Nadodi Wows with New Location, New Menu

We recently had the rare delight of being asked to be something akin to ‘culinary guinea pigs’ as the team at Nadodi, one of KL’s most celebrated fine dining venues, rolled out a showstopping new menu, which they call ‘Ten Steps Back Home.’ Diners who have enjoyed meals at Nadodi, either at their previous location or their posh new home at Four Seasons Kuala Lumpur, will recognise the cheeky wordplay for their latest menu, a staple for the restaurant. If you don’t know about the multiple-award-winning Nadodi yet, it deserves to be on your radar. We had dined there a few times previously, but on this special occasion, we enjoyed the evening with the restaurant’s founder, Mr Abbi Kanthasamy.

“We launched Nadodi with an aim of changing the perception of South Indian and Sri Lankan cuisine, to shine a spotlight on the rich culinary heritage of the region,” he explained. “What’s more, iconic dishes like thosai, roti canai, and briyani – and of course banana leaf meals – the food of our nomadic ancestors has greatly influenced Malaysia’s culinary landscape. At Nadodi, we pay homage to their journeys through a reimagined expression of familiar dishes, techniques, and ingredients.”

Unique to one of Nadodi’s private dining rooms, a shimmering likeness of the Petronas Towers is reflected in a building fronting KLCC Park

Nadodi, accordingly then, carries the tagline ‘Engaging Nomadic Cuisine’ and it’s this mantra that leads their steadfast refusal to ever be forced into a single box. The food here is expressive, eclectic, and enticing. We were on hand to try out the new menu and offer candid feedback at every step. While there were some elements that we felt could benefit from minor fine-tuning, the strong consensus was that this was a winner of a menu, and we hope to see it sticking around for a while.

The menu starts with some tasty and well-presented bites

The first two courses lean heavily on South Asian flavours and street food delights taken up a notch. The Pallipalayam Achu was a delight, festooned with Kiribath and Rava Prawn. And don’t worry… if some of those words are unfamiliar, we feel you — this happened to us at several points throughout the menu, so we just focused on savouring the wondrous flavours instead. We also enjoyed the Vadai, Nethili Sambal, and Coconut Chutney.

Perfectly prepared and creatively presented

Every bite is carefully composed to deliver a symphony of flavours

It’s beyond the scope of this review to detail every single course, and indeed, much of the delight for diners at Nadodi is found in the surprise and discovery of each new dish in the procession. But here are a handful of the real standouts: One course called ‘Surf Tagliatelle’ was impressive in its concept and execution. Featuring Saniku Coast scallops creatively fashioned into tagliatelle-like ‘pasta’ and served in a puddle of Moringa curry with finger lime, and three precisely applied-at-the-table drops of burnt onion, this dish didn’t just wow us with its ingenious presentation, but also with its beautiful balance of flavour and texture.

We loved the imaginative ‘Surf Tagliatelle’

The ‘Nawala Annasi’ course was also a delight, featuring Carabineros (an especially prized deep-sea large prawn species) masterfully prepared and presented with Prawn Head Curry, Pineapple, and Jicama. Just an outstanding dish, and a real treat to enjoy this much-heralded prawn species.

Succulent chunks of Carabineros prawn await discovery with the ‘Nawala Annasi’ dish

Easily among the top courses, too, was the ‘Nomad’s Globe,’ a round, three-tier sphere that separates into three dishes. In one, a magnificent Shallot and Kyuri Salad. In another, a very nice Short-Grain Rice and Bone Marrow Salna, and finally, in the remaining dish, a gorgeous Iberíco Lamb Briyani that drew unanimous praise from everyone at the table. This superb course was really a triumph among a menu already replete with excellent dishes.

Legitimately some the very best briyani we’ve ever savoured

The bright, fresh flavours of the Shallot and Kyuri Salad were a delight

We don’t want to spoil too much for the ‘Munnar Payasam’ dessert course, but it was another winner with its creative blending of traditional dessert elements with uniquely South Asian spices and flavours. We loved it… a flawless finish to a most enjoyable meal. And, given the notes we saw being taken and the sheer attention to detail we noticed, we are fully confident that any tweaks that may have been needed have already been made. In fact, we know it, as our ‘Ten Steps’ menu has been slightly augmented to ‘Eleven Steps’ now! A special note also in the impressive curation and presentation of Nadodi’s liquid libations. Not only is the list of craft cocktails incredibly tempting (including degustation cocktail menus, which we think is awesome), there is a marvellous wine list, too, whose clear, well-organised presentation definitely met with our favour.

It’s not just the cuisine that’s creatively presented: That black box contains four pull-out ‘drawers’ with Nadodi’s cocktails described in each one

Nadodi is top-shelf dining in a luxurious venue, so it’s certainly safe to say that this is reflected in the menu prices. But sometimes ‘destination dining’ is rewarded with superb ingredients, creative preparation and presentation, an elegant ambiance, and a genuinely enjoyable culinary experience. Having table-tested Nadodi’s fabulous new ‘Eleven Steps Back Home’ menu, we’d put it squarely in that category, and would gladly return in the future, hungry for more and eager to see what the kitchen maestros at Nadodi cook up next.