The Flame Kitchen — Restaurant in George Town

I was there end of April 2024 for dinner and ordered the Lobster Thermidor.

Summary: I definitely cannot recommend that plate from the Flame's menu. Quite an expensive waste of money and wonderful lobster meat.

Here the details: When the plate got delivered my first impression was that the visual appearance was really uninspiring and unappetizing. The lobster meat had been pre cut. The sauce was all over and inside the shell, even on the rather weird one layer of salad with zero dressing underneath the shell.

The taste of the sauce with mushroom was rather insipid but it was completely overpowering the delicate taste of the lobster meat. So terribly disappointing 😞

The lobster meat was cooked to perfection as I can tell from the second half I had as take out and which, very fortunately, was left untouched with meat uncut and no sauce. Also no pasta contrary to what I had been promised ;)

Should you still would like to try it though, then my strong advice is to make sure to request that the lobster does not get pre cut and, above all, that the sauce is not dropped on the plate but put in a separate container so you are in control ;-)

To the Flame's Chef my suggestion would be to change the setup. Remove the salad and use the one that comes with the Beef Burger. Exactly that one with the dressing and the presentation. Very good salad. Additionally do not pre cut the lobster meat and drop the sauce all over the lobster. Put that sauce (preferrably a better and more subtle version of it) in a separate container. That should allow the customer to be in control of how much sauce, if any finally, he wants with the lobster.

Further, though the service is rather good (I loved the young waiter, so sweet and helpful with disabled elderly people :), it could be improved with a simple easy changes one of which would be to have the waiters ask customers proactively if they need anything more and also ask if they are happy with their experience at the restaurant. Maybe it is not the custom over here but ...

P.S. (edited May 6, 2024): the nice lady owner informed me that since the lobster meat is cooked with the sauce, the lobster thermidor dish will come as displayed on the picture. But the restaurant also serves regular lobster, not only the...

The Flame Kitchen is definitely my favourite go-to for both casual dining and special occasions.

The ambience is rather unassuming and the service can be a little slow at times since the cooking (and even inventory restocks) is mostly handled by Brandon himself (so do be patient - it's really worth the wait hehe!)... but his food are usually made to impress - both taste and price-wise.

The first on my list of personal recommendations would be his simple Mushroom Garlic Pasta. For RM18 (and even for that price, it already came with freshly hand-grated parmesan cheese, good olive oil, and a flavoured with dash of sake, homemade mirin, and dashi!), it's literally my staple in this restaurant - I would never start my meal without it.

Brandon's burgers - especially his beef burger - are good choices (150g homemade beef patty, made as close to what he had in the US!). If not, you can consider going for his Grilled Cheese Sandwich - which he uses 6 different cheese to make!

Other good choices are his Miso Bacon Pasta, Breaded Seabream, and definitely his Grapes and Greens Salad (which not only has walnuts and red wine reduction, but also bits of blue cheese!).

If you seriously have the cash to shell out - go for his Lobster Thermidor. It's RM250 per kg, but I have seen so many folks ordering (and returning again for) it that I have made it my dream to order it too someday (even if it would break my wallet into a thousand and one pieces lmao).

Most of his food are often within the RM25-45 range - but I can confidently assure you that you will most probably not find another place elsewhere on the island that could serve food this good for the price you would be paying (and if you do, do tell me - I would be seriously interested to make comparisons hahaha!).

PS: Do pay attention to his seasonal Special Menus too - he tends to bring in new dishes for limited-time periods (so do follow his IG closely for latest updates hehe!), and you can tell from the photos that I had tried enough of them to assure you that they are lip-smacking good...

Pulled into the parking lot, and before I could even turn off the engine, I was greeted by a rat casually jogging into the open-air kitchen like he owned the place. Maybe he’s the sous-chef? I guess he was just clocking in for his shift. Honestly, he seemed more competent than the actual staff.

Despite this promising start, I figured, "Hey, maybe the food makes up for it cuz its Google review said so?" Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. The food is aggressively average — the kind of stuff you'd expect from someone who binges cooking shows and decides they're a culinary genius. The chef? In the sense that he's got the full wannabe celebrity chef vibe down. Think dramatic poses, intense stares, and a perfectly sculpted poker face. Too bad the food didn't match the performance energy — all attitude, no substance. He looked like he was waiting for someone to ask for his autograph, but served dishes that tasted like sad cafeteria experiments. The food is weird. So good luck with that guys!

Staff were just as charming — cold, unfriendly, and clearly annoyed by the existence of customers. I saw other reviews mention their poker faces and now I get it. They make robots look warm.

If you enjoy weird mix of fusion food, passive-aggressive service, and the added thrill of dining with potential health code violations, congratulations — you’ve found your spot. As for me, once was more than enough. I’ll leave the dining to the...