BRIX UNION RESTAURANT AND BAR,
No 51, Jalan Changkat Bukit Bintang,
Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2145 7100
Business hours: 4pm-2am (Sun-Mon)
and 4pm-3am (Tues-Sat).
Non-halal.
When Brix Union Restaurant and Bar owner Suzianna Wong-Svrcula told me she would be serving me 10 dishes for dinner, I was shocked.
Lucky for me, I was told I could bring reinforcements.
As I chowed down my third or fourth meat dish of the night, I couldn’t think of the word to best describe the emotional roller coaster I was going through for the past hour or so.
The exterior of Brix Union.
It started with a feeling of excitement, then enjoyment before quickly turning into “too full to function”.
Let’s start first with the appetisers.
We had Brix’s Guacamole, which comes with avocado, tomato, onion and chilli.
Wong-Svrcula chose the Asian-style starter so we munched on emping, which is similar to keropok.
Avomela, a mix of avocado, apple slices, Romaine lettuce, walnuts and blue cheese with tangerine dressing.
When eaten on its own, the emping pieces (made from the melinjo nut) that have been sprinkled with paprika taste bitter but the condiments add on a different layer of flavour.
The bitterness is tempered by the guacamole.
The Avomela, which is a mix of avocado, apple slices, Romaine lettuce, walnuts and blue cheese with tangerine dressing, is refreshing before a heavy meal.
I didn’t quite like the cheese mixed with the salad though as the texture and taste was too strong and cheesy for my liking.
The Stuffed Chillies come with soft tender meat and warm cheese.
Two appetisers which I liked were the Squid Crisps marinated with herbs and spices which came with Brix’s special sauce and Stuffed Chillies with chicken ragout, cheese and smoked paprika.
As its name suggests, the Squid Crisps were crispy, with a nice hint of spice.
I was a little apprehensive about eating the chilli so I dug out the meat with cheese but I later discovered it wasn’t fiery.
Cannelini Soup with beans, kale and a drizzle of truffle oil.
Even without the chilli, the tender meat and warm cheese was a nice twist on the Asian yong tau foo.
While waiting for the next two appetisers, we shared a bowl of Cannelini Soup, with beans and kale and a drizzle of truffle oil.
As conversations flowed during dinner, Wong-Svrcula’s son explained to us the concept of Brix Union.
He told us that the gastropub aimed to give patrons high-quality interpretations of comfort food and many of the dishes on the menu were suggested by owners and employees, and inspired by food from around the world.
The food here certainly checked the box for guilty pleasures.
Those who love spicy food will definitely need to give the eatery’s selection of ribs and the Grilled Ox-Tail a try.
The oxtail was marinated for 24 hours in a concoction of herbs and spices and finished with a demi-glace and pickled chillies.
I can honestly say I had not tried this meat like this.
The Grilled Ox-Tail.
Not only was the meat tender, it literally fell off the bone.
There is a dip to go with this dish, a baked cheesy onion dip which adds a sweet and cheesy taste to the spicy oxtail.
As we tasted the different main courses, I slowly started to see a pattern in the style of cooking – there was a preference for something spicy and the food was usually a take on Indonesian dishes.
The Low n Slow Ribs is the special house ribs with a rather sweetish flavour to it.
If I had to choose, I would take the spicy ribs, such as the Spiced Long Rib, marinated overnight in local spices then boiled, braised and finally, grilled and served with fragrant rice.
Then, there’s the Balinese grilled pork ribs simmered in sweet soy sauce with sambal glazing.
I could not pick a favourite spicy meat and they somehow reminded me of really good sambal dishes.
I’m not talking about the type of sambal with chilli seeds but the smooth ground chilli paste kind that elevates the taste of a dish.
The final dish was the Underbelly, a crispy-skin pressed pork belly with bread dumpling and sauerkraut.
By the time I had this, it was already cold so that could be the reason why one part of the meat was a little too tough to chew and the other was still soft with the crunchy top.
We left the restaurant with a takeaway bag when none of us could bring ourselves to dig into the Gambit, a Cajun Chicken Breast and Smoked Paprika Aioli Burger.
The burgers here use brioche as buns and come with fries and a side salad.
This is the writer’s personal observation and not an endorsement by StarMetro.
