Taste Enclave @Avenue K

The recently revamped Avenue K (a shopping mall opposite Suria KLCC and easily accessible by LRT) has gained much attention with the addition of H&M store in its directory but that is not all. On the 2^ndlevel of Avenue K lies Taste Enclave, the latest food atrium in town, and is another creation by Willie Tay, the Singaporean with 18 years of experience in F&B Management.

The interior of lush foliage and great expanse of faux greenery throughout the atrium in creating the out-of-city dining impression where diners can experience a tranquil sense of escape while feasting in absolute comfort.

Imagine dining in an enchanted forest of whimsical themes, surrounded by creative landscaping filled with trees, animals and running water.

The team behind Taste Enclave has carefully handpicked KL finest food ambassadors to be part of this food atrium where diners can expect 16 stalls and 4 mini-restaurants in offering non-halal menus.

Being the 5^th outlets here at Taste Enclave, the name of Sentul Ah Yap is no longer news to us. 

So here I have noodles fried over charcoal fire with pieces of pork slices, vege, and fried pork lard (猪油渣) on my sampling plate. No complain in general but preferably flooded with the heavenly crispy bites of fried pork lard.

The family business began more than 30 years ago as a roast meat wholesaler at Pudu market and their unique recipe has been fine-tuned over the years. 

Reflecting ambience light in its honey glazed outer, this BBQ Pork is a good piece of lean meat with the right amount of fat. The sauce that complemented this BBQ Pork is another thing worth mentioning, so fragrant and flavorful I can ask for a bowl of rice to go with it. 

Crispy roasted pork on the other hand has a good balance between crispy roasted skin crust and 1-to-1 chewy lean meat to fat. It was slightly salty without the company of rice/noodles but hey, this is supposed to be served in a full meal. Perhaps I would make a special request to have roasted pork of chunky bites though it may mean fewer slices.

This unique name is a tribute to the owner’s parents who started selling beef ball noodles at Stall No.21 Cross Street, KL or more famously known as Soong Kee Beef Noodle. It is mainly based at Jalan Tun H.S. Lee and has another outlet at Lot 10 Hutong. 

Served in Hakka Noodles then topped with the minced meat sauce and finally boiled choy sum for a balanced diet. This hakka noodles was alkaline taste free and softer in texture but be sure to mix it fast enough else it’ll lump together. Meatballs were springy enough but the absence of scallion in my soup made me wonder.  It would be a mistake thinking that the soup will clear the tongue, preparing it for the next bite as the soup itself was heavily seasoned.  

It may sound crazy that I have recently travelled about 1,000km to Ho Chi Minh just to spend 27 hours there to satisfy my craving on their coffee, French baguette, beef pho and spring roll but I may not need to make that trip for spring roll anymore. 

Hailing all the way from Vietnam to Singapore and now to Malaysia, Wendy has established 5 outlets in food courts across Singapore and her first outlet in Malaysia. 

Minimal amount of basil (which I believed was improved recipe to suit our taste) along with rice vermicelli, lettuce, carrot, and pork then rolled in Vietnamese bánh tráng (aka rice paper) and served with their chili sauce. The tricky part about this rice paper is that it needed to be soaked into warm water to make it soft enough to roll, which also means it would easily dehydrated when exposed to air for long. “Skin” (rice paper) of this spring roll I had was moist enough to chew and another brilliant horizontal arrangement of rice vermicelli (instead of randomly) in absorbing the dilute chili sauce. Even better than what I had at Vietnam itself!

Surprisingly but yes, Taste Enclave does sell beer here.

Most often I enjoyed the open kitchen concept where the food is freshly prepared in front of my eyes. Here at Grandeur Teppanyaki, I had utensil acrobats of fork and knife flying around along with scorching flame to add in the pleasure. But when it comes to this plate of beef, one has to have high level of tolerance to spiciness and does not mind chewing medium done beef cubes.

Having Ice Kacang is like a mini treasure digging for me;  To enjoy the crushed peanuts followed by bits by bits of the ice along with its syrup and condensed milk, and finally to unfold those at the bottom. Though may not be much, it was the right taste to end this evening.