Flavourful tea from the valley

Cameron Valley,
No. 28, Jalan Telawi 5,
Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2202 2155
Business Hours: 10.00am to 10.00pm, daily.

FIRST-time visitors to the Cameron Valley restaurant in Bangsar may be surprised to find out that coffee is not served here.

That’s because Cameron Valley is strictly a tea place.

It offers a wide variety of hot and cold teas to tease the taste buds of every tea lover in town and even tempt habitual coffee drinkers.

With over 40 types of tea served, customers can also buy boxes of tea for home consumption or as gifts at the little store which occupies a part of the restaurant in Jalan Telawi 5, Bangsar.

On the menu, one can find a selection of healthy teas like green tea, rosemary tea and a variety of chilled teas by the pitcher.

You can also sample some of the pretty impressive teh tarik with fruity flavours like strawberry, blackcurrant and orange or opt to sample the house specialities like cardamom or masala tea.

Not filling: Garlic Flake Seafood Salad

For a bit of tea fun, one can also try the tea floats and smoothies like the Iced Vanilla Tea Float and Lychee Smoothie.

These chilled selections come in fruit flavoured infusions and taste great as well.

“It is a tea place after all,” said Cameron Valley public relations representative Chandrika Bhaskaran. But Chandrika was also quick to remind us that it was still a restaurant that served great food, what more with fresh ingredients brought in from Cameron Highlands.

Focused on healthy offerings, the menu boasts of some nice sandwiches and pastas.

Something that caught my attention and was highly recommended by Chandrika was the range of Doughnut Sandwiches.

These sandwiches are basically sandwiched doughnuts without the sugar coating.

There were few options from the menu but we settled on the Wild Mushroom, Caramelised Onions and Cheese Doughnut Sandwich.

It came with fresh salad on the side and the sandwich was perfect for small eaters.

Momos: An interesting Nepalli snack with tomato tip.

Chandrika also recommended a special Nepali snack called the Momos.

These bite-sized delights, filled with minced chicken and cooked with cabbage, onions, masala powder, are served with a tomato dip, which added a fresh flavour to the deep-fried offering.

For those with a big appetite, opt for the Chicken Mushroom Melt Sandwich and the Black Shadow.

The portions also come with salad on the side.

The Chicken Mushroom Melt Sandwich is basically grilled herb chicken strips, tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, caramelised onions, mozzarella and mayonnaise, all grilled to perfection with sandwich bread of choice.

I particularly liked the Black Shadow sandwich and, according to Chandrika, it was a popular choice at the restaurant.

It is filled with beef pancetta, sauteed mushrooms, caramelised onion, capsicum, capers and gherkins, topped with a marvellous black pepper sauce and melted Mozzarella.

I think the caramelised onions added much aroma and flavour to the sandwich, and this combination worked well with the sauce.

The Spaghetti Aglio Olio Seafood Pasta had a simple yet distinctive flavour to it.

The pasta dish was tossed with olive oil, chilli flakes, cherry tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes with calamari, mussels, prawns and fresh herbs and was easy on the tastebuds.

However, I was disappointed with the salad serving.

Anticipating a huge bowl of a combination of greens, the Garlic Flake Seafood Salad was a little less than that.

Although the marinated prawns, calamari, mussels and dory, which were sauteed in olive oil and laid on a bed of greens, were beautifully flavoured with homemade pesto dressing, the portion did not match the price you pay.

This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.