Cafe BLD
Renaissance Johor Bahru
BLD is the signature restaurant at the Renaissance Johor Bahru that offers all day dining to guests staying at the hotel as well as people visiting from outside, who all come to sample the huge and luxurious buffet and laid back atmosphere.
Not wanting to miss out on the party, we took our Vegan Food Quest there to see what was on offer.
What we found, was nothing short of mind-blowingly good, stunningly presented, fine dining vegan food.
BLD at the Renaissance Johor Bahru – it’s laid back and has a great atmosphere
The Vegan Food
The vegan options at BLD are excellent – staff are well trained and happy to adapt anything from the buffet meaning that guests choosing this option will have an array of cuisines and dishes to choose from (we loved the DIY ‘Gado-Gado’ station and the Italian food that we tried).
Freshly prepared Gado-Gado
But we were also lucky enough to have one of Malaysia’s Top 10 chefs – Chef Khairuzzaman Bin Ahmad Hadzriwhich – showcase his passion for food and awesome creative skills in a specially prepared Vegan Food Quest lunch.
From left to right: Hummus strudel with grilled cucumber and candied tomato; Cold pomegranate soup; Pandan and banana blinis with sundried tomato and red cabbage; Avocado, kyuri and takuan roll.
All we can say is that it tasted as good as it looks and sounds (think our favourite might have been the banana blinis but it was close between that and the hummus parcel!).
The starter looked simply too good to eat… but we managed it
Now, we have a real soft spot for fresh tomato soup; it’s a real classic dish that shows off the wonderful flavour of tomatoes and can really satisfy a craving for something rich, zingy and comforting.
We can happily say that the vegan tomato soup we were served, garnished with a hearty drizzle of plant-based pesto, ticked all the boxes for us.
Packed with flavour, this classic tomato soup was delicious
A quick look at our bespoke vegan menu told us that the next course we were expecting was ‘Carrot Cake With Pepper Relish And A Green Pea Puree’ and ‘Potato Cake With Marmalade, Beetroot Puree’.
We didn’t quite expect a plate of such impressive food art but we were very happy to see it and, after the obligatory marvelling, we savoured every last delicious mouthful.
#VeganFoodArt
How to please vegans: give them 2 desserts, one of which is a vegan chocolate cake!!!
We love cake and so were already won over when this arrived, but it tasted great too, so soft and moist and chocolatey sweet.
We do enjoy a vegan chocolate cake here at Vegan Food Quest
And even though we were full, we ate all of this mango pudding too, because we love mangoes almost as much as we love cake. Not over sweet, this firm, mango rich set pudding was a fruity dessert success.
Rich, creamy and smooth mango pudding
The Vegan Food Quest Verdict
Make a reservation at BLD to enjoy the variety of delicious local or Western cuisine or contact the team at the Renaissance Johor Bahru Hotel to see if you can order a specially prepared meal from their award winning, top ten chef.
Either way, a visit here will allow you to enjoy fabulous vegan food produced by a team of people who are passionate about great tasting vegan food.
You can click the link to read about our stay at Renaissance Johor Bahru.
We were guests of Cafe BLD at Renaissance Johor Bahru Hotel but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views
Cafe BLD
Renaissance Johor Bahru
No 2, Jalan Permas 11
Johor Bahru 81750
Malaysia
Telephone: +60 7 3813333