Ruma Puteh Cafe — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

Ruma Puteh is known for its great/unique instagrammable spots. It’s located near Tasik Titiwangsa (in front of Istana Budaya) and you can recognise it by it’s most iconic structure which is the white archway.

I went there during lunch hour on a weekday. There was no queue and it was hassle-free. No host was in sight tho to bring me to my table. Bear in mind that the situation may be different if you’re planning to go during the weekend. The good thing is that they accept reservations (4 pax+) so do so if you wanna avoid any inconveniences.

The place for me is quite spacious. They have a lot of seating areas with different type of settings and theme. The one i went for is one of the indoor areas which serves like a private room. Keep in mind that this is an open cafe. It can get quite hot during noon/sunny day even when you’re indoor. Ambience-wise, it’s a cool and relaxing spot for hangouts etc.

There’s nothing much i can say about the staffs. They were attentive but i didn’t get to interact much with them. Nevertheless, they were doing their job just great tho.

Now let’s talk about the main thing which is their food. There are quite a lot of choices to choose from. They offer multiple type of cuisine such as Malaysian and Italian cuisine. Of cos i suggested my friends to order diff menus so that i get to try and review it. We ordered most of the pasta dishes and some other menus. Out of the 7 menus i tried, i can say only 2 were great and well balanced. That is the Chicken Carbonara and Salai Duck & Sun Dried Tomato Spaghetti. Both dishes were on point. Spaghetti Seafood Aglio Olio was decent but not great.

I find the other dishes that i tried which are Soft Shell Crab Linguine and Penne Tempe Pesto to be pretty off balanced. The sauce is really thick which makes it so heavy plus i’m getting a strong acidity from it. The pasta was not really al dente and can be quite sticky to one another. My Sea-bass Fish and Chip was really bland. The batter was also not that crispy and airy. The tartar sauce and lemon didn’t help do justice to my dish. That said, the plating was really nice and beautiful so kudos to the chefs for that.

As for the drinks, i only drank the one I ordered which is Iced Caramel Latte and it was great ! Matcha Latte was a disappointment tho (as said by my friend).

Overall, i do think it’s a unique and beautiful cafe. I can see myself coming here again to try out the diff seating areas and maybe just going for coffee & desserts. Most prolly would skip the main dishes. I would still recommend the place to those who loves taking food pictures and...

How do I even begin?

Pros: Good ambience, friendly staff. That’s that.

Cons:

Now, to the cons… Disclaimer: this review is solely on the bulan set. Check out the menu offering as attached pic

I paid RM140 for the Ramadan set for 2 pax and I’ve gotta admit it was the worst ringgit spent, ever.

Hear me out, avoid the Ramadan set at all costs:

Service was too slow. Waited an hour for my food to arrive even when I paid deposit and made a reservation upfront.

Portion is too small. For 70 bucks per person, you’d better off going somewhere else. It felt like a RM50 dish at most and they charge you more than double the amount. I include the picture here in this post.

What you get on your single plate (yes, just a single plate for 2 people) is not what you’re promised. They don’t give you everything they list on the menu. It’s as if the “chef” isn’t aware of what’s supposed to be served. Sure, the servers were kind enough to offer complimentary desserts when I complained but, didn’t do them any good. This was the bare minimum.

I don’t mind paying RM140 for small portions if they’re good but EVERYTHING was just underwhelming. Taste wise it’s not edible, at all. The chicken had weird smell, and was dry. The rice was cold. The beef was overcooked. The dessert was a major disappointment. We had sagu with santan..and it was too salty. Seafoods felt cheap. Must’ve been frozen. They were subpar and poorly prepared. Everything on the plate felt like not “fresh”. As for drinks, I had monochrome bandung (?) and it was just alright. Not the best, not too terrible.

What made it worse, this didn’t just happen to me and my date. Our table neighbors echoed our complaints. We were furious. We felt cheated.

This was supposed to be a nice birthday night out but oh god just go somewhere else to buka.

True, the place is well decorated. I gotta give credits but trust me, save your money and spend them somewhere else.

Sincerely, Your disappointed customer....

Disappointing Experience at Ruma Puteh

My recent dining experience here left much to be desired. Despite the active promotion on social media, the reality fell short in various aspects.

Service: The service was a significant letdown. Despite the restaurant being relatively empty, the wait time for both the main dish and dessert was unreasonably long – 45 minutes for the main dish and 35 minutes for dessert. The staff appeared disorganized and indifferent, with waiters lacking basic knowledge such as table numbers. Their nonchalant attitude towards customers waiting for their orders was evident and disappointing.

Ambiance: While the ambiance of the restaurant was pleasant, with a nice atmosphere, the presentation of desserts and pastries was lacking. The cake rack and pastry display were both empty and uninviting, detracting from the overall dining experience.

Taste: Despite the extended wait time, the taste of the food did not justify the delay. The kunafa was deemed average, lacking the wow factor one would expect from a specialty dessert. Similarly, the ikan bakar set, which took 45 minutes to prepare, failed to meet expectations. Despite the anticipation built by the lengthy wait, the dish turned out to be just average, lacking the flavor and quality one would hope for.

Overall, my experience at here was disappointing. While the ambiance was pleasant, the poor service, extended wait times, and lackluster food quality overshadowed any positives. It is evident that significant improvements are needed, particularly in terms of service efficiency and food quality, to live up to the restaurant's...