Food Blog | Kooky Plate | Chow Kit | Kuala Lumpur
Nestled in central KL is a quirky and colourful cafe overlooking the KL skyline - Kooky Plate. It’s a restaurant from the same family of restaurants that has brought Kooky Cream to KL - known for their desserts. Here’s what I thought from my short visit there over the weekend.
Is it Halal
My understanding is that whilst they’re pork free, they’re not halal certified - although I did see a lot of Malay patrons here on my latest visit. They do claim that they source ingredients from halal suppliers and generally, they are in that “Muslim-friendly” space - their Tiramisu also doesn’t have rum, which some of the more Tiramisu dishes will contain. Do check with them though, if you have any concerns about this!
Where it Is
I will give the warning: the parking here is not for the weak-hearted. You are basically either going to have to pay up - the very nearby valets / parking lots are usually very full or cost RM20, the parking I parked at is RM15, which isn’t much better. After walking around the area a bit, what I would actually recommend is parking at Quill City Mall. It doesn’t get much nearer in terms of parking as it is, and it really is the cheapest rate I see from near the area (with a maximum daily parking rate of RM10, so I honestly would recommend either using public transport or parking at Quill City Mall). You will have to cross via the overhead bridge, but apart from that, the walk is quite straightforward.
A pretty difficult place to get to - regardless of where you park - if it is raining, so this really is one of those spots I would recommend you avoid if it is raining. One thing I should add is that the view from here is one of the nicest views in the city - with the street right beside having a straight on view of the Petronas Twin Towers, so do stop for a snap there! Just some trivia to share - the logo previously didn’t have the red flower on the side, but because someone decided to grafitti on their sign, they used a projector to map out how to paint over the grafitti - and that’s how you end up seeing that flower on their logo there today.
Do expect a queue (might be long, might be short) when stopping by here - especially when it’s around 1-3pm.
Address: Kooky Plate, No.16, Seksyen 41, Jalan Yap Ah Shak, Chow Kit, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
What it Costs
I think one of my bigger gripes about Kooky Plates will probably be on pricing - as I would say that it is definitely on the pricier end for what you’re getting. A meal for two here ended up coming to RM119.48 - here’s the breakdown:
Spicy Shredded Chicken Mala Pappa | RM34
Grilled Saba Mackerel Rice Soup | RM32
Tiramisu | RM23
Matcha Latte | RM14
Service Charge & SST (16%) | RM16.48
Total | RM119.48
A few notes to add - they offer free drinking water, so the drink is more because I just wanted a matcha latte on the day - you can actually change the type of milk to oat milk or coconut milk - their breakfast menu is up to 3pm, and their lunch menu goes up to 5pm before they will be using their dinner menu alone. What I’ll be sharing is items from the lunch menu alone.
How it Tastes
I won’t be commenting too much about the Matcha Latte - it’s using Niko Neko matcha, but I’m a bit of a fool and ordered it without sugar, so I won’t criticise them for something stupid on my part.
Onto the spicy shredded chicken mala pappa - a pasta variant of a mala dish - which I’m always very intrigued by. I think there’s two main thoughts about the dish from me. The first is the fact that their lotus root is super tasty. They sliced it up very thinly so it isn’t so thick and it really can absorb that mala sauce evenly throught - it even curls slightly like a potato chip almost, so I actually really liked that part of the dish. The lotus root was one of the big winners of the dish. I like the fact that they didn’t go TOO spicy or TOO strong on the mala taste. Basically makes it an enjoyable level of flavour that most people will be able to appreciate very much.
The grilled saba mackerel rice soup is interesting. It’s a dish with homemade chicken miso soup, with wakame, cabbage, grilled saba mackerel, and a sous vide egg to top off the dish. I think the star of this particular dish is quite clearly the fish. They have a really nice sauce that accompanies a really nice grill on the fish. The rest of the dish is so-so for me for the most part, I just thought that the fish stood out. I personally feel like the egg is almost a bit out of place in this dish, given it is a wet dish, and having an onsen style egg just sort of adds it to the soup rather than anything. Almost feel like something like those Ramen Eggs (Ajitsuke Tamago) feel like something they maybe could match the dish better - just some random personal thoughts.
Now to their tiramisu! I think overall, it really is a nice tiramisu that is among the best I’ve had in KL so far. The stars are their sponge biscuits - which they are generous in giving within your tiramisu - coupled with the right level of sweetness. The only one thing I would have a gripe about is that they add almost too much powder on the top layer. To the point where it basically can get a bit messy the moment you even cut into the tiramisu. Note that this really is a popular dish here, so do expect it to be sold out if you stop by late.
Star Rating
6/10. I would say a lot of this rating is driven by price. I think food overall is alright, pretty nice. Service is good and prompt, but I think it’s a bit hard to justify RM60 per person. This feels like it’s at that “Tourist Price” given it’s a tourist area, so it’s actually a bit hard for me to recommend this spot. At most, I would say this falls into the try once is more than enough category.
