Sitka Restaurant: Lunch Menu at Batai, Damansara Heights

It’s a hit! Returning to a cheerfully crowded Sitka for its newly launched lunch selection. Introduction to Sitka: April 10.

Sandwiches

Love your liver and start with what’s most scrumptious: one of 2014’s top sandwiches, swollen with crispy chunks of chicken liver, cushioned with coleslaw and orange marmalade. Probably the most satisfaction we can purchase for RM18 at a KL cafe right now.

Caprese ciabatta with local mozzarella, slow tomatoes & Thai basil (RM24). The bread is out-of-this-world fantastic _ crispy, fresh & fluffy _ though the mozzarella (as well as the ricotta for the couscous salad below) isn’t nearly as tasty as the best ones out there.

Lobster roll in squid ink bun with cocktail sauce and celery leaves (RM34, Sitka’s priciest order for now).

Buttermilk-fried Chicken

Also addictive: Half a spring chicken, meatier and more tender than expected, buttermilk-fried, its crunchy skin made enjoyably nectarous with honey and aromatic with thyme. RM23.

Tacos

Tacos are a treat here: Try the ones teeming with large, luscious panko-fried mushrooms with soy and truffle dressing (RM21) …

… or those triumphant with tender lamb shoulder (aromatic with spices), crushed peas and mint. RM27.

More finesse is needed for the beef tacos, featuring gochujang-braised brisket that proved somewhat stringy and overpoweringly salty in parts, partnered with feta & green onions. RM25. All ingredients are sourced locally where possible.

Salads

Sitka’s salads are hearty, complex and nourishing: This plate of aubergines and portobello (fleshy and sweet with miso and honey) mixed with millet provides pure pleasure, reinforced by an add-on 63-degree egg (RM26 in total).

Say cheese! Tangy mangoes with tomatoes, charred red onions, cilantro, chilli & couscous (RM20), topped with local ricotta (extra RM11) that’s perhaps too stodgy to prove a true textural triumph.

Let’s finish on very positive notes: There’s still so much that’s admirable about Sitka, so many orders that would make a meal here a success, like this invigoratingly ravishing salad of roasted local beets, orange slices, hummus and chickpeas (RM20) …

… and a green-thumbs-up pastiche of peas, sugar snaps and long beans with quinoa, herbs and yoghurt dressing (RM18), exactly enough to make us go, “Botanical who?”