Monday 24 September 2007

Review: The Bird Restaurant

Last Saturday, after my sugar high class at The Cooking House, I had dinner with my parents. After deliberating for a long while, my parents suggested to bring us to The Bird Restaurant in Bandar Menjalara which one of my brother had taken them to. I can't help but to say yes since I knew a bunch of floggers are going to have a session here. Actually I've passed by this place countless times and had piqued the curiosity in me due to the decor and ambiance of The Bird. Somehow, it never crossed my mind to note this down even though my brother had mentioned that they're pretty ok.

Please excuse my photos' quality, taken with my W800i, they turned out very lousy due to the low lighting. I'm sans digicam for a while since it had been borrowed. Hence, there won't be any yummy mooncake pics this year as well. The interior of The Bird is of a mismatched of tables and chairs, some with table cloth, some none. Lots of bamboo bird traps and cages were transformed into lampshades. Lined on the bright yellow walls were loads of antiqued and replica posters of Shanghainese pretty lasses, advertisements of the yore, photos of western actors/actress, olden days photos of people from China etc. There's even a water feature at a corner of the restaurant. My dad told me that the owner, Desmond Liew, loves to collect such items.

Bird Restaurant Bird - interior01 Bird - interior02

Since my parents have eaten their single portions before, my mom asked me to pick from the Set Menu. For four adults, the set came at a very reasonable RM53.00. So I went on and pick the limited style of cooking from the menu. I've asked them to recommend not spicy stuff since my hubby is having sore throat.

My boiboi quickly picked a Mango Ice Blended (RM3.00) drink since he noticed there are some colourful toppings but was disappointed when it came with none. I had to pacified him that there were some slices of mangoes on top. Anyway, when this drink came, we nearly have a shock out of our sheer lives since it came huge, and I really meant HUGE! Served in a roughly 12cm diameter flower pot was finely crushed mango flavoured ice topped with lots more pureed mangoes. Absolutely fabulous! My only problem is sucking the ice up with a thin and soft straw.

When this plate of chicken came, I quickly took a couple of photos only to be taken away shortly as there was a mistake. I was told it was Marmite Chicken instead of King Toh Chicken that I've picked. Darn, this chicken looked so good lah!

Bird - interior03 Bird - Mango Iced Blended Bird - Marmite Chicken

Desmond recommended a Kerabu Chicken Feet (RM6.00) which seems to be one of their specialty of the day. This item is not from the set. I quite liked this tangy salad but the chicken skin pieces are a tad too big, can look a bit scary haha... Peppered with loads of firery chili padi which my mom find them a tad too spicy.

The dishes of the set meal started to arrived. Our correct order of King Toh Chicken came finally. Boneless chicken pieces cooked in a thick soy and oyster sauce plus a handful of dried chillies, slightly sweetish and tasted okay only. Maybe because I was offered an eye candy earlier on.... hmmm... The vege dish that I've picked was Romaine Lettuce stir fried with preserved bean curd (foo yue). Enough of wok hei but mom was complaining that they have a lot of chili padi in it.

Bird - Kerabu Chicken Feet Bird - King Toh Chic Bird - Foo Yue Yau Mak

Butter King Fish seems to be one of their specialties as it is sort of like prominently featured in their menu. Deep fried fish soaked in a rich buttery gravy. Tasted great when eaten hot but once it cooled down, it gotten very jelak! So gotta wallop this quickly. Also have chilli padi here!

Next came the squid dish cooked ala Thai basil leaves style. This is the lousiest of the loot with the squid turned out soft and came with a lot of gravy. Tastewise it's quite all right but somehow the cooking method isn't quite ok. The expert mom said something about how they should cook these squid but I was too busy to pay attention plus she also complained about chilli padi in it (my mom loves her son-in-law a lot one, so that explains the complaints hehe). Seems like the chef like to dish out chilli padi freely in all their dishes.

The set meal came with complimentary dessert and for that day Desmond served us homemade cendol. The cendol wowed me!!! The cendol is soft and slippery served with perfectly cooked reddish sago pearls. The coconut milk and gula melaka proportion were nice to me striking a not too sweet balance BUT BUT BUT it came with crushed tubed ice, what a shame. I've pointed this to Desmond and he said they don't have the resources to take care of that as his restaurant have too many dishes to handle. Awww what a pity.

Bird - Butter King Fish Bird - basil leaves squid Bird - complimentary cendol

The food have some hits and misses but I must go back to try their single portion dishes as they have lots of them in their menu or order dishes from the ala carte menu. Two on my must-try list are Laksa Sarawak and Nasi Muhibah! My mom said their nasi lemak has very very good sambal and she simply adores Desmond's way of public relations/customer service. For that alone, my mom will frequent here!

We have 5 bowls of rice (RM5.00), kinda small serving; and we each took a green tea (RM8.00 for 4 pax) upon Desmond's recommendation saying that they added some leaves or I'm not sure what since he didn't disclosed. Very fragrant like jasmine flower, so maybe it could be jasmine but can't confirm. All in I paid RM79.90.

There seems to be a singing competition going on and this Friday is the final. You may give them a call to buy a ticket and do hurry cos I heard they were packed to the brim last Friday. BTW, this place serves halal food (not sure if certified one or not but that's according to Desmond) but did not displayed that all out since they serve beer.

The Bird Restaurant
5 Jalan 3/62D
Medan Putra Business Centre
Bandar Menjalara, Kepong
Tel: 603-6277 1453

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13 comments:

  1. Cilipadi here & there sounds like my kind of place! Pity it's quite far for me.

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  2. Nice. The decor looks cosy. Looks like a good place to go to!

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  3. It's kinda too far for me as well.

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  4. By the look of the name i tot they only serve chicken dishes... :p

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  5. tummythoz & jason, you two din go for the makan session ka?

    daphne, not too bad i guess, quite cozy

    ling239, haha and pigeons perhaps :p

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  6. OMG! MWM did a pre-karaoke singing competition at the bird restaraunt! she was really good... she really can sing....she even beat Desmond and Jimmy.........lol!!!

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  7. Eh, why my initials became MWM??? Hahah...Don't advetise for me...I found the food at The Bird quite good. Of couse I like my food spicy too, maybe that's why.

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  8. BBO, i'm sure

    wmw, BBO too excited liau hehehe

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. No ah, gave it a miss. Shall join in the next outing in Oct.

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  11. oic, dun worry lah you din miss much jason :p

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  12. I went to eat there last Sunday and it was awesome! I think it was Desmond and his brother who sang Karaoke for us during our whole time eating in! Chinese songs of course. And i definitely recommend the butter fish. excellent service and very homey. good place for Father's Day! :)

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Babe_KL
16 Oct 2012