THE FLAME RESTAURANT AND BAR,
Corporate Tower,
Subang Square,
No CT-G-02,
Ground Floor,
Jalan SS15/4A,
Subang Jaya,
Selangor.
Tel: 03-5886 2652
Business hours: 11am to midnight (Mon-Sat)
and 4pm to midnight on Sunday.
TUCKED away in the corner of the busy commercial area in SS15, Subang Jaya, is a restaurant seeking to create a dining and event space for families.
A year-and-a-half ago, The Flame Restaurant and Bar, on the ground floor of Subang Square, was taken over by co-founder Shirley Low and her family.
The idea was not just to set up a place for darts, food and live music in Subang Jaya, but to convene the community of different races together.
Instead of changing the name, Low chose to keep it but refurbished the set-up.
Diners can opt to chill out by the bar, or have a whole table to themselves.
The food served was also changed, with a focus on flavours and spices from Malaysia, Indonesia, India and even Japan.
Playing the master mixer of taste in the kitchen is Surindivan Zainal Abidin, backed by two Pakistani chefs.
Along with Low’s ideas, the team came up with eight new dishes for their menu.
Surindivan explained that many of the new dishes he introduced were the result of his “experiments”.
“I used to experiment a lot when I worked in a hotel and when I started working here, I decided to implement what I came up with and put them on the menu,” he said.
From the first dish, one can see that Surindivan explores various methods to mix and match ingredients to create something new.
The Ayam Percik Tempura combines Kelantanese and Japanese elements.
My favourite out of the four starters on the menu was the Ayam Percik Tempura.
For this dish, Surindivan adopted the cooking method used by the Kelantanese and paired it with a light coating of tempura batter.
The result was well-marinated chicken pieces that were crispy and crunchy. One could definitely taste the turmeric used in the marinade.
Adding extra flavour to the starter was the Thai Style Mayo, a secret concoction that was mildly spicy. This RM15 dish makes a good starter to share with a group of friends.
For RM15, you can get the Flaming Tikka 65, served with Mint Chutney. It is perfect for those who want to share and keep their stomach warm with a bit of spice before moving on to the main meal.
The chefs combined Malaysian and Balinese spices to make the Balinese Skewer; six sticks of chicken meat were grilled to tender perfection.
The chefs combined Malaysian and Balinese spices to make the Balinese Skewer where the meat is grilled and tender but isn’t too spicy.
A word of advice about the Flaming Canai Wrap (top pic) though, be sure you have a big appetite before ordering it.
One of these RM8 roti canai is heavy enough, but imagine having a few wrapped around cured chicken ham, lettuce and sambal.
Though it is filling, it is certainly a must-try.
There are other fillings for the roti canai – Spicy Shredded Chicken with Lettuce, Minced Beef Rendang and Sambal Telur Sausages – all for the same price.
Low shared that the idea of the wrap was inspired by a Turkish dish she came across during her travels.
Again, the wrap, even with the sambal, was not too spicy.
We moved on to the main dishes starting with the Chic-Chic Tandoori Chop.
Those who have had Tandoori Chicken would most likely expect smoky chicken pieces that are a little on the dry side, with reddish tints on the skin and slightly burnt edges.
Instead, the RM18 dish is grilled with southern spices and comes with salad and mint chutney.
The next two dishes were served with rice.
Fish of the Flame is a bowl of soft smooth fish fillets braised with traditional Kerala spices set into a creamy base gravy.
First was Fish of the Flame, comprising a bowl of tender and smooth fish fillets braised in a creamy gravy made of yogurt and coconut milk with traditional Kerala spices.
We then had Flaming Chicken Madras.
Compared to the other dishes that we had savoured, this RM15 dish was the spiciest and I would say, the most flavourful.
It did not taste spicy while we were enjoying every bite but the heat hit us at the very end.
We finished off our meal with ChocNaNai, which are tiny pieces of roti canai filled with chocolate and bananas. It costs RM5.
It is an interesting dessert but could use with more chocolate. Mine had more banana and very little to no chocolate.
Instead of using crepes or pancakes, their dessert called ChocNaNai, uses roti canai and is filled with chocolate and banana.
Though there wasn’t much “competition” among the “flaming” dishes, I quite enjoyed the food served at The Flame.
Those who want to add more spice to their dishes are advised to request upon ordering or ask about the level of spiciness.
This is the writer’s personal observation and not an endorsement by StarMetro.
