Food for Art Lovers

 First published in Options, The Edge, May 23, 2015

Update: This restaurant is now permanently closed.

Classic Western fare and artwork in a family-run restaurant

Tucked rather incongruously in a row of shoplots, with a DVD shop, Chinese coffeeshops and an all-purpose stationery shop as neighbours, The Gallery is a Western restaurant with signboard lettering in Art Deco style.  With a recessed glass frontage, the restaurant presents a conventional interior, with dark wooden backed chairs, pale wood tables and floor, and red upholstery on the chair seats.     Pendant lamps suspended from the ceiling form a centerpiece, with a large glass panel looking into the kitchen at the back.  The lighting is bright with warm undertones, making for a settled ambiance.

Large, unframed original paintings line the walls. These are bright coloured modern pieces from upcoming local artists. While waiting for the food, they provide a topic for conversation, and for consideration, because they are for sale, thus the name of the restaurant, which has sold more than one of the paintings since it opened in August 2014. 

The restaurant is a family affair. The cheerful and informative restaurant manager, Nabila Mohd Noor, is married to the chef, Muhammad Shaufi Md Yusof, while her sister Natasha Mohd Noor is the sous chef.  All graduates from UiTM’s Culinary and Hotel Management schools, they cut their teeth working in the kitchens and restaurants in Singapore for celebrity chefs and the Marina Bay Sands hotel before coming home, where Latifah Mohd Noor, the mother of the siblings, owns the restaurant and is a welcoming and constant presence. 

The menu offers a range of Western dishes without any particular regional emphasis, although there are French and Italian culinary influences. 

We started the evening with the Grilled Prawn Skewer, (Rm18), which was grilled prawns and scallops cleanly presented with a side of greens drizzled with a vinaigrette dressing. The freshly succulent seafood was good on its own, with a little corn puree for a touch of sweetness.  The TG Crostini (Rm15) comprised 6 bite-sized portions neatly presented on a wooden slab, with thin discs of toasted bread and 3 topping types, making for tasty sparklers: richly sweet pumpkin mash, tart roasted cherry tomatoes, and a smoothly mellow cream tuna on bell peppers.

We shared a Classic Caesar Salad (Rm25) which adhered to the straight and true with baby Romaine lettuce, beef bacon, whole egg with soft insides, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.  Executed with a delicate touch, it was a fine balance of ingredients, coming across as being refined and balanced.

The soups were accompanied by thin slices of crispy garlic bread, already buttered.  The darkly thick Prawn Bisque (Rm22) looked daunting, but it was enticingly rich and flavourful, and fallen upon with much gusto.  It rather put the otherwise excellent Classic Italian Seafood Soup (Rm25) in the shade: that was thin but tasty with plenty of garlic with a sprinkling of fresh herbs in a tomato-based soup as a base for squid rings, prawns, fish pieces and mussels.  Both soups had the depth of flavour to them that suggested that they were made in house from scratch without prepackaged ingredients.

We had a TG Lord Burger (Rm32), specified with a ciabatta instead of the regular bun, and the thing turned out to be quite a beast:  a generous helping of thick cut potato chips, and an overstuffed chunk of sirlion burger dressed with tomato slices, a mix of cheeses, dripping with wild mushroom sauce and caramelised onion marmalade, not to mention mixed greens squeezed within the two pieces of bread.  It required a big open mouth or knife and fork to reduce it to chewable proportions. The monster was very good, with gooey, sticky bits enhancing the taste of the beefy burger.

By way of contrast, the Pan Seared Black Cod (Rm69) was a model of decorum, a quivering slab of white fish with skin, over sprigs of sauteed asparagus, accessorised with red cherry tomatoes and roasted baby potatoes on a big white plate.  The fish was fatty but firm, sweet yet tender, with a little orange butter sauce to enhance the flavour.

250g of Grilled Black Angus Sirloin (Rm75), medium-cooked, was a thick slice of hash-patterned brown meat on pureed cauliflower and sauteed Brussels sprouts.  When cut, the meat was moist and pink, with a fatty rind. The diner found it a trifle sweet with the brown vin cotto sauce, although I thought it was a good complement, but the quality of the meat was beyond reproach.

The last main, the Grilled Rack of Lamb (Rm55), medium-rare, was a tangle of pink meat and protruding bone on pepperonata.  The restaurant’s interpretation was robust, meaty and straightforward with a thickly flavourful rosemary sauce dressing.

Of the desserts, the Chocolate Vault (Rm26) stole the show, being a perfectly smooth, shiny dome of dark chocolate embellished with gold leaf, and accompanied by cooked orange segments, raspberry and orange sauces and crushed nuts.  Within, the dark chocolate coat hid a pale brown milk chocolate mousse on a chocolate fudge brownie.  A mouthful of the stuff wasn’t as sweet or cloyingly rich as expected, being a pleasant balance of various chocolately textures, the richness of the dark chocolate moderated by the mild fudge.

The Classic Tiramisu (Rm20) had chocolate soil scattered over a pale yellow base of cake and mascarpone cheese. Rich, but not overly so, sweet but not overdone, it was hard to fault and a great way to finish the meal.

The Gallery is an honest, unpretentious restaurant serving straightforward, mostly classic Western fare, well executed and presented with care, if not flair. The family connection and home-grown talent speak for themselves in the warmth of the service and the attention to detail, making this a suitable venue for family or business meals with a touch of class.  The discerning diner will not be disappointed.

The Gallery,

165 Jalan Aminuddin Baki,

6000 Taman Tun Dr Ismail,

Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03- 0377322005

Business Hours:  12pm-3pm, 6.30pm-10.30pm daily.

Closed on Mondays.