Rakshee at Kota Damansara: Restaurant Review

This winningly cheerful restaurant lives up to its promise of a ‘new way to eat bakso,’ bringing lovers of Indonesian beef balls on a cross-continental culinary incline into Italy, a spin through Sweden & a trek of Thailand – luckily, each detour is delicious.

Bakso

Rakshee’s founders (the restaurant’s name is reputedly an Arabic allusion to happiness) belong to a team that has run a bakso-making factory in Penang since 1996. They’ve crafted this fresh-faced cafe to shine a contemporary light on bakso; the meatballs easily fit into pasta preparations like carbonara & marinara, costing a budget-conscious RM9.90 per plate.

Taking a cue from Stockholm (by way of IKEA), Rakshee’s compact selection offers bakso in a creamy-as-gravy broth that’s dunk-worthy with crunchy-buttery toast (RM9.90). The meatballs are robust-tasting, though with a smooth, clearly processed texture that’ll probably prove familiar to regular consumers of bakso – more of a dense, firm paste than coarse, fleshy meat.

Bakso Sliders

Bakso sliders (RM9.90 for three, with fries) make complete sense in this context; the menu’s meant to be crowd-pleasing, teeming with tasty tidbits that’ll cheer up the taste buds. Since this is only the start, it’ll be fun to watch the kitchen potentially evolve, mature & offer more challenging recipes.

Bakso and Boat Noodles?

Bakso crossed with boat noodles? Rakshee’s rendition is distinctive, with richly savoury, thickly beefy broth, enlivened further with chilli & other sauces. Like most boat noodles, these cost RM1.90 per bowl (& yep, they can be stacked up for photos too).

Beverages

Beverages here provide a pure Jakarta bent, with Sosro-produced teh botol & fruit tea. Desserts stray from Rakshee’s theme, but that’s fine, since what’s available is the lush BCGT Belgian Chocolate Ganache Tart by independent baker 126 Kitchen.