Stylishly Local

First published in Options, The Edge Malaysia, 15 Jan 2018 http://optionstheedge.com/topic/food/food-review-isabel-restaurant-bar

Thai, Indonesian and Malay flavours, elevated into a stylish dining experience

Set back from the road, a small courtyard with a frangipani tree, then glass doors into a long, deep, black and white marble-floored area with rattan-weave ceilings.  Fringes of green tumble from potted plants overhead, and bentwood armchairs with rattan seats and a cushioned bench under discreet backlights and selective spotlights welcome you to Isabel, the new belle, and younger sibling of the long-established Alexis Bistro.

It’s immediately welcoming, warm and elegant. The Drinks list, with wines, beers, cocktails and other choices for the alcohol-deprived, outdoes the 2-page food menu, with Small and Big Plates, with a selection that’s accented with mainly Thai, Indonesian and Malay dishes, with local ingredients – spices, herbs, curry mixtures, raw vegetables with seafood, beef, chicken and lamb, but no pork. 

We share brown and white rice with our selection of meat and vegetable dishes, served Asian-dining communal-style.  Shiny brass cutlery with slim white handles lend a touch of glamour.

Indonesian-inspired Urap Pucuk Manis (Rm23) sets the mood, cooked sweet leaves and beansprouts, highlighted with shredded coconut, herbs and torch ginger for a sweetly enticing taste of the exotic East, raw, clean and aromatic, with a chewy, crunchy, fresh texture.

The hostess strongly recommends the Grilled Chicken (Rm42), Thai style, with a sweet dipping sauce. The firmness of the chicken affirms that it is free-range chicken and not the mushy pap from a confined animal feedlot chicken. Semi-charred on the outside, moist and tender when bitten into, it’s more refined, more subtle, and a step up from the street style variety, which seems sloppier and coarser by comparison.

Ikan Tiga Rasa (Rm72) takes inspiration from Malay and Indonesian-style deep-fried fish, a barramundi, fried until it’s crispy-crunchy and rendered golden-brown, yet it’s not oily and when cut through, the meat within is white and firm without being dry. It’s the sauce that steals the show, however, being sweet, spicy and tangy, thick and fragrant with minced herbs and a garnishing of coriander and chili.  

The choice of Grilled Eggplant with minced prawns and Tamarind Sauce (Rm23) is a good complement, with hot, smooth eggplant pieces with a smouldering, smoky flavor and appetizing, but not tart, tamarind sauce.

For dessert, it seems fitting to try the most expensive goreng pisang I’ve had at Rm22. Two bananas are fried in a light batter, almost tempura-like, sweet and softly yielding beneath the fragile brown crust and accompanied by Gula Melaka ice cream,  it’s rich and rewarding, creamy and not as sweet as you’d think.

Isabel takes on traditional dishes, some of them street food, and elevates them with refinement, tuning, premium ingredients and a prepared-from-scratch approach that pays dividends.  

It’s a bold step, sticking to the straight and narrow traditional interpretations, rather than veering off into the fusion path, because it inevitably draws comparisons with the originals – Thai grilled chicken, Indonesian dancing fish, goreng pisang, for example – which have a long and developed history, yet we found the food to be polished, less oily and true to the originals.

Isabel Restaurant & Bar,

21, Jalan Mesui 50200 KL

Tel: 03-211106366

Isabel.com.my

Business Hours:  12am-12pm daily, Friday and Saturday, 12am-1am.

               Closed on Mondays.