Curious Kitchen (Non-Halal) — Restaurant in Petaling Jaya

My affair with Curious Kitchen started way before Tropicana. Back then, they operated from a SoHo unit in d7 Sentul.. selling the prized Spanish iberico meat while organising private kitchen out from their office. I was privileged to be able to join one of the dinner when a dear friend of mine, Jacky Chin, happened to know one of the founders and organised a dinner for a group of foodies.

Soon, they have outgrown the original space and moved out to open a full-fledge restaurant in the then-fairly-new Tropicana Avenue. We had even gone there just to show our support when they opened for business, and since then I occasionally went for dinner with the family.

◾Cold cut platter with cheese and honey - I'd go for this everytime if there's a bottle (or at least a glass) of red wine. To me this is probably the best combination. ◾grilled iberico top loin - one of the rarest cut and one of their signature dishes here. It was like eating steak but pork! Good to go with the red wine I brought along. Noticed that the pork is not entirely cooked? I had my doubt also until they assured me that this was the way, and I didn't contract diarrhoea after the meal. ◾Iberico chops - a bit lean to my liking but still good with wines nonetheless. ◾Ratatouille - it looks like baked egg when it was served but underneath the cheese were the vegetables baked in tomato sauce.

Notes: some items might not be in the menu anymore as they have changed chefs recently and revamped their menu.

Recently I was invited by another friend, Martin, to attend Balvenie whisky tasting event together. ◾Whisky french onion soup - very power as I could definitely taste the whisky in the soup but it was a tad too salty that I could not finish it. ◾Iberico pork collar served with fresh arugula leaves and yuzu whisky dressing... They blow torched everything in front of all the guests who quickly snapped photos or videos. No marination whatsoever.. just blow torch and eat its natural flavour and then washed it with Balvenie 12. ◾Surf 'n' Turf risotto - 150g of rib eye steak, charcoal grilled tiger prawns, mushroom risotto, asparagus, cherry tomato and au jus. Highlight of the dinner and everyone commented that the dish was good, but since I don't eat beef they substitute it with the awesome iberico top loin. ◾ Pavlova served with fresh fruits, whipped cream and berry coulis. Not a fan of dessert but it looked good.

The dinner was paired with their awesome Balvenie 12 and 17 Doublewood as well as the Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask. Value for money for RM130 I'd say, but I enjoyed the...

I brought my wife and baby girl to dine in to celebrate our valentines for this first time together at a Tropicana Avenue knowing we are .soooo last minute, we tried most restaurant and they do not wan to take us in cause is fully book.. Many table are still empty at 7.30 pm (guest belum datang lagi?? ). If we wan dine in thier place must will till 9.30 pm.. So ok fine we move on find other place . We just wanted to have a quick dinner and go off. U knoe la.. Baby can't be a place to long, if not start crying for milk and we don't wanna 2 spoil ppls mood expecially during valentines day. Nvm we went the 3rd floor to give it a last try.. So we found curios kitchen..Then A lady boss approach us greet and ask did we make a reservation? I said no. Then she look behind and ask her staff are there anymore available tables? Staff said Indoor and outdoor is fully booked but guest yet to arrive, so I guess we out of luck that night. Neverless she told us to wait for a moment. She will try to check and arrange it.. Well well.. She really did manage to get us a table but initially it was to near to the chef kitchen which a lot smoke all over. What she did later, she remove the reservation card which the guest yet to arrive and place it over that table and gave us a nice spot slightly far away from the chef kitchen. Seriously, we are glad and amaze with their quick respond not to make us wait longer she know we got a baby, with us and is damn hard to get tables at a very last minute during Valentines. At the end, we really enjoy our time, the food and nice ambient environment, I will give 👍👍 👍 and the price is reasonable . If you want to date ur love one or with ur 👪 this a place where you will enjoy with tremendous services they can...

Saw the Christmas package (Platters of Joy) of Beef Wellington & Fiery Smoked Honey Garlic Iberico Ribs.

Took some time for the food to arrive so we were advised to order ala carte first, which is fine as it was raining and wind was chilly.

Ordered ala carte menu: bacon carbonara : for people who really likes creamy sauce it tastes excellent.

fish n chip : quite small portion for the price of rm45. It had only 1 piece of fish and the fish had not much seasoning, had to dip in the tartar sauce for flavouring enhancement.

lobster bisque : abit tad salty and heavy taste on the shrimp rather than having lobster taste.

mushroom soup : overall was ok, could be abit more heavier on the taste. Bread was fine.

caesar salad : sauce was abit heavy for a person who doesn't like salad sauces. For normal person, would probably be great.

creme brulee : taste good but the top caramelised sugar needs to be more flambé as it didn't have much crackling sound

Pre-ordered items: Beef Wellington : wrapped in truffle paste, the meat was tender and good in the middle, but towards the end side the meat was abit overcooked. Puff pastry was buttery and cooked to perfection. Salad side was very refreshing.

Fiery smoked iberico ribs : Surprised to have the chef himself demostrate a short fire show. He had to pour rum alcohol onto the pork meat first and then put on the fire to "caramelised" the meat. The meat was juicy and tender! Apparently the pig was fed corn and imported from Spain. Really star of the show, best ribs I've eaten so far. It was very worth it for the price and vibe.

Overall, good environment and food. Service was not bad as well. Will visit again to...