Ramadan Buffet 2011 @ Citarasa Malaysia, Makan Kitchen, Doubletree by Hilton KL

We recently won some Makan Kitchen dining vouchers, as part of Doubletree Hilton KL's 1st Birthday Bash giveaway. We decided to use our vouchers immediately to indulge in the Citarasa Malaysia Ramadan buffet at Makan Kitchen. We have dined at the Makan Kitchen once before. We were most impressed with this Ramadan spread.

Citarasa Malaysia offers over 200 kampung and local delights in a bazaar-like ambience. The restaurant was very busy, however it was very well-staffed and service was excellent. Our glasses were always filled, plates cleared from our table efficiently and the kitchen staff still found time to explain dishes to us. Since the restaurant was so busy, we were sat at the Chinese kitchen with quite dim lighting, which gave the place a rather romantic feel but lousy for food photos.

Chinese Kitchen seatings

We started off with some of these colorful local drinks... choose from sirap bandung, teh tarik, lychee cordial, corn juice, sour plum drink or fruit punch.

Again, I would recommend that you take a tour of all 3 kitchens to soak in the sights, smell and sounds before digging in.

For us, the most impressive dish from this buffet is the roast lamb. It was well marinated, and beautifully roasted with utterly tender meat. We went back for seconds since our kids loved it too. I lik! ed the s ide servings of vegetables too, you can find grilled asparagus, mushrooms, brocolli, roasted potatoes which were all nicely cooked.

Roast lamb with a medley of grilled vegetables

Coming a close second is the Kambing Kuzi, braised lamb in coconut gravy with local spices. My mouth watered as soon as I saw this dish... it also smelt amazing! The meat was really tender and the gravy was just lovely. Unfortunately, they only served white rice in the Malay kitchen. I was slightly disappointed that they did not have lemang since I love eating that with curry / rendang. There was also a good version of bubur lambok daging here, rice porridge cooked with ground beef, herbs, spices and coconut milk. The satay (chicken and beef skewers) was as good as I remembered it. I also tried the gulai daging, some of the vegetable dishes, sotong masak kicap (squid), kari udang mamak, paru, and patin curry and they were all good. Overall, the food from the Malay kitchen was very good.

Kambing Kuzi

Malay kitchen

Bubur lambok daging

Ayam percik

Malay kitchen

Some fresh seafood such as flower crabs, oysters, prawns

Satay daging and ayam with ketupat and peanut sauce

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I quite like this shot taken by my daughter

The food from the Chinese kitchen was most suitable for our kids since they were a little less spicy. Our kids loved the tofu since it was soft and silky smooth. They also enjoyed the dim sums (steamed dumplings); perhaps we arrived early and they were not overcooked this time. Best of all was the roast duck... absolutely delicious! Still warm from the wood oven, the duck was well marinated with 5 spices and Chinese herbs. I would say that the Chinese kitchen exceeded my expectactions this time around.

Chinese Kitchen - hey I can see my kids through the gaps!

Wok Fried Prawn with Soy Sauce

Wok Fried Venison with Teo Chew Sauce

Deep fried dim sum fare

Juicy roast duck

The Indian Kitchen once again impressed us with their selection of food. We loved the fluffy lamb shank briyani, eaten with the many curries on offer. (Cant remember their names but they were all good!) There is also lamb kofta and tandoori chicken, as well as roti canai and roti bom.

After filling our stomachs with the delicious spread, we finished off with some desserts. You will find ais kacang, cendol, assorted kuih-muih, fresh fruit, ice-cream and cakes. Hubby had two servings of the cendol which he said was very good. We enjoyed the selection of kuih and cakes, in particular the mochi, baklava and marble cheesecake. We were hoping to get some local flavoured ice-cream this time, but again it was vanilla or strawberry flavours only. However, the vanilla ice-cream has been infused with some local Sarawak pepper, which was rather subtle.

Cendol

Assorted Malay and Nyonya kuih

More cakes

Fresh fruit counter

Kuihs (Round 1)

Kuihs (Round 2)

Vanilla with peppercorn and strawberry ice-cream

Panna cotta and chocolate ball

Fresh fruits such as watermelon, dragonfruit and nangka

Verdict: If you're looking for a comfortable place with a huge variety of local cuisines to break fast, try Makan Kitchen's Ramadan buffet. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

Click here to read my previous post on Makan Kitchen.

Opening times: 6.30pm-10.30pm for dinner. Also open from breakfast and lunch. Reservations recommended.

Service: Excellent.

Price: RM98++ (adult) and RM49++ for children under 12 for the Citarasa Malaysia Ramadan buffet.

Location: Makan Kitchen, Doubletree by Hilton, The Intermark, 182 Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 03-2172 7272

GPS Coordinates: 3.161620, 101.719670

Website: http://www.makan-kitchen.com

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