Fifth Palate at Kota Damansara: Review

Fifth Palate has the potential to be a first-rate family-run restaurant – Timmy Ng keeps the kitchen humming, while his sister Caryne ensures customers secure warm service & their dad Dennis prepares home-made yoghurt & chutneys to complement an easily enjoyable meal here. It’s the sort of place that a lot of people will love & appreciate.

Breakfast

It’s hard to fault Fifth Palate’s food – the Butcher’s Breakfast (RM29) is a convincing ensemble of eggs (poached, fried or scrambled) with streaky pork bacon or ham, sausage, portobello mushrooms, tater tots, rocket, cherry tomatoes, rye toast & chutney, while the Turkish Baked Eggs (RM19) should also satisfy, with its tangy mix of chorizo slices, spiced aubergine, mozzarella & tomato sauce. If you’re devoted to brunch fare, it’s probably worth making a weekend date with Fifth Palate.

The sous vide sake chicken (RM25; with seared whole leg or breast) makes for pleasant comfort food, served with mashed potatoes, salad & bouillon sake sauce. But Fifth Palate’s ramen (RM21) will linger longer in our memories – wholesome nourishment with succulent slow-braised pork belly, poached egg, spring onions & juicy mushrooms in a light shoyu broth. Trivia: The name ‘Fifth Palate’ hints at a couple of references, both to the ‘fifth taste’ of umami that this restaurant strives to deliver, as well as ‘wu,’ or ‘five’ – the Mandarin equivalent of the Ng family’s surname.

Drunken Frenchman

This ‘Drunken Frenchman’ (RM28) is delicious – French Toast with bacon, caramelised bananas, Fifth Palate’s own-made chunky peanut butter, Forty Licks vanilla ice cream & Guinness Stout reduction. A diet destroyer, but we helplessly finished every bite. Fifth Palate’s forte is putting together confidently executed recipes with ingredients that all work very well in unison.

Yogurt

Save space for Fifth Palate’s yoghurt, smooth & flavoursome, in varieties like wheatgrass or soursop (RM5). The outlet will also sell jars of aubergine chutney, peanut butter & rojak sauce soon. Forty Licks ice cream & This Juice cold-pressed beverages are available too. Fifth Palate now opens only during daylight, but dinner service is in the works (get ready for ribs).