Makan Kitchen
DoubleTree Kuala Lumpur
Makan Kitchen is the signature restaurant at the DoubleTree Kuala Lumpur, aiming to showcase a ‘heritage eating village’ the restaurant has 3 live and interactive kitchens featuring Chinese, Indian and Malay cuisine, where food is freshly prepared and presented lavishly, offering a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds.
Live and interactive kitchens where food is freshly prepared
Buffet style dining can often be difficult for vegan guests who sometimes get stuck with a small choice of side dishes, and definitely don’t get the same choice of dishes as our non-vegan friends. Would the Makan Kitchen provide that same level of delightful dining options for a vegan customer? We took our Vegan Food Quest there and put them to the test…
The Service
The Makan Kitchen is mainly a self-service style buffet dining experience, but as a lot of the food is cooked freshly in front of you there is a chance to interact with the staff and experience their friendly and enthusiastic service.
Chef Addy & Restaurant Manager Shah offered us a very warm welcome
The staff answered questions about the food knowledgeably, were very willing to help us and made us feel like very welcome guests. We love it when our vegan requests are met with such positivity. We were lucky enough to be shown around the restaurant by the Executive Head Chef who was so passionate about the food being served by his team of chefs, that we couldn’t help but feel excited. This commitment to serving the best food possible carried through to the rest of his team, who each took on the challenge to make us a vegan version of the cuisine they usually serve.
Adam Watson, this Executive Chef’s passion for excellent food was clear to see
We were deeply impressed by this dynamic team of chefs whose creativity and skill resulted in a feast of Indian, Chinese and Malay dishes for us to sample. Thanks to them, we felt like we didn’t miss out on the Makan Kitchen dining experience because we were vegan. It was refreshing to see each chef embrace the vegan challenge with such positivity.
The Vegan Food
Malaysian food draws on a mix of different cultures and the vegan dishes that were made for us reflected this as we were presented with a dinner that displayed the rich cultural heritage of the country. Our Chinese dishes began with a light cucumber salad; fresh crunchy cucumber flavoured with sesame, ginger and a little spiciness from chopped raw chilli scattered over the top.
Fresh & crunchy cucumber salad
A lovely dish to begin our vegan feast
This was followed by a sliced soft bean curd dish; beautifully presented with a dressing of sweet soy that complemented the silky bean curd perfectly and topped with crunchy, sweet mange tout. There was a good balance of flavours and textures for these light, delicate dishes.
This sliced soft bean curd dish had a great balance of flavours and textures
Next we had a simple sautéed vegetable dish where the high quality of the produce was clear. Mushrooms, carrots and Chinese greens, flavoured with fresh ginger, tasted fresh and alive. No soggy over cooked bland vegetables here!
Fresh & tasty mixed, sautéed vegetables
Our last dish from the Chinese chefs was an oyster mushroom tempura; a light and crispy batter (not greasy in the slightest) encasing succulent oyster mushrooms. Served with a spicy chilli dipping sauce they were very moreish.
Crispy oyster mushroom tempura
From the chefs in the Indian kitchen, we began with cute little salads, a saltier ‘chaat masala’ made with pear, apple and mango and a fruitier cucumber, onion, pineapple concoction.
Crunchy ‘chaat masala’ from the Indian chefs
Then we were given a ‘Chana Masala’ dish with fresh flatbreads. Soft chick peas in a mild sauce of creamy coconut, sweet onions and spices, it had a warm chilli afterglow and was perfectly seasoned. We do love a good chick pea dish as this definitely didn’t disappoint.
We love chick peas and this ‘chana masala’ was delicious
By far our favourite food came from the chefs cooking Malaysian cuisine, don’t be mistaken, the other dishes we were served were delicious (and we’d happily go back for more) but the Malay food that we ate was exceptionally good. There is one word that sums up the vegan Malay dishes from the Makan Kitchen and that word is ‘exciting’. Our Vegan Food Quest means we get to try a lot of delicious food; we munch our way through beautiful food, fast food, simple food, street food and luxurious food but we’ve only had a few experiences where the vegan food has been this exciting. Our first dish was a specially made, vegan version of ‘kerabu’, a salad of finely shredded carrot, boiled potato, beansprouts, long beans, fried tofu, fried tempeh pieces and ‘coconut floss’ served on a banana leaf.
Vegan ‘kerabu’ salad
Coconut floss is made by taking freshly grated coconut, seasoning it with chilli, turmeric and sugar before leaving it to dry out. It added a sweet, toasty coconut element to this salad that mixed perfectly with the fragrant, heady fresh lemongrass, spicy chilli, sweet palm sugar, fresh shallots and coriander.
This vegan ‘kerabu’ salad was vibrant with colour and taste… simply amazing
Mixed together with the sharp, refreshing lime dressing and we had a flavour sensation that we’d never experienced in a salad before.
The ‘kerabu’ looked delightful on the plate and tasted just as good!
Next, we met Chef Addy who presented us with something he’d designed especially for us, a unique Vegan Food Quest dish that combined traditional Malay flavours with our European roots, producing what has to be the best vegan fusion dish that we have ever tasted. Honesty, we aren’t exaggerating. Chef Addy’s creation consisted of spaghetti with scrambled firm white tofu and ‘pecik’ sauce, fried tempeh strips and an aubergene ‘rendang’.
Possibly the best fusion dish we’ve ever tasted…
The spaghetti was perfectly ‘al dente’ and was smothered in just the right amount of pecik sauce to make the small pieces of tofu stick to the pasta. Pecik sauce is creamy with cononut and spiced with tumeric, curry leaves and chilli. We would never have thought to pair a curry sauce with pasta but it worked perfectly with the spaghetti and tofu. The result was mouthful after mouthful of creamy, rich vegan ‘fusion spaghetti’, spiced and seasoned to perfection.
Delicious spaghetti and ‘pecik’ sauce… every mouthful was blissful
The rendang was a particular treat as it’s normally always a meat based dish, so we haven’t been able to try it. Chef Addy wanted to showcase Malasian food and so he created an aubergine rendang that was covered in a vegan version of the thick, smooth, spice paste made from shallots, garlic, galangal, tumeric, ginger coconut and lemongrass. It was full of flavour, sweet and spicy and complemented the texture of the soft and slightly charred aubergine brilliantly.
Vegan aubergine rendang; a real treat for us with an amazing flavour
Finally the crispy fried tempeh strips added another texture to the dish that worked really well. This was an inspired piece of cooking and we think it should be added to the regular menu so everyone gets to try just how wonderful it was. Although we were really full up from all the amazing vegan food, Chef Addy selected a plate of ‘Nyonya kuih’ for us to sample for dessert. As we love kuih (and always have room for dessert) we couldn’t say no to this platter of little delights.
Our platter of Malaysian ‘Nyonya kuih’
We were given a selection of 4 little kuih, all with different tastes and textures. There was a tapioca cake topped with coconut and gula Melaka sugar, ‘ondeh-ondeh’ dumplings, some ‘Keria’ donuts made from sweet potatoes and some ‘kuih lapis’, which means ‘layered dessert’. The ondeh-ondeh were delightfully fresh and chewy with runny treacle-tasting gula Melaka sugar that exploded in our mouths when we bit into them.
Ondeh – Ondeh
The ‘keria’ sweet potato donuts were a real surprise. Sweet potatoes combined with flour to make a dough, then deep fried and drizzled in sugar resulting in a donut that didn’t taste too fatty or greasy and was almost savoury, until you got to the sweet sugar topping. We can now confirm that sweet potatoes served in donut form are a great way to eat this popular plant-based food.
Sweet potato donuts, a great way to eat sweet potatoes
Our favourite dessert were the ‘kuih lapis’ made from rice flour combined with sugar, coconut milk, salt and pandan. These heavenly little desserts not only looked beautiful but they tasted divine.
A Vegan Food Quest favourite – heavenly little ‘kuih lapis’
They were firm yet soft and had a slight jelly wobble when touched. The texture was smooth and a little creamy from the rice flour and coconut milk; this was food that felt good to eat. But the flavour of these little morsels was really what kept us wanting more of them. Sweet and just a little bit salty, creamy rich coconut milk and the unique taste of pandan that is widely used throughout South East Asia.
Yum
It’s hard to describe the flavour of pandan, a sort of sweet, pine like, nutty, grassy, biscuity taste that is as much about the smell as the flavour. The Makan Kitchen kuih lapis definitely weren’t short on this flavour sensation meaning that every delicious bite was a pleasure.
The Interior
The Makan Kitchen seats up to 350 diners but the restaurant is cleverly designed to create plenty of smaller spaces where guests can dine in a more private setting. This gives the option to have a quiet dinner for two or to join friends, family or business colleagues and dine as a larger party. The decor is modern, with dark wood giving a real Malaysian flavour. The open, interactive live kitchens fill the dining area with enticing smells and mouthwatering sights and the team of chefs who are busily preparing food adds to the atmosphere and vibrant look of the restaurant.
Other Stuff
The Makan Kitchen ‘Live Station’ Dinner is served daily between 6.30pm and 10.30pm and costs RM 108++ per person. There was no vegan wine on the wine list, but they do serve Tiger lager, which is suitable for vegans, and a wide range of freshly made juices. We sampled a star anise, watermelon and apple juice that was delicious. They also have an extensive cocktail list with numerous vegan options.
The Vegan Food Quest Verdict
Make a reservation at the Makan Kitchen if you want to sample a variety of delicious, authentic Malaysian food created with real passion, you’ll be rewarded with an informal dining experience that offers fabulous vegan food that’s big on flavour, culture and excitement.
Here you can read a review from our stay at DoubleTree Kuala Lumpur.
We were guests of the Makan Kitchen but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views
Makan Kitchen
The DoubleTree Kuala Lumpur
The Intermark
348 Jalan Tun Razak
50400 Kuala Lumpur
Telephone: +603 – 2172 7272
Email: KULDT_FBReservations@hilton.com