just RM127, which features the “secret” ribeye and a 30g portion of pan-seared foie gras. And if you’re really feeling plucky, pre-order the Angus Tomahawk for just RM365 per kg (typically 1.2 to 1.6 kg), easily among the most affordable tomahawk steaks we’ve seen in KL. We told you the steak prices were attractive.

As is the apparent trend these days, our steaks arrived having already been sliced into strips, resulting in a rapid cool-down of the meat and guaranteeing the last half of the steak will be cold. We’re not sure what gave rise to this trend, but it’s been the case in three of the last three restaurants in which we’ve ordered steaks. Are today’s diners physically incapable of cutting their own meat? Is this seen as a desirable service for a kitchen to offer? Do people enjoy eating cold steaks? We don’t know, but it’s a safe bet that the next time we order a steak in KL, we’ll specifically request that it be delivered to the table whole and unsliced.

All that said, we thought both steaks were very good, and though a little on the thin side (often the case for a ribeye, but usually not as often for a striploin), the meat was cooked exactly to order. We chose the béarnaise and chimichurri as our sauces, but used them only sparingly, as the steaks were so tasty on their own, with only a mere touch of salt needed. For the sides, we selected the Charred Cauliflower and Creamed Spinach (RM15 each) and both of these were absolutely superb.

The Wagyu Ribeye with Creamed Spinach side dish

Desserts at Cleaver Shed are a straightforward affair. Indeed, just three desserts are listed – Joo’s Basque burnt cheesecake (RM19), Belgian chocolate brownie (RM25), and a caramelized banana split (RM23). We sampled the first two (for research purposes only, of course) and were impressed with both.

The iconic cheesecake on offer hails from the famous gastronomic coastal town of San Sebastián in northern Spain’s Basque region. In Spain, the dessert has a mousse-like creamy vanilla texture and gorgeous golden ‘burnt’ surface with flavours not dissimilar to crème caramel. It is a crustless cheesecake, made from cream cheese to ensure a soft texture throughout. For some reason, the slice we enjoyed had only endured a light scalding rather than the usual second-degree burns to the outer layer, so we missed the charred caramelization that is a feature of the dish. The plating is decidedly minimalist (to say the very least), and we felt the presentation would benefit from a touch of thickened cream or a drizzle of raspberry or salted caramel sauce.

The chocolate brownie, while certainly tasty, was not overly moist, and as with the cheesecake, the presentation felt a bit lacking. Despite the scoop of vanilla ice cream and modest drizzle of chocolate sauce, the dessert would have been rather more tempting had there been a little additional chocolate sauce or even a raspberry coulis. The plain plating notwithstanding, it was a fine interpretation of a brownie, and no chocolate lover will be disappointed.

Belgian Chocolate Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream

Our dinner at Cleaver Shed was an enjoyable one, and it’s always a treat to discover little neighbourhood gems like this one. (Next time we’ll go back to sample their brunch/lunch menu!) We often find ourselves rooting for these homegrown restaurants, helmed by local chefs, and find satisfaction in seeing them grow and prosper. If what we saw on a completely unexceptional midweek visit was any indication, Chef Amelia and Cleaver Shed are ‘on the up,’ and if this trajectory continues, the small restaurant may soon find itself in need of expansion – certainly not a problem many restaurants would mind having! Though we admittedly thought that some parts of the menu could stand a bit of fine-tuning, and we’d like to see some aspects of the corkage policy and nonexistent wine program tweaked a bit, it doesn’t really matter. We had a great time, and left that night as Cleaver Shed’s newest fans. We love the unpretentious nature of the place, and even if the tables feel a little close together during the restaurant’s busiest times, we just went with the flow and exhaled a grateful sigh of relief that we had made a reservation… even on a Wednesday night!